The gaming industry’s most important trade show will get underway in London next week when ICE Totally Gaming opens at ExCeL London on Tuesday, 6 February 2018. ICE represents all sectors of the online and land-based gaming industry under one roof. In a nutshell, ICE is a meeting place, marketplace, provides educational and debating forums, and has become an important networking and social event for the entire industry. It is the meeting point for the world gaming industry.

The show grows year by year and about 30,000 delegates, exhibitors, and visitors will converge on London from 60 different jurisdictions and 150 different countries worldwide. Over 8,500 operators are expected at this year’s show.

It’s a busy time in London with Gambling Insider’s Global Gaming Awards London happening the night before the big show kicks off and the London Affiliate Conference opening at ExCel on the 7th.

Industry heavyweights like Scientific Games will be on hand as will start-ups and boutique developers. Seventeen start-ups will participate in the Pitch ICE competition including sports betting, Bitcoin, social gaming, and daily fantasy sports innovators. One of those companies is Bethereum – a blockchain-powered social betting platform that used ethereum Smart Contracts. Other up and coming concerns include Beer League; Betonbot; Bookee; BotGaming; Chalkline Sports; ChopsticksInTheApps; DFS Italia; Mutuel Play Ltd; Performance Predictions; Players Vote; Puurl; Reality Races; ScoreFair; Social Bets; Spotcoin; and, STATZUP.

Operator accountability and social responsibility always play a large part in the show. One panel debate will address the use of KYC (know your customer) data to identify problem gamblers. UK-facing providers need to be on top of the Gambling Commission’s three-year strategy to identify those who may not be playing for fun and to help manage the risk.

GBG data intelligence specialists Head of Gaming, Peter Murray told Totally Gaming: “Responsible gambling is firmly at the top of the Commission’s agenda for the foreseeable future. It’s crucial that operators have full visibility and understanding of the tools that are available to them and how they can be combined to help support compliance with new, evolving regulations.”

The Gaming Standards Association (GSA) will celebrate their two-decade anniversary at this year’s event. The GSA estimates that 70% of companies that supply the global gaming industry have been, or are currently involved in the organization. The company’s standards are applied around the world. European and US staff will be representing the GSA.

GSA President Peter DeRaedt, said: “Over the past 20 years, more than 1,600 volunteers from over 190 companies have contributed their expertise to create 15 GSA standards in nine committees. Their commitment is a testament to the power of collaboration. Our standards create the framework for innovation and reflect the combined knowledge and expertise of our members and the industry,” according to a Monday press release (PDF).

The All-in Diversity Project will also be taking note of progress in exhibition quality. Although most decision makers in the industry are men, there are ways to draw them to booths without objectifying any gender, as had been the practice of some companies in the past using ‘showgirls’ to draw in a crowd. The Gambling Commission has been clear, that although there is no statutory requirement mentioning diversity, they do look at it, especially in the roles of corporate governance. Sessions organized by Global Gaming Women focusing on diversity and inclusion will feature on Wednesday.

For more about this year’s event please visit ICE 2018?at https://www.icetotallygaming.com