“This year’s Fair has been very special. For the first time some of the most important on-line betting companies were there as exhibitors. At the moment the Spanish market is still getting itself adjusted in this respect and several autonomous regions are modifying their regulations regarding on-line betting. The Fair has given the legislators the possibility of coming into direct contact with this type of technology and, in turn, the opportunity to speak directly with the companies involved.” Not even the bad weather during the three days of the event affected the public attendance which according to the organisers was 12,948 of whom some 23% were visitors from abroad. The number of direct exhibitors was 131 who represented a total of 500 companies and occupied the whole of the Pavilion, that is to say, 14,500 square meters. The Spanish fair is always outstanding on account of the spectacular designs of the stands. In this regard it is worth noting that some of them were located on both sides of the main corridor, extending to more than 250 square meters, as was the case with Sente S.A. and Gigames, and that just seventeen companies took up 63% of all the available space. Nevertheless without a word of a lie, the increase in size of some exhibitor’s stands compared to the previous year was totally justified by the number of products exhibited on them. This was the case with MGA which presented products from Sammy, Harry Levy, Konami, Lai, Astra, and Mazooma, to name but a few of the companies that exhibited on their stand. The most spectacular models were without a doubt the roulettes from Doshina, the multiplayer machine “Fortune Cards” from Shuffle Masters and a multiplayer simulator from SEGA that includes 4 life-size driving positions competing against each other. Also Cocamatic offered a variety of makes among which we could see “Pirates of the Caribbean”, the pinball from Stern, the AWP machine “Jolly Rogers” from Electrocoin, the latest model of “Time Crisis4” and “Super bikes” from Namco to name but some. Covielsa, for its part, as well as marketing the electronic darts machine designed by Gaelco, called “Radical Darts”, presented its new machine “Reno Casino”, designed in collaboration with the Screengames company and dedicated to the AWP market. Carfama, on the other hand, offered a broad range of touchscreens from the Photo Play company which are achieving great success in Spain. Together with Vid Distribuciones, all the above-mentioned companies are importers of products. Recreativos Presas is the most prolific of Spanish manufacturers when it comes to models for amusement and leisure. This Galician company includes electronic darts, cranes, soccer tables, touch screens and videos in its catalogue. The latest product to leave its factory is “AirGame Sport” a new kind of air table which was displayed for the first time at ATEI. Among those who were exhibiting for the first time was Global Zitro, a recently formed company dedicated to the manufacture and design of machinery for bingo halls. Its stand which was enormous, competed with two other companies specializing in the same kinds of product, F.B Metronia and McB. All of them showed models meeting the new legislation that allows machines of types “B3” and “B4” to offer electronic bingo games in the rooms annexed to Spanish bingo premises. Felix Sanchez, Managing Director of the F.B Metronia Group said “We wanted to offer our clients, both national and international, the results of the work of a young team that wants to be seen as a reference for bingo throughout the world. Tourvisión was also exhibiting for the first time in Malaga, but this does not mean that the company is new. With more than twenty years of experience, it has made all types of machines in the past. At this event it presented an AWP type machine designed in collaboration with Codere Barcelona. It is well known that the Spanish market is a point of reference for AWP type machines. A great number of exhibitors showed a wide selection of models that were in competion with each other to attract the buyers to their products. The most important Spanish companies are specialists in the design of this type of machine. So it was that Recreativos Franco presented “Pancho Villa”, a model adapted to the varying regulations around Spain. Europea, a company belonging to the CIRSA Group, demonstrated “Chicago” which, like the model from R. Franco, renounces the video screen and the game is based exclusively on the use of wheels. The SLEIC company manufactures the same line of equipment and it presented its “Tuareg” and “Karting” models, whilst Sente S.A. distributes the “Sphinx”, “Cashline” and “Volcano” models from the German company Merkur. Quite the opposite though with Unidesa, which also belongs to the Cirsa Group, with its last design of AWP machine, “Moto GP”, where the whole game is developed through a video screen. Costa Cálida, which was once again present at the Malaga Fair, distributes the models from the Bally Wolf company throughout Spain and also demonstrates its preferences for video screens in its AWP machines. In this regard Gigames continues to put its faith in its “Pretty Mexico”, “The Sultan’s Treasure” and “The Monkeys” models. The design of the machines from Gigames sets it apart from the classic models among the AWP machines and is based on a technological platform that allows a great flexibility in the creation of games. As well as the above- mentioned models there were several beautiful, large roulettes from the Gold Club company and a machine called “Win & Go”, that is intended for alternative games in bingo halls. Nevertheless, as the organizer of the fair said, the real innovation has been the presence, for the first time, of several online betting companies. With the intention of gaining a place in the emerging Spanish market, companies like Ladbrokes, Bet Bull, Merkur Gaming and Ten to One, were there with their Spanish partners. The large companies like MGA, Gigames, Cirsa, and the Orenes Group, to mention just a few, have collaboration agreements with the most important international companies. But this has not proved a disadvantage to the many smaller regular attenders at this fair like Famai (Kiddy Rides), Billares Sierra (Pool tables), AMYC (Coin handling), Jofemar (Vending) and many others; all 131 exhibitors, shone as they always do. AWARDS TO THE PERSONALITIES OF 2006 In parallel with the fair, on the first day a formal dinner was held that served as the basis for the VI annual presentation of the prizes that the Interazar Group present to the most outstanding companies, professionals and legislators for their work throughout the previous year. Also distinctions were given to several exhibiting companies for their efforts over the years as was the case with Vid Distribuciones, Expemocar Laiv and Servitronic. The organizer of the fair, Juan Manuel Ortega, announced each of the prizewinners and the prizes were then presented by the outstanding authorities invited to the meal. Eduardo Antoja, President of Euromat, presented the prize to Juan Miguel Escrig, Undersecretary of Finance in the Valencian Regional government, for his innovative reform of the gaming regulations in that autonomous region. The prize for outstanding professional achievement went to the Director General of Famai, Urban Lozano, who received it from the hands of the Director of Gaming in the Catalonian regional government, Mercé Claramunt. José Antonio Martinez, President of Codere, as businessman of the year received his award from the hands of José A. Soriano, Director of Gaming in Andalucia. The prize to the young businessman of the year went to David Gonzalez, Director General of Worte and finally, Mikel Gauselmann received the prize for the best foreign company which he shared with Felix Hernán, Director General of Sente and their distributor in Spain. The latter were presented with their prizes by Edmundo Ahijón, the person responsible for gaming policy in the Madrid autonomous regional government.

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