Organizers say new trade show has not hurt G2E Asia
Next month’s G2E Asia trade show could be the best ever, according to organizers, and not just because it is the eighth annual edition of the Macau branch of the Global Gaming Expo.
The number 8, long considered lucky in China because it sounds similar to the Chinese word for “to be come wealthy,” is all over this year’s edition of the show. It is the eighth G2E Asia show, and it will feature more than 8,000 square meters of exhibit space—an exhibit volume it has not matched since before the worst of the recession, in—you guessed it—2008.
A few factors, though, seemed to conspire against the luck gods this year—first of which was the establishment of a rival trade event, the Macao Gaming Show. That show, which debuted last November, was organized by a newly founded trade group, the Macao Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Association—formed by Jay Chun, chairman of LT Game.
Chun and LT Game have been involved in a long-running patent dispute with SHFL entertainment, now a unit of slot-maker Bally Technologies. Chun claims LT Game owns the rights in Macau to multi-player hybrid table games using live dealers, which link hundreds of terminals to a game operated by a live dealer. The hybrids have become a necessity in Macau because of shortages of labor in the pits.
The court battles have involved LT game securing several court orders to force SHFL to cover its live dealer games, called the Fusion Hybrid, at G2E Asia, with LT claiming its patent rights prohibit other companies from displaying the hybrid games. Bally won the latest court decision on the matter, with a Macau court holding that it found no patent infringement involving the Fusion Hybrid.
LT Game has refused to recognize the decision, maintaining that its patents are valid until declared otherwise by the courts. Predictably, Bally was prevented from displaying the product at the first Macao Gaming Show.
The dispute had led G2E Asia’s organizers, Reed Exhibitions and the American Gaming Association, to consider moving the trade show out of Macau. However, in an interview with Forbes magazine, Josephine Lee, senior vice president of Reed Exhibitions China, said the show will stay in the SAR, at least for now. “An exhibition is a place for people to do real business,” she said, “so businesses must be nearby. In the short term, G2E Asia is committed to Macau, by far the No. 1 gaming market in the world. We are committed to Macau until exhibitors tell us otherwise.”
Concerning the patent dispute, Lee said the organizers will try to work with both parties. “It’s a concern for us as organizers,” Lee said. “We’re providing a neutral platform. We’re a relationship broker. We need to do more work with exhibitors about patent protection. Patent issues are not unique to G2E Asia. For all shows, we have a legal consultant on site.”
On the broader issue of a competing show, Reed organizers say they do not consider the Macao Gaming Show a threat. ““I don’t think the Macao Gaming Show will make G2E Asia less attractive,” Lee told Forbes, noting that customers tell Reed they want fewer shows, not more. “We need to look at what we can do to deliver better value to customers.”
To this end, G2E Asia has beefed up its conference program, in addition to adding 40 new exhibitors. “There has been no negative impact on our business,” said Michael Johnson, industry vice president for G2E, of the Macao Gaming Show, which featured exhibits by junket operators.
