The team behind ICE London continued its preparations for the large-scale return of land-based casino industry suppliers to the 2023 show floor with a senior delegation travelling to Las Vegas, United States, to discuss industry trends, challenges and opportunities with leading U.S. B2B and consumer gaming brands.
This delegation headed by Stuart Hunter, Managing Director, Clarion Gaming, met with stakeholders, including Aristocrat, Light & Wonder, AGC and Everi, among others. The ICE group also received insights on the latest consumer-trends in casino gaming and guided tours to Resorts World Las Vegas and Palms Casino.
The Las Vegas itinerary followed last month’s Casino Symposium staged in conjunction with the European Casino Association (ECA). Held at Les Ambassadeurs Casino in London, it comprised a series of C-Level discussions using the Open Space model, a format that’s driven by participants, resulting in an agenda which reflects the issues that are important to their businesses.
The 2023 edition of ICE London, which will occur on February 7-9th, will match the physical size of the pre-pandemic 2020 edition, with over 90% of stand space booked seven months in advance of the show opening.
Reflecting on the U.S. visit, Hunter expressed: “First of all, I would like to say a huge thanks to all of our partners who took time out of busy schedules to share their insight on the industry and their plans for their return to ICE London 2023. The Clarion team is heavily invested in the industry and, as custodians of the world’s most cosmopolitan B2B gaming event, I believe it’s vital that we spend time listening to our customers and stakeholders based throughout the world.”
He continued: “We discussed a wide range of issues which will continue to be explored and expanded at our next ICE Symposium taking place in Las Vegas on Monday, October 10th (the opening day of G2E). It will be led by Ewa Bakun, Clarion Gaming’s Director of Industry Insight and Engagement. Having an open dialogue with all of our customers is a central plank of our customer-first philosophy and we are very much looking forward to listening to and acting on the outcomes from October’s Symposium, which will impact both the casino industry and the opportunity that exists in sports wagering.”
Finally, he stressed: “In addition, we were able to discuss the return of the land-based sector in February 2023, as well as underline our commitments to help maximise ROI and to ensure that ICE London continues to play a lead role in helping to deliver their business objectives. The insight and feedback that we received during our time in Vegas is already being fed into the 2023 at-show experience. The Symposium format, adopted from the Ampersand assembly held previously in Las Vegas, is proving extremely popular as a platform for our stakeholders to help shape and influence the show. We will be completing the 2022 Symposium programme with an event dedicated to the online gambling sector in November, at a venue in Europe.”