ICE set to become Germany's international trade show

LONDON (3 December) – The cancellation of the IMA trade show, scheduled to take place in Düsseldorf in January 2015, will effectively make London's ICE Totally Gaming the German industry's 'international trade show' according to Lars Rogge, Managing Director of Bally Wulff, one of the principal German machine manufacturers. "I would expect there to be at least 300 of the most important German operators visiting London for the show," he said. "For us – and our fellow machine-makers in Germany – ICE will therefore become our principal international showcase. We will feature our machines for Italy and Spain there."

Responding to the news Kate Chambers, Portfolio Director responsible for ICE, said: "When Germany had no IMA show in 2013, we welcomed a large number of German gaming professionals to what was the first year at our new home at ExCeL. As part of the broader gaming family we sympathise with the complex political situation, which has caused the cancellation of IMA. ICE is a unique meeting place for the international gaming industry and we look forward to welcoming German operators in even bigger numbers to London in February."

With what is the busiest show floor in gaming, ICE features a significant number of German exhibitors including the Gauselmann Group subsidiary Merkur Gaming, which confirmed that it will be bringing an ‘extensive’ selection of gaming cabinets to ICE including the Evolution, Privilege Plus, WB 4, Vision Plus, Uno, Motion, Motion 2, Highflyer, Evolution SL, Avantgarde SLT and Ozone cabinets, alongside 20 new High Definition games that have been designed for international markets. Discussing the offering, the company's managing director Ralf Markmann added: “Never before has Merkur Gaming offered so many gaming possibilities at an exhibition. We understand that each market has its own special requirements, which is why visitors to our stand can expect solutions for a host of markets, including Spain, UK, Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy and South Africa."

Experienced gaming industry writer David Snook, who edits the ICE Show Daily newspaper, part of the Intergame stable of publications, believes the uncertainty in Germany is likely to lead to further postponements. He explained: "The reason behind the diminished frequency of IMA shows is the current state of confusion in the German domestic market where the 16 German provinces or 'Länder' have combined to propose a new series of laws which will drastically reduce the number of machines in German arcades and bars. A period of uncertainty running up to the imposition of the new laws in 2017 will probably see more cancellations of IMA shows between now and then."

ICE, the world's favourite gaming event is on course to eclipse the 2014 success story when an independently audited 23,506 attendees from a record 156 nations travelled to London to see the 515 exhibitors who chose it as their international shop window.