SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Atronic and its parent company the Gauselmann Group announce their year-end numbers for 2002, placing both companies at the top of their respective industries. Atronic is now the third largest slot machine manufacturer worldwide, supported by the Gauselmann Group, the second largest gaming manufacturer in the world.

The Gauselmann Group, comprised of the three business segments Merkur, Spielothek and Atronic, grew its sales by 4.5% to $71 million in 2002. The Merkur and Atronic segments were responsible for the design, manufacturing and sales of over 100,000 gaming devices during 2002, again confirming the Gauselmann Group as the second largest gaming manufacturer in the world.

The Merkur segment, comprised of AWP (Amusement With Prize) and amusement machines for Europe, celebrated 25 years of strong success for its flagship adp with a Gala event for 1500 guests at the IMA show in January. Stella International, which specializes in the development and distribution of AWP and fun games for European markets, maintained its market leader position. The UK business segment consisting of Bell-Fruit Games, Mazooma Games and QPS for the second time in a row surpassed IGT's Barcrest to continue as the market leader in the UK. The Spielothek segment operates 9,000 gaming and amusement devices within 180 arcade locations in Europe.

Atronic, the casino gaming division of the Gauselmann Group, increased its worldwide sales by 35.5%. Atronic's success in growing its global market- share in 2002 places it as the third largest manufacturer of slot machines worldwide behind IGT and Aristocrat and ahead of Bally and WMS. Atronic, which celebrates 10-years of growth and success in 2003, is made up of the sister companies Atronic International, Atronic Americas and Atronic Australia. The opening in April 2002 of a world-class Research and Development facility in Graz, Austria complimented Atronic's commitment to creating inspirational, high quality products for the global market.

"The success of Atronic is even more meaningful in light of the fact that Atronic does not have a home market. Our competitors started first to grow strong in their home markets, and only then used the internationalization to expand their volume, whereas Atronic from day one faced the challenge of making the world into its home market. The gained experience in terms of games, products and performance now comes in handy for all of our local customers -- a true confirmation of Great Games -- Great People," said Michael Gauselmann, owner of Atronic and Co-Chairman of the Gauselmann Group.

Atronic International, which services 75 countries in Europe, South Africa, Latin America and Asia, further penetrated those markets in 2002 with substantial sales volume increases. The market opening of Switzerland contributed to Atronic International's growth due to the company's major market shares in the newly opened casinos. Strong products also contributed to growth in existing markets like Holland, Slovenia, Croatia and throughout the Latin American continent. Atronic continues to enjoy massive success in Russia, boosted through successful local partnerships. The new "Vegas" manufacturing plant in St. Petersburg now supplies Atronic's Russian customers with a product "made in Russia," with Russian operators embracing the new slot technology, high quality graphics and bonus features of Atronic's great games.

Atronic Americas experienced solid profitability growth in 2002 as well. Atronic's strong library of exciting and attractive games and its new license to sell gaming devices to Louisiana riverboats, racetracks and land-based casinos complimented the market opening of New York and established gaming jurisdictions for increased sales volume. The successful launch of Atronic's first Wide Area Progressive (WAP), Arizona Magic (R) also contributed to Atronic America's established position within the US market. Atronic Americas continues to explore new product segments including WAPs in order to continue to strengthen its market share and provide innovative solutions and services to its customers. Inspirational and award-winning products including Sphinx Magic(R) and e-motion(R) will continue to drive the market through their superior design, quality and functionality. Atronic previewed both products at the extremely successful G2E show in September, with plans to introduce both to the US market in 2003. The groundbreaking for Atronic America's state-of-the-art North American corporate headquarters took place on February 3 of this year in Scottsdale, Arizona with construction due to be completed in September.

Atronic Australia concentrated on creating outstanding games for the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2002. Its first exhibition at the Australasian Gaming Summit in August assisted in a strong introduction to those markets.

The Atronic companies are members of the family-owned and operated Gauselmann Group, Germany, which has sold more than 1.8 million machines since inception, and 100,000 gaming devices in the year 2002 alone. Atronic, the world's third largest slot maker, is headquartered in Germany, and has a truly global structure through its offices in Australia, Austria, Great Britain, Peru, South Africa, and the United States of America. Atronic is dedicated to producing only the highest quality of entertaining games and products, which are being operated in 78 countries worldwide. Atronic holds a total of 144 worldwide gaming licenses including the United States of America, where it is licensed to sell machines in 22 states and to 115 tribes. To find out more information about Atronic, please visit the Web site @ www.atronic.com or call 1-800-864-7670.

Source: Atronic

CONTACT: Katie Davis, +1-480-609-5867, kdavis@atronic.com , or Sylvia
Dietz, +49-170-566-0125, sdietz@atronic.com , both of Atronic

Web site: http://www.atronic.com/