Las Vegas porn company booted off Comdex show floor

Nine Las Vegas companies were geared up to show off their products at Comdex Fall '99 this week.

But when the trade show floor opened Monday morning, there were only eight.

Luxor Enterprises, a small company that told show management it planned to display an Internet-based product, was shut down. The reason: Its Internet-based product was adult entertainment considered too risque for Comdex.

Luxor is not connected with the hotel-casino owned by Mandalay Resort Group.

"Since 1994, we have banned adult content from the trade show floor," said Bill Sell, Comdex show manager. "We've made it clear that there would be no adult content in any way, shape or form.

"If you have one or two (adult) items, we ask that they be substituted," Sell said. "In the case of Luxor, they left us no choice but to close them down."

The contact number for Luxor Enterprises in Comdex show literature is a cellular telephone number that is out of service. Company executives could not be reached for comment.

Sell said Luxor Enterprises' X-rated content isn't the only thing that's banned from the trade show floor. A team of 65 sales executives monitored the show's set-up and watched for displays that somehow infringed on neighboring booths.

Sell said Luxor was the only booth closed down for X-rated content this year, but others were warned about having displays that caused queing lines to spill into other booths or sound that disrupted others. When musical guests are invited to booths, show management sometimes coordinates performance times to prevent congestion.

The Comdex show management's decision to ban X-rated entertainment in the booths in the mid-'90s was controversial at the time, but the furor has died down. Today, Internet adult content has its own gathering during Comdex -- the AdultDEX show at the Imperial Palace.

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