As you already know, there have been two online gaming related arrests in the United States over the past few months. Therefore, many of the anticipated
GPWA and
CAC Vegas attendees decided to bail at the last minute due to the demands of their lawyers. Despite the legal scare, a fair amount of online casino affiliate programs and affiliates decided to attend these events, and according to the CAC conference organizer, all of these people have GUTS. How do I know this? Well, he placed a huge "GUTS" sign right outside the registration and announced to the crowd that "GUTS" would be the CAC Vegas conference theme this year. I'm not so sure that I agree with this. First of all, lawyers would not allow people to attend. Period. Second of all, in my opinion, the real theme of the conference should have been "Tequila-free". Why? Because my tequila loving friend was not there, of course. It was quite nice, actually- no hangovers, no sleeping on the beach and/or random couches, no drunk dials from the hotel, no embarrassing pictures splashed across Gambling 911, no late night trips to a bar full of hookers, etc. These perks aside, I really missed those who were unable to attend. I especially missed my good friend from 32 Vegas who awarded me with a first class flight, a stay in the Bellagio, and a Porsche to drive around for the one week I was in Vegas. Clearly this prize was an unbelievable treat, and I really wanted to thank him in person. G-rated of course. Thanks a lot, US Government.
So anyway, on to my stories...
GPWA Conference- September 12th and 13th.
Casino City recently purchased the GPWA which left us with plenty of time to prepare for the GPWA conference. One whole month. Nice. All things considered, the opening celebration and the conference itself went pretty smoothly. Some highlights: 1)Our BetFred Casino contact hand-delivered a bottle of Aftershock as this lovely beverage is not available for purchase in the United States. 2)I participated in a panel discussion with the All Jackpots Casino, Commodore Casino and Grand Monaco affiliate managers. I was rather proud of my performance especially considering that one of the participants was pinching me throughout the entire session. 3)We arranged a luncheon to feed 100 people, but sadly, we had enough leftovers to feed the entire Las Vegas population. Thanks again, US Government.
CAC Opening Party- September 13th.
After finishing up the GPWA conference, I drove back to the Bellagio along the strip, in my Porsche, with the top down. Just when I thought life could not get any better, I was greeted by a beautiful food basket from Dream Poker when I entered my room. Absolutely ridiculous, I know. After a quick shower and change, I met the boys from Bet Casino and Bet Hold'em for dinner at a Japanese restaurant in the Wynn. Later in the night we were joined by my OasisCasino.com contact, a very sweet girl that I have been dying to meet, and the group of us walked over to the opening party at Lure. This Poker.com and Casino Affiliate Program party drew a great crowd, and after the open bar was finished, we moved across the street to Tangerine. The online gaming crowd managed to secure a bunch of tables, but a few hours later, my feet were on FIRE so I left the club with my friends from Purple Lounge and PKR.com (they are both women- relax). The second I entered my hotel room I proceeded to inhale the majority of the Dream Poker food basket contents, although I apparently decided to leave the bottle of wine for another time. This was clearly a very good thing.
CAC Day 1- September 14th.
I woke up bright and early in a bed full of crumbs and chocolate wrappers. After hitting the sleep button at least 10 times, I rushed out of bed, hopped in to the Porsche, and made my way to the Four Seasons for a breakfast meeting with the Giant Vegas Casino team. When breakfast was through, I drove to the conference with a lovely lady from Giant Vegas Casino (she is the only person who got a ride in my Porsche, might I add) and met up with the rest of the Casino City team. I spent the majority of the day chatting with the Bingo Hall group, the Bodog boys, and obsessing over Mikey, the Poker Share chimp. This little guy can play poker, he loves people (especially women), he is very well trained, and I want to marry him. Sorry Ron. When the exhibiting finally came to an end, the Casino City team met up at Light to enjoy a pre-party event hosted by Party Poker. Following the event, the Casino City Sales Director and I peeled off to have dinner with the Poker Share team at MIX while the rest of our group went to the Crib Suite in the Palms, an event hosted by the Everest Poker team. We all reunited at the Stinky Fish Poker party at Tangerine, said our hellos, and ended up at Tao for a very late and crazy night. The online gaming crew took over the first floor of Tao and, of course, went thought numerous bottles of liquor and champagne. Let me tell you, it got ugly. There was dancing on tables, there was making out on the benches, there was chugging of champagne straight from the $1000 bottles, there was arm wrestling...the list goes on. After leaving the club, there were two things that I could not stop thinking about: 1)My Jackpot Joy contact might be the most entertaining and fun person that I have ever met in my life. 2)At 4:30am in Las Vegas there are huge cab lines, packed restaurants, crowded streets, full casino floors, and god knows what else. What the hell.
CAC Day 2- September 15th.
After a very long night, pretty much everyone (myself included) arrived at the conference just in time for lunch. I sat down to eat with my friend from iGaming Business, my Poker Room contact, and one of my very, very favorites, my Absolute Poker main contact and good friend. After lunch I stopped by the Poker Share booth to say a quick hello to my future husband, met with the Villento Las Vegas crew for a good while, and finally met my 888.com contact in person. Before the end of the day, I did my best to round up the troops and arrange a meeting spot for one last crazy night out. After deciding upon Tryst as the destination, I confirmed with my contacts from Winward Casino, Absolute Poker, Purple Lounge, Doc's Sports, Bodog Casino and many more. Once the plans were made, I helped tear down the Casino City booth and went back to the Bellagio for a running meeting. See, my Pacific Poker contact and I both love to jog, so we decided to meet while jogging down the strip. Clever, huh? After narrowly escaping dehydration, I got myself ready for the InterCasino.com party at the Hugh Heffner Suite in the Palms Hotel. I "dressed to impress" (the invitation said that we must!) and met some very good affiliate friends of mine at the Palms. The group of us took the elevator up to the top floor, and when the door opened, we were greeted by herds of Playboy Bunnies, an open bar, and tables full of sushi. We took a tour of the suite and were pleased to discover Hugh's revolving bed along with framed, poster size naked pictures of Marilyn Monroe and Anna Nicole. Later in the night I had a great chat with the Bluff Magazine crew while we watched one of InterCasino's affiliates win $50,000. Lucky for me, this affiliate is one of the generous ones, so I found myself invited to a crazy night out in celebration of his prize. About 10 of us left the suite together, climbed into a hired limo, and drove over to Rum Jungle in Mandalay Bay. Shortly thereafter I made the executive decision that it was time to go home, probably because I drank about 10 glasses of wine at the Heffner pad. Hate it when that happens. Good thing that I told everyone to meet up at Tryst...oh well...I'm sure they had fun.
On Saturday morning I drove straight to the Porsche rental company and reluctantly gave up the car. Back to Honda Civic city baby! Very sad. You know what else is very sad? I arrived at the airport far too early, breezed through security (figures) and sat at my gate staring at the wall for 2.5 hours. On the bright side, I had the luxury of flying first class (thanks again 32 Vegas!) and was able to sleep the entire way home. I touched down in Boston at 8pm, grabbed my bags, and drove straight to a wedding in Rhode Island. Impressive? I like to think so. 