Naomi Barton Portfolio Director iGB L!VE’S STRATEGIC LEAP London is Calling Clarion has announced a five-year plan centered around relocating iGB L!VE from Amsterdam to London starting in 2025. Can you please elaborate on the strategic reasons behind choosing London as the new host city? In order to take the show to the next level, we felt that iGB L!VE needed a home in which it was possible to scale at pace and continue to deliver on the needs of what is one of the most dynamic business sectors in the world economy. Our growth plan is achieving over 35,000 visitors, and 550+ exhibitors and sponsors by 2028 and with that a world of new opportunities has been based on our relocation to London, which will take place in July 2025. These are ambitious targets but iGB L!VE has already experienced three years of unbelievable exponential growth: the move to ExCeL London will continue that trajectory. Central to iGB L!VE’s growth strategy is a relentless focus on putting our customers at the heart of everything that we do. This, combined with an in-depth knowledge of core and emerging iGaming markets, strong industry growth and the dynamic U.K. tech sector will enable us to exponentially increase both attendee and exhibitor/sponsor numbers. The iGB L!VE team is working in partnership with an industry Steering Group, made up of the most influential and pioneering stakeholders, to realize the show’s inspiring vision and achieve the brand’s aggressive growth targets for the benefit of its customers and for the health of the industry. Ultimately, why was London chosen as the new home for iGB L!VE? Whilst we’ve loved holding the show in Amsterdam, London is the birthplace of, and remains the home of, iGaming. Over 50 of the most influential companies in iGaming base themselves in the city, and with 12,000+ iGaming professionals calling London home, it remains an industry destination for business networking, socializing, and for shaping the future. With the ICE and iGB Affiliate move to Barcelona in 2025, iGB L!VE has an amazing opportunity to relocate the home of iGaming to the very heart of the iGaming industry. All the building blocks are in place for a stratospheric future for this event. The relocation to London opens new opportunities for both the iGaming industry and iGB L!VE, delivering more international connections and partnerships. Our vision over the next five years is to take the show to a whole new level as the industry continues to scale. Drawing on your two decades of experience, how have iGaming trade shows evolved in the last five years, and what do you foresee for the future? I think that question is applicable across all business-to-business events, not just iGaming. It’s a bit of cliché but you are only as good as your last show, which means that as an organizing team you always have to keep evolving and providing new opportunities for your customers. Our stakeholders are interested in the future – they don’t attend iGB Affiliate or iGB L!VE in order to reflect on the history of the industry. Instead, they come to the shows with specific business-building objectives to achieve. The research that we undertake with our visitor base always highlights the value they place on seeing and experiencing new ideas, new insights, new products, new services, new connections and new business opportunities. Any event which fails to address this imperative is I believe, fundamentally flawed. Whilst this is true across all sectors I think the fast-moving dynamic, technology driven sectors that we are involved in amplifies the importance of ‘New’ which is why it punctuates everything that we do. CHARTING NEW HORIZONS GPWAtimes.org 50
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