iGaming made its presence felt at this year’s G2E Asia exhibition with organizers creating a dedicated iGaming Zone for the very first time.
It came as no great surprise to see iGaming play such a significant role in this year’s G2E Asia from 17 to 19 May, which saw a record number of exhibitors and visitors attend as the show celebrated its 10th year.
G2E Asia welcomed an impressive 10,984 visitors from 83 countries in 2016 – an increase of 11 percent from 12 months earlier – while the total number of companies exhibiting surpassed 180 for the very first time. But most notable was the fact that around one third of exhibitors were from the iGaming sector with 65 percent of these exhibiting at G2E Asia for the very first time.
This explosion of activity from iGaming participants ultimately led to G2E Asia organizers creating a dedicated iGaming Zone covering a substantial portion of the exhibition floor.
Mark McKeown, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Betsoft – one of the G2E Asia 2016 newcomers – described the iGaming Zone as a huge benefit to those involved in the sector.
“It reminds me a little bit of how the ICE trade show in London grew 20 years ago from having a very small area of iGaming companies to it now being the majority of companies exhibiting at ICE,” he said.
“I think we will see G2E Asia grow in a similar fashion and having a dedicated zone to it was massively beneficial for us and our fellow iGaming companies. It gave a destination in the exhibition for people to go to which was a very valuable thing for all iGaming companies who were exhibiting.”
More importantly, it is a sign of the times as gaming goes increasingly mobile.
“People consistently ask me if the downturn in land-based gaming in Macau is hurting our business – I tell them it is doing exactly the opposite,” McKeown explained. “The more the land-based side is down the more it means that people are moving online and using products like Betsoft’s.
“People are not stopping gambling, they are just choosing to do it online. So just like at ICE I think we will continue to see the growth of iGaming at G2E Asia until it is in the majority of companies that are exhibiting.”
Reed Exhibitions, who put together both G2E and G2E Asia each year, credit the huge interest from iGaming solutions providers such as Betsoft for their decision to create an exclusive area for them this year.
“We put together the iGaming Zone because we saw good demand for iGaming content at the show,” said Vice President of Reed Exhibitions East China, Josephine Lee.
“At the same time, there had been a lot of interest from iGaming solutions providers to demonstrate their latest solutions at G2E Asia. By putting together the iGaming Zone, it provided visitors a better experience and rich content to attract more trade professionals in the gaming industry.”
Feedback on the iGaming Zone was overwhelmingly positive.
Mr Rick Lin, General Manager Office and Executive Assistant at BBIN said, “BBIN were delighted to participate in the iGaming zone at G2E Asia 2016 — a hugely successful event whose results we were very satisfied with. The show is a great platform to highlight products and solutions, meet customers and explore new market opportunities.”
