News
INTERNATIONAL UPDATE IGT to install EZ Pay in Holland
IGT signs major deal with Holland Casinos to install EZ Pay system across 5,500 slots
International Game Technology has signed an agreement with Holland Casino to install its proven EZ Pay ticketing system. In its initial phase, IGT EZ Pay will be available on 5,500 machines throughout most of the Holland Casino properties in the Netherlands.
“We are thrilled to bring our industry leading cashless ticketing system to Holland Casino,” said Craig Churchill, IGT senior vice president of International sales. “With more than 500 installations worldwide, IGT EZ Pay is the cashless gaming experience players expect and is a must for today’s casino floors.”
IGT EZ Pay ticketing helps streamline service on the casino floor allowing casino operations to run more efficiently. “We believe that IGT EZ Pay will complement Holland Casino’s continual efforts to modernise its operations and provide a superior guest experience,” said Dick Flink, CEO of Holland Casino.
Monaco hopes for honeymoon period
Monaco is hoping that the wedding of Prince Albert II to South African Olympic swimmer Charlene Wittstock will revive tourist interest in the glamourous destination known for its casinos and Grand Prix. After a decade of 8-10 per cent growth, Monaco's tourism industry was severely hit by economic crisis in 2009, causing a nine per cent drop in hotel guests. While thus far, 2011 has been very positive, and on track for a full recovery, Monaco's gaming industry has not fared as well. Hotel and casino operator Societe des Bains de Mer, Monaco's biggest employer, is still feeling the effects of the crisis. Gambling revenues fell 14 per cent in the fiscal year to May though hotel revenues recovered. Chief Executive Bernard Lambert said the wedding should enhance business by re-introducing Monaco to people with a crowded choice of global gaming locales from Las Vegas to Macau.
Riley Meredith has joined Bally Technologies as social media manager. His responsibilities include development and execution of social media programs as well as online marketing initiatives. Prior to joining Bally, Meredith worked as a social media and public relations specialist and consultant for M Resort Spa Casino and a range of other businesses, developing and managing social media programs and public relations initiatives. Before this, Meredith served as the division director of business & gaming for Las Vegas-based Preferred Public Relations, where he managed the agency’s corporate, gaming, tour and travel and general business areas of practice.
IGT CEO Patti Hart signs the EZ Pay agreement with
Holland Casino CEO, DIck Flink.
“We carefully evaluated several top ticketing systems before we came to the conclusion that the IGT EZ Pay coinless system was a natural fit in our IGT Casinolink infrastructure,” said Robin Middendorp, director of operations support for Holland Casino. “IGT and Holland Casino worked closely to ensure a successful and smooth operational transition to a coinless environment for our guests and our staff. We’ll continue the roll out of IGT EZ Pay to the remaining Holland Casino properties, improving our guest experience even further while we are achieving operational efficiencies.”
Inspired Norsk Tipping terminal content deal
Inspired Gaming has signed a four year content supply deal with Norsk Tipping, the not- for-profit Norwegian gaming operator. Inspired will provide its HD Gaming slots, fixed odds and other content for the Multix VLT platform, with the first games planned to go live in mid-September. Inspired’s games will be rolled out to 3,000 terminals, though this number is likely to increase during the contract period.
The revenue sharing deal follows a highly competitive tender process, which attracted both large and small content suppliers from across the globe. Inspired is one of only three game providers to have been selected.
Torbjorn Almlid, CEO at Norsk Tipping, says: “The range and
diversity of content produced by Inspired sets the company apart from many of the other operators that we saw in the tender process. This range, taken together with Inspired’s ability to customise their content for our platform and regulatory environment, makes them the perfect fit for our particular needs.”
The agreement will require Inspired to modify current versions of its software and content to comply with the regulatory environment in Norway. This is something Inspired has already shown extensive experience of in Italy through the implementation of its server based gaming platform and content system, which is regarded as the most flexible system in Italy and is modifiable for any territory.
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Bas Wilhelm has joined DRGT as Sales and Account Manager. Mr. Wilhelm previously worked at Orion and WMS in the role of Sales Manager
and gained invaluable experience in gaming jurisdictions throughout Europe and Africa. “On behalf of the whole team at DRGT, I would like to welcome Bas to the company. Bas has great knowledge of how slot machines work and are aligned to individual country jurisdictions. Thus, we have gained a strong addition to the team to further support new and existing customers in integrating cashless into gaming machines”, states Jurgen De Munck, CEO at DRGT.
Gaming revenues are down in Holland for each of the five government-licenced organisations in the Netherlands, which fell by €10m last year. In 2009, the five groups, including lotteries and Holland Casino, saw combined revenue of €2.5bn, but last year that fell to €2.4bn. The main cause of the decline is lower income from the Holland Casino group, which blames the smoking ban and the recession on the change in its fortunes.
Finland’s government controlled slot machine Association (Ray) has stated that the number of registrations on its online gaming site has been surprisingly low. Ray launched the service in November last year, with about 40,000 players registering in the first month and about 60,000 over the past six months. "The effort to build brand recognition has not gone according to plan," said Timo Kiiskinen, a Ray official.
BMM Compliance has announced that it will be performing the functional testing of a new Internal Control System (ICS) for the Illinois State Lottery. This project was awarded to BMM as the winning bidder of the recent RFP, issued by the State of Illinois, Department of Revenue Lottery Division. The ICS has been developed to ensure that the new Lottery Central Monitoring System is working according to the operating requirements of the Illinois Lottery, as well as performing the auditing functions for all financial transactions.
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