Nick Harding, chief executive officer of Aldgate Capital, is poised to make a high profile return to the low stake high volume gaming sector having agreed a £25m (€31.5m/$49.3m) price to purchase 31 Adult Gaming Centres (AGCs) from H.J.M. Caterers Ltd and E and J Hall Investments.

The deal, which has been agreed with Jon Shipley and which will complete later this month, represents the first part of the jigsaw as Harding launches an ambitious bid to create a pan-European gaming company with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of £50m (€62.9m/$98.5m) by the start of 2010. Harding, who is current president of British trade association BACTA, confirmed: “We are now in talks with a number of gaming businesses both here in the UK and in Europe. Whilst ‘slots’ will represent an important part of our business mix, we are pursuing a broad range of opportunities which fit into the low stake high volume gaming category.” He added: “Jonathon Hughes will be taking control of our AGC business and will be driving it forwards in terms of acquisition and business development.

“I can confirm that following completion of the purchase we will be retaining the staff and administrative infrastructure based in Nuneaton.”

Joint Venture of MERKUR CASINO and CASINO TECHNOLOGY continues a winning formula -
Second ‘PALMS MERKUR CASINO’ joint loca-tion in Sofia inaugurated

ESPELKAMP. Another electronic Casino saw its grand open-ing in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia in June under the la-bel PALMS MERKUR CASINO. The new modern ref-erence object was jointly designed by MERKUR CASINO and the Bulgarian cooperation partner CASINO TECHNOLOGY and continues to prove that this joint ven-ture involves two competent and professional partners with entrepreneurial spirit.

The new entertainment center with approximately 600 sqm is located right in the heart of the city and is jointly operated by both cooperation partners. The product port-folio includes a total of 62 innovative Casino gaming ma-chines, among them a very special attraction: a black pi-ano with a genuine roulette bowl built in that can be used for both, playing regular roulette and playing piano. In ad-dition, the new PALMS MERKUR CASINO features live music shows on Fridays that contributed to making the entertainment center rapidly one of the favorite and most fashionable entertainment centers in the city’s neighbour-hood.
A staff of all in all 16 attends to the wellbeing of the pa-trons. The new PALMS MERKUR CASINO is open 24/7.

The Gauselmann Group that proudly looked back to its 50 year old history in 2007 currently operates a total of ap-proximately 300 entertainment centers in all of Europe. In FY 2007 the family-managed Group generated aggregate consolidated revenues of more than EUR 1 billion. The Gauselmann Group currently employs more than 5,000 people worldwide and is the only company in the German amusement machine industry to be certified according to ISO DIN EN 9001:2000. The friendly smiling MERKUR sun has meanwhile become a symbol of luck and much appreciated guarantee for innovative leisure time culture in 11 European countries including Germany.

Italy’s best players experienced a unique and massively enjoyable event

The “Italian Open” PHOTO PLAY CUP was held on 8 June 2008 in Caorle. Italy’s best PHOTO PLAY players challenged each other to an exciting competition and enjoyed an unforgettable game event.

For an entire day 13 top players enthusiastically played live against one another in four tournaments: Quiz Maniac, Roman Towers, Shanghai and Twins. They competed in either one or several tournaments and played many exciting games.

Emerging victorious in the four PHOTO PLAY championships at the Italian Open were Ste De Matteis (Twins), Werner Gruber (Shanghai), Filippo Cocchella (Quiz Maniac) and Aldo Tagliaferri (Roman Towers). Afterwards they celebrated their victory together with the other players on an amazing party hilariously.

Enthusiastic game experience
“The national PHOTO PLAY Cup in Caorle was a resounding success for funworld and an unforgettable experience for the players. Italy’s top PHOTO PLAY players met, got to know each other and exchanged experiences. They played passionately and with great enthusiasm and intensively experienced the PHOTO PLAY fascination,” says Andrea Scampini, managing director of funworld italy.

The players were particularly enthusiastic – in addition to the massively enjoyable Italian Open – above all about the unique multiplayer feature, whereby they were able to play online against one another live and in real-time. Moreover they were impressed by the ergonomic design of the PHOTO PLAY RACER PRO terminals and their numerous technical refinements, such as the streaming video, which makes it possible for opponents to interact during the game.

One worrying impact of the growth of digital signage and digital out-of-home media is the environmental cost from the ever increasing power requirement. Though new technologies are appearing which will reduce power consumption across digital displays - the daylight readable, large format signs being implemented around the globe remain veritable power guzzlers (particularly when compared to the posters they are replacing - Although when one takes into account the energy needed to produce the paper, distribute it and then remove or replace and then recycle, the difference is not as great as sometimes cited.

However for the socially responsible property or shopping mall owner looking to enhance its revenue and consumer experience with digital signage - there is a 'green option'. UK based Display Technology Ltd. Is offering the new Albra and Brilan products that using the latest technology can reduce power significantly to give a much more environmentally product than say a Plasma panel to help also with the Carbon Footprint!  But it is not purely altruistic as Display Technology estimates it can save you up to Euros 481 per year in power consumption per panel per year.  So there is a significant cost saving also, which is sometimes forgotten.

Dermot Ahern, Ireland's Minister for Justice, Equality & Law Reform has announced the establishment of a parliamentary cross-party committee on gaming, to consider the report of the inter-departmental Casino Regulatory Committee.

It is understood that those involved in the industry and those with an interest in it, including the general public, will be invited to make submissions to the cross-party committee.

The Minister favours fair regulation of the industry and admitted in an Irish Times interview that "existing laws on gaming were past their sell-by date".  He also indicated that he would like to see the establishment of a Regulatory Authority for all forms of gaming.

The cross-party committee is likely to examine the situation in relation to Casinos / Private Members Clubs, Gaming Arcades, Betting Shops and Online Gaming, including the operation of low and high stake gaming machines in different types of locations.

"This is good news for the industry as a whole, which has been seeking regulation for many years.  The publication of the report of the inter-departmental Casino Regulatory Committee will be the first step.  It seems that each sector will then have an opportunity to present its proposals to a parliamentary cross-party committee.

Hopefully this will be followed by the establishment of a Regulatory Authority and hopefully, this can all be achieved in a reasonable time frame," said Martin Dempsey, Secretary, IGAA - the Irish Gaming & Amusement Association, which is a member of EUROMAT - the European Gaming & Amusement Federation.