Following Clarion Events' (Clarion) successful purchase of two gaming industry event and publication companies, ATE and River City Group, a merger of those into a single entity called Clarion Gaming will begin in September 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, they 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.
"We made these two strategic purchases to get a foothold in serving the global gaming industry," said Clarion Managing Director Simon Kimble. "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."
"The I-Gaming News brand is here to stay," said IGN Editor Mark Balestra. "The only thing that changes in the editorial department is what we say when we answer the phone."
Clarion acquired ATE and River City Group in 2005 and 2006, respectively.