Music is the subject of our main feature this month. This is one sector that has been transformed in recent years. At the heart of the old jukebox was a reliable CD changer mechanism. At the heart of today's jukebox is a computer. In some ways, this means that almost anyone can produce a jukebox. But now that the focus is off simply playing the music, a whole host of new possibilities has opened up to the industry.

Pan Amusements, world leader in the manufacture of electronic shooting galleries, continues to expand its sales to many corners of the globe.  Its latest development is the sale of two of its best selling Hillbilly galleries to Tunzafun, an expanding Australian operation of family entertainment centres.

Funworld has released PHOTO PLAY 2010, a first class special anniversary edition/ PHOTO PLAY is 15 years old and to mark this great occasion PHOTO PLAY 2010 with its 17 brand new is proving to be the biggest and best game update ever. It includes four of the popular Yetisport games, a fresh design, a host of technical innovations and an optimised game player interface.

Spectators at the P1 Powerboat World Championship held in Istanbul had a unique opportunity to get closer to the high-speed action of offshore racing than they might have expected. 

Shortly before World Snooker announced its decision to use Beijing Xingwei Star tables for its ranking tournaments world wide, Milliken was presented with a special certificate to mark its long association as a Strachan distributor in China.

Happy players mean satisfied customers. Those, who update their terminals on a regular basis, can earn up to 115 % percent more per month. For this reason, new games, new features and new software are constantly being worked on at the research and development offices of TAB-Austria. This year sees the release of what is already the fourteenth big update for the popular SILVERBALL terminals.

Joe Coppola, Vice President of Sales for ‘Innovative Concepts in Entertainment' (ICE) and Paul Williams, Managing Director of Sega Amusements Europe Ltd have announced that effective immediately they have entered into an exclusive distribution agreement for Sega to represent ICE's extensive product range of product in various countries throughout the world including Russia, France, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Germany, and many countries within Scandinavia and Eastern Europe.

Jointly organized by GTI Magazine, China Game and the Guangzhou Convention and Exhibition Center, GTI Asia China Expo will make its debut on September 3 to 6 at the Guangzhou City Exhibition Center. The event is supported by the Panyu Branch of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), the China e-Game Industry Association and the Guangzhou Panyu Animation & Game Association (GAGA). 

Less than a month after the change in stakes and prizes legislation, Gamestec has seen a significant increase in income on their machines.

 Gamestec, the UK's largest operator of gaming machines in pubs, has seen income levels rises of around 13% since the introduction of the new machines.

Tony Eyre, formerly Sales and Marketing director at Games Warehouse, has joined Nova Productions as Sales Director - directly responsible for the poker sensation Big Tony's PokerKard.

Eyre spent seven years at Games Warehouse and spearheaded a highly successful sales and marketing campaign for their Paragon SWP compendium, which resulted in it becoming the UK's market leader.

Sound Leisure will officially launch its new division this month with a new on line store dedicated to children's play equipment. SL KIDS products are quickly becoming sought after by many recognised high street names and the NHS who want to create areas for toddlers to play in safety. 

LAI Games has appointed Marshall Ashdown as its new European & ME Sales Manager. Starting in mid September Marshall will service distributors, develop new markets and build on LAI Games' excellent sales record throughout Europe and the Middle East.

MEI is pleased to announce the addition of Bepi Mottes as vice president -new business development in the EMEA region. In this role, Mr. Mottes will be responsible for developing relationships and opportunities in key Gaming and Financial markets. He will also leverage his significant knowledge of the region to help MEI enhance its route-to-market strategies and product portfolio.

Project has bolstered its R&D team with the appointment of two additional software engineers working out of its London head office. The appointments have been made to help ease pressure on the games development function due to enhanced demand and to ensure that Project continues to invest high levels of creative collateral across all sectors of its business.

Merkur Casino - part of the Gauselmann Group - has opened another two new gaming locations - one in the Czech town of Ostrava and the other in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv Ostrava is the third largest city in the Czech Republic and is situated in the far east of the country - very close to the border with Poland and Slovakia. This ist he 24th Merkur Casino in the Czech Republic.

Market leading SWP developer and manufacturer Games Warehouse has announced the appointment of Rob Standen to the newly created position of Director of Sales.

IGT-UK Group has restructured its mobile and internet gaming operations following the recent news concerning its acquisition of Million-2-1 and the subsequent announcement covering the integration of the UK division of WagerWorks.

If we put together two very typical Italian passions (football and betting) you get €3.5bn. This is the total amount of bets placed on football matches in Italy in 2008. When you look at percentages, this means that out of those people who place bets on sporting events, 92.27% place bets on football.

A Casino in the Capital City of Italy. This prospect cannot be ruled out. The Mayor of Rome has been talking about it. "The proposal for a Casino in Rome was put forward by Federalberghi during the election campaign, and I do not think there is anything wrong with such an idea. I do not understand why Italy is the only country without one, apart from four or five other countries», said Gianni Alemanno, replying to the host of the radio programme «One day as a sheep."

Reopened at last, the Casino of Bagni di Lucca, a well known spa in the Versilia region. The opening ceremony took place yesterday, Saturday 8th August at 9 p.m., with Mayor Giancarlo Donati in the chair. The introductory press conference had taken place in the afternoon in the presence of ing. Francesco Gatti (Bakoo spa), of Enzo Tintori and Gianfranco Bonanno, ANIT Association General Secretary and Spokesman respectively, of Prof. Marcello Cherubini representative of the Bagni di Lucca Council within ANIT and of Giancarlo Donati, the City's Mayor. The Conference Moderator was Maurizio Brodo, from Jamma srl.

The bingo industry has been experiencing a significant fall in its takings for quite some time now, despite desperately attempting to update its resources in the hope of  motivating its regular clients. Everyone involved, government, managers and workers alike are making a big effort to find a way out of the crisis.

The Minister of the Interior in the Catalan Autonomous Government, Joan Saura, has signed a pioneering "Good Practices" protocol with the current representatives of the Gaming Industry who form part of the Commission for the Promotion of Responsible Gaming. Xavier González, Javier Miró, Albert Sola and Jaume Terradas took part in the signing as representatives of Patrojoc, the employer's Private Gaming association in Catalonia; Manuel Lao Gorina for Cirsa; Jaume Ferré for the Peralada Group, and Joaquín Franco representing Facomare and Recreativos Franco.

At the last General Meeting of ANESAR, the association which comprises the owners of arcades, it was clear that joint actions were called for. Its president, Rafael Martínez, explained with clarity the actions that need to be taken for this business group to survive the present crisis. These proposals have been brought together in a document called the "Decalogue" which has been accepted by most of the associations involved. In brief, this document contains three sections.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is considering a phased-in five-to-10 year plan to halt all tobacco sales on military bases. This ban would outlaw smoking by anyone in uniform, including battlefield soldiers.

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell plans to sign a video poker legalization bill as a fundraising measure to help erase a projected $3.25 billion shortfall. The original plan was to fund college scholarships, but economic emergencies burdening the state may change the scope. Despite being legally required to pass a budget by June 30, as of press time, Pennsylvania did not have an approved budget.

Ohio Governor Ted Strickland has granted 10-year licenses to legalize up to 17,500 slot machines, or video lottery terminals (VLTs), to be installed in Ohio's seven racetracks. The state lottery will regulate the machines. Ohio has confronted severe economic downturns. The last minute deal between the governor and the state legislature included legal definitions and regulations for the permitted slots within the state's budget bill. The slots are projected to raise $933 million in tax revenues over Ohio's next two-year budget cycle. Strickland's executive order may face a court challenge.

Texas law enforcement agencies throughout the state are reselling seized eight-liner machines. Confiscated from allegedly illegal game rooms, these machines are then sold back to the original operators in those same game rooms or other venues. Houston's local Channel 11 news reports that some of the confiscated machines are auctioned on eBay for $250 and up.

Having confidence in the future of gaming business on Taiwan's offshore islands, the Hsiuping Institute of Technology in central Taiwan signed a contract with Ocean-Tech Group from Macau and inaugurated the "Global Gaming Training Center" on June 15th, 2009 to launch the first gaming extension education program in central Taiwan. 

Sony Japan announced on June 29th that it will establish a digital content cooperative R&D center in Taiwan and will cooperate with Taiwanese companies to develop 20 console games within three years. 

Minister Mao Chi-kuo of the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, has said the basic gaming law in Taiwan could be completed by the end of 2009 when preparations for investor recruitment could start. 

IRELAND

Draft legislation promulgated last week will subject Ireland's private members' clubs to formal anti-money laundering requirements for the first time, while full-scale ‘casinos' are also included under the bill in anticipation of future gaming reform in the Republic. Source: GamblingCompliance.com

If there is one sector of the coin-op industry that has enjoyed a revival in recent years - it is the jukebox. Digital technology has given jukeboxes a new lease of life. Now, the way music is stored, paid for and delivered has changed beyond all recognition, not only within the industry itself but in the world at large.

A wet August with pools of water lying all over the roads and pavements might give way to an eagerly anticipated improved climate for pool at manufacturing, operating and playing levels during September.

Stan McKenna,commercial director of the Oldham-based pool  table manufacturers, Simply Pool Ltd., believes that some of the current problems facing pool in the UK might be eased if table operators and players combined forces to arrange more of the smaller type of pool  competitions that have done so much for the sport in France.

The new members' helpline started by BAPTO to give its members assistance with business problems is moving slowly forward. Liam Barrett said: "It started at the suggestion of one member, an experienced operator, who found himself being approached more and more by fellow members for advice on some of the present day problems which they had never before encountered. So it was decided to form the helpline to enable the association to provide help and advice on a number of topics as and when it was approached. It was hoped, he said, that this would improve communications between members and information could be disseminated for the benefit of all.

SAM Leisure has introduced a  practical solution to what might be seen as a dearth of new pool tables caused by the licensed trade's pub and club closures. Admittedly people talk about warehouses crammed with tables taken off-site from shutdown pubs, etc., but sometimes the operator finding a new site finds also that its owner wants a new table at what might be roughly termed a used price. SAM can consider any reasonable requests, said Barrett, with its new Infinity mechanical table built to meet the needs of a market from which rents and table income are currently being squeezed.

Preview 2010 (October 7-8, 2009) is promising to be one of the most exciting shows on the calendar this year. It will be the first opportunity for the industry to see a comprehensive range of new stakes and prize AWPs, following the initial summer operating season.

"A clearer picture should be emerging of which machines are really the ones doing the business now," says Preview organiser Ylva Howard. "The new stakes and prizes have allowed designers to be more creative with the machines and there will be some exciting new developments on show."

The new UK Gambling Act 2005 came into force on 1 September 2007. The introduction of the Gambling Act 2005 has resulted in serious unintended economic and social consequences with the traditional business industry now in terminal decline with weekly increases in closures and redundancies.

Aristocrat Technologies Europe has entered into an agreement with Bally Wulff GmbH to provide content on their Game Station platform for release into the German Arcade market this year.

The agreement represents Aristocrat's first entry into the German Arcade market which includes 125,000 machines operating in around 8,000 arcades.

Sound Leisure's Sound Surfer digital jukeboxes were pioneering back in 2001, when they could hold an amazing 3,000 tracks. But technology has moved on since then, and Sound's online MIM Unlimited jukebox, unveiled this year, has access to close to three million songs!

Innovative Technology Ltd has proudly announced the launch of its latest innovation the SMART Hopper. 

 "The SMART Hopper brings coin payment technology into the 21st Century. A true multi coin hopper and a new solution to coin starvation has arrived!" Aidan Towey, Managing Director, Innovative Technology.

Twisted Nitro Stunt Racing takes players to the skies. High-powered F-Jet racers provide a totally realistic racing experience with fine-tuned handling, air controls and over boosted engines. Single players can enjoy the heart-pounding action or heighten the competition by linking up to four game cabinets.

Whether used for sports betting, gambling or purely as entertainment, TAB kiosk models, with their flexible configuration, are the ideal terminals for any venue.  Customers can create their own terminals at will thanks to the many individual possibilities available and at the same time benefit from TAB Austria's considerable expertise.

GeneralTouch Technology Co. Ltd, has launched the RTL series of Rear-Mount LCD touchmonitors. GT's RTL series touchmonitors focus on a wide variety of markets including kiosk, retail, self-services, hosipitality, industrial, gaming/entertainment, and light office automation. The RTL series of products are available in display sizes from 15'' to 19'' and include both serial and USB interface.

US redemption specialist, Jennison Entertainment Technologies has released ‘Intermission', a movie-themed, coin roll-down sequel to its blockbuster Hollywood Reels game. Distributed exclusively throughout the UK, Ireland and continental Europe by Brent Sales/Namco Europe, the single-player game offers retro cinema interval entertainment that's just the ticket for family fun redemption seekers of all ages and abilities.

Bay Tek Games is excited to announce the introduction of its new, three-tier merchandiser, Road Trip. The development and early field tests have reported very positive numbers. Road Trip's success is based off of its simple yet entertaining game play. This true game of skill has tested well in a diverse cross section of locations - anywhere from Bowling Centers to Waterparks, Casino's and FEC's, to Sports Bars and Large Retail Chains. The small footprint and game selections allow Road Trip to fit well into any location. Choose between a White or Black cabinet and between Spindles or Capsules for the Small Prize design.