3M Touch Systems displayed its portfolio of world-renowned touch products and technologies at Electronica 2006 last month.

CVA Amusements has received reports from the K Club in Ireland that cashbox revenue on the PGA Tour Golf machines increased significantly during the recent Ryder Cup competition.

The phenomenal success of the SAM Fast Soccer has convinced the company to continue production even as the World Cup fades from memory.

The Outdoor Crane was among Smart Industries’ products at AMOA. It now has even more security features and options. Smart also showed the Prize Center with Database – with a new look, more prize options, greater capacity and the unique receipt database program that encourages repeat business.

Thunderbirds is the headline licence Reflex has secured for three of its new machines. Classic Thunderbirds Club offers straightforward gameplay – a gamble ladder and hi-lo feature.

Brent Sales/Namco Europe has secured distribution rights for the new version of Raptor Captor. Set to make its European debut at October’s Preview exhibition, the latest incarnation features an all-new, ball-shooting mechanism that greatly enhances gameplay on a model which has already been a number-one hit in the USA.

Display Technology now promotes Samsung’s 7” LCDs, as well as the 3.5”-57” larger-format TFTs to take the lead in the WVGA display market for mobile/ portable applications.

JPM International has announced the launch of Crazy Suits, a new rebuild club machine launched under JPM’s Crystal brand. Crazy Suits includes a popular cardbased theme and a unique adaptable trail.

The popularity of what has been called the “classic” school of amusement and the depth of feeling these games and experiences engender with the thirtysomething crowd have not been lost on a new and burgeoning industry – described under the name “retro” gaming.

The Italian market is a journalist’s dream and a manufacturers’ nightmare. Every show is a hotbed of stories, complaints and frustration, and the 34th Enada Rome was no exception.

The International Gaming Fair, held in the Juan Carlos I Exhibition Centre in Madrid, brought together the major companies from the gaming sector in Spain.

This year’s Preview was remarkably upbeat given the difficult summer that preceded it. But that is not to say things have improved for the UK market, despite news of an increase in AWP stakes and prizes just the week before the show.

EELEX surprised many attendees, given the poor attendance of World of Games at the same venue just a couple of months earlier. Again, it was a slick, well run exhibition, but where organiser Unicum won out against the newer World of Games was the inclusion of so many amusement-based companies.

Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying Jiu convened the Department of Economic Development, the Taipei Business Administration Office, the Department of Education and the Government Information Office on October 2 to discuss the subject of reopening the gaming machines in Taipei.

Sankyo held a presentation to showcase the Pachinko CR Beautiful Island at every branch and game location on July 24.

The well-known Tawainese manufacturer IGS exhibited many CGA and VGA machines at AMOA on September 27 to 29. These included Icescape, which can link up to 20 cabinets, and Haunted House, which both attracted interest on the stand of US distributor American Alpha.

Since the Taichung County government opened up the registration of game locations based on the regulation of such facilities, there have been almost 200 arcades being approved up to now.

The President of the AAMS has decreed modifications to the technical rules affecting so-called Newslot2 machines in an understanding with the Chief of Police, responsible for public security.

On August 28, the Gazzetta Ufficiale (Official Gazette) ran a public notice giving technical specifications on who gaming operators are and what they must do in order to organise the new betting-service system, as laid out in the Bersani decree.

Formula Games has made a damages claim of E37.2m for compensation from Lottomatica and Sisal, which it claims took measures to stop it from becoming established in the Italian market.

For the first time in several years, the mood at the Amusement and Music Operators’ Association (AMOA) show was upbeat and enthusiastic. The event was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center on September 27-29.

The organiser of the 15th annual EELEX international gaming and amusement exhibition, held in Moscow on September 27-29, has announced its results.

Merkur Gaming demonstrated a number of new machines at the Entertainment Industry trade show in Kiev, Ukraine, from September 20-22, 2006. This was the first Ukrainian gaming fair that Merkur Gaming has held in association with Jetgames Eurasia, its new sales partner for Ukraine.

Businessmen in the gaming sector are asking to compete on equal terms and to be allowed to conduct their business activity in the same way as the rest of the economy, and to pay taxes on income or profits.

Although some independent communities like Aragón, Madrid and Catalonia have already developed or are rapidly developing various aspects to regulate this segment of the betting market in their respective autonomous regions, the Comunidad Autónoma Vasca (CAV) could be a pioneer within Spain in authorising the opening of betting shops and the installation of special machines on hotel premises.

The Catalonian regional government, the Generalitat, has approved two new decrees. The first means that third parties can market the lottery, which is currently run by the Generalitat itself, via the internet and mobile phones, and the second authorises a new method of playing electronic bingo.

MGA and VID Distributions have recently reached an agreement by means of which the Andalusian company, presided over by Isabel Rodríguez Soto, will from now on be the distributor of the SuperTrivia TV machine, created by 46 TSM, the R&D division of the MGA-New Park Group.

The Gauselmann Group provided fun and games with its innovative products at the summer gala of the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia for guests from politics, economics and the media.

Japan Cash Machine Germany (JCM) has opened a new subsidiary company in Bulgaria. The company announced that JCM Bulgaria will first develop software for existing JCM products.

Automated Transactions in Pinneberg has welcomed two new partners to its international network of dealers.

Merkur Casino and the Bulgarian enterprise Casino Technology (Sofia) have signed a co-operation contract.

At its company meeting on September 21, Funworld AG made the decision to take over all the shares in Fun.net Germany formerly held by NSM-Löwen Entertainment.

Two of the UK’s best-known lo-tech AWP developers have put their competitive instincts to one side, with London-based Project entering into an agreement for its overflow production to be handled by the Electrocoin manufacturing and assembly facility in South Wales.

Following its successful AIM flotation in June this year, Inspired Gaming Group (Inspired) has completed a reorganisation that structures the group for its future growth and that of its customers.

Suzo International hosted its third Benelux Show on October 4 and welcomed over 500 guests. The annual event is designed to bring together the Dutch and Belgian amusement and gaming industries in relaxed surroundings.

The new Advice for Design guidance published by the UK’s Amusement Devices Inspection Procedures Scheme (ADIPS) received its official launch at the recent International Leisure Industry Week (LIW) exhibition.

Heber Limited, designer and manufacturer of electronic control systems for the gaming and amusement industry, has announced a new partnership with Octavian International.

Barcrest Group last month announced a restructuring programme in its UK design operations. The restructuring will result in a small number of positions being made redundant at its Ashton-under-Lyne site.

Two major gaming industry companies based in Russia have selected the new Densitron DPX-112 platform for their next generation of games.

The Czech government is now looking into the proliferation of FOBTs in the industry. These have become popular because they are currently being operated under Chaper 50 of the Gaming Act, which does not declare prize limitations and allows greater freedom in siting machines.

Brent Electronic has announced the promotion of Steve Short to the post of sales manager. Short, whose appointment is with immediate effect, assumes the mantle of duties previously held by Peter Murphy.

Zest Gaming has chosen a Money Controls payment platform for its new AWP machine for Europe. Money Controls has supplied its Serial Compact Hopper in conjunction with the Combi Hopper, enabling payout of three coins with just two hoppers, driven by ccTalk.

With not quite four months to go until the opening, IMA, the International Trade Fair for amusement and vending machines, is almost fully booked.

Whitehouse Leisure has already raised almost £10,000 for BACTA’s official charity, the British Industry of Brain-Injured Children (BIBIC) through the sale of its Rainbow licensed plush characters.

Interactive games developer Gextech has announced plans to extend the trademarked range of its virtual fixed-odds sports betting products under the umbrella branding of Fantastic Sports.

Funworld is hailing its Photo Play System 2007 as the update sensation of the year. The Austrian company claims that customers ordering the new system by phone can have all their terminals updated before the end of the call.

Suzo International has acquired Sadectronic of Madrid. Sadectronic is a parts-distribution company involved in the gaming and industrial markets.

Electrocoin held a competition at The Flag in Watford, a Mitchells & Butlers location, for places at the Golden Tee Live Regional Open in New York State, as well as for places on the European team at next year’s World Championship, which will take place in Las Vegas.

Namco Europe has announced the appointment of Cocamatic as the exclusive and official distributor for Time Crisis 4 throughout the Iberian peninsula. The appointment was confirmed at the FER-Interazar expo, held last month in Madrid.

Following the revitalisation of the Irish amusement and gaming sector and the success of AmEx 2006, the 2007 event is set for further expansion, with considerable interest from international manufacturers and distributors.

WMS Gaming announced last month that it has appointed Sebastian Salat as Vice-President and Managing Director of WMS International.

Bally Wulff – Germany’s second largest manufacturer of AWPs – announced last month that it will be leaving the domestic manufacturers’ and distributors’ assocations, the DAGV and VDAI.

Two German companies, Neox Technologies and Peaches, from Bingen am Rhein and Wiesbaden respectively, made a first appearance at the Preview show this year.

The build-up and breakdown of ATEI, ICE and ICEi will be in new hands from 2007, following the appointment of leading logistics contractor Exhibition Traffic Management Services (ETMS).

TAB-Austria has won a casino licence for Croatia for its Golden Island touchscreen gaming terminals. The SMI Institut declared the machine compliant with Croatian technical specifications in September.

Welsh AWP manufacturer ACE has chosen Comax to be its distributor for the Czech Republic and Slovakian markets. Comax showed the ACE machine Dream Play at the Forbes show last month in multi-game format. The machine (pictured) was presented with three innovative games, with other games to follow on a regular basis.

Yvonne Stott, seen here with Alan Genders from operator Winning Touch, made history last month by becoming the first ever female National PGA Golf Tournament winner. She pipped secondplace winner Matt Hooper by use of her Great Shot Points (GSP) average.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin introduced to parliament the draft law proposing new regulations for the gaming industry. If parliament passes the law, then it will come into effect on January 1, 2009.

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet – or so the saying goes. What is in a name – or a classification? That is what I was asking myself in Rome last month. Or more particularly, when is a gaming machine not a gaming machine? For to continue my Shakespearean theme, it was a Tale of Two Cities – or two industries, namely that of betting and of gaming.