Despite the current economic downturn, January’s inaugural International Gaming Expo (IGE) saw a total of 16,692 visitors from 126 territories travel to London in order to check out the latest and best in the world of low-stake and remote gaming, lotteries, betting and land-based casino products.
The new show was staged across the entire ground floor of the capital’s Earls Court 1 and 2 exhibition halls and featured 335 exhibitors showing their wares over three days. The organizers, Clarion Gaming, revealed that total attendance for IGE and the collocated International Casino Exhibition Interactive (ICEi) and Amusement Trades Exhibition International (ATEI) actually rose 4 percent from last year to reach 25,874.
“IGE isn’t the biggest gaming event in the world but it is the most comprehensive, involving exhibitors from all corners of the gaming landscape,” said Peter Rusbridge, CEO for Clarion. “The ability to see so much quality and variety at a single exhibition is IGE’s key selling point and one engaged with buyers who attended from throughout the world,” he added.
Aristocrat Technologies Europe
Aristocrat Technologies Europe unveiled more than 30 new games for European customers with major Viridian™ releases including Bank Buster™, Sky Heroes™ and Banana King™, its double standalone progressive bonus game. It debuted a further 15 games across the Viridian range catering for a multitude of titles including Power Pay™, Reel Power™ and 50, 100 and Multi Line™.
Aristocrat's XCite™ library also got a boost with nine new games including the double standalone progressive Mr. Woo Moonlight Market™, which features a two-level jackpot and bonus features. It also showcased games designed for the Spanish, Portuguese, British and South African markets with artwork and software tailored to meet the specific requirements of these jurisdictions. For Spain, there was Wild Africa™, Wild Thing™ and the newly released Big Red™, while for Portugal there was Heart of Gold™ and 100 Lions™. Designed for the U.K., Aristocrat showed off Let's Go Fish'n™ while South African products included a mixture of XCite, Viridian and LPM™ products.
"This has been a very strong exhibition for Aristocrat," said Rob McLoughlin, executive general manager, Europe, Middle East and Africa for Aristocrat. "We achieved a record number of signed contracts in what is a challenging trading environment."
WMS International
WMS International showcased its global suite of products including the latest additions to its Community Gaming category, Powerball Power Seat and Reel ‘Em In! Compete To Win. It also showed off its popular Transmissive Reels products including two new Wizard of Oz branded games, Glinda The Good Witch and Wicked Riches. In its Sensory Immersion category, WMS highlighted its Time Machine game theme.
WMS also displayed floor-wide its future-ready Bluebird 2 video and mechanical cabinets, which feature 22-inch dual-widescreen displays, a transmissive LCD screen in the mechanical version and a slimmer profile than its predecessor. “Many operators understand that a way to overcome these difficult times is by updating their casino floors with new, exciting products and gaming concepts like those from WMS,” said Sebastian Salat, president for WMS International. “IGE 2009 was a great show in terms of business, number of units sold and, most importantly, it confirmed that our product offerings are ideal for casino operators to innovate and keep their businesses growing.”
IGT Europe
IGT Europe exhibited its new performance-orientated Advanced Video Platform (AVP), which features widescreen LCD monitors with 16 by 10 aspect ratios, USB ports for “plug and play” alongside downloadable player panel buttons and standardized electronics. It also debuted the G20, G20 Bartop, G22 and G23 video cabinet designs to house the AVP platform. “A fresh lineup of AVP games offered on the new cabinets as well as player favorites that have been made compatible with AVP will prove that IGT has the depth and game styles required to meet customer and player demands,” said James Boje, managing director for IGT Europe. “The SAVP and SMLD cabinets also showcased our popular reel themes released on the phenomenal and award-winning REELdepth technology featuring Multi-Layer Display (MLD) technology. This gives players a true three-dimensional gaming experience. Most exciting is the flexibility to switch between three, four and five-reel games, video slots and video poker with Winners Choice multi-game capability on standard games.”
IGT Europe also exhibited its sbX in a bank-by-bank package to give operators the power to implement server-based technology at their own pace. “By adding banks of AVP models on a floor, our customers gain access to our rich AVP game library and powerful floor management tools,” said Boje.
Bally Technologies
Bally presented an extensive variety of advanced gaming products and systems technology including video and reel-spinning slots, group-play games, wide area progressives, specialty games, licensed titles and multiple systems products, and platforms for international markets. This was in addition to its advanced slot and systems bonusing technology, system-based games and its networked Floor of the Future technology. “This year at the IGE show, we actually took more space than we have in past years because of the significant amount of new systems and games products that we wanted to showcase,” said Gavin Isaacs, COO for Bally. “While we heard that show attendance was down slightly, our booth was consistently very busy and we were pleased that most of the key decision makers were at the show.”
Bally had a very strong systems showing at IGE and its MCC international casino and slot management system gained a lot of attention. Also popular was its new Bally MultiConnect internationalized SDS system on Microsoft Windows with full support for TITO and Casino Marketplace. The firm also gave live demonstrations of its Bally Business Intelligence, a powerful data analytics and visualization solution, while Isaacs stated that attendees were very excited by its new line-up of video and stepper slots such as its DualVision multi-player platform and the new Playboy video slot featured on its V32 video-slot platform.
Konami Gaming
Konami Gaming exhibited its next generation Podium video cabinet, which features dual 22-inch LCD screens alongside dramatic lighting effects and is scheduled for release in the United States by August. It also showed its award-winning Advantage 5 product, which it stated was a favorite among attendees. Advantage 5 is its first full-sized five-reel stepper product and features backlit reels and cantilevered lighting effects, which have made it one of the most popular slot products in the United States.
Konami also showcased game titles with its Xtra Reward feature offering players more chances to win when an extra bet is enabled. “On the systems side, we hosted numerous presentations for the Konami Casino Management System (KCMS),” said Ross O'Hanley, senior director of marketing for Konami. “The Lot-A-Bucks and Patron 360 modules were of particular interest to the attendees who viewed the KCMS presentation. Lot-A-Bucks offers a four-level, wide area promotional progressive, which increases over time to attract and retain customers, whereas Patron 360 is a fully automated marketing tool that enables targeted marketing strategies based on patron performance and behavior.
“In the course of the show, we solidified existing relationships with casino operators and distributors and made important new contacts, which will facilitate our continued growth in Europe,” said O’Hanley.
Gaming Standards Association
The Gaming Standards Association did not exhibit much at its booth at IGE 2009 because its standards could be found on virtually every manufacturer’s stand.
Rather than have attendees come to its stand to hear about what it could do, the Gaming Standards Association stated that it wanted attendees to see its standards in action in the different types of gaming devices on display. However, the Gaming Standards Association did welcome visitors that wanted to discuss membership and hear about its new certification program, which helps operators find products that have been tested and certified to work with its protocols. In addition, attendees could find out about its new university program, which provides executives and engineers with training in order to better understand its protocols.
“IGE 2009 was a productive show for the Gaming Standards Association,” said Peter DeRaedt, president for Gaming Standards Association. “Because GSA’s standards are applicable to the global gaming industry, shows such as IGE are vital to spreading the message of the importance of standards. We also used the occasion to hold our annual European technical meetings, which took place the week after the show at member company GLI’s European offices in the Netherlands.”
MEI
MEI exhibited its new GEO Gravity high performance stackerless note validator, which is suited for smaller scale casino and amusement operators around the world and provides exceptional service and value that directly impacts bottom-line profitability. MEI also exhibited its EASITRAX Soft Count in London, an integrated software and hardware solution that extends the security and acceptance offered by its CASHFLOW SC into a casino soft count room. Information collected from the note validator is now accessible in a database that can be networked to multiple locations and accessed to analyze slot performance. Finally, MEI displayed its CASHFLOW Sphinx, a tabletop validation system that operators can use to strengthen their defense against fraudulent currency by protecting cages on a casino floor.
“IGE 2009 went very well for MEI, and we had tremendous interest in our GEO Gravity stackerless note validator,” said Mark Greenawalt, vice president of Europe and Africa for MEI. “Our customers were impressed with how we transformed the core base of our MEI CASHFLOW SC and applied the technology to other areas with the CASHFLOW Sphinx and EASITRAX Soft Count products. The core messages we were hoping to communicate at the show were well absorbed.”
FutureLogic International
In London, FutureLogic demonstrated two new products, the TableXchange® voucher reader printer and the Eclipse heavy-duty printer. TableXchange is designed to enable players to use cash-out tickets at table games by connecting to a casino's existing TITO network and scanning and printing vouchers. It creates a common currency across a casino and creates a bridge between slots and tables to help venues identify valuable crossover players. TableXchange streamlines casino operations by virtually eliminating the need to replenish chips at table games and is also fitted with a magstripe reader to record and update players cards, enabling them to receive loyalty points for their activities.
The Eclipse operates at very high speeds in harsh environments and was designed with security in mind. The unit features an “eject and retractable” presenter that will withdraw unclaimed receipts into an auxiliary tray. FutureLogic stated that Eclipse is ideal for the latest generation of demanding applications because its offers superior ruggedness, performance and security.
“We found that most major manufacturers and casino operators were represented at the show, but that they had simply brought fewer people than in the past,” said John Edmunds, vice president for FutureLogic International. “However since they were generally the key decision makers, we experienced a much higher proportion of really productive meetings.”
Crane Payment Solutions
Crane Payment Solutions stated that the show was a great success with the European launch of its CashCode one™ gaming bank note validator. This unique product was billed as the industry’s only true universal gaming validator as it is compatible with all worldwide currencies, interfaces and voltages.
“From an operator standpoint, CashCode one™ drives efficiencies on the floor in terms of service, player satisfaction and more money in the cashbox at the end of the day because we have a very high acceptance rate,” said Sim Bielak, vice president of global gaming for Crane Payment Solutions. “We have installations all over Europe and North America and the feedback has been very positive. The customers have been extremely happy with the performance of the product.”
London also saw its tried and true CashCode and NRI products for the gaming industry including its R2 recycler, which prevents coin hopper depletion by allowing for bill recycling and payout at AWP installations. There was also NRI’s new h2 hopper series as well as the f2 freefall coin validator.
Gaming Partners International
Gaming Partners International used IGE 2009 to hold live demonstrations of its lines of 125KHz and 13.56MHz RFID chips, readers and operating software. In addition to its already fully deployed applications of casino currency control and table management technology, Gaming Partners International showed off a progressive version of its RFID poker table, a new table-top authenticator designed to counter counterfeiting, a bill validator integrated to an RFID-enabled blackjack table and a roulette table with RFID bets recognition.
The firm also exhibited nonRFID products with the introduction of technology based on optical recognition to secure gaming chips alongside its Paulson FX and US casinos preferred layouts. This was all in addition to the presentation of a new range of video-reading roulette displays.
“For more than 15 years, we have engaged in extensive research and development efforts resulting in its current supply of RFID casino currency, hardware and software in two frequencies to customers on five continents,” said Gregory Gronau, executive vice president and CEO for Gaming Partners International. “Our new software solutions allow for efficient currency monitoring and management both out front at the tables and in back in the casino cage.”
TCSJOHNHUXLEY
TCSJOHNHUXLEY exhibited a plethora of new products alongside a new corporate logo. Among its new additions was the Novo Unity II multi-game platform, which allows operators to offer any number and combination of Novomatic live, automated and virtual casino multiplayer games on individual electronic player terminals. TCSJOHNHUXLEY stated that this flexibility is based on the networked structure of the Novo Unity II installation layout, which has a database server forming the central interface for communication between all of the peripheral devices and individual terminals.
Also new was the e-FX Insignia, the latest addition to the e-FX range of number displays that uses multimedia to present gaming results, game history and winning streaks, attracting players to the gaming table with audio and video.
“We launched some great products that focus on providing that all-important ‘added value’ to operators by increasing incremental revenue, maximizing operational efficiency and creating excitement for players, keeping them at the tables for longer,” said David Heap, group chief executive.
Alan Campbell is a U.K.-based journalist with more than a decade of experience covering the global casino, bingo and coin-op amusements markets for some of the world’s most well-known and respected publications. He may be reached at yankeecampbell@yahoo.co.uk.
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