C4-Sports to Host Sports Book Summit

C4-Sports, the first electronic media trade show dedicated wholly to sports technology, announced today that it will be hosting a Sports Book Summit on July 17 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The summit will provide a forum for sports books, fantasy services, and entertainment managers to discuss the technological issues that can impact their business, increase revenue opportunities, and enhance the overall experience of visitors to sports book facilities.

"As C4-Sports integrates itself into the sports technology community, we wanted to be cognizant of the challenges that exist in the Las Vegas community, namely the sports book and gaming service industries," said Gene Sanders, general manager, C4-Sports. "This invitation-only summit will directly address the challenges faced by these industries and will offer individuals an opportunity to learn about state-of-the-art technologies that can ultimately help them to enhance the experience of their patrons."

At the Sports Book Summit, regulatory issues impacting sports services such as bandwidth, illegal gambling, and competition from Internet gambling sites will be addressed. Data and content security and digital asset management issues specific to sports books will be explored, as well as alternative technologies for content delivery such as video display screens, digital signage, projection, wireless, and next-generation delivery methods.

"With new technologies, a sports book has the opportunity to become the visual centerpiece of a casino," said John Kaloukian, general manager, Sony Electronics' professional display group. "Sony's SXRD(TM) projection technology gives players more visual information to help them decide how to place their bets. The addition of command and control functionality gives sports books the control to add specific events to the screen in windows of various resolutions and formats, as well as the ability to change out advertising or promotional videos, which represents incremental revenue opportunities."

"Sony and Panoram Technologies have teamed up to show casino operators how to enhance the sports book experience in their casinos through new capabilities of display technologies, like our PixelBlaster, that are magnificent to look at, easily programmable, interactive, reliable, and compatible with key strategic trends that directly affect casinos," said Theo Mayer, president and CEO, Panoram Technologies.

In addition to Sony and Panoram Technologies, other participants at the Sports Book Summit include leaders from the sports book industry including Matt Rose, president of the proposed Ultimate Sports Resort in north Las Vegas, as well as representatives from The Wynn, Mirage/MGM Grand hotels, Excalibur, Harris Corporation, and Cobalt Entertainment.

"The sports business is increasingly being driven by the live broadcasts of games and special events, and our company is focused on helping organizations like sports books make the transition from 2D to 3D to remarkably enhance the viewing experience," said Steve Schklair, founder and CEO, Cobalt Entertainment. "Hollywood studios are already using 3D digital projection and it's just a matter of time until the sporting industry makes the transition, in order to keep up with the rising visual literacy and demands of sports fans throughout the world."

"Harris considers this event an effective vehicle to reach an important market segment and we will be showing audio and video production equipment and providing digital signage for the entire venue," said Rich Hajdu, vice president, graphic and post sales, Americas, Harris Broadcast Communications Division. "This is an opportunity for Harris to showcase our entire portfolio of solutions-based products and we are looki

2006-06-29