Clarion Gaming, organizer of the ICE London showcase, which will take place February 7-9 at ExCel London, announced this year’s edition will see exhibitors from a record 68 nations in attendance. The figure is an uplift on the previous best of 65 set in February 2020, which was the last edition of ICE pre-COVID.
The global distribution of the 623 exhibitors who will be at ICE 2023 stretches from Argentina to Australia, Macao to Mexico, and Ukraine to the United States, noted Clarion Gaming in a press statement.
Stuart Hunter, Clarion Gaming Managing Director, commented: “No other exhibition in the gaming space can come anywhere near the internationalism of ICE. To have 68 nations represented by our community of exhibitors means that visitors are immediately part of what is a global experience with unique access to the smartest gaming innovators drawn from every corner of the world.”
“There are very few exhibitions of scale in any industry sector which are able to compare with such international representation and legitimately lay claim to begin a global or a world event,” Hunter added.
Clarion’s Managing Director further stated that once an event is recognized as being “genuinely” international, stakeholder groups including brands, regulators, trade associations, media groups and strategic industry-wide bodies focus their activities accordingly.
“Research that we’ve undertaken has shown that for many people ICE and IGB Affiliate London actually start on the Sunday preceding and finish on the following Saturday,” he noted. “In that week, we estimate that over 100 gambling industry events will take place outside of the show hours providing a new and compelling perspective on why ICE and iGB Affiliate London are so influential and important to the world industry.”
Simon Thomas.E
Simon Thomas, Executive Chairman of The Hippodrome Casino, who serves as a member of the ICE Ambassador Group of industry advisers, believes that it is no longer appropriate to see ICE as “simply being a three-day live event.”
“The Hippodrome serves as a networking and hospitality hub for many gaming professionals and what we have observed is that the industry is arriving in London a lot earlier and staying considerably longer. As a consequence, ICE is more than the three days on the show floor but a full week of intensive networking, events, presentations, awards ceremonies, meetings and socializing,” Thomas stated.
“The phenomenal international credentials make this coming together of buyers, games creators, influencers and thought leaders into what I would describe as World Gaming Week. A lot of what takes place during the year in terms of industry policy, strategic alliances, partnerships, mergers/acquisitions and product launches can be traced back to conversations that occurred during the week in London,” he concluded.
In addition to welcoming exhibitors from a record 68 nations, the upcoming edition of ICE will also be “the biggest on record” occupying 51,466 square meters (sqm) of net space, exceeding the previous high of 49,690 sqm set in 2020. In total, ICE will occupy 41 halls of ExCeL London with sister show iGB Affiliate London occupying the remaining three halls.
Ahead of the event, Yogonet held an exclusive interview with Stuart Hunter, in which Clarion Gaming’s Managing Director said the upcoming edition “will see the return of all major land-based sector supplier brands” after a three-year Covid-enforced absence, and in which he discussed the most exciting features of ICE 2023. You can revisit the conversation here.
Original article: https://www.yogonet.com/international/news/2023/01/31/65912-ice-london-to-receive-623-exhibitors-from-a-record-68-different-nations
