Oh yes my friends, GIGSE is back. While you may be thinking, “that’s a lie, I heard there were only a few booths and a much smaller crowd than before”, you may be right if you’re comparing to pre-UIGEA GIGSE, but a lot of booths and a huge turn out was not the goal of the “new” GIGSE. Perhaps Clarion should have re-branded the show with an acronym that excluded the “Global” and “Expo” part, but I know that those who were in Montreal for GIGSE 2010 where very pleased with the outcome and absolutely plan to come back next year, the Ayre Heads and I included!
Becky’s GIGSE and Montreal highlights, 2010
Palais des Congres experiences
Clarion promised us an event covering how and when igaming will be regulated in North America and what your business can do to prepare, and that is exactly what they delivered. Leading every single panel were those who are on the front lines of pushing North America igaming regulation and those who head up organizations who are preparing for entry into the US market. Big names, the right people, quality conversations, information packed panels, relationship building, and new partnerships were certainly the main themes last week in Montreal.
To give you an idea of who was in attendance, during the day at Palais des Congres I met Professor Nelson Rose, the Grand Chief of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake, the head of the KGC, senior reps from Foxwoods and Hard Rock, the owner of WorldWinner, the owner of The RX, the founder of WPT, and caught up with industry favorites such as Chuck Barnett, John Pappas, Keith Furlong, Janet Viipola, Sue Schneider, and many, many others.
GIGSE Dinners
Of course every good igaming conference comes along with excellent dinners, something else that GIGSE certainly succeeded in facilitating. I enjoyed a Tuesday night dinner with the CasinoMeister and Troy from BodogAffiliate.com at a steak house in Old Montreal, somewhere Nicky Senyard recommended and somewhere that Bryan better not tear apart in his next Meister newsletter!
Wednesday night dinner was arranged by iMEGA’s Joe Brennan, and by demand of his guests, rather than go somewhere fancy, we took over the InterContinental VIP lounge and ordered a bunch of room service while watching the Montreal Canadiens play the Pittsburgh Penguins on the big screen. Ya, that was before the tear gas.
On Thursday night I had dinner with the rugby playing Daniel from Pentasia at Queue de Cheval, an exquisite restaurant listed on my Montreal nightlife guide and known for its steak, but I somehow ended up with the vegetarian platter. Good god, I must have been drunk.
Nights out in Montreal
It is true that the pre-UIGEA GIGSEs were known for some pretty crazy parties, and I will admit that the party scene this time around was not even close to what it was back in the day. However, this does NOT mean that the nights were boring, oh no it does not. In fact, sometimes when you have smaller groups of people, you get into even bigger trouble such as smoking cigars and drinking wine with the owner of Full Tilt on a penthouse balcony or 10 drunk people in your hotel room late night kind of trouble.
Actually, pre-late night hotel room trouble, the official GIGSE party was pretty juicy because Clarion ensured the bar was free and because there was legit rioting, tear gas and pepper spraying taking place right outside the club as a result of the Montreal Canadiens victory. It’s true- we were sneezing because of it! Some classic quotes from that night include Joe Brennan’s “Um, it’s the SEMI FINALS” reaction to the rioting, Daniel Beard’s “I love real boobs” after we saw a Canadiens fan flashing the cops, and Bob Rains’ “I am a fearless, fearless, big animal of a man” comment for no particular reason at all.
Bonus day in Kahnawake and partying with Bodog.com people
One of the beauties of GIGSE is that it takes place in a spectacular city which is just minutes from Kahnawake, home of The KGC, MIT, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake and the Bodog.com headquarters. I spent the day on Friday interviewing some of my favorite Mohawks in the world, taking a tour of the reserve, and sampling some traditional Mohawk cuisine thanks to Iron Chef Michael Symon’s twin, our very own Chuck Barnett of MIT.
Later that evening, I met the Bodog.com CS team for drinks and some pool and was also able to spend long overdue QT with AfroToe, Calvin’s nephew who kindly hosted our photoshopped porn pics for the Calvin Ayre April fool’s joke. It was quite the evening, and I think it’s safe to say that not many of us remember going home that night. Always a pleasure AfroToe, always a pleasure.
