Canadian Gaming Association president at ICE Barcelona to talk growth and opportunity at home

Monday, January 20, 2025 9:00 PM
Photo:  Shutterstock
  • Mark Keast, CDC Gaming

There is a healthy Canadian presence at this week’s ICE Barcelona, according to Canadian Gaming Association (CGA) President and CEO Paul Burns. 

The Canadian presence at ICE started Monday with a CGA event for both association members and the wider gaming industry at The Cotton House Hotel, the first day of the three-day networking, business, and educational event. 

This year, 55,000 people will be attending ICE Barcelona, featuring over 1,000 events, including conferences, exhibitions, and social gatherings, with 630 global exhibitors and 384 speakers. Gaming professionals across all sectors, including betting, bingo, casino, esports, lottery, mobile, online, social, sports betting, are attending.  

ICE is holding the event in Barcelona for the first time, at the Fira Gran Via in the heart of the city.  

There’s no better person than Burns to talk with about the Canadian contingent there, with the CGA event last night. CDC Gaming caught up with Burns in a limo on the way to the airport to catch a plane to the event. 

Burns said the past few years, the CGA has hosted these events at Canada House in Trafalgar Square, when London was hosting the event.  

“We do it to bring together industry and Canadians and those who are interested in the market, as a chance to network,” he said. “And that’s really what we designed them for, a chance to bring our members together, because we do have a lot of members based in Europe. It provides an opportunity for the industry to connect.  

“I talked to a lot of people who are still interested in looking at supplying, even operating, in the Canadian market. There’s always interest. Alberta could very likely be the only new jurisdictions in North America this year. There are some promising signs in some other parts of the U.S., but Alberta’s moving forward. So there’s a lot of interest and I’m learning more about what it’s going to look like.” 

You have a good chance of running into people you know in the industry there, Burns added, all to connect, learn, and share. ICE Barcelona is a touch point for everyone, from the game machine manufacturers based in Las Vegas, their global customers, both land-based and online, to a contingent from the Canadian lottery corporations. 

“It’s more geared toward igaming, but not exclusively,” Burns said. “Europe has always been a little further ahead when it came to igaming, technology and products, and there was always a chance for Canadian crown corporations to see and learn new things. It is a popular show for that reason. These are the shows, as well as G2E, the Canadian Gaming Summit and SBC shows, that we see a lot of Canadians at. It’s always been important for CGA to have a presence [at ICE].” 

Last year, Alberta Minister of Service Alberta and Red Tape Reduction Dale Nally formally opened the door to a new igaming market with a speech at ICE London. 

“Adding Alberta to the mix helps Ontario, and it will help other provinces get closer to making decisions, to begin to take the steps to fully regulate their market,” Burns said. “I think that’s encouraging, and that’s why we are working with the folks in Alberta to make sure that they have the information they need to market for the decisions they need to make.” 

Look for major Canadian companies like Bragg Gaming Group and GeoComply at the ICE Barcelona show this week.