Southern Gaming Summit opens today

This is also the first Gaming Summit since Larry Gregory retired from his position as executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission to become executive director of the Mississippi Casino Operators Association, which co-sponsors the summit. More professional development classes were added and the summit begins with a buzz created by the May 22 opening of Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Casino Biloxi and other casinos being sold and developed.

Those who arrived early to the Southern Gaming Summit played in a golf tournament Tuesday, met at a Global Gaming Women Luncheon and wandered into the Coast Convention Center in shorts and sandals to register.
 
Close to 3,000 people were registered by Tuesday for the Gaming Summit, the Expo and Bingo World, which moved its conference from Las Vegas to Biloxi three years ago to join the Gaming Summit.  "We have more exhibits, new exhibitors and very exciting products," said Lesley Gradshow, national sales manager for show co-sponsor BNP Media Gaming Group.

Tonight, IP Casino Resort will host a 20th Anniversary of Gaming Celebration to commemorate two decades since Isle of Capri opened in Biloxi August 1, 1992.
Gregory said he has worked in the state's casino industry for 16 of those 20 years, "and have witnessed up close the miracle it has become. No one could have envisioned the metamorphosis of small river boats into full scale resorts," he said. "It has exceeded everyone's expectations. It started as an experiment and we got it right."

Mississippi's casino industry continues to be a land of opportunity for companies hoping to win sales contracts at the Gaming Summit.  The center of the exhibit hall is filled with slot machines, some of them so new they are awaiting approval for Mississippi casinos. Elvis is back in Biloxi, where he spent considerable time back in the '50s, this time as the star of a slot machine. The Beach Boys, Betty Boop and Michael Jackson also are featured slots.

"This is kind of like the G2E of the South," said Matthew King, president of Game Show America, referring to the Las Vegas show. He's brought Bird Bash and other interactive games to his first Southern Gaming Summit. After the games are played in a casino for a month, his company puts on a stage show and gives away prizes that could range from $1,000 to a new car. "The casino sets the payouts," he said. They did six shows in the last year at Fitzgeralds Casino in Tunica and he said, "We just want to expand into this area."

FEB Distributing brought a Coors Beer panel truck to the show to promote Bandit Run, a road race that will stop for two days in Biloxi next week. "That's going to be a fun event and drive a lot of attention," said Frank Bertucci, president of FEB Distributing. He said the Summit is more about seeing customers and thanking them for their business than selling.  "This just gives us the opportunity to have a cold beer with them," he added.

Eric Casey of Omaha, will speak about the dynamics of casino and bingo markets and said people come to the show from Canada and coast to coast to see what's new. Bingo is an us$ 8 billion industry in North America and his company is part of the "bingo renaissance," that he said is under way, making more vibrant games with lights and music. His company doesn't have bingo in South Mississippi casinos, he said. "But we sure would like to."