{"id":125935,"date":"2020-02-03T12:18:46","date_gmt":"2020-02-03T20:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=125935"},"modified":"2020-02-03T15:22:52","modified_gmt":"2020-02-03T23:22:52","slug":"journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/","title":{"rendered":"Journalist\u2019s International Casino Exhibition Media Pass Initially Put on ICE Over Historical Bad Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

An award-winning journalist was initially refused press accreditation for this week\u2019s International Casino Exhibition<\/a> in London, allegedly because organizer Clarion Gaming is concerned about negative press.<\/p>\n

\"Vasil
The promotional models at ICE are expected to be wearing more clothes this year than in 2018, when a Playboy dance act (pictured) was featured. (Image: The Sun)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

An article<\/a> written about the 2018 event by Rob Davies of The Guardian<\/em> called the gambling industry out for brash, sexist marketing, describing an exhibition space populated by scantily dressed promo girls, pole dancers in fishnets, and a Playboy-themed dance act.<\/p>\n

The article led to the introduction of new sexual harassment and clothing policies at ICE, and Davies told The Press Gazette<\/em> he suspects this was the reason he was no longer welcome at the event.<\/p>\n

They were saying it\u2019s a trade show and the kind of conversations national newspapers want to have about gambling aren\u2019t the kind of conversations people at that trade show want to be having in that kind of forum,\u201d Davies told The Press Gazette.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clarion has since softened its stance and has now rubber-stamped Davies\u2019 press pass following intervention by The Press Gazette<\/em>, a British media trade publication.<\/p>\n

Davies said the Twitter reaction to his ICE ban, which included responses from numerous ICE attendees offering to help get him access, may have helped change Clarion\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n

Swimsuit Sexism<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Davies’ article came at the height of the #MeToo Movement and at a time when the gambling sector’s objectification of women had come into hard focus.<\/p>\n

Just days before the 2018 ICE event, the Financial Times<\/em> ran an expos\u00e9 on the President\u2019s Club charity dinner \u2013 an exclusively male fundraiser attended by leading figures in entertainment, business, and politics.<\/p>\n

Two undercover reporters described promotional girls being groped and assaulted throughout the course of the evening, sparking a scandal in the UK.<\/p>\n

\n

Perhaps anticipating that ICE was a Guardian<\/em> article just waiting to happen, on the eve of ICE, then-chief of the UK Gambling Commission Sarah Harrison urged exhibitors to ditch \u201cswimsuit sexism\u201d<\/a> and threatened to boycott the event if they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThis is an industry where we have a number of talented, powerful, and successful women,\u201d she told the International Casino Conference of her experience the previous year. \u201cYet from walking around the exhibition, you wouldn\u2019t know this.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, you saw men representing their companies wearing expensive tailored suits whilst their female colleagues were expected to wear nothing more than swimsuits. I say bring this to an end now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her pleas apparently fell on deaf ears.<\/p>\n

No More Partial Nudity <\/strong><\/h2>\n

After 15 years of a highly liberalized gambling market, the industry is facing a backlash not just from The Guardian,<\/em> but almost universally across the UK press.<\/p>\n

Davies acknowledged that his \u201cgeneral coverage\u201d of the gambling industry might also have contributed to Clarion\u2019s initial hostility.<\/p>\n

ICE runs from February 4-6 and attracts around 35,000 professionals to the ExCel exhibition center in London\u2019s Docklands.<\/p>\n

It promises to \u201cprovide a safe, respectful, ethical, and appropriate working environment for everyone, including staff, exhibitors, customers, and suppliers, which is not discriminatory towards, or offensive to, individuals or groups for reasons of age, disability, sexual orientation, class, ethnicity, race, color, faith, marital status or gender,\u201d according to the event\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

\u201cPartial or total nudity or overtly sexual or suggestive clothing or marketing methods\u201d are now banned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An award-winning journalist was initially refused press accreditation for this week\u2019s International Casino Exhibition in London, allegedly because organizer Clarion Gaming is concerned about negative press. An article written about the 2018 event by Rob Davies of The Guardian called the gambling industry out for brash, sexist marketing, describing an exhibition space populated by scantily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":125937,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,33810],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nJournalist\u2019s International Casino Exhibition Media Pass Initially Put on ICE Over Historical Bad Press - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An award-winning journalist was initially refused press accreditation for this week\u2019s International Casino Exhibition in London, allegedly because\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Journalist\u2019s International Casino Exhibition Media Pass Initially Put on ICE Over Historical Bad Press - Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An award-winning journalist was initially refused press accreditation for this week\u2019s International Casino Exhibition in London, allegedly because\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-03T20:18:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-03T23:22:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ICE.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1765\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1171\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/\",\"name\":\"Journalist\u2019s International Casino Exhibition Media Pass Initially Put on ICE Over Historical Bad Press - Casino.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ICE.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-03T20:18:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-03T23:22:52+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"An award-winning journalist was initially refused press accreditation for this week\u2019s International Casino Exhibition in London, allegedly because\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/journalists-international-casino-exhibition-media-pass-put-on-ice-over-historical-bad-press\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ICE.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/ICE.jpg\",\"width\":1765,\"height\":1171,\"caption\":\"Vasil \u201cThe Skull\u201d Bozhkov is one of Bulgaria\u2019s richest men. 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