Gaming expo begins

Hundreds of gaming executives, suppliers, investors and analysts headed to the Las Vegas Convention Center today for the start of the 1998 World Gaming Congress & Expo.

The event, which runs through Friday, will feature suppliers introducing new products including the latest slot machines and table games, player tracking systems and marketing tools.

Coca-Cola Co. marketing guru Sergio Zyman will give the keynote address Wednesday in a speech eagerly anticipated by gaming executives wondering whether the industry's decade-long track record of growth is over.

Zyman was rehired as Coke's global marketing chief despite overseeing the launch of "New Coke," which some call the most disastrous product launch since the Edsel.

In a speech entitled "Failure: The Key to Success," Zyman will recount the lessons he learned from the New Coke fiasco and counsel that excess caution stifles growth.

That advice may run counter to the comments expected from some of Wall Street's top gaming analysts, who will offer their perspectives on the industry's outlook in a series of panel session over the next three days.

The analysts will discuss the problems posed by stagnant demand for Las Vegas gaming, infrastructure problems affecting Southern Nevada tourist flow, increasing competition from other gambling venues and the highly leveraged balance sheets that threaten some casino operators.

Additional seminars will focus on Internet gambling, casino security, marketing in the face of increased competition for customers, the potential impact of Indian gaming in California, and other issues.

Meanwhile, casino buyers looking for the best new games, signage and other tools that can attract customers will spend afternoons crowding into the Convention Center showrooms where game suppliers and other manufacturers have set up booths to display their wares.

The expo is sponsored by International Gaming & Wagering Business magazine and the casino industry's lobbying arm, the American Gaming Association, which will host panel discussions of legal and social issues affecting the future of the casino business.

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