The Indian Gaming Association is looking to top its record 9,000 attendees in 2023 when it returns to San Diego for its annual Tradeshow & Convention. The four-day conference kicks off Monday, March 31, when it will follow its tradition of a four-hour deep dive on a single subject. The next day, multiple educational sessions will start at 9 a.m. and run until 5:30 p.m.
The conference will continue through April 3 at the San Diego Convention Center. The tradeshow on the final two days of the event will start at 10 a.m.
The educational agenda won’t be finalized until the end of January. Most of the sessions are on the second day of the conference, but sessions on the tradeshow floor will take place the final two days from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. on Wednesday and 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. on Thursday.
The conference will again feature what’s called a DigitalPlay Summit at the tradeshow as tribes continue to build off that theme.
“For me, the big thing is looking at the next generation of gaming, which is online and sports betting, and getting the message across that there’s no time to wait. The time is now,” said Conference Chair Victor Rocha. “If you haven’t made a decision, you regret it very soon. The shift is very evident and I want to make sure the tribes understand the seriousness of this shift in consumer behavior and online gaming.”
The conference will also focus on the fundamentals of business, making deals, running efficient operations, and expansion, Rocha said. The threat of sweepstakes to tribes will also be on the agenda.
“A big part of what we’ll be doing is forward looking,” Rocha said. “It wasn’t until recently that I was able to talk about online gaming and sports betting. Tribes in certain areas didn’t want to hear about it. Now, it’s front and center.”
Tribes didn’t want to talk about it because they couldn’t do it, Rocha said. He wants to impress on tribes that the shift in consumer behavior is real and to make sure they’re in front of the issue and not behind it.
The Department of the Interior in 2024 backed tribes having online gaming off their reservations as long as they had state approval, which wasn’t an option in the past.
Rocha said returning to San Diego, along with the agenda, will boost attendance over Anaheim and help propel IGA to a record. They hope to get more global participation by promoting the conference at ICE Barcelona (Jan. 20-22). Last year’s conference in Anaheim attracted 7,400.
“The agenda of the new generation of gaming is exciting and I think we will have record attendance,” Rocha said. “We always have a great turnout in San Diego.”
You can register here.