in that the software behind the machines needs to be able to cope with payout tickets from two different ticketing systems. Beyond this, every additional/new game has to be certified; every additional cabinet to be introduced also has to be certified.
Then, separately, in order to install VLTs in a venue, every venue has to be certified and subject to physical inspection by an AAMS inspector, which includes a set of tests on the CCTV and VLT system in every venue to ensure the VLTs are correctly connected to the government central monitoring system.
Once a game is certified, it can automatically be downloaded to any already certified venu,. This is all after they have had to pay a licence fee of 15K Euro for every machine that they originally applied for – and with 56,000 licences granted andnaround half now in operation, it’s clear that the tax-based objective of the original decision to allow VLT gaming has certainly been successful.
One supplier who have been very successful in the Italian market, with over 4,000 live terminals across the country in SISAL venues, is Inspired. Their MD of VLT and Betting, Martin Lucas, spoke about their route to market.
“We were in the fortunate position of being the market leader in FOBT technology in the UK, which in terms of the server based nature of the offer has a lot of similarities with the platform needed for the Italian market. We believe this gave us a great advantage when it came to the initial negotiation with the concessionaires in Italy. We also have, of course, a huge amount of experience in game design and selection, and SISAL, the first concessionaire to select us as their partner, are very adept at getting the best out of the system by adjusting game mix by day part, location, jackpot apportionment and a host of other factors”.
There are other challenges to operators in this market as well – initially the authorities allowed only five games to be offered for each cabinet, to reduce the amount of work involved in game certification in a situation where resourcing was an issue. Again, Inspired tried to mitigate the impact of this measure by rolling out two different cabinets containing games by three different developers, to create the illusion of more variety to the player.
In a situation where supply of serious gaming was very limited in Italy to a small number of casinos
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(and some cunningly sited operators just over the border in places like Nova Gorica in Slovenia) the development of VLT gaming, with significant stakes and prizes, has everyone talking. Inspired certainly have made a major impact on the VLT scene in Italy, and it will be no surprise to learn that they have other street gaming markets in mind. The gambling world as a whole is taking a keen interest in the Italian market, where server based gaming appears to have engendered a perfect marriage between the need to regulate to protect the vulnerable and ensure tax revenues, but at the same time offer an ever-changing and growing range of games to stimulate the market and open up a new world of gaming potential.
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