- February 7, 2020 – What I Loved, Liked and Disliked at ICE London 2019
- February 6, 2020 – A tour through ICE with Julian Graves
- February 4, 2020 – First day of the floor
- February 3, 2020 – Absorbing the vox
- February 2, 2020 – An unpleasant phone call on a pleasant flight
- January 31, 2020 – Getting ready for ICE
February 7, 2020 – What I Loved, Liked and Disliked at ICE London 2019
Love
ICE VOX: I’m going to echo Jeffrey here and list this first – the panels had a wide variety of speakers, and enough of them at each panel to offer plenty of perspectives. Many panels had four or five high profile guests – it’s clear Clarion went for quality rather than quantity.
Exhibit Hall: Though the long and skinny ExCel halls make for long walks, the show floor itself was the visual spectacle I’ve come to expect from the casino shows. While slot machines were present, they were not the focus and it great to see US companies have unique offerings in Europe related to igaming, responsible gambling, and other necessities in the European market. Jeffrey is right though – igaming operators do have trouble differentiating their booths because they are all developing products to be played on the same devices – iPads, cell phones, and computers.
Food: Though it certainly wasn’t anything fancy, it was great having reliable and decently healthy food supplied to ICE VOX attendees and in the press room. It’s not often you go to a show and there’s too many opportunities for free food that you can’t eat it all. When the press are happy and full, good things happen! Also, ExCel had dozens of interesting food selections for attendees who were simply attending the exhibition.
Jeffrey Compton: In my first visit to London, it was great to have a London veteran to remind me that I’d have to rush 5 minutes walking to make the transfer Master Google was recommending but if we stayed on another two stops we would connect with that line on the same platform. At the same time, Jeffrey and I found a lovely pub and an Indian spot in our hotel neighborhood in not so obvious locations thanks to Google. You could say we have harmony between humans and machines in our relationship.
Meeting our UK team members: I met team members Hannah Gannagé-Stewart & Paul Sculpher in person for the first time this ICE and it was very productive. In addition to their excellent coverage, Hannah was kind enough to meet with me before ICE VOX even started to give me a crash course conversation on igaming. I look forward to working more with both – our meetings certainly sparked ideas that may not have come up over internet communications.
Clarion’s hospitality: Whether it was the press room’s staff, Julian Graves’ private tour of the ICE floor, or meeting with other Clarion staff to discuss business, everyone was a joy to deal with.
Transit: London’s transit opportunities are terrific – including well priced and spacious Ubers to get us there in the morning when we didn’t want to deal with the train rush. In addition to easy taxi/Uber dropoff, ExCel has a train station just a few minute walk from the entrance. Every evening home, Jeffrey and I took the DLR train, transferred to a London Underground line, then again transferred to a TfL rail line. Despite using three railways, the transfers were easy, and the rider only pays one (extremely low) fare.
Like
Networking parties: For all our differences, Jeffrey and I both enjoy quiet, smaller, and more personal meetings. But I felt the few larger events we went to we made the best of – despite not hanging for long.
ICE VOX rooms: The rooms were well sized, stylish, and the production felt professional. But two nitpicks – The main would be on the use of roundtables for the audience – half the table is facing the wrong direction and therefore taking up room that could be used for more attendees. Also, I felt the microphones could have been balanced better – some of the speakers were hard to understand due to low audio volume.
Stealing this idea from Jeffrey: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.”
Dislike
Attempting to keep US time in UK: Last Call ended up being an unexpected challenge due to keeping the same schedule as we have in the US despite having team members back home. We added our ICE From the Floor coverage to Last Call, a report that goes out at between 1pm-1:30pm PT (4pm-4:30pm ET). In the UK this means the report is going out at 9-9:30pm – at least it should have. We were happy with the end product, but it wasn’t without twice using the hotel’s restaurant area at a late hour after arriving home from a networking event or meeting. We learned our lesson!
Press room: Awkwardly sandwiched under the elevator, the fresh sandwiches couldn’t save the press room. With two automatic doors opening every time someone walked by the loud and busy section just dozens of feet from the show floor, it was easy to get distracted. The tables had three chairs, but the tables were too small to comfortably fit two laptops on one. There were only power outlets along one wall, and most were used up by the equipment already there. There was a photo studio not completely blocked off, so the hundreds of camera flashes went directly towards the press at certain hours. The noise from ICE VOX networking events funneled down the staircase into the room. I’m not sure the solution to this issue, but I certainly wouldn’t mind walking a little longer to a more remote room if there’s one suitable.
February 6, 2020 – A tour through ICE with Julian Graves
Per yearly tradition (two years in a row makes it one, right?), Julian Graves gave a tour of ICE to a member of the CDC Gaming Reports team. Last year it was Jeffrey; this year it was my turn.
Julian Graves is a non-executive chairman of Clarion Events’ Gaming Division and helped shape ICE into what it is today. Having been with Clarion since 2005, ICE grew from a show with many distinct vendors that had little to no overlap, to a mature industry showcase featuring companies like Novomatic that have integrated an impressive number of verticals. Graves recalls the days when the igaming guys would wear t-shirts and shorts and the slots companies just had slots.
We started out in the sports betting section of the ExCel floor and discussed a bit about how AI is changing sports betting. Of all the areas in gaming, Graves said the sports betting industry is the only that’s practically unidentifiable from its state when Graves joined ICE. In 2005, it would have been unthinkable to bet on if Manchester United would convert a corner kick as it’s happening, but today it’s possible. AI is now able to analyze videos and provide incredibly specific stats that are invaluable to oddsmakers, and some companies demonstrated the possibility of offering a unique bet the AI has identified a customer would be interested in.
We stopped at Novomatic’s booth, which has been the largest on the floor for years. At 4,600 square meters or just under 50,000 square feet, it is only slightly smaller than an American football field. Novomatic is celebrating their 40th anniversary and essentially handles every part of opening a new casino from an empty building to a functional floor. They are an operator, they build their own cabinets, and even manage interior construction themselves.
One thought Graves left me with, related to igaming, was whether affiliate marketing will become as important in the US market as it has across Europe. Affiliate customers represent a significant percentage of business for igaming operators, so much so the iGB Affiliate Conference, also run by Clarion, attracts thousands of attendees from around the world for its two-day conference concurrent with ICE.
I briefly checked out the iGB Affiliate Conference to get an idea of the scene. Since affiliates make their money selling others on gambling, there are some familiar sportsbook and igaming companies, but with differently focused booths than their ICE counterpart. After all, they’re trying to sell to a salesperson.
February 4, 2020 – First day of the floor
ExCel London feels more urban in design than Sands Expo. It has a fantastic selection of restaurants in a middle aisle flanked by the two show floors, of which ICE takes full advantage of. With the restaurants, socializing, and meeting spots just dozens of feet from vendors, it’s a very cool environment that provides a variety of meeting and networking options that flow seamlessly with attending the show. At Sands Expo, meeting someone or grabbing a bite to eat is a separate 5- to 10-minute walk from the show floor. But bring your walking shoes to ExCel: The floor is significantly longer than it is wide, meaning the walk between booths at opposite ends is lengthier than at Sands.
Sands Expo and ExCel have near identical available exhibition space, but ICE is a larger show. The variety of vendors is stunning, with the larger players having smaller booths than at G2E. iGaming allows for a much greater number of companies to exist and exhibit, as opposed to the physical slot market, which has greater barriers of entry. Unlike a slot company that develops the software and hardware, then looks for an operator, many more companies are involved in the iGaming loop. Many iGaming platforms allow software to run from a variety of suppliers, making many additional layers possible – there are game developers, APIs that give operators additional functionality, and more. And there are many ways to optimize all the individual parts of the process along with an open marketplace to do so, creating an interesting and exciting environment for show attendees.
February 3, 2020 – Absorbing the vox
This morning in the World Regulatory Brief panel room, every seat was full and a crowd was standing for the back-to-back panels, “A year in review: How might regulatory changes from 2019 impact the industry in 2020 and beyond?” and “The customer journey, from onboarding to withdrawal: Keeping your customer and your business safe.” It was a good opportunity to hear from executives of large industry players, including the CEOs of LeoVegas and Bettson, on the increasing regulations continent-wide for attempts at consumer protection.
The most interesting question to me was: Does banning or restricting the advertising of legal gambling products accomplish the goal regulators would like it to? This may be very effective for physical vices, where easy-access illegal alternatives don’t really exist, but for igaming, one can argue consumers are more likely to find themselves on an illegal site if they don’t have access to ads for legal options.
By the afternoon, tables had migrated to fill the standing room, but I was in the parallel room’s International Casino Conference, listening to discussions on Japan.
Japan is experiencing an incredible tourism boom and many see IRs as a logical step to continue to draw visitors to areas of Japan. As Andrew Tottenham, one of the three panelists, stated, the goal of Japanese IRs is to be a steppingstone to nearby areas, not a sponge.
Japan already has legalized gambling. One can bet on horse races or head over to the nearest pachinko parlor. Culturally, many Japanese see these not as gambling, but as entertainment, so they fear the unknown that is casino gambling. And in their eyes, they were vindicated when 500.com bribed lawmaker Tsukasa Akimoto.
What the panelists agreed on was that Japan has a model in Singapore to follow. It accomplished all the goals it set out to, which are very similar to Japan’s: boost regional economies through tourism to the resorts.
February 2, 2020 – An unpleasant phone call on a pleasant flight
I didn’t know what to expect when I booked a round-trip flight from New York to London with Norwegian Air for $500, including meals and a checked bag.
To my surprise, we boarded early on a brand new 787 Dreamliner. The most noticeable upgrade on this plane: the cabin pressure. While most planes have pressure comparable to 8,000 feet-in altitude, the Dreamliner maintains 6,000 feet, below the supposed 6,500-foot threshold where most people get jet lag. I can vouch for this, as I’ve felt great since landing, even though I’ve only gotten 5 hours of sleep in London.
Despite being a budget carrier, Norwegian offered free wifi on the flight, which turned out to be more important than I’d expected.
About halfway through the flight, I got a voicemail delivered over the wifi.
My grandpa had passed.
We were expecting it to happen soon, but we didn’t know the exact timing. Donna, my grandpa’s wife, was trying to get ahold of my family back home to let them know. I sent chat messages to all my family members, who were able to get ahold of my mom who was currently out of the country as well. So, thank you Norwegian for making that possible.
I can probably thank my grandpa for my interest in tech. When I visited him back in 1993-’94, he invited me to his computer room where I watched him play Links, a golf game for MS-DOS. He was very good at keeping up with technology and my family’s first two computers came from him, setting me on a journey that has thus far taken me to become the Associate Publisher of CDC Gaming Reports, after responding to an ad seven years ago looking for computer help.
Upon arriving in Ilford, where my hotel is, Jeffrey and I had a toast: To Jay Springfield and keeping up with the times.
January 31, 2020 – Getting ready for ICE
As I received the email from my airline on my “last chance for a seat upgrade,” it became apparent that ICE London was coming up soon.
After hearing about ICE for years, I finally get to experience it as my first European gaming show and I’m very much looking forward to learning more about the industry overseas, one that’s on a converging path with the United States’ industry.
With my eyes on igaming, I peeked at the ICE VOX agenda. The panels range from regulatory changes (plenty with igaming) and continental roundtables, to a more familiar panels of the International Casino Conference discussing the future of Integrated Resorts in Europe and casinos investing more and more in experiences that guests can’t have anywhere else. In addition, our London-based team member Hannah Gannagé-Stewart, let me know that iGB Affiliate, a dedicated igaming conference, is running concurrent with ICE at ExCel London. Jackpot!
After a few years at G2E, I’m looking forward to checking out an unfamiliar floor. I will attempt to do as the ICE homepage declares: “Discover the next big thing in gaming.” With tons of tech-oriented companies on the floor that I’m either unfamiliar with or would love to learn more about, I will be scouting out interesting ideas and platforms to get a feel for the U.K. and broader European industry, ideas that may soon hit the U.S. market.
