Analysis CZECH REPUBLIC
uncertainties & opportunities
The Forbes exhibition in Prague showed just how much the market is changing across the Czech Republic, with major plans from government set to shake things up even further next year
The Forbes exhibition took place in Prague between the 5th and 6th October. This was the second of the two Czech gaming exhibitions, the Svet Zabavy show having taken placed in the spring.
The Czech market is no doubt a strong gaming market. With approx. 60,000 gaming machines for a population of approx. 10 and a half million, this would mean that for example if Germany were to have the same number of gaming machines per capita, then it would have almost 480,000 devices. There are, therefore, twice as many gaming machines in Czech per capita as in Germany. The exhibition itself continues to shrink in size with notable major players in the market not exhibiting, such as Novomatic and APEX gaming. Nevertheless, the major Czech companies such as Synot, Jamp, e-gaming and Kajot were represented in force.
vlts rule the day Today, there are many more VLTs in the Czech market place than AWPs. The statistic of VLTs to AWPs has reversed in the past two years. Numbers were cited as approx. 35,000 VLTs to 15,000 AWPs. The max bet and win of the AWPs has not changed for a long time and are seen as no longer interesting to players. The AWP stake in pubs of 2CZK (8 euro cents) or arcades of 5 CZK (20 euro cents) allow wins of up to 300 CZK in pubs (12 euros)
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or 750 CZK in arcades (30 euros). VLTs on the other hand show a much greater statistic. The max bet can be 1,000 CZK (40 euros) and max wins up to 10,000,000 CZK (400,000 euros). It’s little wonder that VLTs attract players and the statistics show how popular VLTs are.
There was a great deal of VLT choice on offer at the exhibition, with the new Black&White VLT from Synot standing out from the crowd. The mixture of black & white and colour graphics catcheing the eye. Selecting games from the menu is reminiscent of an iPhone menu. The chosen game is depicted in full colour, whereas the rest remain black and white. The addition of a third monitor is also new. This is used as a topper to inform the player and is not integrated within the game itself. The button bar has a completely new design similar to the handle-bars if a bicycle that can be held with a start button on either side. The strategy is to make the player feel comfortable, extending time on device.
Merkur Gaming and Merkur Casino presented their new Green Games Unlimited game package called Premium, following on from their previous offering, Red and Blue. This new game package is a mixture of Merkur’s most popular games combined with exciting new titles. All Games Unlimited multi-games are available in the first-class WB4 upright
Today there are
many more VLTs in the market place than AWPs. The statistic of VLTs to
AWPs has reversed in the past two
years. Numbers were cited as
approx. 35,000 VLTs to 15,000 AWPs.
cabinet. Merkur Casino is the official distributor for all VLT machines by Merkur Gaming in the Czech and Slovak markets. Naturally Merkur Casino is a strong European operator of electronic casinos. In the Czech Republic Merkur Casino operates 25 arcades across the country.
Casino Technology was present through their Czech subsidiary, Avangard Technology, which was founded back in 1996. The company focuses solely on casino slots and there was a wide choice on the stand. Visitors could get a sneak preview of the new Penthouse games that were receiving their international debut at the same time in Las Vegas at the G2E exhibition (see International news section for more information).
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