GGRAsia – G2E 2020 Las Vegas off, online events planned: promoters

G2E 2020 Las Vegas off, online events planned: promoters

Jul 09, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Top of the deck, World

This year’s edition of Global Gaming Expo (G2E), a casino industry trade show and conference normally held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada in the United States, has been cancelled in the interests of “health and safety” amid the Covid-19 crisis.

That is according to a Wednesday press release quoting Bill Miller, president and chief executive of casino industry trade body the American Gaming Association (AGA), one of the promoters of the event.

The 2020 edition of G2E Las Vegas was scheduled for October 5 to 8.

“Health and safety have always been our top priority and the uncertainty created by the ongoing pandemic makes this the prudent decision ahead of critical deadlines for exhibitors planning to participate,” Mr Miller was quoted as saying.

The release said that online G2E events would be held “throughout the rest of the year to better reflect the current environment”.

A message on the show’s dedicated website said the organisers would be “rolling out additional information on the G2E virtual events in the coming weeks,” including what was termed “education formats, business opportunities, and networking”.

The next ‘in-person’ edition of G2E in Las Vegas will take place from October 4 to 7, 2021 at the Sands Expo and Convention Center at the Venetian Las Vegas, a property of Las Vegas Sands Corp, it was announced.

As recently as mid-June, the AGA and Reed Exhibitions, the other promoter of the G2E Las Vegas event, had said in an open letter to the industry they had been working hard to ensure a 2020 edition could be staged.

Hervé Sedky, Reed Exhibitions Americas president, said in Wednesday’s release the decision to cancel the 2020 event was made after “thoughtfully engaging” with national, state, and local public health authorities, as well as exhibitors and buyers.

“Ultimately, it became clear that proceeding with an in-person gathering simply was not feasible,” Mr Sedky noted.

The G2E event in Las Vegas (pictured in a file photo) usually draws a global crowd, as well as people from the United States domestic gaming market.

The website of the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that a number of decrees issued by the U.S. leader, President Donald Trump, currently either restrict or ban travel to the U.S. by foreign nationals arriving from certain countries.

CDC noted, citing the orders, that “with specific exceptions” foreign nationals who have been in a number of countries during the 14 days prior to an intended trip to the United States, would not be permitted to enter. The list includes China – excluding the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau; European countries in the so-called Schengen Area, encompassing most of Western Europe; plus the United Kingdom; the Republic of Ireland; and Brazil.

The G2E branding is also associated with a trade show usually held annually in Macau. G2E Asia 2020 has been put back twice due to the pandemic crisis, and is currently scheduled for December.

A Philippines version of G2E – called G2E Asia @ the Philippines – is, according to a dedicated website, currently scheduled for November 3 to 4 at the Manila Marriott Hotel at Resorts World Manila. The latter, a casino resort operated as a venture between Genting Hong Kong Ltd and local conglomerate Alliance Global Group Inc, is currently closed due to Covid-19 countermeasures.

An inaugural edition of G2E Asia @ the Philippines took place in December last year.