For those of you who are curious, my session this morning at G2E on the Wire Act was, I think, a real success. Bob Blumenfeld gave a great summary of the US/Antigua WTO case and Bill White from Global Cyber discussed the possibilities of intra-state legal Internet gaming. All in all, an interesting session. I couldn’t believe that, at 8 in the morning, we had well over 100 people attend.
In other news, the official ribbon-cutting took place this morning. In some ways mere formality, in some bizarre street theater, I won’t soon forget it.
It started as you might expect–words of celebration over the 5 years of G2E, followed by somber words about the devastation along the Gulf Coast. Then, after an assortment of speakers, things took a turn for the surreal. As Frank Fahrenkopf was wrapping things up, a Marilyn Monroe impersonator stormed the stage, kissed all of the executives and community leaders on the stage, and sang a personalized rendition of “Happy Birthday.” It was positively surreal.
The Expo floor itself is, as usual, huge and somewhat tiring. There are a whole host of new games, including one called “Meltdown,” in which the nightmare of an “incident” at a nuclear plant is apparently the theme for a fast-paced slot machine. I couldn’t make this up if I wanted.
I’ll continue to post on what I see here. By the way, I’m going to be an in-studio guest this evening on Las Vegas One, so if you’re in the Vegas area be sure to tune into Channel 19 at 9 PM to see what they want me to talk about this time.