Old-Time Vegas Meets High-Tech Vegas At International-Flavored G2E This Week; Golden Knights Sign IGT As Official Team Partner
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The blinking and colorful Vegas Golden Knights machine at the AGS gaming display was a big hit last year at the Global Gaming Expo, commonly known as G2E in the gambling industry here in Las Vegas and worldwide.
But the AGS/Golden Knights machine is not around this week at G2E, being staged at Sheldon Adelson’s Sands Expo convention center. It was designed as an exhibitor booth attraction for last year’s G2E.
“You’re not the first one to ask about it,” an AGS staffer told LVSportsBiz.com Tuesday morning.
AGS still has a partnership with the partner-rich Golden Knights team, which spotlights AGS with an AGS play of the knight highlight on the T-Mobile Arena jumbotron right after a VGK home game.
AGS VP for marketing and corporate communications Laura Olson-Reyes said the company is in the second year of a three-year agreement with the Las Vegas hockey team. There was talk last year of coming up with a Golden Knights-themed gaming machine, but that’s still in a holding pattern.
Interestingly enough, the Knights announced a partnership with another gaming company.
In a press release Tuesday afternoon, VGK President Kerry Bubolz said the Knights sign a multi-year partnership agreement with IGT, the London-based gaming company with an operational headquarters located in Las Vegas. The agreement makes IGT an official partner of the Vegas Golden Knights.
All the big slot machine makers, sports betting infrastructure folks, integration software manufacturers and casino floor consultants are on the trade show floor this week, as that ol’ horse town known as Las Vegas returns to its gambling roots in a high-tech, international way this week.
They’re all here, from Scientific Games and AGS to Aristocrat and Gaming Arts. If there’s a service, business or organization connected to gaming and gambling, it’s here. Some 30,000 gambling folks — many with a sports angle — are in Las Vegas for the show.
Naturally, sports betting and sports books are a big deal. But there are companies with new deals, too, like a UK-based company, Highlight Games, that allows you to bet on groups of six sports highlight clips in sports like the NBA, International Ice Hockey Federation and soccer. A Highlight Games staffer said the London-based company cut a highlights clips rights deal with the NBA about four months ago.
The G2E floor has colorful characters and colorful slot machines. Some exhibitors loosen up prospective clients with beer and scotch and some companies like Merkur Gaming of Deerfield Beach, Fla. serve sandwiches pieces and wraps to lure customers.
G2E brings tech innovators like Atari founder Nolan Bushnell. who chatted with reporters at the trade show media room.
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