Espelkamp. Following the August 1st confirmation that, after 10 runnings of ICE, the international gaming industry’s biggest and best B2B presentation will be hosted from January 2025 by Barcelona. Thus ICE 2025, together with the iGB Affiliate event, will be located at the Fira de Barcelona Gran Via, one of the largest and most modern exhibition venues in Europe with its 8 halls and convention spaces totalling 240,000 sqm.

Merkur celebrated the news wholeheartedly, commenting that a move from the UK to mainland Europe has been a hoped-for development for several years. One difficulty since the United Kingdom left the European Union in 2020 has been the additional immigration and customs regulations and costs that this move caused. Clearly, moving ICE to a mainland European country removes these difficulties and gives ICE (the ‘International Casino Exhibition’) a new scope for further growth and development.

Athanasios “Sakis” Isaakidis, Merkur’s Chief Executive, International stated: “This announcement represents great news: not just for Merkur but absolutely for the entire gaming industry. Of course, we still have ICE in London for 2024 upcoming.I predict that this will be a fantastic event in its own rite and a platform for looking forward to a whole new landscape from 2025 onwards. On behalf of Merkur, I have to congratulate Clarion Gaming for the massive amount of work that they have undertaken to take on board the majority wish of their industry stakeholders, investigate thoroughly all the possibilities that became apparent and do all of the complex negotiations that were necessary to bring this entirely new scenario over the line to the completion that has now been announced. Merkur thanks Clarion for all the many years that we have co-operated so far and wishes them as an organisation and ICE as an event of huge standing all the very best for the future as we warmly continue our co-operation in the coming years. We stand together for what I am certain will be a bright future for the entire gaming industry.”