Oct. 2--LAS VEGAS--The casino industry is healthy but has stopped growing, American Gaming Association President Frank Fahrenkopf said Monday in remarks opening the group's first Global Gaming Expo trade show. 

For the first time, the number of commercial casinos in the United States shrank slightly in 2000, to around 425 in 11 states, the association said in its annual state of the industry report. 

At the same time, overall casino revenues continue to expand -- to $25 billion last year -- as Americans embrace gambling as legitimate entertainment, the report said. 

"Casino gaming has won the acceptance of the American people," Fahrenkopf said. 

The national picture is reflected in Kansas City, where the market has stabilized with four casinos that sometimes take in a combined $50 million a month. Area attendance has flattened, but revenue has increased as the average gambler loses more per visit. 

This weeks's so-called G2E trade show is the association's first solo effort at staging an industrywide event. In two weeks, the rival World Gaming Congress will open its 15th annual trade show, at the Sands Expo Center, also in Las Vegas. 

The American Gaming Association had been a partner with Overland Park-based GEM Communications LLC for four years in producing the World Gaming Congress in Las Vegas every year. But the association split away after last year's show in a tug of war over revenues. 

In remarks Monday opening the G2E show, Fahrenkopf said registered attendance had surpassed 10,000, with 375 exhibitors showing the industry's latest products. GEM said last week it expected more than 500 exhibitors and 20,000 people to attend. 

Last year's Congress show drew more than 25,000, with more than 700 exhibitors. 

Dan Weindruch, general manager of the Isle of Capri Casino in Kansas City, is in Las Vegas for the G2E show and said he won't be back for GEM's show in two weeks. 

"We've very loyal to AGA," he said. 

In addition to the trade show, both events feature scores of seminars and panel discussions on hot-button industry topics such as the possible legalization of Internet gambling in Nevada, and sessions with curious titles such as "Show Me the Money" and "Ethics & Gaming: Doing the Right Thing." 

Missouri Gaming Commission Executive Director Kevin Mullally will be a panelist Wednesday on strategies for casinos and regulators to combat underage gambling. 

Also this week, Mullally's appointment to the board of directors of the National Center for Responsible Gaming will be announced. 

The independent, nonprofit center was established in Kansas City in 1996 by the association to finance research on the causes and treatment of compulsive gambling. The center has received $7 million in donations from casino companies and others and has awarded more than $3 million for academic, peer-reviewed research. 

The conventions also offer technical sessions on casino management issues. The GEM show includes a one-day institute for slot managers on issues such as the increasingly short shelf life of games and the latest tricks by cheaters. 

G2E counters with a one-day training institute that includes security and surveillance topics. 

G2E's keynote speaker this year is entertainer Whoopi Goldberg, whose visage will appear on the new Hollywood Squares slot machine being unveiled by WMS Gaming this week. 

Bally Gaming and Systems' newest slot machine, America the Beautiful, may be the hit of the G2E show this week -- and again in two weeks when it is reintroduced at the Gaming Congress by parent Alliance Gaming Corp. 

The game and its video components use as their theme the music and career of singer Ray Charles. The centerpiece performance during jackpot payouts is Charles' rendition of the patriotic title song. 

Alliance President and Chief Executive Robert Miodunski said that the game had been in production for eight months and that its patriotic slant was established long before the events of Sept. 11. 

Though the game hasn't made it to casino floors yet, Miodunski said the company is in negotiations with various gaming company customers to earmark a portion of profits from each game for the American Red Cross for the first six months of the game's life. 

"It's something we feel very strongly about," he said. 

The game is also thought to be the industry's first with Braille features and an audio assist feature for visually impaired players. 

During the week, Isle of Capri Inc. Chairman Bernie Goldstein will be recognized as the industry's executive of the year, and Argosy Gaming will be recognized for the top board of directors. Both companies operate riverboat casinos in the Kansas City market. 

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(c) 2001, The Kansas City Star, Mo. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ISLE, ALLY, AGY,