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DEUTERO TO SERVE COIN-OP INDUSTRY VIA INTERNET

The inquisitive nature of the international poker coin-op and gaming community about their competitors business is one of the prime attractions of Deutero, a company that has just launched an internet based service designed to provide online portraits of individual companies all over the world.  The London-based company’s software engineers have come up with a succession of business related packages that include the facility to access public records in the international community.  The company’s business development director Sally Ward told Integrate that the online facility www.deutero-check.co.uk is in reality a tool that provides access to over six million company status reports covering the UK and Ireland and larger number of companies outside the UK. 

      “There are three primary things that you can do with this tool: risk management you can predict early if any of your clients or suppliers are having financial or cash flow difficulties by monitoring payment performance and other business changes such as executive restructuring; business development, where you can research the performance of a rival company; or carry out merger and acquisitions research to reduce due diligence.”  The online facility enables users to pull off company reports  on international businesses and Ward illustrated this by asking us to name an overseas firm.  In seconds it turned up details of their recent financial performances, who their directors are and risk analysis information. 
      “We can access virtually every company in the world, using this,” she said.  “We review the information daily.  It is not simply a questions of waiting for a company’s annual reports to be lodged with the relevant authorities, ongoing performance and significant business changes are also updated regularly.”  Deuteron has a customer service team which will research any business casino report that is not immediately available online.  All recently filed documents can be pulled off the system.  Deuteron has put set service options and fees into place, but the systems can be ‘packaged’ and branded for individual industries, groups or professional organizations.  Deuteron Check, said Ward, is inexpensive for smaller companies who want to access and manage live company information  confidentially from their personalized portfolio over the internet.

Spain’s CT Europa offering integrated systems worldwide

In recent months, venues in Europe and the Middle East have adopted Spanish firm CT Europa’s Game System, the management and operation system for amusement centres with magnetic cards.  The firm’s Juan Alvarez told Integrate: “This is not surprising as it’s been the first to develop the functions demanded by today’s customers and bring top level equipment and cutting edge technologies to the market.”
      The trend towards the use of integrated system with cards as a combined means of payment, promoting customer loyalty is clear and those that ignore it do so at their permit, according to Alvarez.  Wi-Fi, radio frequency and power line communications were released two years ago, featuring integration with third-party system, including SAP, Micros and ICG Software.  Together, they provide a one-card solution to the customers, bringing the strengths of the Argentinean developer, Coin Tech SA, to bear in the latest versions.  Redemption Server, developed to meet the needs of US and Italian operators, has been a success, and Retail POS is a module that has met the needs of multiplex operators from India and Mexico.  CT Europa, set up in 2002, will participate in a commercial mission to Mumbai and Bangalore, India, organized by the Chamber of Commerce of Barcelona, next October.  CT will visit customer who run Game System in their amusement centres and meet companies interested in this solutions, to show in detail the benefits and technology of the most advanced poker cashless systems on the market.

Dusseldorf secures five-year IMA deal

The German IMA trade show will stay in Dusseldorf for the next five years.  The show-cancelled in 2006 will be held in Pavilion 8 of the Dusseldorf exhibition centre on January 16-18, 2007.  Rolf Klug, member of the board at Merkur and Spielothek International, from the Gauselmann Group, the largest exhibitor at the show, told Integrate that the 2006 cancellation was inevitable.  “The new laws for Germany came into force on January 1,2006, and the show w3as originally scheduled for that month.
      “So many things were changed in the political discussions about the law that there was great uncertainly.  It was not even clear that the law would come into force before the show.  Against this background the manufacturers were unable to focus on the development of new AWPs.”  January, he said, was recognized as the best time of the year for the German industry to run its show.  It came after a period of traditionally the strongest revenues in German arcades.
      “At the beginning of the year, therefore, the operators have the necessary capital to reinvest.”  The Pattern of trading in the first months following the introduction of the new law was cautious, he said.  “Operators want to take it step-by-step; and it will take time for players to become acclimatized to new machines.”  For the first time, exhibitors were surveyed on the most popular venue for IMA and Dusseldorf and Cologne had been favoured with most preferring Dusseldorf.  With most German operators based in the North Rhine-Westphalia region, which has the highest population in Germany, Dusseldorf was logical and Pavillion 8 of the exhibition centre offered ideal conditions.

*  France:  Forty Excel Leisure pool tables were used for the 17th Grand National Pool Tournament held in Renne, Brittany, France with  80 teams.  They included 10 Spanish teams, one English, one from Scotland, one from Wales, three from Belgium, one from the Isle of Man, one from Ireland and 62 from France.  The tables were 38 Mayfair traditional-style tables for the qualifying events and two Galaxy white laminate tables for the finals.  All were covered with Hainsworth Smart green cloth except for the two Galaxies, which were covered in a Smart silver/grey cloth.  This year the French took all the top honours wining the team events, the men’s individual and ladies’ individual titles.  The event was organized by SLF Pool in France.

FIVE MERKUR SUNS SHINE IN ANDALUCIA

Having been absent for almost three years, the Gauselmann group has returned to Spain with five of its own gaming locations.  As of June 21, five online poker gaming halls in Granada, Andalucia, have become part of the Merkur Casino group.  “The Spanish market offers us excellent opportunities to create unique synergy effects and to realize them successfully.  On the one hand the presentation of our strong product line is consistently geared to the local market – which merkur Gaming has been successfully demonstrating in Spain for several years.  And on the other hand we have a successful formula for localized entertainment centres ‘made by Gauselmann’ that are ground-breaking trendsetters in this agile market segment,” said Rolf Klug, member of the board of Merkur and Spielothek International of Gauselmann.  Managing Director Rolf Falke added: “The Spanish market is a market of the future, in which we firmly believe.  Andalucia is autonomous and therecore offers our company, with its decades of know-how, excellent legal conditions for further promising investments.”
      The five new locations will be remodeled and refurbished with a typical and localized Merkur Casino interior design in the coming weeks.  Approximately 30 gaming machines per location are planned.  The five new Spanish subsidiaries will be staffed with 20 employees.  Thus, Merkur Casino employs more than 530 staff in Europe, excluding Germany.