Money Controls’ Chief Executive, Mike Innes, declared ICE “a big success for the company”, a comment based on both the number of visitors to its stand and their positive reaction.
The centrepiece of the stand was the Ardac Elite bill and ticket acceptor. Launched before last year’s show, Ardac Elite has now been extensively proven in the field and is enjoying unprecedented success with both OEMs and casino operators. So much so, that at the last count, there were over 30,000 units deployed worldwide.
Mike was particularly pleased with the welcome visitors gave to the new 4-way barcode reading option for Ardac Elite: “It’s frustrating, for customers and casino operators alike, when valid tickets are not accepted on first-time insertion; with this new option, whichever way a ticket is inserted Ardac Elite will read it.”
Mike regards a second new feature, the display on a PDA of a full-colour image of the last-note inserted, as equally important for casino operators: “With Ardac Elite, disputes can now be resolved in seconds, with no need to remove the cashbox: all floor staff need do is connect a PDA to the USB socket on the front of the Ardac Elite for instant proof of what note was inserted last.”
Last-note display and other advanced features are possible thanks to Ardac Elite’s unique image capture and data processing technology: a full-colour, whole image is taken of every bill and barcode ticket inserted.
“With first-time acceptance rates in excess of 97% for street grade notes and for barcode tickets, you can see why operators are delighted with Ardac Elite,” continued Mike. “On top of that, it has proven to be remarkably reliable and needs virtually no maintenance, maximising in-service availability.

Atronic International has announced the appointment of Shaun Wischnowsky as new Regional Sales Executive mainly for the company´s Eastern European customers. Based out of the company’s UK office, Shaun reports to Atronic International’s Sales Director, Stuart German and is responsible for sales activities in Belgium, Belarus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland and Slovakia.

Relocating from New Zealand to the UK, Shaun comes to Atronic with several years’ sales experience under his belt where he was responsible for contracts, merchandising equipment and stock, and key accounts for large oil companies and grocery chains. He holds a Bachelors degree in Business, majoring in Marketing, gained from Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand.

Shaun has had a whirlwind start to his position with visits to Germany, Austria and attending the recent G2E show in Las Vegas. Shaun comments:, “It was a great start for me to attend the Las Vegas Show where I got a superb exposure to what the casino industry is like. Now I’m keen to get in and meet my customers.”

Atronic International’s Sales Director, Stuart German said, “It gives me great pleasure to introduce and welcome Shaun aboard. I’m confident that he will quickly settle into his position and be an asset for the Atronic sales team. With the recent restructuring within Atronic, Shaun’s appointment helps to strengthen our sales team once again.”

Atronic’s globally popular 4-level jackpot linked gaming concept CASH FEVER™ is about to grasp players in all of the Danish casinos. The CASH FEVER™ link will replace Denmark’s current WAP (Wide Area Progressive) which operates across six casinos.

The current WAP operates on more than 55 Atronic e-motion™ cabinets in casinos located in Copenhagen, Odense, Marienlyst, Aalborg, Aarhus and Munkebjerg where players have the opportunity to win a single-level progressive jackpot.

Scheduled to be installed in early 2008, the existing single level WAP will be replaced by a CASH FEVER™ WAP environment. Danish players will then be in the running to win a minimum 2 Million Danish Kroner for the top jackpot level in the nationwide jackpot. The remaining 3 jackpot levels can be additionally won locally at each separate casino giving the Danish players a very dynamic bonus link with lots of fun and excitement.

The latest versions of four of Atronic´s exciting game titles; Bamboo Forest™, IC Treasures™, Crystal Lake™ and Frenzy Fruits™ will be installed on the new link.

Casino Copenhagen’s Slot Manager, Mr. Henrik Larsen said “We are looking forward to the change over to CASH FEVER™ and are expecting increased game play on the Atronic machines. Furthermore, I am happy that in the course of this huge project our existing local CASH FEVER™ link will get a new ‘face’. Additionally, we plan to introduce Atronic’s King Kong Cash as a local area multi-level progressive product.”

In response, Atronic’s Regional Sales Manager, Michael Seils commented, “CASH FEVER™ has seen extreme success all over the world. Atronic is very proud to introduce this multi-level jackpot product into a nationwide WAP environment for the first time ever.”
               
Stuart German, Atronic’s European Sales Director, added, “We are delighted to have reached this stage in the Danish WAP project, something we have been working on together with the Danish Casinos since 2004.  The use of a multilevel progressive jackpot system as a WAP demonstrates the power and success of the CASH FEVER™ brand.  It also heralds a new application and opportunity for this extremely popular link.”

After seven months in operation, Atronic’s eMillions™ Wide Area Progressive jackpot has been a major success for Holland Casino. Operating across thirteen casinos of the group, the nationwide link is known as “Mega Millions Jackpot”.

Live since April 2007, the jackpot is linked to over 150 of Atronic’s e-motion™ machines. The Mega Millions Jackpot offers players the opportunity to become instant millionaires. Players can win the progressive jackpot, when playing max-bet, starting at a guaranteed 1 million Euro. Furthermore, players have the chance to win a fixed prize of 2 million credits equalling €100,000 when playing less than max-bet.

Holland Casino Product Manager, Mr. Jelle van Battum said, “After careful consideration Holland Casino decided to offer our new Mega Milions Jackpot concept on Atronic´s eMillions™ WAP machines. The decisive pro’s of eMillions™ are the possibility to offer a large jackpot, minimum 1 million Euros, with a high hit frequency and most importantly, the very clear max-bet button displaying the jackpot amount. This has proven to be an excellent and easy to understand feature for our players. They know instantly how to play for the jackpot and what the award is. The eMillions™, together with our revolutionary 3D signage, have proven to be a great success since the launch at the end of April, with 12 jackpot hits so far and player reception still outstanding.”

Holland Casino’s Mega Millions Jackpot has made several players instant millionaires with over €11,600,000 in jackpots awarded across their casinos nationwide. Keen to continue the support for Holland Casino, Atronic is expanding on its eMillions™ game library. Regional Sales Executive, Michael Seils commented, “Atronic’s R&D department is currently working on the next two Mega Millions game titles to accompany the existing four titles; French Fortune™, Gold Seekers™, Himalayan Gold™ and Fantasy Forest™. The new games will be smoothly integrated into the WAP link in 2008. This strategy will further strengthen the attractiveness and performance of the entire concept amongst Holland Casino’s players.”  

At the annual IMA (International Trade Fair For Amusement And Vending Machines), Bally Wulff Entertainment presented new products featuring lots of new games, new technology and new design. This was a growing continuation of last year’s trend: analog reel machines are more and more replaced by versatile digital machines - first and foremost the so-called multigamers, which combine different games all in one machine, e.g. poker, roulette and more, including new varieties of AWP games.

»We succeeded straightaway in convincing and delighting our customers with our new products. The entirely positive response to these machines shows us that we meet the sophisticated  requirements of our customers,« summarizes CEO Axel Herr at the close of the four-day performance show in Düsseldorf.

The highlight of Bally Wulff’s performance in a Las Vegas-like casino environment were the impressive Royal Casino and Multi Casino machines, which were presented each on their own exclusive stage. The two multigamers offer lots of new features, not only new games but also new design: »All eight premium games on Royal Casino’s 32” touchscreen were received outstandingly well by the customers - Lamb Story, the amusing reel game, Roulette, Black Jack and the Strip Card poker game,« summarizes product manager Peter Nötzold. Apart from numerous lavish animations in the bonus games, Royal Casino is the first multigamer featuring - in the poker game Strip Card - real live video sequences.

Multi Casino also received a powerful response, convincing the players with 17 games on two 19” TFT monitors and a chrome casino cabinet: »The extended reel games 80 Days and Admiral Nelson were among the favourites at the IMA,« resumes product manager Jörg Neuberger. The fascinating world trip in the »all-around-the-world« bonus of 80 Days begins in England, just like in Jules Verne’s novel, and leads across Egypt, India, China, Japan and America. »Convincing the visitors of our new Multi Casino machine was an easy job for us,« Jörg Neuberger is happy to report.

With the additional IMA novelties Nevada Casino, 18+ and FreeGames Bally Wulff Entertainment showcased an array of gaming innovations appealing to all kinds of players - in arcades and gastronomy alike.