FEATURE
Intralot becomes new VLT concessionaire
A new entrant into the VLT concessionaires is Greek company Intralot, who are hoping to operate around 2000 VLTs. The number of VLT licenses an operator is allowed is between 7% and 14%of their total number of AWP machines, so an estate of 10,000 machines can have a total of 1400 VLT licenses, which cost 15000 Euro each. It’s a significant investment for the company, but one that is likely to pay off handsomely. A spokesperson from Intralot answered a couple of our questions
recently at ENADA… Q: What challenges are faced by operators in such an environment - i.e. one switching from another form of gaming machine to VLT?
A:TheItalianmarketisstrictlycontrolledbyAAMS,afactthat guaranteestherespectoftherequirementsprovidedbythe law.OntheotherhandSOGEIcertifiesallthegameplatforms withtherelatedgames. Thedetailedandausterecontrolofthemarketsometimes
leadstodelaysonthecertificationoftheplatformsandthe gamesmakinghardtoachieveavarietyofproductsas proposedbytheconcessionaires.
Q: What difficulties are there for companies entering this market? A:OperatingintheItalianmarketisagreatchallengeforany operatoralthoughthemarginfortheoperatorisnarrow consideringtheincreasetotaxationwhichiscurrently5.8%.
government to suggest change but any industry needs to know when it’s likely to happen as much preparation is usually needed. The Italian gaming industry is not getting this from its government and the industry, as a result, is flatlining. Sure, the VLT market is steady, but even with the announcement of new concessionaires, is there really room for growth in a country with such major economic issues? Probably, yes. Why?Well, if the Comma 6a Plus legislation comes in to power,
there is likely to be a migration of players from the 6a machines to VLTs. Part of the new legislation demands that 6a players – AWP players – must sign up for a player card, so their habits can be tracked, playing time, spend and so on, should the operator want to. This can obviously help with problem gamblers, assuming staff training is in place to back up any data analysis. But it’s also something that players are often uncomfortable with, says Martin Lucas, Managing Director, Europe and International VLT for Inspired: “You have a different player base between Comma 6a [AWP] and VLT, because VLT is a random product, where Comma 6a is a compensated product. The stakes and prizes and the reason for playing are different. But if you put a barrier into a street market like a player card, you are clearly going to put some players off who don’t want to have to register to play; and there’s a fear among some players too, they think that if they register their card then ‘they’ know when I’m winning and they’ll stop me winning too much, which is obviously completely untrue but there is this scepticism about registering details. And some players simply don’t want their playing habits known to operators, which is how a lot of people feel about loyalty cards at retail level.” However, Martin concedes that this barrier can become a positive in the hands
of a forward-thinking operator. He adds: “There are benefits though and I think the key operators will understand and capitalise on this – offer their best players a free meal, cup of coffee or whatever, and incentivise. But it will change the player base and I think it will ultimately reduce it; economic times are hard in Italy, you don’t need to give players another reason not to play. So it might be a bad thing but you can turn this into a positive; some concessionaires are looking at introducing optional loyalty schemes onto their VLTs and we’re working with some on that. But if you force it and make it law, like is going to happen in Greece
28 APRIL 2013
www.euroslot-online.com
as well, and there is an alternative where player cards are not required, there will be a certain amount of migration.” But the Comma 6a market is certainly not dead, he adds: “Comma 6a was
affected a little bit by VLTs though they are complementary products they tend to operate in different style venues. What you’ll see is a reduction of Comma 6a machines in larger venues, and growth of VLTs in slot halls or casino-style venues. But Comma 6a machines can be sited in places where VLTs cannot, like in bars, so they have a place in the market even though the overall numbers and turnover has reduced.” Magic Dreams’ Diana Parasmo concurs; she told us: “When VLTs have been
introduced historically it has been about finding balance, because the market has been all Comma 6a; now with VLTs operators have to find a new balance. In some gaming halls VLT and AWP [aka Comma 6a] have been co-existing, and the revenues in the Comma 6a machines have decreased.” Because Italy was one of the first countries to embrace VLTs, it also meant that
finding out what games would work was part of the challenge. Inspired is a content provider as well as platform operator – in fact, many well known slot companies are entering the market as content providers, such as APEX Gaming, Magic Dreams and WMS, and many of these leading companies are operating on Inspired’s platform; recently at ENADA Inspired, for example, showed the WMS Bluebird II cabinet running WMS games, but on their platform for the VLT market. But finding the right mix of games for VLTs was more difficult than was at first assumed by some experts, says Martin: “Our first customer in Italy was Sisal and they own a lot of betting shops, so we chose, with our first five games, to put roulette into the market because we thought it would appeal to players that would go to a betting shop, as it does in the UK, and it has worked; then we did
MartinLucas,ManagingDirector,EuropeandInternationalVLT forInspiredGamingGroup
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