The show was smaller than in previous years, but this situation is likely to change next year when a new hall will be used in addition to the main hall 8 and both of these will be of the same size. A temporary hall had to be constructed to take extra exhibitors at this year’s IMA but it only really housed the Schneider stand and a couple of smaller companies. As ever, a few very large companies dominated the IMA. The Gauselmann Group took over one side of the hall and the Bally Wulff and Löwen presided over the other. There was a healthy amount of operators on each, making it difficult to move during busy times and all the major stands extended their hospitality into the evenings with live bands, food and drinks. International manufacturers were only around in relatively small numbers. Representatives of the major UK suppliers were mostly to be seen walking the show on the first couple of days, while Barcrest had machines on the Walberer stand and JVH Gaming had two new games on the Bally Wulff stand. Astra, part of the Novomatic Group of Companies, was present on the Löwen stand, where the Novo Line multi-game was ubiquitous. One thing was clear – the amusement market in Germany is not flourishing. The number of amusement machines has declined dramatically, according to figures released by the VDAI on the first day of the show. At the end of last year there were only 321,500 amusements in Germany compared to 414,500 in 2001. Funworld and TAB were the only touchscreen manufacturers present, although the Gauselmann Group was showing its Trendy. Funworld’s CSO Marco Huter claimed the new law had given German sales a boost. TAB’s Siegfried Dattl said Germany remained one of the strongest markets for touchscreen, however, he was keen to stress that the company is diversifying and to this end, TAB was showing its AWP for the German market for the first time on the Norditalia stand. The only video games to be seen were on the Gauselmann stand. Sega, Namco and Stern Pinball were represented with small numbers of machines, which Gauselmann distributes into the German market only. The Trendy touchscreen, new Disney kiddie rides and air hockey are still distributed into other markets. The new Germany AWP law was the main focus of the show and new-law machines were present on almost every stand. Despite this, only a limited number of models were fully homologated and ready for market, due to long delays at the German testing institute – the PTB. There were rumours at the show that the PTB would authorise another testing institute, likely to be one of the Dutch giants, in order to speed things up. This was the sincere wish of many manufacturers frustrated that only four staff members at the PTB are handling such a large backlog of machines. Of those machines that have been licensed, the most controversial and possibly the most successful is the multiplayer from Novomatic called Novo Line, which is being handled by partner Löwen. The reason for the controversy is that the machine cannot be bought, only rented out – a move which has been initially unpopular with many operators. Dirk Schwerdling, product development manager at Austrian Gaming Industries admitted there had been some resistance to the rental concept in Germany. “This is how we supply machines in many other countries,” he said. “Of course, this is new for Germany but we have a global concept in mind. The main advantage for operators is that we regularly upgrade the machines with new games. We have already given them five new games for free. Now the operators are seeing what they get for their money and they are happy that they are getting good value.” Schwerdling expressed some surprise that the machine sailed through the homologation process as PC-based gaming is also new for Germany. “To be honest we were not sure that PTB would approve the machine. We were very happy as they had not approved PC-based games before. Our concept where money can be exchanged for points and points for money has been patented and this is partly why the machine is so successful,” he added. The video interface looks likely to be a permanent fixture for new-law machines and many we spoke to said there was little difference in gameplay between the offerings at the show. JVH Gaming, however, was two showing reel-based products, Red Hot and Cool Blue, and seemed very happy with the response from operators. “We were the first foreign manufacturer to have machines homologated and we are coming in initially with reel products,” said Johan Buyks, product manager. “The response has been really good.” It is clear that the first few companies to have machines approved to the new law have a great advantage over the rest who are still languishing waiting for homologation. Whereas the market was estimated to be around 220,000 machines before the new law, the available market will now be slightly bigger due to the increase in the number of AWPs which can be sited in arcades (up to 12 from 10) and the number of new arcades that have been built in recent months. In addition, three machines are now allowed in pubs instead of the two permitted previously. It is estimated that there are already 97,000 new-law AWPs in this marketplace. The huge investment that was required by German operators was greatly aided by a large compensation payout they received from the Government following a ruling at the European Court. For years, AWP operators had paid VAT on cashbox, while casino operators did not. It was decreed that this situation was unfair and while VAT will now be applicable for both casino slots and AWPs, the government was forced to give AWP operators Euros1.5bn in back payments for the years they paid the tax unfairly. In these difficult times it was encouraging to see such a positive show where operators and manufacturers are keen to invest and develop new business. The IMA will continue to take place in Düsseldorf for the next four years and seems sure to retain a strong place on the show calendar. The previous Nuremburg location had been unpopular for many visitors because of its lack of an international airport and now that this has been addressed, IMA once again attracted large numbers of East European visitors. “We were very surprised to see so many customers from Eastern Europe, although of course there are less Russians due to the situation there,” said Merkur Gaming’s Axel Pawlas. When asked whether he thought visitors were choosing IMA rather than ATEI he added. “I don’t think that is the case, it’s more that London is so expensive that I suspect some companies are sending the technical guys to Germany while the bosses will be in London for the ATEI.”

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