There’s the prospect this spring of three major casino conferences in East Asia in the space of a single month. The news emerged after the Washington D.C.-based casino industry lobby group the American Gaming Association and partner Reed Exhibitions said they aim to hold a new event called ‘G2E Japan’ – or Global Gaming Expo Japan – in that country once parliament there passes a bill to legalize casino resorts. That could happen in May.
The official website for the pair’s Global Gaming Expo-branded events said they had “partnered with Union Gaming to bring a one-of-a-kind symposium to Japan as early as practical following passage of the legislation”.
That was a reference to Las Vegas-based casino industry research house and financial advisor Union Gaming Group LLC, founded by several former Deutsche Bank executives.
In December, Reed’s market competitor Clarion Events said it planned to hold a gaming conference in Japan in Tokyo on May 14, 15 and 16 – the week before Reed’s own G2E Asia regional casino industry event held annually in Macau. Clarion said Michael Leven, president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp, would be its main speaker.
Union Gaming is understood to be the first Western company to have organized a major finance industry conference on the prospects for casino resorts in Japan.
The Union Gaming Development Conference – Japan 2013 – took place in September only days after Tokyo’s successful bid to host the 2020 summer Olympics. It attracted significant media interest. 
Industry speakers included George Tanasijevich, chief executive Las Vegas Sands Corp’s Marina Bay Sands property in Singapore; Bill Hornbuckle, president of MGM Resorts International and also a director of its majority-owned Macau casino venture MGM China Holdings Ltd; and Gamal Aziz, president and chief operating officer of Wynn Resorts Development. This week it was announced Mr Aziz would be moving to Macau in a new role as president of Wynn Macau Ltd.
All the Macau casino concessionaires and sub-concessionaires have expressed an individual interest in building a casino resort in Japan.
“Our September conference generated a significant amount of interest on the part of Japanese companies and legislators and other industry watchers,” Grant Govertsen, managing partner at Union Gaming Research Macau, told Business Daily yesterday.

Originally published on Macau Business Daily