This is my first of several interviews this week from G2E. I could think of no one better to lead off with than Roger Gros. Roger is publisher of Casino Connection International, LLC.
Global Gaming Business magazine, Casino Connection Atlantic City and Casino Connection Nevada are among the monthly publications Gros publishes. Prior to joining CCI, Gros was president of Inlet Communications, an independent consulting firm. He was vice president of Casino Journal Publishing Group from 1984-2000, and held virtually every editorial title during his tenure. Gros was editor of Casino Journal, the National Gaming Summary and the Atlantic City Insider, and was the founding editor of Casino Player magazine. He was a co-founder of the American Gaming Summit and the Southern Gaming Summit conferences and trade shows.
He is the author of the best-selling book, How to Win at Casino Gambling (Carlton Books, 1995), now in its third edition. Gros was named “Businessman of the Year” for 1998 by the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.
In addition to all of this, he is a consultant to G2E. I met Roger when I first started out in Atlantic City as a craps dealer. Who knew? He took time from his schedule to answer my questions.
1). The G2E is
arguably the top gaming conference in the world. Why do you think it has been able to maintain
this distinction?
G2E is the
only major gaming trade show that is held in Las Vegas, so when you add the
number of attendees, the huge exhibit floor and the capital of the gaming
industry, no other show can make that claim. It’s truly “for the industry, by
the industry” under the direction of the AGA.
2).It is
estimated that over 24,000 people will be in attendance. How much preparation
goes into a show of this magnitude?
3).In your role
as a consultant to the G2E, what are your primary duties?
I help put
the conference together, but I’m not the only one. Reed has several people on
staff, Keli Elkins with the AGA and of course show director Mike Johnson, who
started with G2E as the conference coordinator are all deeply involved in
making sure that we provide cutting-edge information by the most knowledgeable
speakers. But we couldn’t do anything without a dedicated and committed
conference advisory board, which suggests the topics, the speakers and gives us
feedback at every step of the way.
4).I gaming is
the hot topic in several jurisdictions. Nevada, Delaware and New Jersey. How does it affect the small operators in
those markets?
That’s the
big question, isn’t it? As an Atlantic City native, I’m very involved in making
sure that the introduction of i-gaming in the state benefits the Atlantic City
casino industry. Our new website, casinoconnectionac.com, is the epicenter for
online gaming in New Jersey and the Atlantic City casino industry. Anyone who
wants up-to-date information about i-gaming needs to visit that website on a
daily basis. In Nevada, we’ve been covering very closely the launch of online
poker. Our October issue of GGB features a cover story on the Ultimate Gaming
company that has had a monopoly since April, one that will end this week with
the launch of Caesars’ WSOP.com.
5).Will I
Gaming change how the G2E will look in the next 5 years?
Online
gaming is the wild card in the industry over the next five years. How will
people respond to it? Will Americans gravitate to online gaming as they have to
online shopping? How will the casino industry respond? Will they parlay online
gaming with their land-based operations? Will they just use online gaming as a
revenue stream? Those are the questions we’ll see answered over the next five
years.
As for G2E, floor space for online gaming companies has tripled from 2012 to 2013, so you can expect that kind of growth to continue over the next five years now that the legal status of online gaming is beginning to change.
I want to thank Roger for doing this. Below are the links to publications that Roger is associated with.
Follow me this week for more all access interviews from the G2E.
Follow me on Twitter at @GamingGuyM
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