Review ICE TOTALLY GAMING 2016
Synot’s Katrina Kicovska and David Mixa pictured at ICE Totally Gaming 2016 Synot Extends Global Reach at ICE 2016
Taking part in its ninth exhibition at ICE in London, Czech-based Synot displayed its widest range of gaming product and its most international outlook ever
“In view of the fact that the ICE show is the most important event of its kind in Europe, we consider our participation as key. Tis year we have introduced new Slant Top and Upright cabinets for a premium product SYNOT VLT system, which has been successful in several countries in Europe and Asia. At the same time we have introduced a completely new game system, Trinity VLT, designed for exclusive three-screen Trinity and Black&White cabinets. We also unveiled a new product line of video AWP Explosive Games, designed especially for Romanian and Latvian market,” stated Miroslav Valenta, Sales Director of SYNOT Group.
AdditionalAWP products are launching in promising markets including Serbia, Georgia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republic Srpska, where Synot hopes to capitalise on the poor quality of gaming machines currently languishing in arcades and gaming halls across these countries. Te adoption of Synot’s latest VLTs will, however, take time according to Synot’s Product Manager, David Mixa. “Operators need to be prepared for the eventuality of a win,” explained Mr. Mixa. Our VLT jackpots present a thrilling opportunity for the player to win big prizes, but operators have to understand that this is not a “theoretical” win - players actually win big as part of a random jackpot.”
Ireland has also become a great market for Synot. Tough small, the process of adapting products for the market has been swift, with Synot making rapid progress in yet another international market. Spain is a case in point,
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whereby Synot is developing products simultaneously for several of the autonomous regions (Spain has 17 autonomous regions and two autonomous cities). Certification is both laborious and time-consuming, but Synot sees the country as a fantastic future market that is welcoming the company’s server-based model.
“I see access to VLT devices across Spain accelerating and I believe this model will eventually change the Spanish market,” stated Mr. Mixa.
NOT A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD While the rest of the Czech market is being
subjected to municipal bans and company- crushing taxes, there’s one success story in the Czech Republic that’s currently going unreported - though for good reason. Quizomat is a slot machine for which the Czech gambling law has no description, which makes its ever growing presence in the country both unstoppable and un-taxable.
Exploiting a loop hole in Czech law that will only be addressed with new legislation to be enacted in January 2017, the Quizomat machine has capitalised on the crackdown on VLT and AWP machines in the Czech Republic, filling a black-market hole for operators that once had to pay taxes on their legal and controlled devices. It is infuriating to Synot, a company that has not and will not produce Quizomat devices, that it’s own legal and licensed product is being banned and taxed out of existence, while an illegal device takes its place in dedicated “quiz zone” areas in bars and pubs.
Quizomat circumvents the law by claiming to be a ‘quiz’ device, asking the player to answer a single general knowledge question before reverting to a traditional video slot upon a correct result. Questions are not exactly daunting - one favourite asking about the colour of a stop sign. While it is known that the VLT and AWP market in Czech has fallen from 100,000 gaming devices in 2010 to around 50,000 at present and under the new law is expecting to fall to around 35,000 by 2017, the volume of Quizomat devices in the market is unknown, but could be in the tens of thousands of units - none of which are currently paying any form of gaming tax.
Te new law brings big changes for the Czech market in 2017, with changes to maximum stake and win, a complete exclusion of machines from pubs, bars and restaurants across the country and imposes a players card that’s linked to a central monitoring system. Te law sees maximum stakes fall from 1,000 Czech crowns to 100, which is likely to have a dramatic effect on the profitability of the majority of operations. While the average bet in the country is 15 crowns, maximum stake players account for 5-7
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