BACTA, the UK trade association and InterGame Ltd. on Wednesday reached agreement to run one united trade show next year.

Sad news this month as we lost two industry stalwarts, Martin Dempsey and Clive Birdsall. For me, Martin Dempsey was one of those characters who was "always there". At any trade show or gathering, he would be present, usually with the ever-capable Susan at his side. He was never too busy to have a quick chat, or to help out with some information on the Irish market. He really worked hard to promote coin-op in a positive way, representing the Irish trade association at Euromat meetings, setting up the Mary Openshaw prize and organising one of the most popular coin-op shows in the calendar. Martin was never the type to draw attention to himself and would probably have been surprised to know how much he will be missed.

Gamestec, a leading player in the UK gaming and amusement machines sector, has announced the appointment of Chris Butler as Managing Director.

Timed to coincide with the ENADA 2009 show in Rimini, Heber Limited has announced the launch of a new gaming control system, designated Pluto Comma 6a, that is specifically engineered and approved for the Italian gaming market.

Despite undeniably tough times in the manufacturing sector, Sound Leisure is bucking the trend by investing in new machinery for its woodworking and plastic divisions. 

Rock-Ola has appointed Jukeboxes Unlimited in Cambridgeshire, England, as its official Rock-Ola Service Centre for parts and repairs in the UK and Europe. Jukeboxes Unlimited was established in the West Midlands in 1984 by jukebox enthusiast Fred Pentney. Over the years, Pentney built his company's reputation as supplier of top-quality restored classic jukeboxes.

Two industry legends met recently at the IGE show in London. Paul Gauselmann, founder and CEO of Gauselmann AG met with Australia's Leonard Hastings Ainsworth, Australian coin-op machine pioneer and today's Executive Chairman of Ainsworth Game Technology. These two veterans of the coin-op industry, who are both still fully active in their respective roles, have been decisively shaping the global gambling markets for several decades.

London & Essex, sponsored by Cosmic Video Amusement, enjoyed a 2 -1 Cup Victory over Durning FC this month in front of a supportive crowd and under floodlights at the Oakside Stadium in Barkingside, Essex.

As Euroslot went to press, ACE Interactive, a subsidiary of Aristocrat Leisure Ltd., demonstrated the TruServ on innovative Indago Video Lottery Terminals at the Rimini Show.

Barcrest Group and the UK's leading snooker club operator Rileys have agreed a deal for the supply of Category B4 video gaming content for its estate of over 150 clubs throughout the UK.

Ritzio's President, Oleg Boyko, has been granted a special award in recognition of his diverse charity practices and the company's outstanding efforts in corporate social responsibility. The Heart Award was presented at the annual International Gaming Awards ceremony in London, England on January 26th at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel.

Frank Ziegler recently took up the position as director of sales and marketing at Merkur Gaming GmbH. The company is responsible for the development and European sales of AWP machines within the German Gauselmann Group.

Cameron Cartmell, head of hospitality and leisure at Ernst & Young commented, "During the major recessions of the early 1980s and 1990s, gambling spend fell only modestly, by 10% at most. Since then, the industry has changed enormously. Stakes have doubled with the advent of new ways to gamble, such as the National Lottery and online gaming that are yet untested by deep recession in the UK and only time will tell the impact. The gambling industry now appeals to a wider audience and this may leave it more susceptible to cuts in consumer discretionary spend."

Peter Collinge has been appointed Operations Director at Gamestec Leisure Ltd, the leading player in the UK gaming and amusement machines sector.

Innocore Gaming Ltd, one of the leading manufacturers of PC based gaming platforms has welcomed Jon Temple and his company Demon Interactive Ltd as the newest addition to its growing sales team. Demon Interactive now covers the UK and Ireland for Innocore.

Aristocrat Leisure Limited announced that its fully-owned subsidiary ACE Interactive has received an order for 1,000 IndagoTM interactive Video Terminals (iVT) from Norsk Tipping, the Norwegian National Lottery. These terminals will be installed as part of an anticipated network of over 6,500 terminals throughout Norway.

Astro Corp, the Taiwan-based operator and manufacturer of gaming PCBs and video slot machines, has been awarded membership of the prestigious Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM).

E-Service has released a unique, new 26" dedicated TFT LCD kit, designed as a drop-in replacement for the original CRT monitors in Midway's sit-down Cruis'n series of video games

The RGA denounced the Opinion on the integrity of online gambling adopted today by the European Parliament, which it believes dramatically overplays the risks associated with online gambling.

Betfair has welcomed the support expressed for the alternative report on protecting the integrity of online gambling. The report was tabled in the European Parliament and seeks to replace the original report by Danish MEP Christel Schaldemose.

"The report is not legally binding but it does show a keen interest in the gambling sector in the European Parliament, which EUROMAT welcomes," said Lucy C. Cronin, Secretary General of EUROMAT.

This year's Amex exhibition in Dublin was overshadowed by the extremely sad news of the demise of Martin Dempsey - the warm-hearted organizer and publisher of Coin-op News. Despite this, the team behind the show and the magazine pulled together and managed to deliver a successful show.

What is the situation about gambling business legislature in Armenia?

The gambling business in Armenia is regulated by the Law "On games with money prize and gambling establishments". According to the law all the casinos and slot halls should be located at the distance not less than 50 km from Yerevan city administrative border and 10 km from the borders of regional centres.

The European Commission has asked Italy to comply immediately with two rulings passed by the Court of Justice, one of which concerns the renewal of various licenses for managing horse racing betting on Italian soil.

Everyone wants them, with tens of petitions and many bills in parliament, but there are no plans for new Italian casinos yet. After many years of indecisiveness with the four "fortunate" official Italian casinos (Campione, Saint Vincent, San Remo and Venice) that are regarded enviously, 2008 closed in the red. A world-wide trend, certainly, in a sector that is feeling the effects of the crisis which in the first two months of 2009 shows signs of continuing: a year which it is acknowledged is going to be difficult for casinos all around the world. But there is hope that 2010 will see a recovery, as indicated by the research carried out by Globalysis Ltd., an American consultancy firm based in Las Vegas, which has consulted with the governments of the main countries of the five continents about the future of gaming.

The Istat survey on the use of the new technologies in Italian homes has highlighted a certain predisposition among families with teenage boys to use the Internet and to own various electronic devices for entertainment and communication. Altogether, in Italy, the most common technological items of equipment are the television set, present in 95.4% of families and the mobile phone (88.5%). Then come the DVD player (59.7%), video recorder (58.1%), personal computer (50.1%) and access to the Internet (42%).

Exactly a year ago the Catalan Parliament's General Department for Gaming and the private gaming companies in Catalonia agreed to set up a Working Group to produce a code of practice and to develop the concept of "Responsible Gaming" as a joint venture. One year later, all the casinos and 32 of the 50 bingo halls in Catalonia have signed up to this Code.

Recreativos Franco arranged a meeting in Seville last month for the joint presentation with SLEIC of the new company, Top Poker Connection, which has been formed as the result of the agreement reached between them both. This new company will be responsible for marketing the new electronic poker tables. The meeting was attended by most of the operating companies in the sector and by many members of the public, numbering nearly two hundred, all eager to learn about the products from the two companies. Top Poker Club, is a poker table that could be seen at the recent fair in London and that is already all the rage in the arcades and casinos where it has been installed.

In order to mark the final phase of Basketball's King's Cup in February, Sportium introduced an entertaining initiative to promote its betting shops in Madrid. Through this initiative, thousands of the inhabitants of Madrid could enjoy basketball in the street thanks to the event organized by Sportium, which had set up a pitch in the street with baskets, balls, music and cheerleaders in order to test the abilities of anyone who wished to participate in the free throw and triple shot championships.

The CODERE Group, the leading Spanish multinational in the private gaming sector, has announced its consolidated results for 2008 which show the Group's continuing growth in its main markets in Latin America (Mexico and Argentina), despite the complex global economic environment. Revenues in 2008 reached 1,054.3 million euros, 19.8% higher than in 2007.

The National Pinball Museum launched a new website, www.nationalpinballmuseum.org. The site offers unique pinball premiums for gift ideas, plus information about a little-known pinball museum in Paris. Viewers may sign up for the National Pinball Museum's quarterly newsletter Tilt.

South Dakota lawmakers have recommended that the state keep its split with the video poker industry on a 50-50 basis. Currently, South Dakota receives about $112 million annually from video poker.

Video poker operators got both good and bad news on February 19. A Superior Court judge ruled on that North Carolina's 2006 ban on video poker machines was illegal. However, he also required that additional legal proceedings on the issue take place before any operators could revive the poker market.

By late 2009, videogame manufacturer Merit Entertainment and jukebox make Rowe International will assimilate their production facilities and staffing. They will shift production of Rowe jukeboxes, money changing machines and Merit terminals to Reynosa, Mexico, along the Texas-Mexico border. The move will result in the loss of 100 jobs.

After four months of testing, TouchTunes jukeboxes across the U.S. will be able to use wireless broadband technology. The jukebox company will offer customers a two-year contract deal for $10.45 per week. Their focus was to offer a flexible and economical method for connecting the TouchTunes network to broadband wireless. One advantage is that while enjoying the benefits of hardwired connections, wireless services eliminate the time-consuming, complex processes. The speed also increases operator revenues by 25% over dialup boxes.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, who effectively legalized casino slot parlors in 14 venues state wide, is looking to expand gaming to help the commonwealth. He has proposed legalizing video poker, awarding the proceeds to funding educational scholarships. His original target date of this fall has created a massive response from parents seeking help with next semester's tuition costs.

GTI Asia Taipei Expo, which will take place at Areas B & C, Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center on May 7-9, has completed the first phase of booth assignment for VIP exhibitors.

IGS sells AWPs, music games, FEC games, simulators and PGM2.

When hit by waves of the financial crisis, cutting expenditure has become a major matter for all trade events. Recently, Korea's largest game trade event, G-Star, has also considered changing venue to cut costs.

Organized by Astro and the Economic Daily News, the first Taiwan Gaming Industry Forum took place at the Westin Taipei Hotel on February 13. The forum invited and was attended by governmental officials, civil representatives, scientific search organizations, academic institutions, legal representatives, and Taiwanese and overseas industry experts and associates. The forum served to build connections between Taiwan's gaming industry and international casinos.

IRELAND

Ireland's private members club operators have expressed "cautious optimism" at the news that the justice minister is going to register and regulate them as he seeks to placate international financial watchdogs and bring the Republic into line with regard to international anti-money laundering practices. Source: gamblingcompliance.com

Some years ago I bumped across an old friend who was spending a week's holiday on the Yorkshire coast with his family. The teenage son, a rather ill-mannered young man, kept interrupting my conversation with the words: "Let's play pool."

Eric Lewis, director of Hazelgrove Superleague. has confirmed to Euroslot that his company enjoyed a successful and worthwhile Intergame Show in the Ibis Hotel, London at the end of January. He said: "Our electronic table, in particular, created a lot of interest and we received some complimentary remarks. More to the point, perhaps, we took some orders to which we are giving attention and continuing to watch that our products are deserving of the Superleague name." 

Following the decision by the Aston-uinder-Lyne based Excel Leisure to merge with Simply Pool, of Oldham, the former company moved to the latter's offices and workshops at Unit 2, Austerlands Mill, Huddersfield Road, Austerlands, Oldham OL4 2GB on March 16. The new company which incorporates Excel Leisure, will be called Simply Pool Ltd. Stan McKenna and Dave Tippman have joined Bob Underhill, Simply Pool's dales director, in Oldham where Tipman will continue to be involved in sales but McKenna will be mainly concerned with the commercial aspect of the new company and its business development both at home and overseas.

This feature mentioned a few weeks ago that Alan Marshall, whose Universal Pool Promotions introduced international pool competitions to Bridlington's Royal Spa Hall, was instrumental in encouraging pool to be played in the town's establishment for those with learning difficulties.

Machine operators used to be likened to "furniture removers" - particularly in the UK - where cabinets were traditionally moved from prime sites after a few weeks of use, waterfalling down into secondary and tertiary sites as time went on.

From now on, the latest songs are not only available in the CD racks but also as downloads for mobile phones, MP3 players or USB sticks from every MAX FIRE Jukebox with the download feature "Music to go". 

A sure-fire success in the US redemption market, ICE's Big Win Super Spin has now been fine-tuned for use in amusement venues across the UK and Europe, available exclusively from Brent Sales/Bandai Namco Games.

Allstar Vending is releasing three new series of some of its most popular temporary tattoos. These include an all-new series of lower back and belly button tattoos, Dragon tattoos and Sugar tattoos.

Lucky 7 from Gauss is a five-reel, 25-line VGA touch fruit game. The Lucky 7 PCB includes one virtual webpage, eight amusement games and one gambling game (Lucky 7) on the same board. Many Bonus games are available and extra credits will be issued randomly.

HESS gaming systems has introduced two new products: Hess Express 303 and Hess Express Bill Breaker are available under the label HESS Express, which combines compact coin and bill counters as well as coin sorters and bill breakers.

funworld will introduce the brand-new Gam-X Club to the Italian market at the Rimini show. Gam-X Club is a modern countertop that is perfect for all locations to take profit from the exciting world of online gaming.

Avalue Technology is introducing an 8.9 inch multimedia interactive touch panel PC, FPC-08W series. It has modularized architecture concept and fanless thermal operation, plus 12W only power consumption rate. The front panel complies with IP-65 water/dust-proof standard.

Innocore Gaming Ltd, one of the leading manufacturers of PC based gaming platforms has released a new product for the Italian market. The DPX®-E110-6a is a complete industrial computer system for the Italian gaming market designed especially to comply with the requirements of AAMS and Comma6a legislation.  The system offers good performance and very low power with the cost effective Intel® ATOMTM processor. In its typical configuration, the system is fanless and supports single or dual monitors.   There is also a taller version that can support a high performance graphics card.

Let's Play Darts is the latest dual-stake Category C machine from Electrocoin. The cash ladder is entered via an 8-stage trail by gaining a reel win on any of the five winlines or completing the 8-stage trail. Once in the feature, a correct Hi-Lo gamble on the right hand number climbs the cash ladder and a correct Hi-Lo gamble on the left hand number climbs the feature ladder.

The latest nostalgia jukebox from Sound Leisure is the realisation of a dream for Chairman Alan Black. For over 30 years, he has wanted to create a classic jukebox that would be every bit as special as the 1946 Wurlitzer 1015, which remains to this day, the biggest selling jukebox of all time. The 1015 set a benchmark, which has only now been met by the talented craftsmen and women at the Sound Leisure workshops in Leeds.

Experienced embedded computer leading designer and manufacturer Acrosser Technology Co. Ltd recently showcased a graphic driven embedded system: AR-ES7230FL based on EPIC SBC AR-B7230 that incorporates an AMD S1 processor socket compatible with the AMD Turion 64x2 Dual-Core, AMD Turion 64, and Mobile AMD Sempron processors.

Aristocrat Technologies has launched Banana King, its first Double Standalone Progressive game developed specifically for Viridian. Supported by two themes, Panther Magic and Dolphin Treasure, Banana King utilises advanced animations, sound effects and player interaction in this action-packed game.