ICE London, which is seen as the leading global gaming technology event, is due to be held in February 2022 at ExCeL in Docklands, London.
However, after further complications due to COVID-19 for the 2021 instalment of the event, it has had its future choice of venue thrown into further doubt following allegations from Merkur Gaming.
The leading iGaming development company, a popular brand at reputable online casinos across Europe, released a statement in September revealing concerns over hosting ICE in London in the future. It claimed rising concerns about the difficulties presented by Brexit, citing costs for non-EU businesses were worrying. Now, a recent survey carried out by Explori found that the costs involved in travel and transport, accommodation, the exhibiting space offered, and social events had re-ignited concerns that London was no longer suitable to hold the event past its 2022 edition.
This statement has only re-surfaced earlier concerns from several leading exhibitors about this issue after the COVID-19 postponements and the cancellation of the 2021’s event. Merkur Gaming, which is the development brand and international sales arm of Gauselmann Group, also added a statement made by one of the leading executives in the industry. This claimed that even though several of the top brand exhibitors had voiced such concerns, it seemed that their opinions were not important. Furthermore, they believed that it had left them in the dark over the decision and that a possible reset of the event being held in London past 2022 had to be considered.
ExCeL Great, Hosting ICE in London Not So
The Gauselmann Group, however, agreed that the ExCeL venue was a fantastic site, but Docklands location, on the other hand, was not because of Brexit and all the costs involved compared to locations on the European mainland. Merkur also pointed to an article from December 2020 by iGaming magazine European Casino – The Elite. The article, which was named ‘Clarion Gaming (sic) Should Take ICE out of the UK’, highlighted these growing worries and went on to say that it had to take this opportunity to move ICE away from the UK. These comments were made by the magazine’s editor Emeritus Pedro Galindo Guerra.
Merkur, who have had no such complaints about attending other industry events including the LUDI SFM Event in Nice, concluded that these issues were only growing and would not disappear. With so many of its leading brands so concerned about the ongoing future of its leading gaming exhibition, it is the widespread opinion that these exhibitors must come together to discuss these issues freely and what the best solution to said problems might be.
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