Gaming Expo features range from finances to Elvis to Siegfried & Roy

Robert Macy

Wednesday, Sept. 23, 1998 | 9:08 a.m.

LAS VEGAS - Can new products like Elvis slot machines and entertainers such as Siegfried and Roy head off economic stagnation in the gambling industry?

Some 23,000 people affiliated with the industry will be looking for those and other answers Wednesday when the 12th annual World Gaming Congress & Expo kicks off a 3-day run here.

Sergio Zyman, former head of global marketing for The Coca-Cola Company, will give Wednesday's keynote address. The topic: "Failure: The Key to Success?"

"He'll be looking at the idea of taking risks, having to take risks to succeed," Paul M. Dworin, chief operating officer of New York-based GEM Communications, said Tuesday. "This is a propitious time for the gaming industry to look at other industries for answers. The gaming industry is stagnant and it's time to look outside of itself for answers.

"Overbuilding is certainly a concern right now," Dworin said. "With 20,000 new rooms coming on line in Las Vegas, competition is fierce."

GEM is publisher of International Gaming & Wagering Business. The expo is presented annually by IGWB.

Some 700 companies will be presenting an array of new products designed to entice gamblers. Among them is a new Elvis slot machine by Reno, Nev.-based International Game Technology.

Priscilla Presley unveiled the machine at a reception Monday night. The machine is designed to display footage of 14 Elvis concert selections via a video display screen when a gambler activates a "Play Elvis" bonus selection.

Shuffle Master Inc. continues a trend linking slot machines to past and present TV game shows by introducing its new "Let's Make A Deal" slot game.

On Thursday the expo will feature a symposium on the convergence of gaming and entertainment, presented by executives of the Themed Entertainment Association. The focus will be themed casino resorts operating in the United States, and similar ventures planned in Russia, South Africa and Australia.

Thursday night, six people will be inducted into the Gaming Hall of Fame. They include:

- Entertainers Siegfried and Roy, who have entertained more than 25 million adults and children in "reinventing" Las Vegas as a family vacation destination;

- Anthony Marnell and Lud Corrao, whose company has been involved in development of many of the city's major resorts;

- J.K. Houssels Jr., longtime gaming figure and chairman of Showboat Inc. until the company was acquired by Harrah's Entertainment Inc.; and

- The late Thomas Young Sr., founder of YESCO sign company, which changed the face of Las Vegas.

The American Gaming Association will also present a forecast on the report expected from the National Gambling Impact Study Commission. The commission, formed last year to study the impact of gambling on America, is scheduled to visit Las Vegas in November in its final stop on a tour of major gambling markets nationwide.

Other issues to be addressed in some 100 expo sessions include problem gambling, unattended children and minors, second-hand smoke, and how the media shapes the public image of gambling.