The last week of January has always been the highlight on my iGaming calendar each and every year.

The ICE back in 2006 was the first gathering of webmasters I attended and was the first time I met the programs and operators ( apart from those I knew from my time in Gibraltar ) alongside my peer webmasters in person.

Ever since, I have made the short hour and a bit train pilgrimage to London at the end of January.

My highlight of the week is always the Meister Meet put together by Bryan of Casinomeister and sponsored yet again by those fine people from Club World Casinos.

Having got into London on Tuesday 25th Jan early afternoon, I decided to just check into my cupboard of a room at the St Giles and use the time available to hunt a bowtie down in Oxford Street which was required for the Affiliate Awards Dinner later on in the evening.

The only redeeming feature the St Giles has, is that it is cheap for London and also the location cannot be beaten.

Being at the top of Oxford Street, just off Tottenham Court Road and a stones throw from the Centrepoint made up for the shoe box of a room, which I was to call 'home' for the next two nights.

It was Simmo's ( Fellow webmaster and moderator at Casinomeister ) idea to stay there the first two nights. I soon realised why when I checked in, what with an internal door by reception linking the hotel to the Gala Casino next door!

The Meister Meeting as per usual was a great couple of hours. Populated primarily by webmasters and operators, nonetheless it was a good opportunity to catch up with old friends and acquaintances, some of whom I had not seen for a couple of years. With a couple of Irish Musicians to boot supplying the entertainment and Club World paying for the beer, in an informal and fun atmosphere, it certainly lived up to it's reputation.

Being the first industry event ( The ICE and London January ) I have attended since the passing of my friend and respected webmaster Ted Loh, it was also tinged with a bit of sadness for me, not seeing him there. Last year Ted, could not travel as he had only just been diagnosed with cancer. This year his passing in September was the cause. He was and is still greatly missed.

For those of you who wish to help raise funds for Ted's family, please visit the link directly below. All accounts signed up from the casino links on Ted's Tribute Page will directly benefit Ted's family.

Ted Loh - Tribute

As is becoming a regular event whenever we have a webmaster gathering, several of us decided to go for a curry once the beer ran dry at Waxy 'O Connors. We were fortunate that we didn't have far to go, seeing as we were right next door to an Indian Tandoori Restaurant.

It is not often you can say that you have dined with royalty, but in this case we were honoured to not have one King on the table with us, but two! In the form of the webmaster from onlinecasinoking.com and Casinos Online's forum moderator Kasino King of www.kasinoking.co.uk.

Apart from being extremely overpriced, I felt the food was fine. However the same cannot be said for Max, who was up from 3am the following morning with a decidedly bad stomach!

The Wednesday, surprisingly I got up fairly early for breakfast at the nearest McDonalds and headed off to Earl's Court with Simmo! to have a look round the ICE. Now that the London Affiliate Conference has piggy backed onto the back of the ICE, from a webmasters point of view, well certainly mine, it is not really that worthwhile attending anymore for more than a couple of hours.

It is good to get a vibe from the software operator stands such as Microgaming and Playtech, to see what new casino games are due to be launched and in that respect they certainly didn't disappoint, having spent a fair chunk of change on their respective stands. However, the ICE is primarily geared for operators nowadays. With most online casino managers and program representatives dedicating their time to the LAC at the end of the week.

My main and actually sole purpose of attending ICE, was to meet with Michael Corfman, the CEO of Casino City and Executive Director of the GPWA who is also a fellow DMOZ Editor. Michael as per usual had a stand for Casino City at Earls Court.

Michael and myself, alongside JTodd from the APCW, were down to speak at the London Affiliate Conference on the Friday, heading up the Affiliate Round Table Discussion Panel.

The purpose of our informal chat that lasted just under an hour, was to outline what areas we should discuss on the Friday, bearing in mind we were limited to an hour.

The evening was to be spent in the company of the guys from 32Red, in the form of Ed Ware the CEO, David Fish the Chairman and Graham Campbell Systems Director.

32Red had much to celebrate, having the previous week announced record revenues achieved in 2010 and the winning of the CasinoMeister Casino of the year yet again. The final part to make up 32Red's hattrick of success was last but not least the High Court in London ruling in their favour after a long protracted legal battle with William Hill.

Before being taken upstairs to dine, we were provided with a wide selection of Martini's to choose from. I passed on the martinis and stuck with water, but one of us decided to go for the chocolate martini. It looked foul, but apparently on all accounts was splendid. The dinner was great and we spent several hours chatting away. If you have not played at 32Red Casino, where have you been?

Seriously these guys run one of the best online casino operations currently in business. Their support is first class, withdrawals quick, games great. Indeed everything about 32Red is superb.

Thursday was the day of the Annual Affiliate Awards and meant that I was to check out of the St Giles and check into the more salubrious Grange St Pauls Hotel, which for the second year in a row was the official conference hotel for the LAC.

I had been asked a week prior to the Awards Ceremony to receive on behalf of Dominique of GamesandCasino.com, the lifetime achievement award. I was honoured and privileged to be asked and even though I was c******* myself as the picture on the left shows, I went through with it! LOL

The award could not have gone to a finer affiliate. GamesandCasino.com is a superb informative website and Dom has been a great help to affiliates old and new.

Thank you Dom for asking me to pick your award up for you. Extremely well deserved and I hope you will be able to make Dublin in May.

Apart from having to pick up Dominique's award and stuttering like a rabbit in headlights when being interviewed by CalvinAyre.com afterwards, I had been kindly invited by Martin of www.footylatest.com to be a guest at his table. Thanks Martin, it was much appreciated.

I found myself sitting next to Anthony from the APCW. Which was really interesting, particularly as I had never met with Anthony in person before. I had a very enlightening conversation with Anthony and I got a good insight  and handle on what the APCW actually does.

Most people assume wrongly, that the APCW just produce weekly Perspective Videos hosted by JTodd. But the APCW is far more involved in the industry, than just publishing the weekly videos.

The amount of work Anthony and JTodd perform, in auditing affiliate programs and highlighting player issues in the industry should really be commended. As such, I plan to help spread their word as much as I can.

Before heading back to the hotel, I bumped into Jason Duke from strangelogic.com and was able to thank him for giving me a second opinion on Casinos Online and the problem it had with being indexed in google when I launched the site on 7th December 2010.

The Friday was the opening of the London Affiliate Conference and I was scheduled to speak on the Round Table Discussion Panel at 13:30 alongside Michael Corfman and JTodd.

The day kicked off with me having breakfast at the hotel with JTodd and Anthony from the APCW, before heading to Old Billingsgate to take a tour round all the booths at the conference.

First impressions was that it was even more well attended than 2010, which I felt would have been hard to achieve. I had a meeting scheduled for the morning with a new casino operator which is about to come onboard Casinos-Online.co.uk.

Players I am sure will be extremely receptive to this casino. But alas I am unable to say who they are just yet. So make sure you bookmark the casino reviews section!

To be honest, only having an hour to discuss the issues at hand was always going to be a stretch. Just really allowing myself, Michael and JTodd to provide our views on the areas covered. Which were; Betfair, BWin, Rival Gaming, Dealing with retroactive terms and condition changes and Grand Prive.

I primarily reiterated my opinions which I have voiced on the forums and this is from a players perspective. The reason why there are currently only 15 online casinos featured on Casinos Online, is down to the fact that finding top notch stellar online casinos to recommend is extremely hard.

Yes there maybe 2000+ gaming sites currently in operation, but quality is what counts. Players want to be able to play at a gambling operation, which values their custom. This is the key and should be the main criteria webmasters should use when deciding who to list a casino on their portal or portals.

I also covered the issue of US Facing Casinos having their funds at processors seized, the most recent being ewallet express. Webmasters who actively promote US Facing online casinos, need to do so being fully aware of the potential risk of lost funds as a result. My other main point I raised, was that I felt webmasters concentrate too much on the negative aspects in the industry rather than the positive.

This is a great industry to work in, but it does take a lot of hard work to make a website a success. I have seen of late on player forums and webmaster forums, too much negative posting. Instead of working on your sites, improving the information you provide your visitors and thus enhancing your site as a resource. It is apparent some webmasters are more intent in wallowing in the negative, self pity and carrying out personal attacks.

Did the panel actually achieve much? To be honest not really. Due to the time constraints, there was not enough time available to allow proper participation from those in attendance. Hopefully it can be expanded on in Dublin at the Super Show in May and perhaps, just the one pressing current topic can be discussed.

As a result of attending the LAC in London, I can announce that Casinos Online will be bringing on board at least three new online casinos. At the time of writing I am unable to divulge any further information. However suffice to say, their addition will improve the offering the site as a whole offers our visitors. More to follow in the next couple of days.