Among the latest developments:

As our Italian correspondent reports on p10 this month, Adria Gaming, the Italian arm of Austria’s Novomatic, now has long-term contracts to supply eight out of the ten Italian operators, or 22,000 units altogether. It will be hoping that this positions it not only to make a healthy profit out of Italy, but to be the obvious first-call supplier for the Greek operators when they come on stream.

Azzurro Gaming, a joint venture of Casinos Austria International (with 75 percent ownership) and Cogetech, has opened the first of its Vincendo-branded “mini casinos” in Milan. With just 1000 square metres of gaming floor, it was finished in less than 90 days at a cost of around €1m, and offers 100 VLT slots.

Azzurro’s plans, though, are much more ambitious: it intends, over the next two years, to roll out 1800 VLTs in a series of venues between Rome and Italy’s northern borders, each with 50 to 150 units. With low staffing levels (the Milan site has 15), bars and lounges, it’s likely they’ll offer a casino-lite experience while, of course, not requiring a casino licence.

And there’s more. Lottomatica has signed a deal to provide more VLTs to the BetterSlot circuit, and Inspired Gaming Group (one of whose cabinets is pictured), while not quite having Novomatic’s market penetration, now has contracts with four of the ten VLT operators under its local joint venture with Merkur. Latest to sign up is HBG.

Meanwhile, Greece’s government is making a second attempt to legislate the introduction of VLTs, doubtless spurred by the daily fine of €33,000 that the EU is imposing on it until the market is regulated.

The draft proposals call for a minimum stake of €0.10 and a maximum of €5, with a payout to players of 80 percent.

Between four and ten licences will be granted for a total of 25,000 machines, while it is understood that a further 5000 machines may be authorised for lower-stake machines. Licences will be valid for ten years.

However, the new rules must be approved by the EU before they can go into force, and Athens also has to deal with the befuddlement it has created by tabling VLT legislation at the same time as proposed laws covering Internet sports betting. Many in Greece are, it’s said, confusing the two.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend

Bookmark this

---