London has been hosting ICE since the inception of the trade exhibition but this may change starting in 2025 as the event organizer, Clarion Gaming, has put the location of the event to a competitive bid.
‘Customer-Centric’ Process
Clarion Gaming announced that four major cities, London, Barcelona, Madrid, and Paris, will be subjected to a competitive process that will determine where the ICE event will take place from 2025 to 2029.
Commenting on the announcement, Clarion Gaming’s group managing director, Alex Pratt, outlined that the competitive process would be “robust” and “customer-centric” and will look to make a decision that will be “in the best interest” of all stakeholders and the global gaming industry.
“The four short-listed cities will progress through a selection process with the help of the experienced and knowledgeable team at Equimore which is overseeing every aspect of what is a robust program,” Pratt said.
Equimore, an advisory and services agency focused on helping event organizers make better location choices and strategic decisions, will leverage its knowledge of markets and cities to assist Clarion Gaming with the selection of the new ICE location.
Strategic Review of ICE London
The announcement of the competitive bid process marked the launch of the biggest strategic review of ICE London since the popular gambling industry trade exhibition merged with the International Gaming Expo (IGE) and the Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) in 2009.
Besides short-listing the four cities as meeting the criteria in the selection process, Clarion Gaming noted that it would take into account concerns and considerations expressed by diverse stakeholders before making the final decision.
“By pursuing all due diligence we will identify the city that’s best equipped to not only host an event which continues to play such a central role in helping to create opportunity and prosperity for gaming businesses of all sizes, across every vertical and in every global jurisdiction, but also demonstrate its leadership in the sector,” said Pratt, explicitly adding that the company “will not be making any further comments during the official process” in the name of the process transparency.
The event organizer is expecting the 2023 edition of ICE London to break the record of national representation by featuring exhibitors from 68 nations around the world. The previous high was registered during ICE London 2020 when the exhibition saw representatives of 65 countries display their products and services and exchange experiences with the industry.