Casino suppliers expand offering as cosmopolitan IGE shapes up

The 2010 International Gaming Expo is set to stage an even greater display of products and services to help casino operators enhance profitability following news that at least three of the industry’s notable product developers WMS Gaming, Bally Technologies and Konami Gaming have expanded their London Show presence.

WMS is adding an extra 54 square metres (582sq.ft) to take its IGE showcase beyond the symbolic 500sqm (5,382sq.ft) mark Bally and Konami meanwhile are both growing their stands by 45sqm (484sq.ft.), representing an 18 per cent annual uplift for Bally and a 29 per cent rise for Konami.
A total of ten exhibitors will have stands in excess of 300sqm (3,230sq.ft), with Novomatic (1,416sqm/15,242sq.ft), and IGT Europe (701sqm/7,546sq.ft) leading the way.

Despite the physical size of the exhibition the international make-up of IGE will once again be the stand-out feature of the show. The latest statistics, which were announced two months ahead of IGE going live, reveal a cosmopolitan roster of manufacturers, developers and suppliers comprising 184 companies from 35 nations spread across Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America.

Although the host nation is understandably the most represented country at IGE, non-UK companies actually represent 72 per cent of exhibitors on the show floor, another manifestation of the exhibition’s international credentials which remain unparalleled in the b2b gaming sector. Outside of the UK the most represented nations on the IGE floor plan are Taiwan (15 exhibitors), Italy (13) and the USA (12), followed by Slovenia (11), Germany (10), Austria (9), Netherlands (7), Spain, Belgium (both 6) and Bulgaria and Poland (both 4).

The ability to bring together such a geographically and culturally diverse collection of companies at a single venue is the most persuasive argument to explain IGE’s importance to the international casino community as the premier venue to source new products and services which will make a commercial difference.

For exhibitors too the show remains an invaluable opportunity. Daniel Lindsay, General Manager – Aristocrat Technologies Europe, explained: “We have had a project team comprising staff based in Sweden, South Africa, Australia and the UK working on and preparing for this show since August. It is the most significant single component of our marketing programme and fundamental to our year in that it puts us in front of the casino operators, the buyers and the influencers.

“In my view and from my experience you have to go to this exhibition first and foremost armed with strong product but also with a defined marketing and sales strategy, clear commercial objectives and a steely determination to make an impact. There’s no dress rehearsal to IGE and as an exhibitor you simply have to get it right.”