The third annual European i-Gaming Congress and Expo closed as the most successful yet, reflecting the growing number of entrants to the i-gaming world and the increased co-operation between operators and support service providers.
Attendance at the show, organized jointly by ATE and River City Group, rocketed this year. With over 400 visitors coming through the doors, the hotel became an i-gaming hub. Crammed full of senior industry figures, each area buzzed with activity, from the seminar sessions and exhibition, through to the packed out networking evenings and last but not least, the hotel bar!
Exhibitors such as Anna Säll from BOSS Media, commented on the „great networking“ in the hall and around the event. In all, 22 exhibitors found just how vibrant the sector currently is in Europe and that EIG is the main forum to reflect this. Additionally there were 5 non-exhibiting sponsors helping support drinks breaks and other areas.
Lee Richardson, CEO of Chartwell Games, summing up the 3 days described it as „very productive.“
„We have many contacts to follow up and the visitor base is very concentrated, with so many of the customer and prospects that we wanted to get in front of,“ remarked Sigurdur Baldursson, CEO of Parspro Ltd.
The conference provided a mixture of seminars and round table sessions and featured highly topical subject matter such as Marketing, DDOs (Distributed Denial of Service), payment solutions, Gambelli and Ladbrokes, finding investment and taxation issues, amongst a wealth of other key talking points.
A major highlight of the conference was the presentation from Roger Bootle, Managing Director of Capital Economics, Economic Adviser to Deloitte and former Chief Economic Advisor to the UK Chancellor. Mr Bootle presented an upbeat message, predicting prosperity for i-gaming operators due to their ability to innovate, and the fact that land based operators faced a battle to retain market share owing to the increasing overhead costs they faced.
A large press contingent attended the event with Andrew Gellatly, a freelance journalist (with a specialist background working for ATE, FT and other titles in the field) noting how influential it had become as a focus for gauging the industry’s views and meeting contacts, operators, lobbyists, politicians – such as John Greenway, a highly influential UK Member of Parliament involved in the proposals for the UK Gambling Bill – and associations, all of whom were represented.
Speaking at the end of the conference, Sue Schneider, CEO, River City Group and co-organiser, commented “if ever there was proof of what a burgeoning region Europe is in the context of the i-gaming world, this year’s event is it.”
Peter Rusbridge, CEO of ATE added,” we are delighted that EIG is becoming an ever more popular fixture in the i-gaming, gambling and betting calendar.”