Welcome to Casino Life Welcome to Casino Life!
And welcome from a misty, moisty Sofia which hosts the BEGE show. I think it's my third time here, and it's been a while – but I have been pleasantly surprised. It's not known as one of the shining stars in the milky way of gambling exhibitions but it certainly twinkles brightly. Over two days, the show is a step back in time to an age when you had the opportunity to leisurely discuss issues; to look at equipment without a crush; to catch up with senior manufacturing execs and operators who were just dropping by – and that is a welcome change. At G2E and ICE most execs are buried in meetings with investors. Also nice to see all our magazines fly off the shelves.
In just two small halls, Novomatic, EGT and IGT hold it all together with Casino Technology centrally placed providing acrobats and dancers to spice it all up every 40 minutes (hey, it's Eastern Europe remember). Quite often these small shows are full of bowling balls and karaoke machines – but not here. It sticks to gambling with the odd diversion into barista competitions and a croupier beauty contest... but this is part of the fun. BEGE is a small honest show that is worth visiting.
Back to this issue and we start with the gargantuan Marina Bay Sands where Victor Royer strays from his usual Las Vegas roots and, after waxing lyrical on all things Hemmingway, interviews Andrew MacDonald about how MBS is developing.
Hot on Victor's heels is Andrew Cammegh whose company has worked alongside all of the Sand Corporations major casino developments and has enjoyed significant successful orders over the past 12 months.
At the other end of the spectrum (sorry) Rebecca Green attended the recent grand opening of the Rainbow casino in Cardiff and was on hand a few days later to catch up with Rainbows MD, Duncan Savage.
FOBTs are up next with us providing a platform for the viewpoints of the various factions in the ongoing debate leading with Carolyn Harris, MP who chairs the All Party Group inquiry into FOBTs. I imagine many of our readers are anti-FOBTs if not for the social aspect but for pure commercial reasons as there appears to be a liberalism of the high street betting shop regulations when compared to the rigidity applied to casinos. Ultimately the current situation stems from effective lobbying of the various interests and may highlight a UK casino industry that has failed to present a united front. We will see where it ends up but don't be surprised if only minor tweaks occur – the Government like that tax revenue too much to contemplate removing FOBTs entirely.
Peter White caught up with Eduard Blonk Managing Director Sales Sportstradar during a busy G2E show. Aristidis Tsikouras, Managing Director, GeWeTe talks to Rebecca Green about the currency handling sector whilst Stateside Robert Ambrose looks at the dichotomy of a casino closure occurring as new venue locations are being debated. As he says – you can't make it up.
OK – Day two of BEGE beckons.....
Glyn Thomas
Editor in Chief
glyn@ace123.com | 
