Despite weather channels predicting a week of gloom for SiGMA Europe 2024, the sun came out just as doors opened, welcoming 27,000 delegates to the Mediterranean Maritime Hub.

Online visitor registration for the 2010 International Gaming Expo (IGE), incorporating ATEI, ICEi and The Betting Show, opened on 5th October, with show organisers Clarion Gaming anticipating in excess of 100,000 visits to www.ige-exhibition.com, www.atei-exhibition.com and www.bettingshow.com from industry professionals based in more than 160 nations.

The newly configured International Gaming Expo (IGE) received a highly positive endorsement from buyers, who travelled from 126 sovereign territories to attend the inaugural event, which was staged across the entire ground floor of London’s Earls Court 1 & 2 exhibition halls. Attendees at the total gaming show, which comprised 335 exhibitors from the low-stake gaming, remote gaming, lotteries, betting and land-based casino sectors, numbered 16,692.

Visitors to Macau grew by about 12 per cent in 2008, slower than the previous year as tighter visa rules and an economic slump curbed travel to the Chinese gambling city, government figures showed on Friday. Total arrivals in the southern Chinese enclave reached 30.1 million last year, up 11.8 per cent from 2007, the government's Statistics and Census Service said in a statement. Last year, arrivals surged almost 23 per cent from 2006.

Around 25.1 million visitors entered Macau in the first ten months of the year, which was a rise of 14.5 % on the same period of 2007 when 21.9 million people visited the territory, MacauNews reported Friday. The director of the Macau Tourism Office, João Manuel Costa Antunes said Thursday that in 2008 a total of around 30 million tourists were expected to visit Macau, or 3 million more than in 2007.

Beijing has further tightened restrictions on mainland visitors entering Macau, a report said this week, in the latest sign authorities are trying to put the brakes on the gaming haven’s stunning growth. Visitors from the southern Chinese province of Guangdong, which neighbours Macau, will now be limited to one trip every three months, the South China Morning Post said, citing an unwritten policy conveyed to travel agents.

As the world reflects on the success of the Beijing Olympics, the team responsible for putting on the International Gaming Expo, which incorporates ICE and ICEi, is focused on setting a raft of new records when the b2b event takes place in London (27-29 January 2009). The final attendance at the 2008 show reached an all-time high of 12,972.

Only in Las Vegas could there be fretting over the fortunes of the city's biggest industry after a banner year filled with record performances. But it's true. Even though more people visited Las Vegas in 2007 than any year in history there has been a parade of experts who say we may not be as fortunate this year. It started with Preview Las Vegas, the annual event sponsored by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the Nevada Development Authority, two organizations notorious for their bullishness on the local market.

The number of visitors to Macau jumped almost 23 percent last year, putting the fast-growing gambling haven on track to surpass neighbouring Hong Kong. It registered more than 27 million arrivals in 2007, up 22.7 percent from the previous year, according to government statistics. Hong Kong registered more than 28 million visitor arrivals, an increase of more than 10 percent on 2006 and a record.

Hong Kong (Reuters) - The number of visitors to Macau jumped almost 23 percent last year, putting the fast-growing gambling haven on track to surpass neighbouring Hong Kong. The tiny, former Portuguese-ruled enclave of about half a million people registered more than 27 million arrivals in 2007, up 22.7 percent from the previous year, according to government statistics.

Nearly 22 million people visited the Chinese enclave of Macau during the first ten months of 2007. According to the region’s Statistics and Census Bureau, the figure was close to the total amount for 2006. The Statistics and Census Bureau also said that they expected upwards of 26 million visitors by the end of the year.

Macao’s Venetian casino-hotel resort has recorded 2.5 million visitors over the past six weeks since its opening on August 28, local media reported last week. Macao Post Daily quoted sources from the casino management as saying that those from Hong Kong and the Chinese mainland accounted for most of the casino visitors. The Venetian, boasts the world’s largest casino, is run by Las Vegas Sands, a giant United States gaming operator.