International Casino Exhibition and Casino Affiliate Program EURO Special Edition
Dear Reader,
Here we go with Casinomeister's 7th annual London "Magical Mystery Tour." If reading about the
grooviness of London, mellow pubs, chillin' restaurants, bitchin' movies, and online gaming is your thing, then read on...
Reportingly yours,
Bryan
Can't read this newsletter in HTML? Click here (or copy and paste this link into your browser): http://www.casinomeister.com/newsletter.php#skip for the bitchin' online version.
ICE 2007 London
Decadent chicken pieces please.
So where should I start? At the airport where I had the perfect flight? Non-stop from Nürnberg to London City Airport - or at the Hotel where it was discovered that Expedia had booked me for February 22 instead of January? Nope. I'll start with the afternoon in Soho.
This was my seventh year in a row visiting London for the ICE. And each year, one of my main missions is to hit the movies. Where I live, all the movies are dubbed in German since most of the population is too lazy to read subtitles - I refuse to pay to watch dubbed movies no matter the language. So here I was in Leicester Square, checking out the movie times. I had a dinner date, so I couldn't get out too early. It was already late afternoon and most of the films were in progress. But I finally found one that fit into my tight evening schedule.
After indulging in a bit of decadent behaviour - eating a moderate helping of Kentucky Fried Chicken (I eat mostly organic food via home cooked meals - KFC is verboten) I had a date with Smokin' Aces. It's a black comedy dealing with Mafia and Vegas stuff starring Ray Liotta, Ben Affleck, Andy Garcia, and others. Sounds like a good flick. Yeah, that's what I thought. What a dreadful movie. Towards the end I kept checking my watch wishing it was over. It was like sitting in the dentist chair with a hairy hand in my mouth, and you're waiting for the drilling to stop. Black comedy? Sure, maybe I would have found this funny if I was fifteen.
The last 45 minutes struggled through a bunch of unrealistic shootouts and obligatory explosions that were both predictable and redundant. I left the theater feeling embarrassed for Ray Liotta and Andy Garcia. Not so much for Ben Affleck - it was par for the course for him.
Soho is one of my favorite haunts of London. The crowds are always so diverse. American college students, Japanese tourists, local party goers, old people going to the opera, junkies and punks. It's never a dull moment to people watch. But I had no time to hang out and observe, I had a date with some important Meister members. Jetset, GreedyGirl, and Spearmaster were to meet me at The Floridita, a very cool Cuban restaurant. The band played the Rumba and the Samba while we ate, and I wished my dancing partner was there. Oh well, I just ordered another Mojito.
The evening ended pleasantly, and I had a good night's sleep. My hotel was right by Trafalgar Square. Recently refurbished and renovated, the rooms were large by London standards. I could actually walk around my bed, and there was a desk and flat screen TV to boot. The best deal was wireless Internet connectivity for FREE. What a deal.
It was held in Earl's Court 2, and this year's turnout was impressive. For the past seven years, I've attended these events and have seen the Interactive gaming section evolve from a string of modest booths to a dominating presence. This year was by far one of the better attended years - of course this has to do with the US crackdown on online gaming. And it also is an indicator that operators have been European and Asian focused for the past several years.
My main purpose was to get a good sense on how people are dealing with the US situation - and to scope out any "problematic" operations.
Voice from the past - ICE 2001
...I finally made it upstairs to the calmer mellower section,
the online casinos. What a relief; and what a shock. The first booth that
was clearly visible, besides Boss Media's, was GSS's. I thought it was
quite brave for them to show face after the incredible amount of exposure
the Players Fortune fiasco has given them. I was amazed that they actually
showed up, but what the hell, perhaps it was good that they did.
I talked to Mark Waters and wanted to hear his side of the story, and he
stated that they had made mistakes and wish he could do it all over again.
More power to 20/20 hindsight. I mentioned that one thing that has always
concerned me besides providing honest and fair games, customer service,
blah blah blah, is the appearance and presentation of the casinos.
Unfortunately, there is no quality control when it comes to casinos that
GSS licenses. Some of the GSS casinos look absolutely horrible;
slapped together at the spur of the moment with misspellings to boot.
Domain names that run just short of aminalfarmsexcasino.com don't
help much either. Piss poor quality gives the industry a bad name.
I think Mark was listening and he agreed that there should be some
quality control. I hope he took these thoughts home with him...
I gave a heads up to the Kahnawakes (at the Kahnawake booth), that they have some serious problems with some of their operators. But this is something that was already being looked at - my points of contact at Kahnawake go beyond the booth personnel. But it was good to renew contact with what can seem an elusive entity.
I had a liquid lunch scheduled with Ed Ware - CEO of 32Red Casino proud recipient of Casinomeister's Best Casino Award for four years standing. It was more or less an unspoken tradition that we meet at The Atlas Pub.
Voice from the past - ICE 2006
Suddenly, I bumped into Ed Ware the CEO of 32Red Casino, Casinomeister's top rated casino for three years in a row. We were scheduled to have lunch, so we mosied out of the exhibition hall and down to The Atlas Pub. This was the place where I interviewed Ed two years ago (you can still hear the interview here - it's just as valid now as it was back then). It's amazing how some things just don't change.
So we sat there - chatted and ate some bitchin' food. And while we were finishing lunch, Ed spotted Paul Gascoigne who had just entered the pub and was ordering a meal at the bar. Being the displaced Yank that I am, I had no idea who he was referring to - so Ed explained to me that this was probably the most famous footballer in the UK. Well, he looked pretty normal to me. I guess I could be bumping into all sorts of celebrities here and not even know it.
As we left, Ed gave Paul a friendly wave and told him it was good to see him. Paul returned the wave and smiled. What a nice chap.
This time, Ed and I met with Webzcas and his wife. It turned into a very pleasant afternoon.
Before the ICE closed for the evening, I made it back and met up with a few people - to include math wiz Grandmaster who has over-watched Casinomeister forum with gusto - nailing spammers with "report a post" message which are sent to me. He accounts for about 40% of the spam alerts alone. Gamemaster and I headed downtown where we met a number of others for chow. After hanging out at the Tottenham Pub for a couple of beers, we saundered to Chinatown for the rest of the evening...
Day two started off in a good way. A little over a year ago, the Fortune Lounge group - which had been listed in Casinomeister's "Accredited" section for a number of years, to include "Best Casino Group 2003", had fallen from grace during a spam episode that left a number of us bewildered. Like any crisis, it was amplified by miscommunications and some not-so-great decisions.
The VP of marketing and I sat down for a well-needed talk, and came to the agreement that everything should be cool at Casinomeister. I'm satisfied that safeguards against intrusive spam have been put into place, so I'm welcoming them back on board after a 16 month hiatus from Casinomeister - welcome back Fortune Lounge!
Another highlight that afternoon was the Meister Meeting back at the Atlas. Here a number of forum members met - some for the first time, and it was a true highlight of my London tour. Kasino King graced us with his presence. He had thoughtfully created bottle openers for many of us - with our little icons on one side and Kasino King on the other. If you missed meeting us there, you missed out on a pretty cool gathering - and keyring. Check them out here. Really an excellent gift - a big public thanks!
That evening, I was headed to Memories of China to meet up with some Microgaming folk, the operator of Trident Lounge, and the webmasters of OnlineCasinoFan.com, one of the leading Japanese portals that you ought to check out (if you read Japanese).
I took a taxi to get there - and this is one thing I need to mention - I've done a lot of traveling, and by far the London Taxi Cabs are the best. The cabbies are friendly, they speak English, and they know where they are going. This guy even chimed a jovial "Thanks, gov'na!" as I tipped him. Right out of Mary Poppins. I expected to see some chimney sweeps dancing down the alleyways clicking their heels.
And of course that evening was the Fire and Ice party held at Studio 54. I arrived pretty late - so I missed the Playboy Bunnies (they were supposedly in the VIP section), but I didn't miss being packed in like a sardine waiting in line for a drink.
I met the designers for Wagerlogic's slots - whom I praised for some of the best slots on the market, specifically Zone of the Zombies - you can check them out
here at Intercasino and you'll see why I'm so thrilled with these.
So we talked about this briefly, and it looks like there are even more interesting things in store - perhaps a customized Meister slot - I'll keep you updated.
Voice from the past - ICE 2004
...That evening was the Fire and Ice party which turned out to be a very interesting engagement.
I even ran into Brian Woods again, one of the operators for Black Widow casino. You may recall
it was our chance meeting last year - or was it by chance - that gave impetus or the momentum
to award Black Widow the worst casino of 2003 award. We chit chatted for a while, about how
things were going, the usual banter. And then I asked him if he was pissed at me. He said
"No, do I look pissed?" and I said no - he didn't. So we spoke for a while longer, about the
industry, about Europe, and about a number of trivial things. He then handed me a White Russian,
and we lost ourselves in the crowd. In essence, I'm glad no one is pissed....
Day three loomed ahead...it was truly memorable. Scroll down to find out what's up with that...
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The final day of the ICE was a good one. I met with Tex Reese - the player advocate of eCOGRA, and we discussed the good, bad, and ugly of assisting players who are in need of help. eCOGRA has a play-it-safe seal, and casinos that hold this seal are bound by Tex's decisions. She has a tough job, and she's damn good at it. She's quick and effective when it comes to handling complaints mainly because she has a direct line to the persons in charge. It's her job. Me, on the other hand, I have the "Pitch a Bitch" section (we agreed that this is a cool name) where I'll take on anybody. A lot of the casinos I receive complaints on are no-name-clipshot-joint-casino.coms where it takes me an hour or so just to figure out who the hell the software provider is or where their main point of contact is listed. It's time consuming and frustrating at times.
We talked about the eCOGRA survey (which you can download from their website) and it turns out that 40% or more of online players visit message boards - Casinomeister's being one of the most popular. This is big news, since it was previously thought that only about 4-8% of players bother to check out what's being said. But I always felt that most players are savvy and it's only a minority that fail to protect themselves with good solid information. I've watched Casinomeister's traffic increase over the years - all natural traffic that is, it's not bought nor manufactured - and I can say that there is much more interaction going on now than there was, say five years ago.
But that interaction brings on adversaries, pseudo-advocates who try to harm eCOGRA's or Casinomeister's credibility by attacking our character or organization. It's sad to see how some of these players have let their twisted personal agendas turn them into seriously dislikable people. Tex and I sort of laughed about how one individual was making the rounds at the ICE - taking himself too seriously. Too bad he makes an ass out of himself on the message boards - he could have done some good.
That evening I had dinner with the operator of Club World Casino (recipient of Best New Casino of 2006) and with GreedyGirl at Le Caprice, a modern eclectic restaurant that was mildly swanky. I always feel a bit odd when grown men pull my chair out for me and place napkins on my lap, but it's cool. I can handle swank.
We spoke about the frustrations we've had with RTG's duck-and-cover exercise which has left players of RTG casinos at the whim of management if and when trouble arises. There are a number of RTG casinos that still subscribe to the cowboy philosophy of player support. "If you don't like the way a player plays - screw 'em. Or at least trip him up in some convoluted terms and conditions." It's a shame that players are the ones who make this industry tick, but they are the ones who are tread on first. When will the new and improved Player Dispute center arise? Who freakin' knows. In the meantime, I would avoid all RTG casinos (besides the ones listed at Casinomeister and perhaps Bodog) until they get their act in gear.
At press time: (now) I was informed by RTG that the Hastings Disputes will be set up by next week.
But besides that, it was overall a great meal.
Onward to Playtech's Tila Tequila's party for the launching of Tila Tequilla poker site. The party was held at Embassy Club London which at first seemed small (another dreaded wait at the bar for drinks) but surprisingly, this place was huge. Plenty of room to move around and chat. It was one of the better parties I've been to on these London tours. Kudos for the organizers, and yes Tila Tequila and her friends are hot.
Wait a moment. Who is this Tila Tequila and why is she so "big?" I kept asking certain individuals - the name kept turning my tongue into a knot - and I kept getting the same answer "She's hot!" "She has 1.6 million friends at Myspace.com - she's way more popular than Paris Hilton." "You're too old to know these things. It's not your generation." Well, the guy telling me this tried to make me feel old - but sorry, I'm pretty hip on what's up and what's not. So I went on to ask a number of people "Who is she?" and most people shrugged. Nevertheless, it was nice to see someone on cloud nine. Because that's where she was that night - on top of the world. It was a pleasantly vicarious experience.
The night wore on...and I slipped out into the darkness heading back to my room.
Voice from the past - ICE 2003
...London has a lot of magic for me; mainly from it's history and it's writers. Dickens was always one of my favorites, and what a delight it was to have a magnificent lunch with PartnerLogic just around the corner from one of Dickens' homes. It was here that he wrote "A Christmas Carol", the story of Eberneezer Scrooge's Christmas ghosts. There is a graveyard across from the restaurant with headstones dating to the 18th century. Dickens probably saw these on his daily walks, and these stones perhaps found themselves intertwined in his stories. The restaurant was on Old Marleybone Road; Scrooge's partner was Marley. Cool stuff. And I digress once more.....
The last day approached...CAP Euro beckoned me...Scroll down to find out what's up with that...
By now, I was pretty freaking tired and burned out. And I had yet to do any shopping for CDs, DVDs, or catching more than that crap movie I had wasted my money on. CAP EURO was unfortunately going to be a short one. Casino Affiliate Programs is one of the only professional organizations (aside form the GPWA) that is geared towards the online casino webmaster. If you are a webmaster, I would recommend moseying on over there to check them out.
This was the first year that CAP was in London, and it seemed like a fairly good turnout. Referback's booth had a masseuse - and I was beat. J. Todd from APCW jived me saying he was going to put me on one of his videos - but no dice. I didn't care anyway - the masseuse made me forget about the world for about 5 minutes.
Anyway - I had lunch with Simmo!, Casinomeister's illustrious forum moderator and fellow webmaster. We joined the Referback crowd in their "VIP" lounge which was a really nice set-up.
After lunch, it was time to say my goodbyes and depart the massive swarm of affiliates, affiliate managers, and operators. It was time for me to play "loner-dude" and check out a movie or two.
So it was sushi for one at MamaYo Sushi on Mayfair street - and two films, "The Last King of Scotland" and a midnight showing of "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan ." Forest Whitaker is absolutely awesome (and convincing) as Idi Amin. Great movie. Borat? One of the best documentaries ever made. Sacha Cohen peels away at human perceptions and plays with their responses in a very subtle yet guerrilla-esque way. Ingenious.
And that was it; over and done with. But the memories linger - it was sad to think about how this industry is changing, and that by next year, there will be a number of faces absent from these conferences.
Voice from the past - ICE 2001
I've had a couple of weeks to contemplate my experiences of the International Casino Exhibition and would have to say it was overall a
satisfying experience, but it was too small. It was great seeing the faces behind the websites and emails I've been in contact with over the past couple of years, but the ICE could have been bigger. There were perhaps only about twenty-five booths; that was it. I was also surprised by how many "newbies" were in the business, people who have never visited the forums of Casinomeister, Winneronline, Got2bet, or other quality gaming information sites. This was scary. It goes to show that many of these vendors have not done their homework when it comes to finding out what is "really" happening in the online gaming world. It was the "oldtimers", people who have been in the business for a while, who knew about our sites, and consequently, understood the importance of sites like ours. This new budding industry has a lot to learn.
International Casino Exhibition and Casino Affiliate Program EURO Special Edition
