In retrospect, the general consensus was unanimous: The three days of hustling and bustling business at ICE London 2023 were over far too quickly. And what a pity it was, too, that the new magnificent NOVOMATIC stand had to be dismantled. What it eventually was, is the biggest ICE ever in every aspect: 51,466 square meters of floor space, visitor numbers estimated to exceed 40,000 – and for NOVOMATIC, the most successful gaming show ever. 

Visitors were stunned by the entirely new and sophisticated stand design at the show’s biggest booth, introducing a new black elegance as well as granting excellent visibility to the various dedicated NOVOMATIC floor areas for the diverse industry segments and markets. Land-based casino and AWP products & systems, casino management systems including biometric technologies for modern access solutions and secure cash handling solutions as well as sports betting and iGaming solutions and much more. 

At the centre of the all-new stand, NOVOMATIC’s slogan for this year’s ICE “BLACK IS BACK” heralded the international launch of the brand new BLACK EDITION II cabinet series. Coined as the successor of the hugely popular “Black Edition”, this cabinet series introduces extended flexibility with three new cabinet versions: the smaller BLACK EDITION II 3.27, the extra-large BLACK EDITION II XL 3.32 and the single-screen BLACK EDITION II 1.49J. All three present exciting and sophisticated cabinet design with perfectly angled screens and a razor-sharp game presentation against the backdrop of a Black Metro finish and a contrasting LED ambient lighting concept. Right at the centre of the casino area, the BLACK EDITION II 1.49J showed another highlight of this year’s ICE display: the Candelas de los Muertos™ games with Señorita Suerte and Señor Muerte accompanied by a dedicated photo booth and Señorita and Señor game characters in authentic Mexican Dia de los Muertos style. The two colourful titles are available as single games as well as being part of the new Linked Progressive mix NOVO LINE CASH CONNECTION™ Edition 4 – plus, they were a key highlight of Greentube’s show display for the iGaming segment. 

Another new kid on the block at ICE was the massive new video slot slant top MASTER SL™ in versions 2.32 and 3.32, presenting a new choice for operators to introduce more variety in their slot floor layout. In London, it launched with the NOVO LINE™ Interactive Editions X3 and X4 as well as NOVO LINE CASH CONNECTION™ Editions 3 and 4, the latter of which includes the title CASH CONNECTION Charming Lady’s BOOM™. On day 1 of the show, this highly popular game received a coveted accolade at the European Casino Awards as the proud winner of the “Best Slot Game” category. 

The DIAMOND X™ 1.55J was on display with the exclusive XTENSION LINK™ Volume 1 in a banked set-up as well as in the new island set-up, complete with spacers and circular LED signage, while the multi-screen version DIAMOND X™ 2.32 presented the brand new GOLDEN LINK Progressive mixes. Further new mixes comprised a MONEY PARTY™ mix, introducing these highly popular US games to the international markets, an ULTRA BOOST LINK™ multi-game, Impera-Line HD™ Edition 9 as well as Series 2 of the top-selling IMPERA LINK™, which was presented in the BLACK EDITION II 2.32 cabinet. 

Further news were also staged in the dedicated ETG area with the new slant tops LOTUS SL™ 1.27 and EXECUTIVE SL™ 1.27 as well as the new high-speed Multi-Roulette wheel for the Novo Unity™ platform. 

Another first place at the European Casino Awards went to the NOVOVISION™ casino management system in the category “Best CMS/Software Product”. This powerful system was presented right at the heart of the NOVOMATIC stand, demonstrating its extensive toolset for efficient casino management. The functionalities include a wide range of possibilities for automation, detailed analysis and sophisticated performance optimisation, taking into account all responsibilities and requirements of modern casino operations in terms of player protection, responsible gaming and reporting obligations as well as offering modern biometric access solutions and innovative player tracking for live gaming tables. 

Ryszard Presch, Member of the Executive Board of NOVOMATIC AG, says: “I am delighted with the resonance at the show. It proves that our development strategy in terms of hardware as well as content and solutions for the international markets was spot on. ICE London 2023 was a fantastic start into the year.” 

Johannes Gratzl, Member of the Executive Board of NOVOMATIC AG, comments: “A major show like ICE is always a huge collaborative accomplishment, and we are fully aware that this tremendous success in London is the result of the combined team effort of countless departments and staff. We would really like to say to them all: thank you and very well done.” 

Thomas Schmalzer, VP Global Sales and VP Product Management NOVOMATIC AG, adds: “This year’s ICE was just a tremendously successful show. It was already clear at the beginning of day 1 that the number of visitors to our stand far exceeded that of previous years. Customer feedback on our show portfolio was excellent – and the question that we heard most, was: ‘When can we have it?’”