Bill Huntley, President of Scientific Games will give the Keynote Speech during the opening ceremony of the International Gaming Conference & Expo 2006 in San Jose, Costa Rica, this morning. Huntley, a public gaming giant, will analyze the online industry while considering expansion into sports to complement their current position with regard to horse racing.

The interactive gaming industry is at a crossroads, with earlier Las Vegas entrants having retreated from their initial, tentative forays into the offshore gaming arena, and U.S. politicians threatening planned legislation hovering over the stability of the business regarding its user base. Still, in spite of all this, the industry expands and experts at the San Jose 2-day event will throw more light on both threats and opportunities.

Operators now face a host of challenges in the worlds of public and private finance, making strategic and financial decisions all the more difficult for both land-based and online companies. Nevertheless, while this is a turbulent time for the industry it is also a time of enormous optimism for operators and investors to seize the moment, understand the landscape, and have an ongoing vision of all that awaits.

Many questions are brought to the fore at the San Jose event: What does the future hold? What is the next bonanza, if there truly is one, beyond online sports gaming and poker? Can horse racing undergo a resurgence to be advantaged? What of the markets in Asia and South America? Is Europe challenging or can they be challenged? Is there enough room for others to compete, and at what levels? Is expansion limited to a growing client base and where does the corporate M&A mentality of Wall Street and big business come into play?

Following on Bill Huntley’s keynote address, Mark Mendel, Partner in Mendell Blumenfled, LLP, the lead attorney for Antigua in the case against the U.S. in the WTO, will debate with renowned gaming law expert I. Nelson Rose, Professor of Law at Whittier Law School, about what the ruling really means for the industry. Tony Fontaine, Managing Partner of Gaming Insights, Inc., will moderate the debate, as the political battle rages on from New York to Minnesota, Antigua to London, Costa Rica to Malta, with opinions from the most respected legal minds domestically and internationally still in conflict over the lack of standard guidelines for the industry.

After a networking luncheon, Adriaan Brink, President of Mahjong Mania, and Scott Cohen, Partner in Red Tie Media, and Formerly President of Game Trust Inc., will challenge delegates to add bingo, mahjong, backgammon and other skill games to their games arsenal. It’s been estimated that more people play bingo than any other gaming activity in the world. But, until this point, the success of bingo within the interactive gaming arena has been sporadic at best. The history of gaming, however, has clearly illustrated that there is always another incredible opportunity just around the corner. Could bingo be next?

Now in its second decade of existence, questions about the legality of interactive gaming models such as casino gambling still linger in many important jurisdictions, including the U.S. The emergence of skill games has been fuelled in large measure by the fact that they may far more easily side-step these questions.

After a networking and exhibit expo break, Victor Gallo, Vice President Business Development of Youbet.com, will pose the question whether horseracing can exploit whatever small advantage it has left, if at all. While legislative and regulatory pressures have generated turbulence for the global interactive gaming industry over the past year, the horseracing segment has begun to hit its stride, due in part to its long-term stature as a betting fixture in the U.S. and elsewhere. While other areas of the online industry, such as casino gaming, have to fight for credibility, horseracing ventures already have it.

Gallo will be trying to answer questions on whether horseracing enterprises can improve their efforts towards reaching younger players, and whether interactive horseracing ventures can complement their offerings with additional gaming. Or even if they should. And, of course, what the technical challenges are in horseracing and how the obstacles can be overcome? Day 2 promises much more but before then delegates will gather for the evening for a special do at the Fiesta Casino in San Jose. Cheers! (E-04.10.06)

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