Euroslot-JUL-AUG09-PG30-31:Layout 1 02/07/2009 10:26 Page 31
www.euroslot-online.com PARK AVENUE REVIEW
An operators’ view
L
ike many others at the Park Avenue Open Day last
month, Steve Hawkins at Essex Leisure was
surprised to find the changeover date for new stakes
and prizes AWPs had been moved forward two days.
“We were all prepared for the Friday, so the Wednesday was a bit of a nuisance
really, we were short of a couple of machines,” he admits. “But as we were at the
Electrocoin Open Day we were able to have a game off the Barcrest stand after the
event. I put it in the back of my estate car and we put it on site that evening.”
Essex Leisure installed 12 machines on Wednesday June 10 at two sites in busy
Liverpool Street Station. “We had to wait until the sites closed at 11.30pm before
we could do the changeover,” says Steve. “We did eight machines in one site and
four in the other. We had a selection of AWPs from Barcrest, Bell-Fruit, Electrocoin
5
and JPM. It is too early to say which machine is a front-runner but after the first
week, takings overall in those sites were up by more than 50 per cent.”
Steve and the team at Essex Leisure have now put around 300 new £70
machines out across their operations. “We have been working weekends and
evenings – all hours. We plan to have a thousand machines out in the first eight
weeks,” he says.
Steve found that this changeover has gone a lot smoother than the last. “It
has been more organised than the last stakes and prizes review,” he says. “We
have had more time to prepare and from day one nearly all the kits have been
ready. Last time that was not the case. In some instances we had to wait almost
six weeks for certain kits.”
Certainly, the stakes and prize review couldn’t have come at a better time for
Steve’s customers. “The pubs have been really suffering,” he says. “We need to
get them taking money, that’s our concern. It is no good for us all if the pubs go
downhill, if we can get the machine revenues up to where they were two or three
years ago then that will do a lot to help.”
On a personal front Steve is looking forward to a holiday. “I have got to let the
lads in the office go first, but certainly my wife Trudie is looking forward to a
couple of weeks away later in the summer. She hasn’t seen much of me lately.”
4
JULY/AUGUST 2009
31
Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36