Global Gaming Expo moving to Sands in 2011

Producers of the Global Gaming Expo will move the casino industry's largest trade show and conference from the Las Vegas Convention Center to the Sands Expo and Convention Center starting next year.

In addition to the change in venue, the G2E will switch from a mid-November schedule to dates in early October at the request of trade show exhibitors and casino operators.

Frank Fahrenkopf Jr., president of the Washington, D.C.-based American Gaming Association, which produces the show with Reed Exhibitions, said the move will allow for better planning.

The switch adds an extra month between G2E and the International Casino Exhibition, which is held in annually in January in London. Also, the G2E Asia, which had been in June at The Venetian Macau, will move to late May.

"Our operators need to make budget decisions and their budgeting had usually already been done by November," Fahrenkopf said Tuesday after announcing the switch at The Venetian in Las Vegas. "We think this move will help those decision makers plan for the year ahead."

Fahrenkopf said the gaming association last year began exploring possible locations in Las Vegas for the G2E. Only the 1.2 million-square-foot Sands Expo and Convention Center, which is operated by Las Vegas Sands Corp. and is connected to both The Venetian and Palazzo resorts, had the available dates.

"It's a great facility with tremendous room to grow," Fahrenkopf said.

The 2010 G2E is scheduled for Nov. 16-18 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. Fahrenkopf said the deal with the Sands Expo and Convention Center is a three-year contract.

The move to the Sands marks the first time G2E will be at a location with hotel rooms and restaurants. The Venetian and Palazzo have a combined 7,000 rooms and more than 30 restaurants.

"It will be very unique for G2E to have all that under one roof," Fahrenkopf said.

The two-mile change in venue means the Las Vegas Convention Center will need to find a show or conferences that would fill the now vacant mid-November dates.

Next year's Las Vegas Convention Center schedule already has five large trade shows and conventions covering the end of September through the end of October time frames.

"Our sales staff will do what they have always done -- go out and look for other business," said Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President Rossi Ralenkotter, who attended the announcement news conference. "There are a couple of newer shows that have not been to Las Vegas before that we'll reach out to. We've got some prospects out there."

Ralenkotter said it was important that G2E remain in Las Vegas.

"Our job is to fill hotel rooms in Las Vegas, and the fact the show staying here is fortunate for the destination," Ralenkotter said. "It wasn't a space issue, it was a date issue."

Not brought up Tuesday was the past contentious relationship between Las Vegas Sands leadership and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Company Chairman Sheldon Adelson and former Sands President Bill Weidner had called for the elimination of the public tourism entity in 2007 and 2008.

Adelson didn't attend the news conference.

Las Vegas Sands President Michael Leven said the Sands Expo and Convention Center will allow smaller G2E exhibitors more room. The trade show has traditionally focused on large slot machine manufacturers, such as International Game Technology, WMS Industries and Bally Technologies, which use G2E to unveil new gaming advancements for the coming year.

"I don't think we solicited them," Leven said. "They came to us. I think they made a decision that they wanted different space. We have working with G2E in Macau for a few years."

Total attendance for the 2009 G2E was nearly 26,000 attendees and exhibit personnel, a decline of 3.5 percent from a year earlier. Fahrenkopf said early indications are that the 2010 numbers will be flat or slightly higher compared with 2009.

"We've got our fingers crossed but the preliminary numbers are pretty good," Fahrenkopf said.

Contact reporter Howard Stutz at hstutz@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3871.