ICE North America will become the most significant gambling event in the region, according to Roy Student, event ambassador for ICE North America.
Student is also president of Applied Management Strategies, the specialist gaming consultancy. The event is set for May 13-15 in Boston.
In an interview, Student said that he believed ICE North America "can become the main event in the minds of the US industry."
Student said that the future for land-based gaming will move away from the traditional form and towards hospitality and entertainment as its principal offer.
“Sports betting will continue to dominate the sector for a while as it’s still flavor of the month, but it will then shift to esports and iLottery and esports in particular will have a much higher growth pattern once it has established itself in the industry.”
He added: “If we look at the landscape now, esports represents the largest growth factor with huge potential across land-based sites, which will strengthen the industry’s focus on entertainment divisions, away from traditional casinos and more towards the Disney and Universal resort brands. Sports betting and social gaming are both surging as millions of people are switching onto new forms of betting and playing. You see it on the street, in airports, in cafes, just everywhere people using their devices to join these growing trends and I don’t think that will change for the foreseeable future.”
Student believes that the Clarion Gaming decision to consolidate its US events into ICE North America and line up a conference attracting the whole spectrum of the stakeholder community in North American gaming, was important. “ICE North America is THE gateway to discuss different opinions from all sides of the industry, so to provide a space to determine how regulatory changes or technological advances is very relevant.”
