London’s International Gaming Expo (IGE) is set to remain the official and exclusively endorsed exhibition of the European Casino Association (ECA) until at least 2012, following the agreement of an extension to the existing contract between the ECA and IGE organisers, Clarion Gaming.
The deal – which includes a continuation of the ECA’s prestigious International Casino Conference (ICC) held at Earls Court on the eve of IGE, as well as a prominent ECA presence both on and off the show floor – will see both parties co-promoting and cross marketing each other’s features and benefits throughout the year.
Heralding the announcement, Clarion Gaming Managing Director Julian Graves said: “Our partnership formally began at the 2008 show, with the inaugural ICC successfully launched the following year. We are naturally delighted to strengthen our association with the ECA and look forward to supporting its membership through the delivery of Europe’s most comprehensive land-based casino exhibition/conference package at Earls Court over the next three years.”
ECA Chairman, Ron Goudsmit stated: “We are delighted to build on our working relationship with Europe’s leading land-based gaming expo, in doing so it allows us to further support our members and to achieve our objectives on behalf of our members throughout Europe. Both IGE and ICC are pinnacle events for our business and we look forward to January 2010 and beyond with renewed vigour.”
The ECA represents the interests of more than 1,000 casinos and 83,000 employees in 23 countries across Europe. Founded in the early 1990s as the European Casino Forum, the ECA has grown steadily over the years and today includes members from the majority of the EU’s member states, Switzerland and Serbia. The main purpose and objective of the ECA is to address and promote issues related to casinos and/or casino operations and in doing so to provide a focal point on casino matters for casino operators as well as for EU and national policy makers and stakeholders.