LONDON – So long, Earls Court. Goodbye, Blackbird pub. Thanks for the memories, Bombay Brasserie. It was a good run, Millennium Gloucester hotel. Farewell, Stanhope Arms. I won’t forget you, Bailey’s Hotel bar. Will miss watching late-night NFL with you, Holiday Inn friends. Cheerio, neighborhood stroll with brolly.
And so it ended, the long run of the London gaming trade show at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre, 20-plus years, now headed a long way from the familiar surroundings of west-central London, bound for the ExCeL Exhibition Centre in the Docklands area of east London. While Earls Court is far from the most elegant structure that beckons the global gaming industry, it became a comfortable gathering place over the years and one that will be missed.
Nostalgia aside, we must move on, and that means taking the taxi, tube and train to ExCeL for the ICE Totally Gaming show starting next year on new dates, Feb. 5-7. After touring ExCeL on the Sunday prior to ICE, it’s clear the venue is superior to Earls Court in many ways. Earls Court opened in 1937, so it’s not a surprise that the venue as an exhibition center has been far from ideal. ExCeL, on the other hand, is a modern facility built to the specifications exhibitors are accustomed to while showing off their products at an event like G2E, whether that be at the Las Vegas Convention Center or the Sands Expo.
The journey to ExCeL was not an easy one for those of us who enjoy the short neighborhood walks near Earls Court. From the Gloucester Road tube stop, underground we went on the Piccadilly Line before switching to the Jubilee Line at the Green Park station. Nine stations later, we hopped off the tube and jumped on the Docklands Light Railway train above ground for three more stops before reaching the Prince Regent stop at ExCeL, bringing an end to the journey that totaled about 75 minutes one way.
After touring the massive structure, we hopped off the tube on the way back at Canary Wharf, which is a major business district and features gleaming office towers that create a modern environment unlike what you find elsewhere in old London. Without an obvious entertainment hub directly surrounding ExCeL, it’s safe to say that the Canary Wharf area, a short taxi ride away, will likely become the spot to gather after hours going forward.
Change is inevitable and we’ll all adjust, as will the customers who attend the show and buy products from the global gaming suppliers who exhibit at ICE, led by the members of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM).
The overall change at ICE is not limited to a new venue, however. The show this year was filled with the usual traditional casino chatter, but the louder voice came from those who are pushing the business categories that include buzz words like interactive, Internet, online, cloud and mobile. Those words may currently mean different things to different people in different countries, but there’s no denying that gaming is headed in bold, new directions.
With European countries already on the cutting edge of new legal wagering options, whether that be mobile sports betting in the U.K. or impending online casinos in Spain, the ICE show has long served as the environment for those throughout Europe and elsewhere to gather and discuss new developments beyond traditional land-based casinos. It used to be that the ICE show included exhibitors displaying fruit, AWP and arcade machines, but that segment has moved on (to ExCeL, ironically) as Clarion Events, the ICE organizers, made the right call to look forward and not back, by embracing emerging technologies and new wagering options.
The frenzy surrounding these new business opportunities was heightened at ICE by the December news in the U.S. that the Department of Justice had a new opinion on the 1961 Wire Act that some interpret to be a potential green light for online lottery sales, Internet poker and possibly more. That, combined with the Nevada Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission approving in December regulations governing intranet poker within that state, had those attending ICE talking even louder about what the future may hold. Traditional slot manufacturers not only had impressive new games at ICE, but they devoted a good amount of space in their stands to new technologies, and their executives were name-dropping like an eager playboy at a ladies’ night bar party. “Cloud” and “interactive” seemed to be the most prominent buzz words, but what they really mean from a practical standpoint and what the business opportunities truly are depended on who was pitching what.
One thing is clear, and that is that these new gaming segments will be a prominent part of all industry trade shows in the future. ICE may be the leader based on its location in Europe, but these new ideas are proliferating around the world, and it is clear AGEM members are poised to showcase their global status as technology and content providers for any of the emerging prospects.
With change comes opportunity, and that applies whether we’re all walking around a new trade show venue or chasing new business in markets throughout the gaming world.
Marcus Prater is Executive Director of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM). He can be reached by e-mail at AGEM.org[at]cox.net or by phone at (702) 812-6932. The association’s website is www.AGEM.org.
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