Brussels, 19 April 2021 – In light of the continued uncertainty regarding international travel and the viability of in-person events due to the ongoing pandemic, the Board of the European Casino Association announces the cancellation of this year’s European Dealer Championship (Monte-Carlo, October 4-8) and ECA Industry Forum (Vienna, November 31-December 3), with both events postponed until 2022.

While no fixed dates can be supplied at this time, the ECA assures members that the European Dealer Championship will return in April/May 2022, followed by the ECA Industry Forum in September/October 2022.

“Health and safety have always been our top priority and the continued uncertainty created by the pandemic makes the postponement of our in-person events the prudent decision. We needed to put down our foot and make this decision now considering the scale of these events and the efforts that are going into organizing and executing them”, comments ECA Chair, Per Jaldung. “While we regret the cancellations this year, we look forward to the prospect of EU-wide vaccination programmes lifting current travel restrictions to enable us to reunite with our members in 2022.”

ECA’s Secretary-General, Hermann Pamminger, added: “The ECA Dealer Championship brings together the best dealers from all over Europe in the spirit of healthy competition, while the Industry Forum is a special get-together for industry stakeholders, suppliers and researchers to celebrate the collaborative nature of this business. We believe these events will be more important than ever in 2022 as the industry rebounds from the pandemic and seeks to address the challenges of the ‘new’ future.” 

New dates will be communicated as soon as available. 

Background:

The European casino sector has been hard hit by a combination of mandatory closures and national lockdowns due to the pandemic. In 2020, European casinos were closed for an average of 136 days. To date, the majority of European casinos remain closed.