On March 18, Monografie authorities confirmed exclusively to Yogonet the death of businessman Giorgio Gennari Litta, who was considered one of the pioneers of the gaming industry in Latin America through his contribution to the organization of the SAGSE exhibitions for more than 30 years.
Due to health problems derived from his advanced age, the businessman had to be hospitalized last week at the CEMIC sanatorium in the city of Buenos Aires, but these ailments did not prevent him, in the last months, from carrying out a constant activity in Monografie, a company he created in 1992 and through which he organized the traditional events of the sector in Argentina, Uruguay, and Panama.
On Saturday, March 18, from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm, a memorial was held in his honor at Casa Forest, 906 Forest Avenue, Buenos Aires, where friends and family gathered to pay their respects.
Giorgio Gennari Litta and the VP of Monografie, Alan Burak
“It is a great loss for the Monografie team since Giorgio put his stamp and always maintained an unquestionable presence in all the events we carried out in Argentina, Panama, and the rest of Latin America and even in the United States, as well as in so many other ventures that for many years bore his imprint. We will miss his vision, his strength, and his drive, and I believe that the industry loses, with his departure, an indisputable reference: he was a great entrepreneur and a pioneer in the world of casino events”, said Alan Burak, vice-president of Monografie, who for the last 22 years worked together with Gennari Litta in the development and growth of the SAGSE brand.
Gennari Litta was born in Milan (Italy) in 1935 and developed his passion for journalism and the business world at an early age, creating a multilingual guide to the casinos of Europe in 1990.
“The Cathedrals of Gaming – A Guide to Casinos in Europe” was the first printed document showing the importance of the industry in the Old Continent at a time when casinos were still under a biased view from society. Despite this prejudice, Gennari Litta decided to highlight its advantages in terms of legal entertainment offer, investment engine, tax collection, job creation, and infrastructure.
His passion as an entrepreneur led him to look for new markets; and it was then when he left Europe to discover the incipient Latin American market when he created (in 1991) the first edition of SAGSE in Argentina, an event that took place at the Sheraton Hotel in the city of Buenos Aires.
Today SAGSE is a reference at the regional level, which at that time was derived from the original name of the event: South American Gaming and Suppliers Expo. This was the first gathering of the casino industry in Latin America, which brought together great businessmen and executives with only a FAX machine, a telephone, and great ideas.
The first exhibition gave way to the transfer of its headquarters since it left Buenos Aires to disembark in the then recently inaugurated Conrad Hotel and Casino in Punta del Este, Uruguay, but already from its third edition, it returned to Argentine soil in search of a larger area in which to develop the exhibition.
From those first 150 visitors to the last event held before the pandemic at the Costa Salguero convention center, with more than 20,000 m2 of exhibition space, marked the history of one of the most renowned industry meetings in Latin America. Not to mention the development of SAGSE Panama, which for 16 years served as an exhibition in that market, and the organization of SAGSE meetings in Costa Rica, Aruba, Mexico, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, and Spain. The latest example of its growth is its arrival in the United States, with the successful SAGSE Miami held in the last two years.
In addition, it is worth mentioning the entrepreneurial spirit of Giorgio Gennari Litta, who created a Human Resources team to help managers find a new job within the industry, called SAGSE Talent; or the SAGSE Academy, training events associated with one of the most prestigious universities in Argentina, to encourage casino managers to obtain more knowledge and marketing tools.
In his career as an entrepreneur, and always linked to the sector, he also created the IOC (a training center with offices in Buenos Aires aimed at teaching international courses for croupiers), with the support of the UNLV, which became the first Educational Program in Latin America and “Training of Trainers,” where managers from all Latin America attended to learn the best practices of their peers. Finally, the creation of SAGSE Match.com, the first b2b matchmaking platform in the industry, was highlighted.
“Giorgio Gennari Litta developed what today we can call the largest entertainment network and community in Latin America. He is considered one of the most outstanding promoters of gaming in the region and, with more than 30 years of experience in the country, SAGSE continues to be the most international exhibition of the industry in Latin America”, Monografie commented.
Those of us who make Yogonet every day can attest to his enthusiasm, his strength, and his business vision, and we mourn this loss, knowing that his memory will remain in the minds of many in the industry as a man central to the development of the sector at a regional level.
“The challenge of the entertainment industry is to serve, in the best possible way and with high-quality products and services, the casino operators, who in turn seek to satisfy the desires of the players. The need is always the same, entertainment, although over time, the forms that this sector takes to change, from a roulette table to a virtual sport or from horse betting to sports betting… this is always changing, the need is always the same,” Gennari Litta commented a few years ago when analyzing the evolution of the sector in an interview with Yogonet.
A lover of good food, of returning to Italy to spend summers with his family, of strong personality and convictions, and owner of an enviable drive, on June 22, he would have reached the age of 88, having devoted the last 30 years to this industry, with commendable strength and passion.
