 Welcome to Casino Life... Gazing out from my hotel room at last year's G2E I was not exactly troubled by the noise of construction and I hardly noticed a construction crane - if any at all. Instead the word on the street was that many a new scheme had been shelved and half-built structures would soon be torn down for their scrap value. And then this week - Boom! The Riviera stutters to a halt (cue the pictures of of bronze showgirls bottoms - the well-known statue - keep with me) and plans are announced for more convention space. Then Genting starts work on Resorts World LV with golden dragons ushering in the $4 billion project due for completion in 2018. With the newly opened SLS, plans for the old Frontier site, a revamped Fremont Street and a resurgence in rock festivals, Las Vegas is back on the up baby!
As this copy is winging it's way to G2E Asia - please try and drop by and see us - I should also add that, as mentioned last month, Macau may be slowing down but it's not all doom and gloom in Asia - and in fact over at the Solaire in the Philippines and throughout Singapore, growth is being reported.
Positive news also from the manufacturers with the AGEM Index up 5.5% this month and an overall trend upwards is expected.
Back to this issue and we lead with a cracking interview with Thomas "Tom" Arasi - president, COO and Board Director at the Solaire Resort& Casino. Damien Connelly chats to Dominick Stenson about the novel Casino Sunborn a superyacht casino due to open this month. Ahead of G2E Asia our Las Vegas correspondent Jack Bulavsky caught up with a busy Walter Bugno to talk about the GTECH IGT merger. With key interviews with Amatic, Foundation LLC, Shopworks and our sideways look at social media and casino marketing we think we have something for everyone.
Finally a Big shout out for the Slot Summit next month that is being held in Bucharest. Please don't think though that the event will just have an Eastern European focus - Bucharest was just chosen as a great central place to stage the event. Yours truly is the event MC and as usual there is a dazzling array of speakers and the opportunity to mix and mingle with some of the top names in European casinos - as well as the leading manufacturers.
As ever, if you want to be featured in the magazine - please drop me a line, or forward this to a friend.
Glyn Thomas Editor in Chief | 
