THE Isle of Man will be strongly represented at the ICE e-Gaming show  2011 at Earl’s Court in London which starts on Tuesday.

A number of Manx-based companies in the e-Gaming sector will join together as part of the Isle of Man delegation on stand No. 5530 which is hosted by the Isle of Man Government.

Government executives from the e-gaming sector will also be attending, including head of e-gaming development, Garth Kimber. Isle of Man companies in attendance include Netcetera, the ILS Group, Equiom and eMainstream Marketing Ltd.

Now accounting for five per cent of the island's economy, the Isle of Man's e-gaming industry was last year responsible for pumping £150 million into the local economy and employing approximately 700 people.

With 24 licensed companies including PokerStars, SBObet and 188bet already operating and a further 22 in various stages of set up, the online gaming sector's future looks encouraging.

The gaming sector was even able to employ a number of people from the financial sector during the difficult times over the last couple of years, bearing in mind a large number of gaming jobs on the Island are in accounts, treasury and customer service", said Garth Kimber.

Thanks to the quick 10-12 week license application process, the low licensing fee and duty rate, and a sound technical infrastructure, the Isle of Man is now considered one of the top four e-gaming jurisdictions, along with Gibraltar, Alderney and Malta.

Areas of note under discussion during the three-day show will be the increasing adoption of 3D and internet TV, which is the next wave of technology for television viewing. These TVs have just started appearing on the market with cable and satellite companies scrambling to add channels and shows in 3D.

This offers the opportunity for an enriched experience centred around gaming and could be awesome on these televisions. Mark McGuinness of eMainstream Marketing said, “I would love to see PKR deliver their 3D poker platform creatively on 3D TVs”