ATE and River City Group to Merge and Re-brand as Clarion Gaming

Following on the successful purchase of two key gaming industry event/publication companies by Clarion Events, a merger of those into a single entity called Clarion Gaming will begin in September 10, 2007 and be complete by early 2008.

ATE produces the major London exhibitions ICE and ICEi, along with The Betting Show and other conference events. In July 2006, ATE was joined by sister company, River City Group. Together we produce the European I-Gaming Congress and Expo (EiG) and BetMarkets. River City Group produces the Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Expo (GIGSE), World Poker Congress, Asian i-Gaming Congress (AiG, formerly PCIG) and I-Gaming InDepth conferences. In addition, both companies are responsible for key trade publications such as IGaming News, Betting Business, and Casino Review among others.

Simon Kimble, Managing Director of Clarion Events in London, said, "We made these two strategic purchases to get a foothold in serving the global gaming industry. We expect, as these two companies integrate, that they will form a dynamic foundation allowing us to assemble yet more key gaming industry event and publication companies in various regions of the world."

What does this mean for River City Group clients? Our staff and services will remain essentially the same and we plan to continue to offer the same trusted services to you as our readers, delegates, exhibitors and sponsors. This merger will allow us, and by extension, our clients, a broader reach as the lines between terrestrial and online gaming services continue to blur. We’ll be offering a combined suite of events and even more innovative digital information services so that you can best reach your markets.

Clarion Gaming, as the newly merged companies will be known, will espouse the same principles that have allowed River City Group and ATE to become the standard by which gaming companies gauge conferences and exhibitions serving their markets. Under this new moniker, we look forward to the opportunity to improve even further upon our new and established business relationships via the increased resources and reach of a shared identity and assets.