Paying to go to E3

Anyway, "bucket list item?" "Lifelong dream?" Are you kidding me?
I got into that shit when I worked at a game store as a teenager and in my early 20s-
I always assumed all these YouTubers are paying to get in and go. That's why I was baffled by Evilore's thing as he could have easily paid to go that one year.
In my case, I'm pretty sure they were over allotments given that I got offered (especially EA which probably gets boxes worth dumped on them), but I remember even back then you could pay and they'd let you in for practically no "valid" reason. But I wasn't going to pay for flying out to LA for it, though somebody else I "worked" with did and thought it was amazing to spend three days in a conference hall for some reason.
I know they lessened the rules a ton in recent years to where they let in pretty much anyone that pays. It's the conferences (and parties) you've needed actual invites to.