Welcome to the Preview issue of Euroslot magazine. It's been a long, hard summer for many in the industry and - particularly in the UK we wait with baited breath for news of the government's decision on stakes and prizes for AWPs.

Leading-edge gaming technology developer, ACE Interactive is celebrating the successful public launch of its true server-based gaming (SBG) system in Norway. Its network of Indago interactive Video Terminals (iVTs) powered by TruServ technology, which is being operated by state-owned lottery & gaming organisation Norsk Tipping (NT), went live in the town of Hamar on 27 th August. The switch-on marks the start of a nationwide roll-out of approximately 6,500 iVTs.

September 1st, 2008 saw Gala Bingo launch its enhanced two-page High 5 game in clubs nationwide, giving customers an improved Bingo experience and even more chances to win.

UK Law firm Walker Morris has reinforced its Liquor, Betting and Gaming team with the appointment of specialist licensing solicitor - Jonathan Hyldon.

Global VR has announced the Need for Speed Carbon Upgrade Kit will be available to customers throughout the world  mid-June 2008. This exciting new driver will transform all previous versions of Need for Speed games into Global VR's latest offering in the successful franchise. 

Carla Fleming, Sales director at FX Simulation has a pretty busy schedule with meetings across the world with clients from American, Asia and the Middle East. But it's in Scotland that she met a very important potential customer. The Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with Carla while opening new offices for one of FX Simulations suppliers in Fife.

The sports games specialist, NordicCC is pleased to announce the launch of its new website. designed and implemented by webmarketing guru Jan Bindig, with Karin Brennan, Nordic's strategic Marketing Advisor. The website is clearly structured and has a fresh and modern design.

The Combating Cybercrime in Betting and Gaming conference will run for the 5th time on Tuesday 27th January 2009.

This year the 36th ENADA Rome show will be held from Wednesday 8 to Friday10 October, in the Italian capital's new leading edge expo centre, organized by Rimini Fiera SpA and held with the sponsorship of the AAMS.

AmEx 2009 - The 30th Irish Coin-Op & Casino Trade Exhibition, which will be held at the Green Isle Hotel, Dublin on Tuesday 3 and  Wednesday 4 March 2009, will benefit from a new open-plan layout.

Once again the Nordic Blonde Battles against fiery Scarlet. This time not in the Premium version, but in a solid and above all, cost-efficient housing. Because SPEED is compact it can be placed almost anywhere. The table requires less space than a football kicker game and offers the adrenaline-packed action and fun factor of airhockey in any location.

The Dark Knight^TM, the latest Batman movie, is now the second highest grossing domestic movie in Hollywood history, collecting over $500 million.  The film reached this mark in just over six weeks, about half the time it took "Titanic," which reached $500 million in a little over three months. "Titanic," the biggest movie, remains number one on the domestic charts with $600.8 million.

Leading-edge gaming technology developer, ACE Interactive has bolstered its senior management team with the appointment of Brendan McCarthy  as Vice President Sales and Operations and Roy D. Garrett to the position of Director Business Development - Americas. 

Inspired Gaming Group (Inspired), one of the leading providers of B2 and B3 Gaming Machines to the LBO market, has announced that its Open Server-Based Gaming (Open SBG^TM) platform and content is fully fairness tested and compliant with the Gambling Commission's technical standards for Category B2/B3 gaming machines.

IMA - the leading German trade fair - is growing. More than 200 exhibitors will present their latest products and concepts at the International Trade Fair for Amusement and Vending Machines (IMA) in January 2009 in Düsseldorf. IMA 2008 has already reported an eight percent increase in visitor numbers, 15 percent more exhibitors and an almost 20 percent increase in exhibition area.

Kevin Williams  of KWP Ltd. became the first amusement executive to present at the auspicious Edinburgh Interactive Festival (EIF) last week, with exclusive information of new developments in the arcade scene yet to be revealed, and a idea of the trends shaping this changing market, including hands on the latest hardware.

Award-winning Nottingham based marketing group, Perspektiv, has launched a new and innovative rapid response direct marketing solution, DM Play designed specifically for the gaming and sales promotion industry.

At the Betting Show this month, Cyberview will be demonstrating a range of games, systems and solutions designed for the betting market which will include Barcrest Group's game content and Triple 7 cabinet.

Space Mission from Chang Yu offers one claw, double play. The idea is to initially go for a large plush toy, however, if the player fails to win this, a small prize game starts, offering the opportunity to win some sweets.

One of the many thrill rides at Drayton Manor Theme Park in Staffordshire, UK, has picked up an award after being dubbed the best in Europe.

The UK company Amusement Technical Solutions (ATS) has completed refurbishment and installation work on a variety of projects in recent months, while reporting full order books until the end of the year.

Aristocrat, a leading global provider of gaming solutions, has underlined its intent to enter the Spanish low stake gaming market with the opening of a new  subsidiary, Aristocrat Technologies Spain, S.L. Based in Barcelona, the new entity is headed  by two highly experienced aficionados of ‘Type B' games, Jaime Riera Mendoza and Josep Carreras Pallares.

Organisers of ATEI, which takes place at London's Earls Court Exhibition Centre across 27-29 January, have added business knowledge enrichment to the programme of activities scheduled for the 2009 edition with the announcement of a high profile Redemption Seminar, offering show visitors valuable insight and operational tips on what an increasing number of amusements operators are discovering as their fastest-growing profit centre.

The Polish Ministry of Finance has published another version of its amendment to the Act on games and mutual wagering, dated 5 August 2008.

Embed, a leading provider of Debit Card and Point of Sale Systems for the amusement and family entertainment industry, has announced that it will open an office near Dubai in the Emirate of Sharjah in the UAE. The office is to be established to better service Embed's growing list of clients in the Middle East region and will be the third international office for Embed adding to existing facilities in Perth, Australia and Dallas USA.

Heber has announced a reorganization of its structure and management to capture future opportunities for growth, and to better position the company to meet its aggressive growth strategy.

Clarion Gaming has combined the science of people moving with the experiences of one of Britain's best-known consumer events in order to bring added benefits to both exhibitors and visitors attending ATEI 2009.

August 26 and 27 saw a gathering of gaming managers in the gorgeous Czech Republic spa town of Franzensbad, for the annual European Golf Championship for Casinos. The weather was perfect, the ambience sublime and the event itself, a unique one in the European casino calendar

ARGENTINA

Mayor Mauricio Macri has submitted plans to claim a higher proportion of gambling revenues from Buenos Aires' racetrack and floating casinos for the municipal government in a move likely to fuel further speculation surrounding racetrack operations inside and outside of the city. Source: Gambling Compliance

As the Amusement and Music Operators Association (AMOA) celebrated its 60th anniversary trade show and convention in Las Vegas, from September 10 to 12, association leaders happily acknowledged the enormous advances and innovations in the industry. They proudly pointed to a continuous willingness to adapt and addressed the needs of an evolving, ever changing marketplace.

In two separate surveys, approximately 3,000 parents have stated they are more concerned about their children's exposure to videogames than alcohol, violence and pornography. The survey was taken recently by What They Play, a website that informs parents about videogames.

GameTech International, Inc., a leading designer, developer and marketer of computerized bingo and gaming equipment, systems, and services, last month announced financial results for the Company's third fiscal quarter and nine-month period ended July 31, 2008.

The United State now has the world's strictest ban on lead in toys. President George W. Bush signed the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008 into law on August 14. It prohibits lead- beyond minute levels- in products for children 12 or younger. It also bans a specific chemical often used to make plastic products softer.

The Korea Game Industry Agency revealed that the government of Korea is currently urging the country's game industry to expand in the sectors of arcade games and home games.  According to Park Yong-seok, chief at the Beijing Representative Office of the Korean Game Industry Agency, the Korean government believes that Korea already has gained an edge in the online game market and the next step is to expand in the sectors of arcade and home games because these two sectors account for 80% of the game market. 

G2E 2008, which is organized by the American Gaming Association (AGA) and Reed Exhibitions, will take place on November 18-20 in Las Vegas. G2E is the world's premier gambling machine trade show, including many conferences featured gambling-related topics; there will be Bingo Pavilion, Technology Pavilion, Security & Surveillance Pavilion and other pavilions at the show.  Last year there were 751 exhibitors and 30,173 visitors attending the show with the show area of 323,000 sq.m.

The investigation group that was organized by over 100 corporate professionals in Shanghai, Macao and Hong Kong will visit Kaohsiung on September 17.  The person who needs to be mentioned the most is the son of Stanley Ho, the king of gambling in Macao. Stanley Ho is intending to build up a gambling personnel training center in Kaohsiung's software park; the gambling concept stocks and the real estate market in Kaohsiung are surely to benefit from this. 

A package on security for the Lombardy Region will be tabled at the end of the autumn and new standards for AWPs will be announced among the regulations set out by the Regional Administration. Pier Gianni Prosperino, member of local Government for the Lombardy Region, explains: "The Department for security of the Lombardy Region, under my leadership, has been working throughout the summer to prepare an outline package on security. All too often in the last few years security has been dealt in an "after the event" fashion. Instead I want to tackle the issues before they come up: it is no use shedding tears over spilt milk, and we need to get into action before there is an outbreak of the plague, before tragedies occur. Within the package a whole chapter will be dedicated to slot machines and to gaming".

After a long and detailed enquiry carried out by the Frascati Financial Police and thanks to the cooperation offered by the AAMS Lazio Regional Office, it has been possible to identify activities by the owners of some shops with AWPs which are deemed to be fraudulent and damaging to the State, the gaming sector and the tax revenues.

Office 12 of the Autonomous Administration of State Monopolies (AAMS) has been very busy, with the release of permits for 41 new newslot models during August. This is a record, giving some reassurance to those who have made investments in the second generation AWP market.

The importance of tax revenues from newslot machines since 2005 is a well known fact. In the last month of June alone, AWPs have netted bets of over €1.9 bn, with a total of €10.6 bn in the first six months of 2008.

We are opposed to Slot machines in separate Gaming Rooms" says Marilena Ratto, of the National Traders Association (ASCOM)

THE OPERATORS are calling for clear cut answers regarding the security of machines.

It seems that AWPs are at the mercy, not so much of the cunning and skill of many players, but rather the target of the technical expertise of some players able to tamper systematically with them.

Both of the large gaming projects planned for Spain, "EL REINO DE DON QUIJOTE" (The Kingdom of Don Quixote) and "GRAN SCALA" are having difficulties meeting their objectives. Two weeks before the date planned for laying the first stone and the Gran Scala project still has no definite site and the financial crisis has also affected El Reino de Don Quijote, the large real estate and leisure project in Ciudad Real for which investments of 6,500 million over 15 years have been announced. Its main attraction is the construction of a large 5-star casino hotel along the lines of Las Vegas by the North American giant Harrah's Entertainment.

Catalonia collected 351.48 million euros in taxes on gaming in 2007, 4.85% more than the previous year, when it obtained 335.2 million, according to data from a study carried out by the professional business magazine for private gaming in Spain, Joc Privat. The collection in Catalonia in 2007 reached 17.5% of the state total. Once again Catalonia leads the way in the collection of taxes coming from private gaming in Spain, followed by the Madrid Autonomous Region (328.10 million), Andalusia (288.12 million) and the Canary Islands (111.54 million). 

After fourteen months of operating the system in Andalusia, one can already clearly talk about the excellent returns from the system that serves as the basis for the success of the Primer Acumulado in the Spanish arcades. The success of this advanced platform lies in three main aspects: technology, security and service.  

The touchscreen pioneer funworld celebrates an impressive anniversary in October. The unique PHOTO PLAY MASTERS tournament system is marking its first decade success. The leisure industry's first tournament system has brought ten years of thrills and competition excitement for its enthusiastic players.

Suzo International is the proud European distributor for Elo TouchSystems -  the global leader in touch technology that develops, manufactures and markets a complete line of touch screen and touch monitor products.

Why do we go to all this effort? Because we like to do everything we can to ensure that our customers' coffers are filled.

Merit Entertainment, a complete entertainment systems manufacturer, provides a wide range of captivating entertainment, fresh content and innovative games. Merit's products appear globally in a wide array of venues and appeal to an almost limitless demographic. Continuing to expand their position in the industry, Merit has added music to its' exciting and revolutionary product line.  The company maintains a website with all the latest information at www.meritgames.com.

The trends in the gaming market are heading towards larger sizes and widescreen formats and gaming machines are designed to suit. To meet this demand, Tyco Electronics' Elo TouchSystems business has developed a full range of widescreen gaming touchmonitors in sizes ranging from 19" to 32".  All of them are designed for public use, very suited for gaming and casino applications and available with the Elo industry-leading touch technologies including IntelliTouch surface acoustic wave (SAW), capacitive and Acoustic Pulse Recognition (APR).

GeneraL Touch was established in 1996 and is globally Focused (China, USA, Europe, Taiwan, Korea, Japan & Australia). The company has two manufacturing facilities in Chengdu, China and Suzhou, China. The company employs 600 skilled staff and has enjoyed very fast growth of around 60 per cent annually.

When display integrators or device manufacturers develop interactive touch products, they require electronics engineered to meet their need for fast, accurate and reliable touch response. To help meet these requirements, 3M Touch Systems today introduces two new capacitive touch sensor controllers based on its industry-leading MicroTouch EX II electronics platform.

JVL has unveiled the Encore countertop.  The Encore, a complete entertainment system offering games and music, features an industry-first, high-definition wide screen LCD display. Combine Encore with JVL's Media Stream and you have one of the most cost effective games and music entertainment system available.

Astra Games

Astra Games, part of the Novomatic Group of Companies, will at Preview 2009 present one of their most innovative and creative product ranges ever.  Newly located on stand CH19/22 of the Novotel's Champagne suite, a position that allows more prominence and superior viewing for visitors, Astra will unveil new games for UK categories C and B3, plus the hotly anticipated bingo games "Microbingo" and "Arcadebingo".

The insistence by Hazelgrove Superleague that their new range of Superleague pool tables would match, if not better, the quality of tables that had formerly borne the illustrious name from an earlier manufacturer was a major reason why the launch of the new tables from the company's Cannock factory was delayed. Superleague director Eric Lewis was adamant that the proud bearers of the name should, to continue the nautical image, be "up to standard"as the Royal Navy would say.

It might not suit everybody in the pool table industry but the current economic crises in Britain have brought a strong euro against the pound which is helping the Oldham based pool table manufacturers, Simply Pool, to maintain full order books as a result of their increasing trade with European countries. Simply Pool's sales director Bob Underhill said: "Our tables go into France and so it is rather difficult for us to say which other countries they reach. We send a mixture of coin-operated and domestic tables and we just keep on making them for the customers to sell".

Liam Barrett, whom I regard as one of the better PR people in the pool industry and sport, often makes me think of an affectionate uncle when he speaks of the tables marketed in Britain and Ireland by Sam Leisure. He praises them highly, defends them if necessary but appreciates they could fall foul of the ills that beset others.

During the time when Orange had difficulties with its dial-up internet and e-mail connections my computer, unknown to me until early August, received a message that my good friend John Etchells had been made redundant by his employers, Riley Operators Division.

Dudley Ulyett's resignation as secretary of the European Blackball Association, Ross McInnes election as vice-chairman of the association, Simply Pool being asked to provide the tables for next year's EBA event in Bridlington, Alan Marshall's  intention to continue as promoter of the Bridlington events but not to organise them and one or two other grumbles led to a summer of discontent which does not bode well for the return to the refurbished Spa of next year's championships. The EBA did, however, issue a statement to the effect that rumours connecting Dudley Ulyett with any financial irregularities were completely without foundation.

Excel Leisure and Lordsvale have been working together to produce a new dedicated Elvis Presley pool table after agreement had been reached between the latter's Mike Ansell and and Presley Enterprises.

Aristocrat Technologies' Autumn 2008  collection includes eight new slot games, a fresh twist for Zorro ® Hyperlink and an exciting  new feature concept, ‘Free Game Bank'.

Inspired Gaming International (Inspired), part of Inspired Gaming Group plc, is bringing Multi-Win Roulette (MWR) to Dutch casinos through a deal it has signed with Holland Casino, the sole permit holder for operating casino games in The Netherlands. Inspired will be trialling MWR on 16 terminals in two out of Holland Casino's 14 venues over a 13 week period with a view to establishing Inspired's automated roulette as a recommended product available across the entire Holland Casino estate.

Wh Münzprüfer Berlin has introduced a new electronic anti pin system for kiosks called ES 006. It has been developed after listening to various customer requirements for coin payment solutions for internet terminals, kiosk applications or any other indoor-operated machine.

GLOBAL VR last month released the EA SPORTS NASCAR Racing Track and Team Update. This easy to install, low cost, software update delivers NASCAR's current team rosters placing drivers in their proper team cars, and adds two exciting new tracks to the many track selections previously available. In addition, players will be put behind the wheel of NASCAR's long awaited Car of Tomorrow.

It's a Cracker is the latest 12-player which can also be built as an 8 Player pusher from Harry Levy Amusements. It boasts an extremely eye-catching and yet surprisingly compact design. The 'cracker' top sign makes it an ideal arcade centrepiece and the festive design and cheerful cabinet colours make it a hit with players of all ages.

For an exciting redemption piece in a stunning cabinet, look no further than Big Bass Wheel from Harry Levy. Designed in the shape of a giant fish, the game requires players to skilfully pull the handle and spin the wheel in Big Bass' jaws. Different ticket values are awarded depending on where the wheel stops. A 'Big Bass Bonus' has been added and this awards a big payout of tickets for a perfect spin. The machine also features a TFT screen to add to the excitement.

Saddle up for Race to Win,  the latest single-player wall pusher from Harry Levy with double-level playfields. It is also available in a three-player version. Race to Win is fitted with the power saver coin-flip system, which stays idle when the game is not in play. Race to Win is a coin-flip operation pusher with target feature and has low coin entry slots for easy play.

The latest ticket redemption game from Skeeball available through Harry Levy, is a real gas! It is available in both a two-player and a four-player format and the aim of the game is to stop the scrolling light bar in the highlighted area. Players earn tickets by completing each level until they reach the progressive jackpot.

WGS launched TopPutt at Preview 2008 and now has over 70 units around the UK including Center Parcs, Tenpin, Bowlplex, McArthur Glen Retail Outlets, Edinburgh Airport and numerous arcades and holiday parks.

Happy Days is offering two new machines. The Self-Vending Candyfloss machine is available on a profit-share scheme throughout the UK. Happy Days simply provides the machine and the paper sticks. One serving of Candyfloss is merely 70 calories.

Sega Amusements is preparing to kick start its show season in true dominant style as it looks ahead to having presence at 10 international shows over the next five months.

Gemini Games brings to this year's Preview a unique range of product which will appeal to single site, arcade and bingo operators alike.

The Tournament 6' & 7' Traditional style pool table has been around since the early days of Simply Pool, however recent updates mean they are now available with various options. One of which is Solid Brass top frame corners, another being a light Oak laminate finish aswell as the existing Mahogany or Beech finishes. Cosmetics are important, but from an operators point of view by far the most significant new change is the variable price of play drawer unit.

The Outdoor Crane from Smart Industries. Finally, a crane that can withstand the outdoor elements and keep on working! This crane will allow operators to make cranes part of their carnivals, fairs, theme parks, or any outdoor event. It also gives operators the chance to place a crane outside prime restaurants, stores, or mall locations where they couldn't get enough space before. Based on the Clean Sweep line of cranes, the Outdoor Crane features a waterproof, high security metal cabinet (patent pending) and an exciting new decal package! It's the only one of its kind!

TransAct Technologies, Incorporated a global leader in market-specific printers for transaction based industries, displayed its award-winning Epic line of gaming printers at the Australasian Gaming Show. The show, which took place August 24 - 26, was held at the Sydney Convention and Exhibition Center in Darling Harbour NSW, Australia.