The 2016 edition of ICE (2-4 February) will be the biggest on record with the world’s most international gaming expo occupying 38,980 square metres (sqm) of net floor space, across 15 of the 20 halls available at the ExCeL Centre, London’s largest purpose-built events and conference venue. This compares against the figures for ICE 2015 which comprised 37,500 sqm and occupied 14 halls.
Kate Chambers, who has directed the development of ICE at ExCeL said: “An important part of our decision to make ExCeL the new home for ICE in 2013 was based on the ability the venue provides to grow and develop the world’s most important gaming expo within a modern business environment.
“In the exhibition industry, size is clearly an important issue, however, as guardians of what has become world gaming’s most influential business-to-business event, we are mindful of the need to ensure that the pace of growth is measured and sustainable. ICE is now part of the fabric of world gaming and Clarion has a development strategy in place designed to ensure that continues to be the case over the long-term.”
Visitors attending the ‘ICE Gaming Technopolis’, will have access to 510 exhibiting organisations drawn from a record 62 nations. As well as providing an insight to the latest product innovations and services, ICE is also the biggest learning and knowledge-exchange event in world gaming delivering 70 hours of learning opportunities from 200 thought leaders drawn from both within and outside the international gaming community.
ICE Totally Gaming is the only B2B gaming event that brings together the online and offline gaming sectors. Featuring world-leading innovators drawn from the casino, betting, bingo, lottery, mobile, online and street sectors, ICE provides a comprehensive and international perspective on gaming. Visitors to ICE Totally Gaming can also explore the hottest growth areas in land-based, online and mobile gaming courtesy of the ICE Conferences programme, which delivers a unique opportunity to benefit from targeted learning and networking.
Gamesman will be using February’s ICE exhibition to present the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and Mesothelioma UK with a combined total in excess of £26,000 thanks to the imaginative and generous fundraising activities of the company, its staff, colleagues and customers in the international casino industry.
The gaming equipment, components and systems manufacturer, part of the Esterline Corporation, launched its Target 25K campaign in aid of the two charities at ICE 2015. The figure has been reached months ahead of target.
Taking up the story behind Target 25K, Gamesman Managing Director, Mark Smith said: “I don’t think many people had heard of Mesothelioma before we learned that our Technical Director and dear friend, James Cove had contracted this particularly aggressive form of lung cancer, aged just 43 years. After the shock of hearing the news, we determined to do something positive and Target 25K was conceived and then launched at ICE 2015.
“Over the year we have participated in a range of fantastic fundraising activities and received the support of many colleagues from within the industry. The team at Gamesman has shown outstanding energy, imagination and good humour, undertaking a variety of gruelling fundraising tasks. Highlights include staging a charity football match at the home of Premier League Crystal Palace Football Club, a bucket collection at ICE, marathon running and holding a poker tournament at Green Valley Ranch prior to G2E in Las Vegas, where we received tremendous support from our customers.
“Exhibitions, and in particular ICE as the most international gathering on the gaming industry calendar, provide an opportunity for the entire industry to come together, discuss and share issues both business and personal. This will be our 19th consecutive year at ICE and it’s fitting that we will be presenting the results of our fundraising at our home show in London where the Gamesman story began. I can look back and chart all of the really significant moments in our company history against the products we showed and the contacts we made at each edition of ICE.
“I would like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who has supported us and to Kate Chambers and her team at ICE, for giving us the green light to launch and celebrate the Target 25k campaign at our home show.”
The National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) and Victor Rocha, editor of Pechanga.net, in collaboration with the Arizona Indian Gaming Association (AIGA), and Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA), have combined forces to seek new business opportunities in Europe at the upcoming ICE Totally Gaming tradeshow.
Additionally, NIGA, AIGA, and OIGA will present an informative seminar series during the tradeshow. The seminar series is produced by Victor Rocha, owner of the influential news website Pechanga.net.
“NIGA, AIGA, and OIGA are united in coming to ICE Totally Gaming for a very clear purpose: To let Europe know we are open for business and are actively seeking business opportunities,” said Ernie Stevens, Jr., Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association. “ICE is the world’s largest and most important global casino industry tradeshow, and the world needs to understand that Tribal Gaming is an integral part of the global gaming landscape. We are coming to ICE to expand our enterprises, and we are actively seeking business partners who value the opportunities we have to offer.”
To help attendees and exhibitors understand the past history, present economic scope, and future business potential for gaming in Indian Country, NIGA, AIGA and OIGA are presenting the “U.S. Tribal Gaming Seminar Series” on Tuesday, February 2 during ICE. The series takes place in the ExCel Centre South Gallery, rooms 9 & 10 from 10:25 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. Admission is free to all ICE Totally Gaming visitors.
Seminar chair Rocha said, “To do business in Indian Country, it is imperative to have a full understanding of where we came from, where we are, and where we can go in the future. We carefully created this series to help attendees gain knowledge from the world’s leading experts, who have graciously volunteered their time to make this series a success.”
Popular online casino brand Casino Cruise announced the addition of live dealer software powered by LuckyStreak’s live casino platform. Under the terms of their agreement, LuckyStreak would provide the gambling operator with roulette, blackjack, and baccarat tables, all operated by live dealers. In fact, the live casino provider would be Casino Cruise’s leading one.
Ariel Reem, CEO of the online casino brand, said that they have been looking for a new live casino experience provider for quite some time now and that LuckyStreak proved to be exactly what they have been searching for. Mr. Reem further explained that they liked the“player first attitude” that LuckyStreak has adopted and that the innovative feel and look of its games perfectly corresponds to Casino Cruise’s strategy to provide gambling customers with “Vegas-style realism” in real time.
Currently, Casino Cruise online casino brand features a multi-vendor platform with more than 800 gaming titles available to players. The brand was named Best Affiliate Program Newcomer at the 2015 iGB Awards that were held not long ago.
Commenting on the agreement, Ady Totah, CEO of LuckyStreak, said that they are really excited with the opportunity to partner with such “a forward-thinking” casino company thatpays particular attention to the experience its gambling customers are provided with.
Generally speaking, LuckyStreak is a new live casino platform. When launched in May, the company said that it is dedicated to change the world of live-dealer-operated online casino games and that it would take a “player first” approach in order for its partners to provide players with the best possible gaming experience. LuckySteak’s development is based in Tel Aviv and its live studio is located in the Baltics.
In fact, it was yesterday that the company launched its latest live casino platform. Amit Shalev, COO at LuckyStreak, said that what distinguishes their new gaming interface from the rest offered on the market is “a welcoming and engaging” environment and 16:9 HD stream, which allows gambling customers to enjoy excellent live casino experience “from the comfort of their home.”
According to Mr. Shalev, the current environment offered by other live casino providers is outdated, lacking in visual appeal, and indifferent to the requirements of the various markets
ICE Conferences has confirmed its status as the biggest learning and knowledge-exchange event in world gaming. The 2016 agenda comprises over 64 hours of learning opportunities, delivered by 140 thought leaders drawn from both within and outside the international gaming community. The eight strong programmers open with the International Casino Conference (ICC) on Monday 1st February. Organized in partnership with the European Casino Association (ECA), the ICC is being held at the award winning Hippodrome, which is the UK’s busiest and most popular casino, and is located in Leicester Square, central London. The ICC is followed by Modernising Lotteries: Retail & Digital; Data Insight & Business Intelligence and a programmer dedicated to Cross-Platform & Multi-Channel Gaming (all Tuesday 2nd February). Wednesday 3rd February, the final full day of ICE Conferences, will feature Game Design & Development; World Regulatory Briefing (organized in partnership with IAGA); Betmarkets (organized in partnership with SBCNews) and Cybercrime, Security & Regulatory Compliance (organised in partnership with GAMSHIELD). The threat of Cybercrime and the importance of combating it, is reflected in the decision to include an add-on workshop led by the specialist Organized Crime Command based at New Scotland Yard. The workshop will run from 10 – 12.00 on Thursday 4th February. Reflecting on the role and importance of the ICE Conferences programmer, Marketing Director, Jo Mayer said: “ICE is unique within the gaming sector in that it is an event which delivers invaluable commercial/product exchange opportunities for our 25,000 visitors, as well as the opportunity to participate in high level information or knowledge exchange. We know from our customer research, that our visitors value the opportunity to learn about the key contemporary issues impacting gaming via ICE Conferences and then be able to meet with the industry in action on the show floor. “Our invitation to the world gaming community in 2016 is to ‘Enter The Gaming Technopolis’. This applies equally to ICE Conferences at which the subject matter and content is designed to help prepare international business for the technological, regulatory and social challenges and opportunities which lie ahead.”
The ICE App, one of the most popular information tools used by exhibitors, visitors and ICE Conference delegates alike, is available to download for free from the iTunes App Store and the Google Play Store.
The App, which was visited on 38,000 occasions in the lead up to and during the 2015 edition of ICE, enables attendees to the world’s biggest gaming exhibition to access the full event schedule, browse the latest product launches, receive information on all of the speakers taking part in the ICE Conference and Seminar programme, as well as develop a personal event planner to remind them of appointments and business meetings. It also features a detailed interactive floor-plan to help attendees navigate the Gaming Technopolis and keep fully up-to-date with the latest developments through a link to the #ICE2016 social media tag.
ICE Marketing Director Jo Mayer said: “The invitation we have extended to the international gaming community in 2016 is to ‘Enter the Gaming Technopolis’ – the surreal, pop-up gaming city, where connections are made, where ideas flourish and where conversations are all about the future.”
The Totally Gaming Academy, a range of training courses inspired by industry personality Lucien Wijsman and developed in order to enhance bottom-line revenues for both gaming operators and suppliers, will be using its debut appearance at ICE to showcase its portfolio of courses with a series of one hour introductions and tasters.
Delivered by experts in their respective fields, the four courses comprise: The Slot Academy, a land-based and online casino management training program (presented by Lucien Wijsman); The Online Masterclass, an interactive course for online operators and suppliers (Igor Samardziski); Sport Betting Academy – a course which provides best practice implementation in order to drastically improve revenue margins (Jonathan Smith) and Casino Marketing – a practical course equipping delegates with the tools to build and implement a 12-month marketing plan (Arjan Korstjens).
Marketing Director Jo Mayer, believes the popularity of ICE with international regulators is an important and often overlooked feature of the event. She explained: “In 2015 we welcomed 417 regulators to London and we are expecting an increase on those numbers in 2016.
“We know that ICE sets the agenda in terms of new products, new technologies and new thinking – now, I think, we can safely say that it helps shape the way in which regulators perceive the business. I would argue that ICE represents the very best shop window for the sector and when regulators walk the aisles at ExCeL they will see a mature, dynamic and socially responsible industry, factors which will surely help to dispel some of the more lurid misconceptions of gaming.
“It is a testament to the reputation that ICE enjoys on the world stage that so many regulators will be at the Gaming Technopolis in February.”
GamCrowd and Clarion Events are again looking for start-ups in the online gambling sector to enter the Pitch ICE competition taking place during ICE TotallyGaming 2016.
Entrepreneurs are also invited to take a place in a day of curated presentations and discussions designed to give start-ups the very best advice about launching a business in the sector. Participants will also receive trade press exposure in the lead up to the event and in the post-Pitch ICE coverage as well as networking opportunities during the three days.
Start-ups interested in being a part of the show – which runs between Tuesday, February 2 and Thursday, February 4 – have until December 31 to apply.
Pitch ICE is now in its second successful year. It gives start-ups the platform to present their ideas and innovations to attendees from the global gambling industry direct from the stage.
Over the first two days of Pitch ICE, between 15-20 start-ups will get two 15-minute slots to present their business. On the Thursday, the GamCrowd Studio workshop takes over with a series of talks and start-up advice from industry experts.
Chris North, founder and chief executive at GamCrowd, said: “The Pitch ICE show has evolved this year to and is more content-rich than ever. We are hoping not only to showcase the best new ideas but also to provide information and advice from a range of advisors with knowledge of how to get a business up-and-running in this sector.”
