EDITOR'S LETTER: Biloxi's the place in May
by James Rutherford
April 1, 2010
If you're doing business in the South, or would like to be, you don't want to miss the Southern Gaming Summit, May 5-6 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center in Biloxi.
If you’re doing business in the
South, or would like to be, you don’t want to miss the Southern Gaming Summit,
May 5-6, at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center in Biloxi.
This is the largest industry trade show in North America
outside Las Vegas. It is set in the heart of a region that hosts some of the
biggest and most elaborate resort casinos on the continent. Taking its
commercial and tribal casinos together, land-based and riverboats, its
principal markets of Mississippi, Louisiana, Florida and Alabama generate well
more than $8 billion a year in revenues from gambling games
alone.
And, as always, the South is anything but dull — but no
doubt you’ve been following the high-stakes battle between the Seminoles and
the Florida Legislature over a federally mandated casino compact, and the
political follies in Alabama over electronic bingo, and all the heady talk of
late of a “Las Vegas East” in Fort Lauderdale and Miami, so you know
this.
Add it all up and Southern Gaming Summit represents two
days of incomparable opportunities for building your institutional knowledge,
for serious networking — and, of course, for checking out the newest games and
technologies.
Which is true this year more than ever because the
summit is being joined by BingoWorld Conference and Expo, the largest annual
bingo show in the world. Floor space at the Convention Center is up 30 percent
over 2009. Beverly Martin, executive director of the Mississippi Casino
Operators Association — which produces the show in partnership with BNP Media,
publishers of Casino Journal and Slot Manager — was right on the mark when she
said recently that the 2010 Southern Gaming Summit will be “something
special”.
By way of context,
and to give you an idea of the scope of this year’s event, to date, more than
155 commercial and tribal operators — casinos, racinos, racetracks and
non-profits — along with manufacturers and suppliers, governments and public
agencies, educators and media organizations will be represented. Exhibitors
include the biggest names in the industry — and some of the biggest, period:
like Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch.
And, as implied
above, there will be plenty to talk about. This is a region that battled back
from Katrina and Rita just in time to greet the worst recession in the brief
history of gaming in the South. The industry down there is probably the most
varied of any in the country. It’s a region of conflict and tension, of intense
competition and extraordinary cooperation as well. It’s also a region looking
at the possibility of significant expansion in key markets. Some of the best
minds in the industry will be addressing all this. The conference portion of Southern
Gaming Summit, as always, will be top-notch. The hottest new slots and the
latest trends in machine gaming and table games will be examined; networked and
system-based gaming will be explored; there are special sessions dedicated to
marketing strategies, including social media, tribal and Class II gaming,
gaming in the Caribbean and travel trends in a post-recessionary age of
value.
If the South is your market there simply is nowhere else
to get this.
BingoWorld, likewise, will be delivering one-of-a-kind
informational sessions conveniently segmented into tracks covering technology,
marketing and promotions and operations and customer service. There is also the
entirely unique experience of Bingo University, now in its fourth year, a
hands-on, classroom-style environment designed to provide the tools operators
and their staffs need to successfully market their venues and maximize
revenues. The demands of the 21st century bingo hall will be explored in-depth
in sessions devoted to electronic bingo and Internet bingo. Attendees also will
hear from the experts on effective cost controls, proper accounting methods and
procedures and venue improvement and maintenance.
Whatever your business, commercial, tribal or
charity, you’ll want to be in Biloxi next month. We at Casino Journal look
forward to seeing you there.
James Rutherford
is a New Jersey-based freelance writer.
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