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amusement arcades, pubs, bars and restaurants has At the beginning of the early 1980s numerous sufficient to attract new clients or only let along
also been included. The total number of installed novelties based on touch-screen machines, which retain the old.
machines amounted to 295,500 in 2008. were quite primitive by today’s standards, were put Under these difficult conditions, commercial
In 2005 the decline of the number of installed on the market. gaming was not able to compete with publicly-
AWPs bottomed out at 183,000. This was around During the late 1980s innovations in sport-games licensed and public companies that offered gambling
50,000 AWPs less than the 235,000 units in 1996. machines were driving factors. During all of the in a quasi monopolistic environment. As a result it
Since the new Gaming Ordinance took effect on 1 1990s the more advanced information and lost market shares. The operators in the commercial
January 2006, the number of AWPs has grown communication technologies spurred the pace in gaming market did not have sufficient leeway to
strongly and reached 210,000 in 2007. innovation. Video-game machines, touch-screen counter the expansive business strategies of the
Preliminary figures indicate that the number machines, driving simulators, etc. added to the suppliers in the gambling market with comparably
increased further in 2008 up to 225,000 AWPs. supply of the amusement machine industry and attractive products. This fact induced the Federal
This development indicates that the structural became more and more sophisticated. However, Ministry of Economics (BMWi) in 2000 to start a
change envisaged by the new gaming law has commercial gaming has always remained the bread- structural reform of the Gaming Ordinance, which
reached one of its objectives: the strengthening of and butter business. was not concluded until the end of 2005.
commercial gaming in competition with the public Until the middle of the current decade, Since 1 January 2006 the amusement machine
and publicly-licenced gambling and Internet- commercial gaming contributed around 70% to the industry has been operating under the more
gambling and gaming. total gross revenues of the operators. With regard to favourable framework conditions of the new Gaming
The improvement of the framework conditions the legal framework conditions, the market Ordinance, which has provided scope for the
for commercial gaming was linked with the penetration was high and the development of new exploitation of the possibilities of advanced
obligation that all fun games and jack-pots have to growth potentials by a more attractive supply and information and communication technologies.
be dismantled completely and without delay. This the broadening of the customer basis was not Study Commissioned by the German Working
process has been nearly concluded and is reflected possible. The Gaming Ordinance in force until the Committee of Coin-operated Machines –
in the stock of fun games: 87,000 machines were end of 2005 was extremely restrictive and only Arbeitsausschuss Münzautomaten (AMA) –
installed at the end of 2005 in 2008 there were allowed minor product innovations, which were not Hans-Günther Vieweg
only 10,000 fun games left.
Likewise, the stock of amusement machines
without prizes and sport-games machines has
COMMENT FROM SPONSOR
shrunk. For most of the product groups, the decline
has not yet come to an end. Two factors are worth
Merkur Gaming is a member of the Gauselmann Group based in the German region North-Rhine-
mentioning: The operators’ investment budgets
Westphalia. The well-known Merkur sun of the Gauselmann Group is a symbol for fun and entertainment in
have been very much focused on the procurement
the gaming world with more than 50 years of experience.
of AWPs, leaving few funds for the procurement of
Merkur Gaming is responsible for the development and international sales of AWP and Casino machines
other amusement machines.
as well as VLT products with the focus on multigames.
In addition, the new more exciting AWPs has
By offering an extended variety of games, the needs and demands of players from all over the world can
attracted new players, who in the past used to play
be satisfied. All games are customized by thoroughly analysing the gaming culture and legal framework of
other amusement machines. It is assumed that the
the respective market. Complementing the product portfolio, Merkur Gaming provides an innovative,
additional investment expenditures that have been
outstanding system for the cash management – the Merkur Dispenser 100. This masterpiece guarantees
caused by the new Gaming Ordinance will be
besides a reduction of technical outages by one fifth of the previous level more player satisfaction.
concluded in 2009. This provides a better outlook
Our products are available for the most European countries and additionally for South America. A
for those market segments that have not yet
customer orientated sales system, consisting of distribution partners and internal sales persons, ensures an
benefited from the good investment climate with
extensive service and consultation.
the operators. It is expected that the share of
Merkur Gaming offers quality at the highest level and is furthermore a guarantor for innovative game
amusement machines without prizes and of sport-
systems. This philosophy was underlined by the certification ISO 9001:2000 for the development in 2006.
games machines in the stock of installed machines
Merkur Gaming - your partner for innovative entertainment made in Germany!
will at least not be reduced further.
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