Buoyed by a move of this year’s AEI to the state-of-the-art West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center and a new headquarters hotel—Resorts World—the energy and excitement levels spilled over to the exhibit hall, education program and everything in between!
Here’s a closer look at AEI numbers this year:
Show Floor
- 234 Paid / 246 total exhibiting companies compared to 217 / 228 (final) in 2025 (PLUS + 17 paid / 29 companies)
- 763 Booths sold compared to 703 (final) in 2025 (PLUS + 60)
- We attracted 71 new exhibitors / 133 booths this year compared to 70 / 123.5 booths (final) in 2025.
Expo registration statistics are as follows:
- 2,018 Buyers to date, compared to 2,304 (final) in 2025.
- 2,491 Non-buyers and exhibitors to date, compared to 2,250 (final) in 2025.
- Grand total is 4,509 compared to 4,554 (final) in 2025.
NBVA Co-location with AEI
This is our 15th year co-locating with NBVA. They had a pavilion within our show floor dedicated to their members with 14 exhibitors and 42 booths.
BCA co-location with AEI
This is the fourth year co-locating with BCA. Their pavilion on the show floor had approximately 56 companies and 223 booths.
Foundations Entertainment University’s Las Vegas Program at Amusement Expo achieved an all-time record attendance of 110 participants as it kicked off its 24th year. As the industry’s longest running educational program, Foundations remains true to its original vision of arming new entertainment developers and existing facility operators with the tools needed to navigate today’s challenging business environment.
The 2026 Education Committee once again developed an exceptional lineup this year. Our AEI Education Day had a rate of $149.00 per person, with 310 registrants, which included the AEI Sessions and luncheon.
Level Up Reception
We added two ticketed events to our program. On Monday Evening, another networking reception titled “Level Up” with 149 in attendance ($67). It was held at Resorts World in Rose Outdoor Terrace.
Women’s Rise & Shine Breakfast
In addition, we hosted Women’s Industry Rise & Shine Breakfast on Tuesday morning with 130 in attendance. Our panel of speakers at this event included Beth Standlee, Lori Schnieder, Sara Paz, Kelly Foster, Julie Kratochvil, and Sandy Mattson.
Education Keynote Luncheon
As part of AEI’s Education Keynote Program Shae Peppler Cornette of ESPN served as our Keynote Luncheon presenter. The program highlighted the significance of family and relationships in entertainment. Shae closed her program with highlighting the final four program, with tips on choosing winning teams.
ASD attendees were able to purchase a badge to AEI for $35. 25 purchased badges to attend our show. We have already had a few exhibitors reach out to us yesterday and today about signing up for next year’s show
Industry Gala Sponsors: Thank you to the 2026 Industry Gala Sponsors. Our platinum included Alan-1, Incredible Technologies, Touch Tunes, and Valley Dynamo. Our gold included AMI, Betson and Bullshooter.
Award Winners
AMOA Innovator Award Winners:
- AMI Entertainment for AMI Spectrum;
- Amusement Connect for Business Analytics; and
- EDC Remote.Com for Max the Cap Dart App
AMOA Operator’s Choice Award Winners:
- AMI Entertainment for AMI Spectrum; and
- Incredible Technologies for Silver Strike Bowling—League Night
AAMA Award winners included:
- AAMA Manufacturer of the Year: Bandai Namco Amusement America
- AAMA Distributor of the Year: Scott Shaffer CEO of Shaffer Distributing
- AAMA Supplier of the Year: Rhode Island Novelty
- AAMA Allied Member of the Year: George & Howard McAuliffe – Pinnacle Entertainment
- AAMA FEC Location of the Year: Star Lanes in Columbus, Ohio
- AAMA Lifetime Achievement Award: Eugene Jarvis
The Class of 2026 AAMA Hall of Fame Inductees includes:
- Al Bettelman
- David Cohen
- Larry DeMar
- Kane Fernandez
- Linda Fernandez
- Terry Moss
- Frank Pelligrini
- Elliott Portnoy
- Allen Weisberg; and
- Sam Westgate
50/50 AEI Charity Fund: This year, the Amusement Expo International announced Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Las Vegas (RMHC) as its 2026 AEI Charity Fund recipient organization. The total donation amount raised was almost $ 11,000
Best Booth Award Winners – AMI, Embed, Pace-O-Matic, Roller, and TouchTunes.
Mobile App
Usage of our Premium Mobile App – sponsored by Betson Enterprises—continues to grow. Attendees can navigate Amusement Expo International info quickly and efficiently and is available on iPhone, iPad, Android and others. One example includes our Smart Planner feature that includes exhibitor list, event map, session list, speaker list, product gallery and much more. We had 635 active users, more than 10,000 e-booth profile views and over 11,000 education session views.
2027 Expo
Moving on to the 2027 Amusement Expo International, it will be held at Las Vegas Convention Center, North Hall 1-2-3. Education will be on Monday, March 15 & Tuesday, March 16 and the tradeshow on Wednesday, March 17 & Thursday, March 18. The headquarters hotel for Amusement Expo International will once again be at the Resorts World Hotel & Casino. We will also have a block of rooms at the Westgate.
2027 Exhibitor Information
We will continue with the member and non-member exhibitor rates in 2027. Dual Membership will receive a discounted price in addition to their membership renewal of $1,655.00.
Application submitted by August 1, 2026 – member rate of $20.95 per square foot, non-member rate $26.95.
Application submitted between August 1, 2026 and December 1, 2026 – member rate of $22.95 per square foot, non-member rate $28.95.
Application submitted after December 2, 2026 – member rate of $25.95 per square foot, non-member $31.95.
New Exhibitor rate is $22.95.
Attendee Registration will be available by October 1st and Exhibitor Registration will be live by November 1st
AEI & BCA will continue to collocate our events with separate entrances on a shared show floor for next year.
