As the Russian market ground to a halt relatively recently, many companies started to look more seriously at the surrounding countries to lessen the effects of a sudden sharp drop in profits. The EI show in Kiev is one of many Eastern European gaming trade shows that seems to be benefiting from this; it was substantially busier than World of Games, and even EELEX, despite being smaller than both and catering for a smaller market.

It’s a measure of how seriously the show is taken though that many of Europe’s largest manufacturers showed up, and with larger stands than last year. Novomatic, for example, stuck rigidly to a promise made late 2005 when chief Jens Halle declared his intention to return with a much larger stand to reiterate AGI’s commitment to the CIS countries. Their presence was indeed impressive and well attended.

Of Novomatic’s impressive range, Universe Roulette stood out. It’s a slot machine for roulette lovers, where the inner wheel tells you the number the ‘ball’ has landed on and the first outer wheel is the first multiplier, while the outer wheel tells you the bonus level. It should prove a huge hit, notably in casinos with limited floor space. Also on show were Troika 1, 2 and 3 and Multi Games For You, multiple games on a single cabinet.

Also on the stand was an Astra innovation called Mississippi Unlimited, a three-reel traditional-style slot machine specifically for Ukraine. It looks great, and judging by the attention it was getting from the show staff even before the doors opened, this could be a huge hit for the company in Ukraine.

Next to Novomatic’s stand was KSI Corporation – which boldly exhibited two blatant copies of Novomatic machines. If Eastern European shows are to flourish and enjoy financial input from western European companies, this is exactly the kind of thing that must be stamped out - organisers must act swiftly when copies are spotted to remove them, and if exhibitors fail to comply, to report them to the authorities and ban them from such shows at the very least. Also, informing companies of penalties if they are dumb enough to exhibit copied machines prior to the exhibition would also be a smart step.

Also at EI and with a very large stand was Casino Technology. Following the opening of their impressive new facility in Sofia, the Bulgarian company have sealed some smart partnership agreements with many companies in Europe to further their growth; EI gave them a chance to show their commitment to the market in Eastern Europe and show many prime customers their fast-growing product range.

Merkur Gaming were another company with a memorable presence in collusion with Jetgames Eurasia, their new sales partner for Ukraine. They were showing new product including the popular interactive jackpot system Russian Star, plus a new version of the slot Pyramid Gold among others. Making its debut was Night Fever, with impressive graphic animations that caught the eye of customers.

EGT, another company making great strides in Eastern Europe, showed their full Classic Blend product range in Kiev. The focus was on their Classic Blend Jackpot System which supports 16 progressive and three mystery jackpots for each active denomination. Also of interest from EGT was their range of cabinets, with the Classic Blend 2000 Slim Line, intended for a more efficient use of casino space, and for local clients the Classic Blend 3000 Slant Top model of gaming machine.

EI crowned a good year for the company, who are now looking toward western Ukraine for further growth after opening a representative office in Kiev.

FutureLogic continue to push the message for TITO in Eastern Europe and the signs are there that the company’s success will continue; with a product line as strong as theirs, and with their commitment to educating potential customers, their thermal printer line and promotional back-office should be flying off the shelves. When CIS casinos learn to market themselves as aggressively as western casinos, this progressive company will benefit hugely; in the meantime, they continue to develop their customer base and work hard to educate the industry as a whole.

FutureLogic’s top man in Europe, John Edmunds, said: “Well my hopes for the market are that people embrace TITO like they have done in other countries in Europe. So we’re here in Kiev to start, well not just to start pushing the message about ticket in ticket out, make sure that we meet with some of our key accounts, direct accounts who are already buying our products for other jurisdictions, to see what local support’s needed if anything.”

Bill acceptors were very, very well represented at the show - every major manufacturer seemed to be there, including MEI with representative Mikjail Abasow. He spoke of the importance of the finer details in bill acceptors - and that this was a key factor in the Russian market and CIS countries accepting MEI’s product. He said: “First of all, this exhibition, everybody knows everybody so it is not a question to go to new customers because everybody knows everybody that’s a fact. We know everybody, everybody knows MEI. It’s good for building up customer relations, looking at the results that we have achieved in the past.

“We have some casino groups in Russia which have seen the results of our trial offer, and they ordered several hundred bill acceptors to replace their existing bill acceptors. “In effect the people are getting more and more aware of the details in the importance of the high quality bill acceptors, because you need to have a good game and you need to keep the game playing, so the machine has to work to a high performance and that’s where you need a good bill acceptor.”

Mikjail was particularly excited by an MEI innovation, a software upgrade to their existing bill acceptors which means they can accept the new 5000 rouble notes for the Russian market. This is another example of MEI’s attitude leading to customer satisfaction – according to Mikjail, there have been times when MEI have given software upgrades to customers and the customer hasn’t yet been aware of the new note!

GPT enjoyed brisk business also, showing their new lower cost validator Falcon. It’s the next model on from the Aurora validator, but with enhanced processing and validation speeds, an integrated barcode reader and more. With a variety of potential applications, Falcon is likely to be a big hit in the east. Alongside Falcon, the SA-4 validator, already a hit on the Russian market, is claimed by the company to increase revenue thanks to its acceptance speed of 1.7 seconds when used with a GPT Fast Stacker.

EI is growing, and it’s a show to be taken seriously – with big changes in Russia afoot, next year’s show could - and should - be even better.

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