BMM Testlabs Exhibiting at MGS 2015

BMM Testlabs, the world’s leading gaming testing laboratory and technical consultancy is pleased to be exhibiting at The Macau Gaming Show (MGS), November 17-19, 2015. John Rochester SVP Sales, Australia Asia Pacific commented, “This is an important time for electronic gaming in Asia with indications that there will be considerable growth in the market during 2016. No doubt Asian gaming machine and electronic table manufacturers will want to take full advantage of this growth. BMM has already seen demand for testing services escalate over 2015, and we have been pleased to increase our technical staff levels in both our Asian labs.” With offices and testlabs in Macau, Singapore and Australia, BMM provides gaming equipment manufacturers with more choices for product testing in Asia-Pacific than any other testlab. This provides great value to BMM’s customers, ensuring both decreased costs and decreased testing times, and importantly, enables customers to interact with BMM in their same time zone and in their own language. Rochester added, “The Macau Gaming Show is an excellent opportunity for BMM to discuss technical compliance requirements with our Asian customers and regulators. It’s also an excellent venue for us to provide our expertise and support to new Asian gaming manufacturers looking to enter regulated gaming markets. We encourage any manufacturer with questions regarding technical compliance, technical standards or testing to visit BMM’s booth at MGS and talk to any of our industry experts.” Visit BMM at Stand AJ38, MGS...

BMM Testlabs’ staff and executives from the Italy office attended ENADA Rome earlier this month, to meet with attendees from the region’s land-based and online businesses. ENADA Rome, now in its 43rd year, mainly focused on the AWP segment for 2015 with less predominance on VLTs and on-line products. Marzia Turrini, SVP Southern Europe commented, “Italy’s gaming future is still not clear, and it is transitioning through a difficult phase. Unfortunately discussion on the Legge Delega decree has ceased, but a number of important initiatives are still currently in discussion in Parliament. These include the partial reduction of the number of installed AWP machines, by having them connected to a central system similar to server based machines (networked AWP), and also the possibility for independent test labs to verify VLT platforms and games. We sincerely hope that some of these initiatives will materialize in 2016, as that would provide a great deal of confidence to the market.” Turrini continued, “Even with the uncertainty of the Italian gaming sector, ENADA 2015 was very positive for all attendees. The market is asking for new products, and more importantly, for clear rules and regulations. There is no doubt that Italy will remain one of Europe’s most important gaming markets and BMM Testlabs will continue to be at the forefront of regulated gaming in the region.”...

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The wave of consolidation that has swamped the gaming industry over the past couple of years has been compelling. Crane Payments acquired MEI. Scientific Games bought WMS. Bally acquired SHFL, and then was bought by Scientific Games. IGT acquired DoubleDown and then was scooped up by GTECH. And AGI/Novomatic seemed to be buying every company in Europe. Not to mention AGS/Cadillac Jack, Amaya/PokerStars, Aristocrat/VGT, GCA/Multimedia Games… The list goes on and on. But what does it really mean to the operator and the customers in the industry? Will this make it more costly to operate as fewer vendors compete for the business of the operators? Frank Fahrenkopf should know. He ran the American Gaming Association for 17 years and saw companies come and go during his tenure. He says the current wave of consolidation came about because of the financial crisis that started in 2008. “The gaming industry had been one of the world’s stellar growth industries over the past 20 years, growing in excess of 5 percent annually, until 2008 when the global financial crises hit,” Fahrenkopf says. “By 2014, some key gaming manufacturers were fully valued in terms of share price, and given the state of the industry, their boards of directors had to consider all options to fully realize that value for shareholders. “My view is that this consolidation was a very natural outcome reflecting the state of the industry and financial market behavior. Market-led consolidation in this case will lead to short-term survival or strengthening, driving medium-term innovation and growth, and finally long-term exceptionalism. And it is this cycle that creates investment and employment to raise the economic standard of living around the world.” Slimmer Slot Choices With the IGT/GTECH, Scientific Games/WMS/Bally, Aristocrat/VGT, GCA/Multimedia Games and AGS/Cadillac Jack deals, operators now have fewer vendors from which to buy slot machines and systems. But Fahrenkopf says the trend is much deeper than that. “In the case of GTECH/IGT and Scientific Games/Bally, we have lottery companies acquiring traditional gaming companies,” he says. “The merger and integration of their product lines creates an opportunity for end-to-end solution-selling, potentially transforming value for key customers. And yet, each company has products that individually lead industry categories, such as casino management systems and social gaming. Their challenge is delivering a successful operational and economic integration in a timely manner while still continuing to grow their businesses.” And Fahrenkopf says he was impressed with the Aristocrat moves. “What Aristocrat has achieved adding VGT’s Class II operations to their portfolio has been very smart and profitable, particularly in the way they have integrated the two businesses with such a careful, light touch,” he says. “Also, Aristocrat over the last four years has invested heavily in game development studios that now lead a number of operators’ purchasing surveys based on their very compelling content. Ultimately, placing Aristocrat games into VGT-dominant environments is a value-adding strategy of real merit.” He doesn’t believe, however, that operator buying habits will change quickly. “At least, in the medium term, I think much of the market will exhibit traditional buying behaviors allowing those companies who offer best-of-breed products (games, gaming machines, systems, etc.) to grow their market share in the gaps of a newly consolidated market,” says Fahrenkopf. “In Aristocrat, Konami and Ainsworth you have three companies that do not have to focus on integration or debt, but will focus on product innovation and service. Consolidation also creates space for innovation with new emerging companies developing compelling products. “So in consolidation, the potential for doing it better is there with real competition. Real competition only demands that two companies...

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BMM Testlabs Exhibiting at MGS 2015