- Joined
- Jan 20, 2004
- Location
- Saltirelandia
ICE/LAC 2018 is now behind us and per usual I'm sitting down to write a few words on what we saw and learned from our visit. To be honest I'm having a tough time of it this time around. Partly that's because I was fighting the onset of a flu all week and partly because of what I believe is a simple reality of our business: the unreservedly bullish days are behind us (for now) and much of the industry has entered a bearish phase.
For the first time I felt that we were tourists at ICE. The floor was mostly occupied with casino management groups, transaction processors, software providers and the like. In other words there was hardly anyone there interested in the likes of us: ICE has shifted focus and we aren't the target audience, not by any stretch of the imagination. Not that we ever really were but this year our level of engagement with the show's exhibitors was the lowest I can remember it being since I started attending regularly in 2008.
Good news then that the usual day of dead-time between ICE and LAC was eliminated this year so LAC started a day earlier for us. And LAC seemed much more focused this year: relatively modest exhibits, everything relevant and on-topic, and the binary guys were nowhere to be seen (good riddance!).
That said there was definitely that bearish feeling in the air. Whereas previous years were all "Hey affiliate! Let's do business!" this year was just as much "Can we do business given the new regulations?" and "How will the new GDPR affect the way we do business?" And whereas in years past the affiliates on the floor looking for deals were a dime a dozen that simply was no longer true. Economic pressures and a changing marketplace has culled the herd considerably. LAC this year was much more about confirming old relationships and bore little resemblance to the casino-affiliate speed-dating of just a few years ago.
Happily many of the people we've worked with for years are still there, adapting to the new circumstances as we all must, and planning their way forward. We've had to say goodbye to a few old friends this past year but most, like us, are still very much in the game.
For the first time I felt that we were tourists at ICE. The floor was mostly occupied with casino management groups, transaction processors, software providers and the like. In other words there was hardly anyone there interested in the likes of us: ICE has shifted focus and we aren't the target audience, not by any stretch of the imagination. Not that we ever really were but this year our level of engagement with the show's exhibitors was the lowest I can remember it being since I started attending regularly in 2008.
Good news then that the usual day of dead-time between ICE and LAC was eliminated this year so LAC started a day earlier for us. And LAC seemed much more focused this year: relatively modest exhibits, everything relevant and on-topic, and the binary guys were nowhere to be seen (good riddance!).
That said there was definitely that bearish feeling in the air. Whereas previous years were all "Hey affiliate! Let's do business!" this year was just as much "Can we do business given the new regulations?" and "How will the new GDPR affect the way we do business?" And whereas in years past the affiliates on the floor looking for deals were a dime a dozen that simply was no longer true. Economic pressures and a changing marketplace has culled the herd considerably. LAC this year was much more about confirming old relationships and bore little resemblance to the casino-affiliate speed-dating of just a few years ago.
Happily many of the people we've worked with for years are still there, adapting to the new circumstances as we all must, and planning their way forward. We've had to say goodbye to a few old friends this past year but most, like us, are still very much in the game.