Inside Asian Gaming turns 20 years old in 2025 and in those two decades has accumulated very significant experience in attending B2B gaming industry trade events all over the world – from exhibitions to thought leadership gatherings to networking events, and more. Not only has IAG played a part in these events as a visitor or in many cases an exhibitor, it has regularly helped organize key components of them, as well as organizing around 100 of its own thought leadership and social events over the years.
The IAG EXPO was born from this experience and with the direct encouragement of key industry participants – operators, suppliers and others.
In November 2021, IAG held an early precursor to the IAG EXPO when it launched the IAG Academy IR Awards. The event, held during the COVID-19 pandemic, comprised a simple ceremony in Macau honoring the industry’s finest. There were no awards in 2022 due to the pandemic reaching its crescendo in Asia but in 2023 the event moved to Newport World Resorts in Manila, Philippines as part of a broader series of events comprising the IAG Academy IR Awards, the inaugural IAG Academy Summit and networking social Manila After Dark, which doubled as a welcome event.
At the end of the 2024 event, IAG announced that the entire festival was to be rebranded as IAG EXPO and from 2025 would include the addition of the IAG Exhibition, ensuring a full suite of industry offerings in the heart of Asia’s biggest growth market.
The IAG EXPO is now a true B2B festival of the Asia-Pacific gaming industry, primarily focused on land-based gaming but acknowledging the role the online industry plays in the broader Asian market. And 2025 is just the start, with IAG already planning for the future – Newport World Resorts is now locked in as the venue for IAG EXPO from the second Tuesday in September each year for many years to come.