“We will be moving forward with the Online Gaming Committee”

What's your opinion about ICE 2013? Was the new venue convenient for you?
ICE 2013 was very productive for GSA. A large number of attendees from a wide range of countries and disciplines, made our time at the show very well spent. It was exciting for us to be in a new venue, where the entire industry could gather in one hall, and the ExCel Centre was a terrific choice, and we are excited to be returning in 2014.

Taking in mind what you talked with your clients and visitors during the show, how do they see the industry for this year? What are their needs and main demands?
This is an exciting and interesting time in the history of the gaming industry. Games and systems are converging on the gaming floor, and are extending their presence beyond the brick-and-mortar walls. This is a time when more and more operators and suppliers are seeing the game as the content that can then be accessed by the player on a variety of devices – traditional box or desktop or mobile device. That convergence is very exciting for operators and for players. Of course, there are issues that will need to be addressed, as is the case anytime an industry enters new territory. Those new waters will be a big focus for GSA in the next five years, as we work to bring protocol standards to the online gaming industry, as we have successfully in the land-based side of the business.

How did the industry respond to the creation of your Online Gaming Committee?
Very well. As we discussed with operators, suppliers and regulators, the focus of the Online Gaming Committee will be to being technical/protocol standards into this side of the business. The many people we talked with at ICE were interested in this new committee because of the success we have had with our other protocols in the brick-and-mortar world, and we are excited to move forward on this initiative over the coming months.

Where did most of your clients and visitors come from?
Our visitors came from all over the world, which was very exciting for us. As a global organization, our members come from across the entire industry, both in terms of discipline and location, and our visitors at ICE reflected that. We had good discussions with people from as close as the UK and from as far away as Hong Kong and Macau.

What will be your next steps?
We will be moving forward with the Online Gaming Committee, and we will be making announcements of our plans for the Online Gaming Committee in the next few weeks.