The Casino Affiliates Convention in Las Vegas came to a close this past weekend, which despite a smaller turnout than previous years, still garnered a gathering of devoted webmasters and online casino enthusiasts. Following rumors that a mass arrest was likely to take place following the recent takedown of several Chief Executive Officers of notable online betting companies, including those of BetOnSports and SportingBet, many professionals in the online gambling industry, including several scheduled exhibitors at the Casino Affiliate Convention itself, backed out only days before the scheduled events.

The convention's organizer, New York-based Marc Lesnick, was obviously disappointed due to the lack of turnout when he stated in his opening address at the convention that it was the people, or rather, the "little boys" that backed out of the convention who were threatening the welfare and fate of the online casino gambling industry more so than the apparent threat of legislators and the U.S. Department of Justice. Rather, he said the only pressure he did actually feel (opposed to pressure from authorities to cancel the convention) was that of industry insiders and online casino affiliates. He went on to compare the spirit of those who did attend the event to the Marines at Iwo Jima raising the American flag.

Whether Lesnick was a little extreme in his statements or not, one thing is certain: the convention took place as planned, with no more supposed arrest warrants to account for. The overall atmosphere of the convention was relatively quiet on the convention floor, due to twenty-one less exhibitors than the originally planned bunch of nearly fifty exhibitors setting up their booths and only nine out of the main eighteen sponsors of the convention not backing out.

One of the highlights of the convention - aside from active networking between affiliates and online casino representatives - was the the ninety minute closing session panel in which an open discussion (with flowing beer) was facilitated, revealing that all of the attendees felt they were better off in terms of connections and future potential income for attending the convention. Capping the events was an announcement by Lesnick that all those who attended the convention would receive a free pass to the Amsterdam Casino Affiliate Convention, which is the largest in the world.