Welcome back to Euroslot after the summer hiatus. We’ve been away from the printing presses for a couple of months, but we’ve still been busy – producing this year’s instalment of the Euroslot World Market Report, now available for you at euroslot-online.com.

Have you ordered your .xxx domain name yet? Easyspace, a British Web-hosting company which admittedly has an interest in talking up the need for domains, says that it’s not just businesses from the adult industry that are grabbing the new .xxx names – indeed, 80 percent are from other sectors.

What’s the hot game Las Vegas casinos are hoping will attract a young male clientele? Got to be the latest twist on poker, right? Wrong: try bingo. Always popular among venues catering to the local market, but absent from the Vegas Strip since the closure of the New Frontier four years ago, bingo is now returning to the gaming offer at both the Riviera and the Plaza.

LAI Games is connecting its Snapshot photo booths to social media and email. Using a touchscreen keyboard, customers can send their photos to their own Facebook account or to a Snapshot page where others can view and comment on them, and where theyare entered into a competition to find the best. Users can also email their pictures to any address. The venue needs a Wi-Fi connection.

Innovative Leisure is describing its DigiWall as “a computer game that is played through a climbing wall interface”. Each grip for hands and feet on the climbing wall incorporates a light and a sensor so the control system can tell when it’s in use, enabling games to be devised that require more than simply reaching the top of the wall.

The wonderful thing about standards,” a computing pioneer once quipped, “is that there are so many of them to choose from.” But not quite such a quantity, now, for many in the gaming industry. The Gaming Standards Association (GSA) has decided to restrict access to its standards, protocol updates and the like to members and regulators, giving those who belong to the association what it describes as “a clear R&D and operations advantage over competitors, by having access to the most versatile and powerful protocols that drive the devices and systems of tomorrow”.

More diary dates for the competitive: ICE Totally Gaming, the January mega-show in London, is launching its own awards programme, and the Betview awards are also returning next year for the betting and bookmaking sector.

The scale of illegal gaming in China is highlighted by reports from Luzhou City in Sichuan province, which has so far this year destroyed more than 300 gambling machines. Jiangyang deputy district chief Hong Xu said the action was part of “the movement for collectively rectifying the city’s electronic amusement venues and destroying gambling machines”.

Bell-Fruit Games this summer achieved “near dominance” of pub gaming machines, according to operator IOA Group. In its income chart, versions of Bell-Fruit’s Deal or No Deal AWP took all but one of the top ten places. Deal or No Deal – Red Mist was in first place, followed by Cops and Robbers. The only non-Bell-Fruit game charting was Barcrest’s Take It or Leave It, in seventh position.

Consumers in Jersey will be able to gamble with virtual scratch-cards at a wide range of locations, after the Channel Island’s government signed up Scientific Games subsidiary The Global Draw to provide electronic instant ticket terminals for its lottery. The networked terminals will be available at Jersey’s airport and sea port, and in pubs, hotels and supermarkets as well as existing scratch-card retailers.

Astrosystems has added a new bonus feature to its Microcoin SP coin acceptor. Supporting six different bonus prices within each acceptor, it’s said by the firm to be “ideal for applications with multiple credit requirements such as cranes and kiddie rides”.

The positive reception given to the recent DNA conference in London has prompted the formation of a new association for digital out-of-home interactive entertainment as well as plans for a U.S. event. Said organiser Kevin Williams: “With DNA London under our belts we need to keep the momentum going and we can now reveal that a new association will be formed to support developers and operators of digital out-of-home entertainment technology.”

More than three quarters of stand space for January’s EAG International has already been booked and all of last year’s major exhibitors are to return, say organisers. The event, held 24-26 January at ExCeL in London, has also secured sponsorship from BALPPA, the trade body for parks, piers, zoos and attractions.

The management advantages of linking gaming machines to a central server were vividly illustrated by Inspired Gaming Group this summer when the government gave the go-ahead for increased stakes on Category B3 games.

Products like the Nintendo Wii and Microsoft Kinect brought to home gaming a whole-body experience that was previously the preserve of amusement businesses. That they involve relatively expensive hardware purchases is, from the amusement sector’s point of view, a blessing. But now Endemol Games UK is offering consumers the same thing via Facebook, using technology that requires them to have only a PC and Webcam.

Inspired Gaming Group has added tennis to its Virtual Sports line-up of games which operators can offer their customers online, on interactive TV, and on terminals or PCs in locations such as bookmakers. The firm filmed two British tennis pros in action with 60 separate cameras before employing motion-capture technology to create realistic animated players.

The Gambling Commission is to allow shorter Category C games after a consultation with the gaming and amusements sector earlier this year. Currently, Category C games must last at least 1.5 seconds, with the required average duration for some being as long as three seconds.

The British Beer and Pub Association has called on the government to reconsider its proposed Machine Games Duty, arguing that it will cost the hard-pressed sector around £12m a year. A lower tax rate for Category C machines would help smaller pubs, it said in response to the Treasury’s call for comments this summer.

Replacing amusement machines with traditional games could help bring more young adults into British pubs, the Campaign for Real Ale is arguing, despite the common conception that this market prefers electronic entertainments. CAMRA says that an independently-conducted survey of 1000 consumers showed that 49 percent of adults aged between 18 and 25 said games such as darts, skittles, bar billiards and shove ha’penny would encourage them to use more pubs.

Vendors will use a new coin-op area at the IAAPA European Attractions Show to preview product before formal launches at EAG in January. AMG Leisure, Bandai Namco Europe, Crown Direct, Electrocoin, Embed Playsafe, Harry Levy Amusements and Sega Amusements are among those lined up for the IAAPA event at Olympia in London toward the end of this month, hoping to get customer feedback that will enable them to make last-minute tweaks in time for EAG if necessary.

Hamburg startup Iconicfuture says it can help producers of online games source licensed characters and brands for use in their content. “Our platform allows for game companies to easily integrate premium virtual items into their games,” said Iconicfuture CEO Ze’ev Rozov.

Novomatic’s Astra Games unit has released three new Category B3 slots to take advantage of the operator and player demand expected after maximum stakes were raised to £2. The government expects that as many as 3000 machines with the higher stake could be required.

Sega Amusements Europe is now UK and Ireland distributor for ICE Games, the U.S. coin-op maker, replacing Namco Europe. Sega has been distributing ICE product elsewhere in Europe and in Russia for the last two years.

Trade body Business in Sport and Leisure has urged the government and the Gambling Commission to return to the old practice of reviewing the gaming sector every three years. In its submission to the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s inquiry into gambling and the Gambling Act 2005, BISL said the Triennial Review allowed evidence-based policy-making, and that it was unclear why it had been abandoned.

Georgia governor Nathan Deal has joined law enforcement and political leaders in announcing a statewide crackdown on sweepstakes video games, which they consider illegal. They estimate that up to 100 Internet cafes in Georgia offer sweepstakes video games, and Deal is concerned about the rapid growth of this market.

Can’t find a pinball machine at your local tavern or arcade? It’s no longer a problem. Stern Pinball, the last of the great pinball manufacturers and the world’s leading producer, announced that Best Buy will now sell flipper games. As one of the leading electronics retailers in the U.S., Best Buy has a huge distribution presence across America.

Following the legal decisions to allow the 2009 Video Gaming Act (VGA) to move forward, the Illinois Gaming Board (IGB) has begun to issue its first state manufacturing and distribution licences. Several venerable amusement Chicago-area manufacturers and distributors have applied for them, with plans to build or sell video lottery terminals as the new VLT market unfolds. Some have already received word that their applications have been accepted.

The American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA), the national American trade association representing game makers, suppliers and distributors, celebrated the organisation’s 20th anniversary at its eighth annual distributor gala in August outside Chicago. The association’s membership previewed more than two dozen new products.

Tekken Tag Tournament (Tekken TT) was released in July of 1999 in Japan and, after 12 years of waiting, the sequel Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Tekken TT2) is now out. Mega Biotech & Electronics has obtained the exclusive distribution rights in Taiwan from Namco Bandai Games.

Held 10-12 May next year at Hall One of the Taipei World Trade Center, GTI Asia Taipei Expo is marching toward its 19th birthday. It is an international event, with exhibitors from Japan, Korea, Australia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Britain, Italy, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau participating annually, and attracts buyers from more than 60 different countries.

Organised by National Chin-Yi University of Technology and sponsored by IGS and Feiloli, registration has begun for the first phase of the second IGS International Creative Game Design and Feiloli International Creative Gaming Machine Design contests.

Brunswick Bowling in the U.S. is aiming at “younger and edgier” bowlers with its new DV8 ball range, marketed under the slogan “Damn Good Bowling”. The four-ball product line has “more cockiness to the attitude, and more aggressive punch to the actual performance”, said Brunswick president Brent Perrier.

Britain’s Embassy Services has called on a specialist developer to improve the solenoids that control its lane-cleaning and oiling equipment. The electronics have been enhanced by Penny + Giles Controls, a subsidiary of Curtiss-Wright Controls.

The Russian Open this year becomes part of the European Bowling Tour and is moving to a new venue, the Cosmik Belaya Dacha bowling centre in Moscow. The four-year-old, Brunswick-equipped 30-lane facility is one of the capital’s biggest, situated in the Mega Belaya Dacha mall. It has Anvilane lanes, a Vector scoring system, Score King pins and GS-X pinsetters.

Bowlplex is launching Sega Active Zones to complement bowling and other activities in its 18 entertainment centres across the UK, as part of a £2m investment in upgrading the venues. Developed with Sega Amusements Europe, the Active Zones feature games from the Sonic Sports Collection, such as Sonic Sports Air Hockey and Sonic Sports Basketball, with Sega branding and colours as well as the instantly recognisable, 20-year-old Sonic the Hedgehog character.

Every month Euroslot updates you on the latest news affecting gaming policy and regulation around the world

TAB Austria’s Max Fire Jukebox HD demonstrates the versatility that digital brings to in-venue music delivery. It’s based on a 32-inch touchscreen divided into two halves – the top shows the title of the current song as well as the cover or associated video, visible from some distance so that even customers who aren’t using the jukebox themselves can see what’s playing, while the bottom of the screen is used for search and navigation.

For some venues, music is simply a mood-setter, or a way to smooth over intrusive background noise. But for many others, it’s a valuable revenue stream – and with consumers now accustomed to a huge and easily manipulable range of sounds on their personal devices, they’re demanding the same from jukeboxes.

Outdoor advertising giant Clear Channel is finally deploying its long-awaited Socialite network of screens in pubs and bars, but on a much smaller scale than originally promised. Present in Revolution and Walkabout bars as well as independents, Socialite so far comprises 180 40-inch portrait-format screens in 165 venues.

Outdoor advertising giant Clear Channel is finally deploying its long-awaited Socialite network of screens in pubs and bars, but on a much smaller scale than originally promised. Present in Revolution and Walkabout bars as well as independents, Socialite so far comprises 180 40-inch portrait-format screens in 165 venues.

Screens in leisure venues and other public places are a familiar sight now, but smarter technology is changing the way they’re used to benefit both businesses and consumers. Euroslot editor Barnaby Page, a long-established commentator on this new medium, rounds up some recent developments

Business climate A recent EU entrant but not yet in the eurozone, Bulgaria enjoyed significant inward investment in the second half of the last decade until this was sharply reduced by the global downturn. Corruption and organised crime are major issues.

Like Dirty Harry and his .44 Magnum, Andy Dinning and his pens are an inseparable double act that has progressed from designing advertising campaigns for cars to creating gaming machine concepts for Barcrest, Electrocoin and now Novomatic’s Astra