Organizers of this week’s ICE Totally Gaming trade show and conference say they are expecting more than 30,000 attendees and representatives from the full range of the gaming industry, including a notable presence from both online and land-based operators. The show will see hundreds of product launches and networking opportunities across the three days. All show-floor seminars will be free to attend, with many key players in the industry speaking.
One of the highlights of this year’s conference program will be “Round-the-World Casino Trends,” on Tuesday, February 6 in South Gallery Room 9. The day’s theme is emergent and future trends in the casino industry.
Following welcoming remarks from Stowe Shoemaker, dean of the School of Hospitality at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, the first talk will cover non-gaming revenue sources, looking closely at the U.S., Singapore and Macau markets for inspiration as to how European casinos can potentially expand on their approaches to generating non-gaming revenue. Among others, Ramesh Srinivasan, the CEO of Agilysys, will be speaking.
Following this will be an hour-long seminar on eSports in casinos, which will explore a series of case studies for this revenue stream. Panelists will include Melissa Blau, president of iGaming Capital, and Alex Igelman, CEO of Millennial Esports.
At 1:45pm, after lunch, Room 9 will feature a presentation on the relation between chance and skill in casino gaming, looking at what the industry may have to learn from content development methods in the wider world of gaming, as well as from social gaming and iGaming, particularly regarding skill game development. Christian Stuart, executive vice president of Caesars Entertainment, will be speaking, as will Pete Rangley, Casino Sector Specialist at GBGC.
The final talk of the day in Room 9 will cover integrated resorts, examining why these have worked well in some locations and not in others, and how casino-resorts have evolved into IRs over time. The presentation also aims to nail down the key factors needed for a successful IR. Simon Thomas, chief executive of London’s Hippodrome Casino, will be speaking, as will our Andrew Tottenham, managing director at Tottenham & Co, and Erica Young, casino sector specialist at GBGC.
