Global Gaming Expo

The first Global Gaming Expo took place October 1–3, 2001 at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC),[1] featuring 375 corporate exhibitors, nearly 10,000 attendees, and VIP keynote speakers such as Academy Award-winning actress Whoopi Goldberg and then-chairman and CEO of MGM Studios Alex Yemenidjian.

[2][3] In previous years, LVCC had been the site of GEM Communications' World Gaming Congress & Expo (WGCE), which had maintained a partnership with AGA and was essentially unrivaled as the industry's preeminent conference.

The change of venue was accompanied by a return to the exhibition's original time of year, with the AGA citing the need for "more breathing room between major international gaming events" among its reasons for moving back to early October.

[8] G2E features educational sessions that typically run from Monday through Thursday of the conference week, as well as an expo hall open from Tuesday through Thursday where hundreds of exhibitor companies showcase products and services.

[14] The convention debuted at the Macau Tower June 13–14, 2007, shortly before the opening of G2E Asia's long-term home, The Venetian Macao, which as of 2019[update] has housed the expo in every year since.