EAG Expo has an extraordinary heritage. The trade show for the entertainment, attractions and gaming sector traces its roots back to 1936, when 39 exhibitors gathered in London’s Regent Street for the first edition of ATE, the event’s predecessor.
Nearly 90 years on, it remains the only exhibition in the world serving the land-based gaming, bingo and pay-to-play amusements sectors.
The annual trade show is now hosted at ExCel London and welcomed over 4,000 unique visitors this year. These attendees are from an impressive array of verticals. They visit to see around 1,000 product launches from approximately 300 brands, and to keep up with the latest innovations and trends.
In 2025, the event expanded in reflection of the sector’s success in the UK and across Europe. It increased its floorspace and introduced dedicated programmes for casino and gaming, as well as social immersive entertainment.
We spoke with Steve Ware, managing director and founder of SingPods, an innovative karaoke booth system that exhibited at the event’s inaugural Social Immersive Entertainment (SIE) Expo.
This new hall serves as a showcase for the location-based entertainment landscape, and exhibitors’ booths are accompanied by a seminar programme. SingPods has already booked to return for the 2026 edition.
A new event for a booming sector
The SIE Expo spans all three areas of immersive, competitive and social entertainment, and features some of the key technologies that are driving immersive entertainment. The first edition of the event in 2025 was supported by leading names such as 501, Holovis, and Game Volt.
SingPods’ exhibit showcased the company’s private, state-of-the-art karaoke booths and introduced the new SingPod Arcade Mini, a stylish, wall-mounted unit that makes karaoke accessible in even the smallest of spaces.
“I’d been to the EAG the year before to check it out,” says Ware. “When I got in touch about exhibiting there, Greg [Bailey, sales manager] said they’ve got this new concept.”
See also: Social gaming shines at EAG 2025
When he heard about the new SIE Expo, Ware saw the potential.
“It makes total sense, that’s exactly where we fit.
“When I went to check out the show, I knew that the people there were the right type of people for our offering, the right target audience. I was going to exhibit either way, so the launch of this social side was a bonus. And whilst this year it was new and fairly small, I think there’s scope for the social side to be four or five times as big next year.
“It was a punt, but one worth taking, I think.”
Building relationships
“The value was good,” says Ware.
“The show reignited conversations with some large nationwide chains, and it also started conversations with new ones. And we found completely new contacts that we would never have come across.
“It was a great audience of attendees, and the atmosphere was good.”
The show, which is free admission, also provided an opportunity to nurture leads and network with peers.
“It also gave us the chance to invite people we’d been speaking with about SingPods down to the show to actually see the product,” says Ware.
“That whole new section was great because we were around other people in the industry that we know, and also some that we got to know more.
“It’s a small industry, really, the suppliers for the social entertainment world. You start to see them at different shows, different places.
“Exhibiting was a smooth process. My account manager, Greg, was great. He came to see us on the day and made sure we were happy. They offer flexible payments as well, which is always nice, just to spread the cost of a booth over a year.
“It seems like EAG is investing in this social, immersive side, which makes sense. They’re keeping on trend.”
Turnkey karaoke system
“SingPods, in itself, is a company born out of trying to improve the events sector,” says Ware.
“My background is events, event production, putting on experiences. I ran events at a director level at a football club for several years. So, having done thousands of events, I was asking, how could we improve the photo booth experience that everyone does? And we had the idea of taking the karaoke room experience on the road.”
SingPods first entered the market in 2020, and the challenges of COVID have shaped its development.
“So just as the world was locking down, I was building the first pod in a world where there were no events.
“But it’s one of those unique concepts. I built it and put it out there, and then companies like Sky and Magnum, the BBC and Spotify were getting in touch to hire it. And I thought, okay, there’s something here.
“And by doing events and improving those experiences, venues started to get in touch. It went full circle, in taking the concept from a venue to events, and now it’s back in venues as a turnkey system.”
Expanding the offering at competitive socialising venues
This system allows venues to instantly add karaoke to their spaces, without needing to build rooms, source equipment, or worry about soundproofing.
“We’ve got a few different sizes and offerings,” says Ware. “There are curvy ones which can be fully wrapped, like a big billboard. And then we’ve got our box pod, which is more square and goes up in size from two metres to four metres squared. We also do custom builds, like the Shower Pod, where the shower head is the mic.
“Competitive socialising venues are our key audience. So, bowling alleys, activity bars, places that are doing darts, axe throwing, and shuffleboards. People are going into those venues and expecting an activity. So it makes sense for them to jump in.
“Then, we work with more typical pubs or bars. Here, it’s about how we can offer karaoke as an experience in the venue to generate revenue and increase dwell time. Another interesting audience is attractions and leisure. So holiday parks, holiday camps, and attractions.
“We traditionally offer a lease and licence, where the venue takes all the revenue. We’ve just introduced purchasing so venues own the asset, and license the system, software and the songs with us. We’re also launching a rental system for those who just want to give it a go, and with the right type of venue, we’ll also do a joint venture where we share the initial costs, put the pod in, and then split the profits.”
Bookable, profitable, and social
And these profits are often significant.
“It varies, but a venue with a SingPod could be earning between £250 and maybe £1,200 a week,” says Ware.
“Depending on how much they push it, how well they market it, and the type of people that are in. There’s good scope to earn with a SingPod.
“We generally find that venues promoting the SingPods or the karaoke experience as a pre-bookable activity will see anywhere between a 50% and 100% uplift in bookings.
“All the remaining slots will then get taken up with the impulse purchasing.
To book a SingPod, visitors simply scan a QR code and use Apple Pay or Google Pay to purchase times or song credits. The system then texts a PIN code, which activates the Pod at the booked time.
“We generally benchmark at around £1 a minute. Pre-bookings are often incentivised, so slightly less, more like 75p a minute. And for a very small footprint, two metres by two metres.”
This outperforms many ball tables or arcade machines on the market. And then there’s secondary spend.
“Drink spend will definitely go up. People want their Dutch courage before going in and belting a song out. Dwell time will increase because people book their time, and they’ll wait and go in.
“Also, the shareable side is very easy. SingPod doubles up as a photo booth, and that can be branded. That venue-branded takeaway often ends up on social media or shared with friends.”
Cementing SingPods’ leadership position
The SingPods team regularly attend trade shows and events, and has already booked its booth for SIE Expo 2026.
“We invest in shows for a couple of reasons. One is to keep our position as the UK’s karaoke supplier. We are born and bred in the UK, and everything we build is made in Britain. So it’s very much keeping ourselves there, in the picture for people looking for karaoke.
“We’ve tried several shows, and EAG was up there for us for opening doors and reigniting conversations.”
“The first year at SIE was great, and we met all the major account holders that we wanted to meet. And I think this coming year is going to bring in a secondary flow of attendees who are the smaller bars and chains.
“They’re starting to understand that they need to put things like this in place as well to make their money and keep people there.”
“The hustle has increased. Everybody’s looking at how they can introduce this kind of social, immersive experience to their places, because Gen Z are necessarily not drinking in quite the same way as, say, I would when I went out.
“And people are looking for activities, for things to do. Many people don’t have as much money, so when they do spend it, they want a real experience. And not just, you know, spend it on food and drink. They want something to go alongside that.”
Unveiling innovations in 2026
SingPods is already planning the booth for next year.
“The SingPods motto is How do we create the best experience? And it’s not just about the number of songs, or who’s got what song. It’s about how you offer the best karaoke experience.
“We’re the only company that integrates with everything in the room. You don’t just go in and sing a song on, say, an iPad. We make it immersive. The screens are big. It integrates with the lighting and the sound.”
“Our constant aim is innovation. So, what people will see at EAG next year will be entirely different from last year. There are going to be so many more cool features which we will bring along.
These details are currently confidential, but Ware offers a teaser.
“We can say that it will have some inclusion with AI on both audio and visual.”
So, what advice would Ware give to companies that are thinking about exhibiting at Expos like EAG?
“These big exhibitions are not just for the Segas and the big, large global companies that you’d expect,” he says. “As a smaller company, we took the pump to give it a go, and it worked out.
“So my advice to anyone looking at doing it is, you’ve got to look at your return on investment. These big exhibitions are never cheap, but when you’ve got the calibre of people in the room at the same time, then it’s definitely worth the investment.”
Get ready for EAG Expo 2026
The 2026 edition of the EAG Expo, SIE Expo and London Casino and Gaming Show is set to take place from 13 to 15 January at ExCel London.
Marking the first event in the industry’s annual trade show calendar, the Expo is regarded as the leading show for out-of-home experiences in the UK and Europe, with an international roster of attendees and exhibitors.
Next year’s programme promises to be the most ambitious yet. The EAG team has conducted extensive research with exhibitors to inform the development of the show, and is now taking booth bookings.
Nick Harding, EAG chairman, said: “The message I want to send to our growing exhibitor base is that EAG is your event and the team will be focused on providing a professional, dynamic and relevant ‘must attend’ event for the entire industry.”
