SBC News Voice of the Sports Betting Industry
Changes to worldwide regulatory requirements combined with new technology and consumer demands are set to deeply impact the gambling industry’s convoluted value chain. The upcoming ICE 2015 (London Execl Arena 3-5 February) conference will play an important role in setting up the gambling industry’s 2015 key agenda and dicussions
The dedicated gambling/igaming conference will look to bring a board range of subject matters to attending delegates, and will further showcase the industry’s latest innovations for all segments of gambling and sports betting operations. Ahead of ICE 2015 SBC discusses the conferences format and agenda with Clarion Events Ewa Bakun, Head of Content and Jo Mayer Marketing Director of Clarion Gaming,
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SBC: Jo and Ewa great to catch up. ICE Totally Gaming comes back to the London Excel Centre on 3-5 February, why is ICE 2015 so important and what has your team got in stall for industry delegates?
Jo: ICE enables visitors to travel around the entire land-based and online gaming world in just three days. In 2014 23,506 attendees from 156 nations travelled to London to see 515 exhibiting companies who chose ICE as their international shop window. Whilst the primary function of an international event such as ICE is based around the commercial exchange of new products, technologies and services, the exchange of knowledge, information and ideas have become increasingly important.
Ewa: As Jo highlights, ICE has a huge educational offering ensuring that our visitors can not only discover the newest products that will help them differentiate and innovate, but also that they keep abreast of the latest industry trends in product design, marketing, regulation and business strategy to stay ahead of the competition. Eight premium conferences and a whole series of niche free-to-attend seminars are part of the learning proposition at ICE to inspire our audience to innovate and keep growing their businesses.
SBC: How have 2014 regulatory and legislative changes impacted on ICE 2015 context and content? As event producers how do you feel that the industry’s agenda has changed and how will you showcase this at ICE2015?
Ewa: The biggest development, probably, are the changing regulations and move to the PoC tax in the UK, and the implications will be discussed at length during the World Regulatory Briefing. By ICE, we will know the first effects, which are expected to be far reaching and affecting not only the UK market, but the global operators, faced with the need to license and pay taxes in the UK now. Looking beyond UK, of course we’ll continue the discussion on furthering regulatory cooperation and harmonisation of regulatory, licensing and compliance standards, something that the industry has been pushing for, not only in Europe, but also in the USA. We’ll also take a global look, at WrB and through smaller briefings, such BgC and JgC breakfasts, and the IMGL Masterclass, at new markets possibly opening up, such as Japan, Latin America or Africa.
SBC: The ICE team is now dealing with multiple industry topics and agendas. In terms of show content/context, how do you ensure that concerns from multiple stakeholders are covered in a balanced manner?
Ewa: The production of the ICE content is preceded by a very thorough research and engagement with all of the industry stakeholders, which gives a great insight into what different groups think. We have probably spoken to around 200 industry experts while putting the programmes together to ensure they’re tailored to the needs of a wide variety of ICE visitors. We have also been working with industry associations.
If you look at the ICE Conferences, some of them focus on a specific group, such as land-based casinos (at the International Casino Conference), bookmakers (BetMarkets) or lotteries (Lotteries for the Future), which we feel have very specific challenges that they want to discuss with their peers. Others look at specific geographies, like JgC and BgC breakfasts (that will give an update on Japan and Brazil) or GiGse lunch (focused on the USA). Finally, there is a whole set of content that looks at a particular industry trend or topic, across different verticals and channels, e.g. data insight and BI, cross-channel gaming, regulations, security, cryptocurrencies or game design.
SBC: As a team you have grown ICE conferences learning and knowledge content, why is this an important factor ICE 2015 format, and how has your team undertaken developments to implement in-conference learnings and knowledge take outs?
Ewa: We are offering a lot of content, through the eight ICE Conferences, many seminars and networking events around a specific topic or geography, because we have learnt over the years that there is demand, among our visitors, for learning and more focused networking. ICE attracts so many visitors and content sessions built around a particular challenge or opportunity, provide a great platform to meet people with similar interests who might offer answers on how to grow business in various areas, whether it’s through adoption of a cross-channel strategy, creation of more engaging game content or geographical expansion.
Jo: We always think about how we should improve the learning experience of our delegates and certainly making the environment much more collaborative is at the top of our agenda. We have found that interactivity isn’t an easy thing to implement, but keep trying with new formats, such as ICE Conferences Ideas Wall (which will allow the delegates to post their thoughts and ideas and add to the discussions scheduled by us), the popular roundtable discussions, Game to Watch competition and peer discussions.
SBC: ICE conferences deal with multiple stakeholder, who will have different interests and opinions regarding the industry and its progress. How does your team deal with this factor and can ICE conferences still a be regarded as gambling conference?
Ewa: I think that’s the beauty of ICE – that it’s so open to everyone and encompasses all of the forms of gambling. Absolutely – gambling is still at the core of the show, which attracts all of the peripheral sectors and businesses that enrich the learning and networking experience of our visitors, always eager to learn from best practice of different industries.
The new industry entrants bring fresh thinking to the show, and they also add to the conferences, so we also try to embrace them by consulting during research and by inviting them to speak.
Jo: ICE is also increasingly the industry’s political hub and the landmark event at which policy is debated and decided by many of the industry’s most influential trade bodies. We are committed to work in partnership with our trade association partners to ensure that ICE remains at the centre of all things gaming and in the process delivers on behalf of all of its community of stakeholders. the key themes and topics that will discussed at ICE 2015 conferences.
SBC: Finally, as the production team of ICE conferences, how do you see your event progressing and developing with the gambling/igaming sectors in the coming years?
Ewa: It is a very dynamic industry, so it’s difficult to predict the offering for 2016 and beyond. What I can promise is that we will keep our close engagement with the industry to make sure we’re staying on top of industry trends and identify correctly the opportunities that the industry wants to explore so we can provide the right formats, thought leaders and environments that will help ICE visitors to capitalise on them. As I mentioned before, there is a lot of thinking that goes into formats so we will keep innovating these as well. We have realised that learning no longer happens just in conference rooms and in passive way, and we are aware we need to adapt our events to new ways in which people assimilate information and network.
Jo: We promise to continue to listen to our customers, to continue to learn and adapt both content and formats to ensure ICE Conferences and ICE Totally Gaming remain relevant. In 2015, ICE as a stand alone event celebrates its 20th birthday. By continuing what we are doing, I hope that we will be celebrating many more birthdays to come.
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Ewa Bakun, Head of Content Clarion Gaming
Jo Mayer, Marketing Director Clarion Gaming
