Carroll Consulting – the company set up by John H. Carroll at the beginning of this year – now has an improved website. Here customers can clearly see the three core divisions of the company – Consultancy, PR & Advertising and Translation Services. The company is based in Billerbeck, near Düsseldorf in Germany.

John has many years of experience within the industry. Throughout this time, John has been able to create business relations with manufacturers, distributors and operators in Germany. Thus, Carroll Consulting is an ideal partner when it comes to the German market. Whether you are looking to increase your business presence in Germany or enter the German market for the first time, Carroll Consulting’s straight-talking advice will be a powerful tool on your route to success.

Turning to communications management, PR and advertising, writing press releases is only part of the strategy used by Carroll Consulting. As explained on the website, a complete service is offered here, thus making full use of the PR marketing potential. 

The third core division is translating services, to complete the communications management offer. With a long-standing network of experienced translators, Carroll Consulting can offer translations in all languages. John himself is a specialist for German-English translations.

The website - in English, German and Spanish - can be found under www.carrollconsulting.de

Building on the concept that “Content is King,” Merit Entertainment introduced its 2009 Software at the recent AMOA show in Las Vegas. Featuring 14 brand new, innovative titles and fresh, updated content for nearly a dozen classic Megatouch games, this software release continues the long Merit tradition of providing players with exactly what they want to play. With its high-earning 2009 Software, available on both Force and Ion systems, Merit has again delivered on its customer promise to lead the industry and ensure operators maximum earnings and long-term product value. When developing this release, Merit pushed the limits of its creative and technical abilities to fashion an ambitious and addicting slate of games.

Avalanche Jack takes players on a mountaintop blackjack adventure while Lucky 11’s transports them to a hip, Las Vegas casino. My Ex captures the ups and downs of modern dating, while Super Cell Chaos asks players to find the antidote and save the day. Triple Crown Boxing pits players against the best prizefighters in the world while Deflection drops them into the middle of a heated battle on the soccer pitch. As the exclusive licensee of Skee-Ball®, Merit has captured the sound and feel of the classic game. Trivia Whiz 2 offers trivia fanatics new, focused categories such as 80’s Trivia, Sitcoms and Celebrities while the boys from Australia’s Thunder From Down Under provide the perfect complement to Merit’s exclusive Penthouse erotic content in brand new versions of Photo Hunt and Foxy Boxxi.

During the months of Beta testing this software, six of the new games ranked among the top twenty-five most played, while two have held steady in the top five. Based on feedback from hundreds of players, the final release contains many improvements over the Beta versions. Lucky 11’s, which has been available to connected operators as a Sneak Peek for several months, continues to hold its position in the top five from week to week. All of these new games and updated content have led to a substantial earnings boost for operators. Megatouch games featuring the 2009 software reported a 39% increase in earnings over what those same machines were making in the months before the release. During that same period, earnings across nonupdated machines remained steady. “Our dedication to the operator is clearly shown by our consistent stream of new and high-earning software releases,“ stated Bob Mills, Merit’s Vice President of North American Sales. “We are proud to continue to support operators with new software for their hardware purchased as far back as 2000, offering the most comprehensive value to purchasers of our products. “Content is King,” Mills continued. “We believe it and so do operators and players. Merit’s extensive Beta test on hundreds of machines all across the country shows that this release is bulletproof. Operators are always the top priority. Designing quality games that make them money year after year and extend the return on investment in their hardware is our mission.”

Merit Entertainment was the talk of the recent AMOA show in Las Vegas as they unveiled their new Megatouch Aurora Widescreen game system to operators and distributors. The Aurora WS is a spectacular showcase for over 150 touchscreen favorites from Merit’s industry-leading game catalog. The 14 brand new titles on their 2009 software release, including multiple hi-res games, take full advantage of the system’s vivid, 19” widescreen LCD. The unit also makes room for a media sidebar, allotting operators and locations a piece of on-screen real estate on which to run advertising and promotions.

With the release of this new countertop also comes a new connected business model, which delivers an entire range of benefits to operators. By purchasing an Aurora WS, operators score free software upgrades for life, free Tournamaxx (there is a $.05 per-play, but only on tournament plays), plus credit card support, which enables players to easily purchase more credits. Credit cards can also serve as an instant player login, driving player loyalty and repeat play. All of this is available at the same price as a regular Megatouch Aurora, plus $25 per month starting 12 months after the first connection. There are no fees during the first year (Tournamaxx per-play costs still apply). Merit also developed exclusive, patent-pending technology around the credit card to really boost operator earnings. Like gift cards at retailers and restaurants, when a player buys credits with a credit card, the Aurora WS will automatically create a player account to store purchased credits. Whenever the player comes back and swipes the card, their stored credits will be made available (they are moved from the main menu into the player’s vault when the unit goes into idle).

Here’s the twist – the operator can specify an expiration period for credits purchased on a given Aurora WS. Expiration options include hourly, weekly, and monthly, among many more. When purchasing credits, players will be informed that they must use them by the expiration period. From the player’s perspective, this is still a huge win. Never before has the player been able to store credits – it’s always been “use ‘em or lose ‘em.” Ultimately, many of these credits will go unplayed and expire. Not only do operators get their money at the time of purchase, but they also get the “breakage,” the unused credits that expire and are never played. “With the Aurora Widescreen we’ve designed a product that serves the players and the operators extremely well,” said Colin Higbie, Merit’s Director of Marketing. “Players will love the simplified account creation and experiencing their favorite games on the widescreen interface. Operators will love the automatic software updates, no Tournamaxx fees, and enhanced earnings provided by the advertising and credit card capabilities.”

IDL Technology Group famously known as Instant Discounts Ltd, announced the launching of its Loyalty Gift Card Anywhere Solutions. IDL Technology with the launch of the Loyalty Gift Card Anywhere Solution aims to offer all the retailers, merchants and third party estate owners the ability of offering loyalty and gift card programs to their existing and prospective customers without changing the point of sale hardware.

Ms. Neeta Dhorajiwala, Chief Executive Officer explains:  ‘IDL Technology Group is now the acquirer of loyalty and gift cards. With the launch of the Loyalty Gift Card Anywhere Solution we are striving to make loyalty and gift card programs accessible to all the retailers. We further aim to evolve and innovate on constant basis in order to achieve our mission of Constant Development, Point of Sale Customer Retention, Cost Effectiveness and Enhanced Profitability

The International Gaming Expo 2009 will play host to at least 20 companies who will be making their debut appearance in London next January. The healthy attendance of first-time exhibitors enhances the status of the exhibition as the most important place for organisations to launch new gaming products.

One of those debuting in January is Taiwanese technology firm Masterwork Automodules Tech Corp.: the Taipei-based company will be marketing its state-of-the-art, portable, multi-currency, bank note validators to the gaming industry at IGE.

Battery powered and weighing in at just 1.1kg, the NC1000 series can be folded, is highly portable and takes up limited desk space. The NC1100 is described by the company as the ‘basic model of the family.’ Despite this label it has the capability to handle multi-currencies and is regarded as the perfect device for facilities which have mid-level cash flow densities.

In 2007, the company introduced its NC1200 model, which has an enhanced 250npm processing speed and serial number recording.

Following successful applications in a number of commercial environments, including foreign exchange centres, hotels and high street retail, the company’s latest model – the NC1300 was launched this year and implemented by Macau Casinos. With the ability to handle up to 16 currencies, the NC1300 is extremely versatile and can be used as part of an integrated table management system handling chips, TITO, cards and face recognition software.

The NC1000 series will be shown at IGE on stand 4652.