Europe is the last major target for the American Gaming Association. A bid to open up the continent to an AGA-inspired new gaming exhibition is clearly under way, some would believe.

Having seized the North American market, using Reed International as its vehicle, it followed that with taking the Asian market with its G2E Asia show in Macau. The AGA has also made little secret of its ambitions in South America. That left Europe, effectively, between the AGA and world domination in terms of casino trade exhibitions.

At the core of this situation is London’s newly-renamed ICE Totally Gaming show, the traditional casino exhibition held every year in London during the third week of January. Its owner and organiser, Clarion Events, has worked hard on improving still more its own organisation with the injection of greater experience in running world-class events, and spent more time on the event itself, having seen its amusement section (ATEI) depart for a new show at the ExCel venue in London’s Docklands.

Perhaps perceiving this as a moment of weakness by the London casino show’s owners, the AGA may be behind moves to take commercial advantage. As its name clearly indicates, the American Gaming Association is there to look after the interests of its largely American membership.

It is not generally known within the industry, but the information has come to InterGaming that a nucleus of some of the principal exhibitors in a European show put out an invitation to show organisers to pitch for a future European event.

Clarion itself was offered the opportunity to pitch for this within a given time-scale. Also invited to pitch was Reed, the AGA’s partner in the other G2E events around the world, and Swan Events, the manager of the new (and also successful) European Amusements and Gaming Expo, the largely amusement exhibition which took over much of the ATEI business and which opened its doors for the first time at ExCel last January.

Our information is that Clarion submitted a highly professional presentation on its long-term future with its ICE Totally Gaming show, but Reed asked for more time to prepare. They were given until the end of August. Swan Events has so far chosen not to bid.

What has emerged is that the original brief given to the exhibition organisers was to seek suitable venues in January. Investigations by all of the parties quickly ascertained that of the choicest continental venues, Berlin and Madrid, were out of the question, at least in the next couple of years, due to prior commitments. Amsterdam’s Rai Centre is therefore on the cards, or London, although Earls Court would be ruled out because even with its current five-year commitment, even Clarion cannot claim that it can go beyond 2015.

Read a full report and reaction from key players in the September issue of InterGaming.