Welcome to Casino Life Welcome to Casino Life!
And welcome to Las Vegas – at least for some of you.
We're particularly pleased to have two Guest Comments to start our issue – from Per Jaldung, chairman of the European Casino Association & CEO, chairman Cosmopol Casinos Sweden and Rick Meitzler, president of Novomatic Americas Sales LLC. We thanks them both for endorsing Casino Life as a vehicle for both operator and manufacturer standpoints.
Last month the whole edition focused on the forthcoming show – so for the show edition itself we've predominantly looked elsewhere. It would be easy to focus on the latest bill validator to be launched to an eager showfloor but instead we kick of with Bill Healey chatting to the executive chairman of the Grand Ho Tram in Vietnam - where kite festivals sit neatly alongside baccarat as part of their truly integrated resort offering.
Meanwhile in Malta, until recently there was only one game in town. With Olympic starting their new venture the incumbent casino had to increase their game – and a recent refurbishment has had a dramatic effect. I took time out to talk to operations director Svetlana Buckova and found out more about gaming on the island and how the Dragonara keeps its market share.
Also keeping customers happy for many years has been Tom Cantone – the man who changed casino entertainment, interviewed by Steve Karoul. Tom featured heavily in the magazine last year but we've revisited his career to look at how he used the likes of Eddie Murphy to change the way casino resorts worked forever.
Peter White stumbled across the debut of a new game called Match 'Em Hi Lo in 2013 so what better time for him to talk to Jim Lemanski, President and Daryl Jendras, Vice President of 3JGaming, about what has happened in the intervening years.
Geoff Freeman kindly welcomes you to G2E whilst Marcus Prater reiterates the success that AGEM has had over the past 12 months. Meanwhile Reed extoll just how good the show will be this year – which to be fair they say each year and then promptly the sales staff leave and are replaced in the run up to the next show by a brand new team. I've been to G2E for almost two decades and have lost count of the staff we've had to negotiate our stand with over that time. If you're looking for us by the way we're in the shallow end next to Rubber-TEX "authentic rubber plants for your hotel lobby" and the Acme Shoe Shine team. Please drop by…
Finally we close with a focus on some of the highlights you'll see at the show but just before you get there take time to read about the exploits of Vegas Vic … aka Victor H. Royer … who finally gives us (literally) the low-down on his first day in Vegas… from many moons ago. "Remember today" he was told, and remember it he has – just for you.
See you at the show!
Glyn Thomas
Editor in Chief
glyn@ace123.com | 
