The organizers of annual gaming industry trade show and exhibition G2E Asia have confirmed their intention to hold this year’s event in late July after a prominent industry supplier last week called for cancellation or postponement due to lingering uncertainty over COVID-19.
London-based gaming table developer TCSJOHNHUXLEY issued an “open letter to the gaming industry” last Wednesday in which it encouraged other exhibitors to join together in pushing for the dates to be changed to later in the year, or for the event to be cancelled altogether.
“Having consulted with our customers, it is our firm belief that very few operators outside of Macau will want to, or be able to attend a show in July, even if it could go ahead at that time,” TCSJOHNHUXLEY said.
“We face challenging trading times and if customer volumes are significantly reduced along with the difficulty of moving products around the world, we have to ask ourselves if this trade show is commercially viable.”
In response to queries from Inside Asian Gaming, co-organizer Reed Exhibitions – which has already rescheduled the show once from its original dates of 19 to 21 May – said it was sticking with its plan to host this year’s G2E Asia at The Venetian Macao from 28 to 30 July.
“We would like to emphasize that health and safety are our top priorities,” Reed explained. “In consultation with our customers and the Macau government, and out of an abundance of caution in March, G2E Asia is [already] postponing its event in Macau to July 28 to 30.
“As the global pandemic crisis keeps evolving, we will continue to monitor the situation and remain in close contact with all G2E Asia stakeholders to provide updates as available.
“Having established in Asia [for] over a decade, we are committed to continuing to serve as a strong partner of the industry and economic driver by holding the premiere gaming industry event in Macau. This is the time we stand by with each other.”
G2E Asia also issued a press release on Monday afternoon stating that registration for this year’s event is now open.
