Clarion Events, producer of ICE Totally gaming, GIGSE, EiG and other major trade events, announced it has acquired a majority interest in the Slot Academy and Slot Summit trade events created and run by industry veteran Lucien Wijsman.
Wijsman, who was an executive of Holland Casinos for 12 years and worked for three years at Germany’s Gauselmann Group before establishing the conferences, will retain significant shares of each event and their brands.
“We are delighted to have agreed to this deal with Lucien,” said Julian Graves, managing director of Clarion’s Gaming Division, “which will see him remain fully and intensively involved with the business, delivering training, developing content and nurturing a cohort of expert trainers.
“Lucien enjoys a well-deserved reputation throughout international gaming for delivering best-in-breed training through his Slot Academies and a mix of training, practical demonstrations, expert insight and invaluable networking through his Summits. Both brands are international in their reach, with recent training conducted in Canada, Suriname, Colombia, Romania and Italy with Summits taking place in the remainder of 2014 in Lille, France and Bogota, Colombia.
“From the outset of our discussions, which began a year ago and continued through ICE 2014, it was obvious there was a clear fit between Lucien’s vision and Clarion’s event and research brands,” Graves said, “which when brought together would allow us both to offer a wider range of services, extend and deepen our global operations network, add value to our customers’ businesses and enable us both to enhance the relationships we have developed.
“Additionally and just as importantly, Lucien Wijsman brings to our gaming portfolio a deep understanding of the industry which will help the team deliver more effectively at all levels of the business.”
Wijsman said, “I have been a great admirer of what Clarion has brought to the industry both in terms of launching new brands, nurturing existing brands and in the case of ICE re-launching a brand and turning it into what it is today, the world’s biggest and most favorite gaming event.
“Both the Slot Academy and the Slot Summit are very personal to me, and I feel totally comfortable that we share the same vision and confidant that our agreement will enable us to take the two brands to the next level.”
The first Clarion/Lucien Wijsman events are Slot Summit, France Lucien Barrière, Lille, November 25-27 (slotsummit.com) and Slot Summit, Colombia, Hilton, Bogota December 10-12 (slotsummit.com).
