Suzo International continues to place focus on increasing relations with European casinos. Having built very strong business relations over fifty years with European OEM’s, the natural step was to increase Suzo’s presence with the European casinos. Following on from the AESI’s success in the USA (a company within the Suzo-Happ Group), Suzo International has learnt the benefits that can be brought by building direct casino relations.

The first step was to bring together a range of world-class casino products. Casinos can benefit from being able to choose from a very wide product range. The second stage was to create a catalogue specifically for casinos. The Casino Catalogue 2008 from Suzo International underlines this focus. The third step was to create a strong European Casino Team.

Let’s look at this last point first. Erik Wijma leads the Casino Team with many years of experience. His previous position as Sales Manager for France, Italy and Switzerland brought his first steps into the casino market. Erik explains how this came about, “As gaming OEM’s are minimal in France it was natural for me to turn directly to the casinos, given that France boasts the largest number of casino slots in Western Europe. Here I learnt the benefits for both the casinos and Suzo from creating direct business relations. With AESI joining the Suzo-Happ Group, this allowed us to further enhance our strategy”.

Erik has a team of three to help him support the European casino market. Whilst Erik continues to focus on the countries in Western Europe, he can look on the support from two sales colleagues. Mathias Reindl is the Regional Sales Manager for Central and Eastern Europe and Joost van Egeraat is the Regional Sales Manager for Southern Europe. Their professional backgrounds differ but blend in to provide Suzo a whole wealth of experience. Austrian-born Mathias lives in Germany, having had nine years of experience working in Spain. Having gained experience in a global company such as Siemens, he then joined the gaming industry three years ago to become sales manager at Starpoint. With Starpoint now being a part of the Suzo-Happ Group, Mathias has taken on the challenge to support the casino customers in his regions. Thus, Mathias brings a wealth of experience from the components side. Joost, on the other hand, brings a wealth of experience from the manufacturing side. Joost has joined Suzo from Orion and this OEM background brings an essential advantage to the casino group.

A major pillar in the raison d être of the Suzo casino group is to provide professional service. Here Erik has turned to Marc Martens who joined Suzo from the photo-processing market. Marc’s experience has been to offer practical, on-site service to his customers. He relishes challenges and states himself the importance of knowing the customers. Therefore, casino customers can look forward to dealing with Marc’s uncomplicated, solution-oriented approach.

So now we’ve seen the team, let’s look back to the Suzo product range. The casino catalogue is 65 pages long, thus underlining the strength in depth of the Suzo product range. However, offering the right products is only part of the Suzo casino strategy, as Erik explains, “we seek to bring innovation to the market. This, coupled with our outstanding service, is where we see our unique selling point. It is our stated goal to bring benefits to the casino market”.

But how do Erik and his team intend to do this? The example of strategic partnerships explains this. Strategic relationships with FutureLogic and MEI allow Suzo International to bring the benefits of these products within the European casino market. Both companies have proven its technological strengths in their home markets – namely the USA. Suzo is transferring this know-how to the European casinos who are seeing the benefits of having these products fitted as standard within the slots. Casinos thus have direct links to new component technology and with the service that Suzo offers know that they can rely on these components during their life usage within the slots. Many casinos within Europe have successfully trialed the MEI Cashflow SC83 banknote reader in value-added trials (VAT’s). With the increasing importance of TITO in Europe, casinos appreciate the benefits of using the market leader FutureLogic.

The Suzo casino team is increasing its dialogue with casinos in traditional gaming as well. Suzo-Happ is the official distributor for Elixir Gaming so can offer a whole range of table solutions with the Chip Washer, Deck Checker, RandomPlus Shuffler and ShufflePro.

Erik Wijma sums up the new casino group, “we are providing world class products to the casino market. We are constantly looking to improve our products for the benefit of the market. Our toppers are a prime example with new Xenon technology toppers that can be linked together. We focus on market leaders for our strategic partnerships and thus can offer the casino market the excellent benefits in note and ticket handling with MEI and FutureLogic.

The opening of the Amusement Showcase International (ASI) at the Las Vegas Convention Center (March 27-29) brought 134 exhibitors occupying 431 booths and 2,694 attendees, including 1022 buyers, to see "what's hot" in the amusement industry. The show opened to the public for the first time in its history, and approximately 275 people visited the show on Saturday from 12-4 p.m.

 "The 2008 ASI show looked beautiful.  Bill Glasgow Sr. and his team did a great job creating and setting up an excellent presentation for this year's show," Mike Rudowicz, president of AAMA, said. "There were some great new products on display by many of the exhibitors. Having had the opportunity to talk to several of the larger exhibitors, they seemed to have a fairly good show, saying they sold quite a bit of merchandise. 

"The old adage, 'Quality, not quantity is what matters,' certainly rang true at this year's show," he continued. "The only downside to the show was that we did not have the volume of operator attendance that we had anticipated.  Despite their absence, however, many exhibitors still said that they had a good show, especially in light of the current economic climate."

 Allen Weisberg, President of Apple Industries, praised the quality of the attendee at the show. "Even though attendance was lower than in previous years, the attendees who came to the show were serious buyers, which more than made up for the lower attendance."

 The two-night Big Bar & Happy Hour on the Show Floor was a huge success. More than 1,000 attendees visited on Thursday, the first night of the Big Bar, and almost 800 attendees on Friday.

EMBED, a leading provider of Debit Card and Point of Sale Systems for the amusement and family entertainment industry, announces the company’s achievement of 100 sites utilizing their award winning system in the US market.  “We are delighted to have reached this milestone in such a short timeframe,” comments Mark Easte, General Manager for Embed USA.  “The unmatched benefits delivered by the Embed System, underscored by the quality of our products and services, have been recognized and welcomed by locations from coast to coast.” 

Embed’s 100th site was installed at the Orange Lake Resort in Kissimmee, FL.  Embed Systems are in use at each of the three game rooms located within the expansive Orange Lake complex and are operated by Power Play Amusements.   “Ciro Poma, the owner of Power Play, has positioned his company as a leading game operator in Florida.  We appreciate his continued business and look forward to working with the Power Play team on other projects,” added Mark Easte.  Power Play is headquartered in Kissimmee, FL and operates in numerous facilities in the region, including the Nickelodeon Family Suites in Orlando.

Embed’s US operation was established in late 2005 and today serves as the base for all installation and support services for North America.  “Our success in this market is driven by our experienced team and our commitment to building long term customer relationships,” says Merrik Keller, sales topper for Embed. “Our goal is to educate and be an ongoing resource for our customers on how to use the Embed System to drive sales and reduce operating costs.”  Embed products are used by both independent and chain operators including Fun Expedition, Chuck E. Cheese, Fun Factory, Celebration Station, Gattitown, Frankie’s Fun Parks, Stars & Strikes, Big Al’s, Cyber Quest, Action City, Ollie Koalas and Swaders Sports Park to name just a few.

About Embed:
With offices in Dallas, Texas and Perth, Australia, the Embed System is a total operating solution for any entertainment facility.  The Embed System allows for admissions control, cashless operation of games and attractions, retail, food and beverage sales, full prize redemption management, and integrated event scheduling.  For additional information on Embed in North America, contact Merrik Keller at 1-856-222-1811.  For other regions, contact Adam Steinberg at +61-8-9340 0100, email us at info@embed.com.au, or visit the company web site at www.embedcard.com

With new multiple product strategy and unique skill games cooperation

There were a lot of innovations to discover this year at ENADA primavera at the funworld trade show stand in Rimini. The game system manufacturer in Italy known for PHOTO PLAY presented itself for the first time as a multiple product company with multiple new products and a fresh market presence. funworld’s revolutionary cooperation with Microgame in the skill games sector was introduced as an absolute innovation.

The highlights

ENADA primavera 2008 was very successful for funworld, as Europe’s market leader in the touchscreen business was not only able to greet many visitors at the stand, but also report numerous direct orders. Sales after the fair have likewise gone well.

Although the key PHOTO PLAY brand continues to attract significant interest, the two new product brands, “BET-solutions” and “fun|select”, have also been very well received. BET-solutions offers the complete infrastructure for sports betting and fun|select introduces a choice of commercial products with proven game concepts. Above all the simple and attention-grabbing skill game “Stacker” from the fun|select product unit enthused visitors to the trade show.

“How well our new business divisions were received on the Italian market confirms once more to us that the step from a single to a multiple product company was the right one. With the new, innovative products we are able to further expand our pioneering role and accelerate our ambitious expansion plans more intensively,” Josef Öhlinger, funworld ag Chief Executive Officer is delighted.

New cooperation in the skill games sector

The presentation of the cooperation between funworld and Microgame, the leading provider of online games in Italy, was particular cause for enthusiasm. Through the creation of effective synergies in the skill games sector it is possible for the first time to transfer game content from an Internet platform to PHOTO PLAY terminals and vice versa. This makes the collaboration of the two most important players in the Italian market unique, which will have a sustainable impact on the entire branch.

 “We are very satisfied with our trade show presence, as our expectations were by far exceeded. We are particularly delighted about the major interest in the cooperation with Microgame and about the new skill games project. The first major customers have already made enquiries regarding exclusive distribution in their regions, which shows us we can anticipate the cooperation to be a great success,” emphasises Andrea Scampini, General Manager of funworld italy srl, with enthusiasm.

Sound Leisure is honoured to have signed a landmark agreement with the world’s premier distributor and restorer of classic and antique jukeboxes.
 
Jukebox Gallery BV is based in the Netherlands and is a specialist agent for all types of modern and latter-day jukeboxes, with a global reputation. The company’s decision to stock the Sound Leisure’s hand-built range of classic jukeboxes is a huge compliment.
 
“This is a wonderful opportunity for Sound Leisure to introduce its range of Nostalgia boxes to more European customers. The only way for us to enter new markets with this type of specialist product is with a team of dedicated, professional partners. After visiting Jukebox Gallery’s emporium in Holland, I believe we would have to go a long way to find anyone with such an amazing set-up.
 
“We were frankly overwhelmed at the company’s expertise and professionalism and
feel they have exactly the same ethos as us regarding customer service and after-sales. Anyone who ever has the chance to visit their showroom and museum that houses what must be the world’s finest collection of antique jukeboxes and amusement machines should take the opportunity, it is an awe-inspiring experience - we were all like kids in a sweet shop,” he added.
 
Alan, Chris and Michael Black visited Jukebox Gallery in Holland with Colin Vernon who runs the Classic side of the business to finalise the deal and also have a guided tour of their facility.