Difficult though it is pinning down owing to his globetrotting brief, in Buenos Aires we managed to exchange a few comments from Atronic CEO, Gerhard Burda at a very busy booth. We also met Jessica Luna, Sales Marketing Manager and Tomas Mieles Director of Gaming Solutions, who won a coveted SAGSE award, as we talked about Atronic’s presentation at the show.
We asked Atronic’s Latin American General Manager, Oscar Londoño, if the event had come up to expectations: “The Sagse show gets bigger every year. This year was no exception and it exceeded all our expectations. It was a very professionally organised event. We were very happy with our stand and the level of visitors from all over the world, not just from Latin America.”

ATRONIC’S SUCCESS IN LATINOAMERICA IS GROWN LOCALLY
Atronic has become known as one of the foremost leaders in linked gaming concepts, and in Latinoamerica they do it with local professionals like Luna, Mieles and Londono, among many others.  When we asked about deals struck at the show, Londoño said: “Without revealing too much, I can say yes. Not only did we secure some potential sales, we were also successful in closing some lucrative deals. We had a great deal of the key decision makers from the Argentinean markets visit our stand. On top of that, executives from many companies visiting from Chile, Peru, Uruguay, Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela were welcomed at our stand.”   
Atronic recently introduced their new multi-level progressive jackpots King Kong Cash and The Game of Life at the FADJA show in Colombia as well as the SAGSE Panama show. Subsequent installations in numerous casinos across the Latin American continent followed and have caused as much sensation and success in the Latin American casinos as they have elsewhere.
Atronic, a key player in the Latin American gaming market, further strengthened its leading position with the presentation of its latest additions to the company’s expansive product portfolio. After an eventful show, Atronic is confident of further expanding its leading position in the Latin America market as it continues to grow and develop more exciting products.
Another great success in the Latin American region is Atronic’s slot tournament linked gaming concept Tournamania. Preceding the footsteps of King Kong and Dr. Cash, Tournamania has given casinos in Latin America the flexibility to create fun and exciting tournaments in their own style based on their player’s preferences. Atronic is looking to duplicate the interest with their mystery jackpot concept Chain Reaction, where all active players can share in the winnings. Chain Reaction was one of Atronic’s attractions at this year’s SAGSE Buenos Aires show.
Rounding off the Atronic products on display there was a large range of exciting standalone games that included the X-Tension game Xanadu– City of Luck. X-Tension games feature 50 lines of play on a screen layout of five reels with four symbols per reel, offering more excitement and chances to win. All games were displayed in Spanish language.
After a successful expo, and asked about returning to the Buenos Aires show, Londoño was emphatic: “As the third largest industry trade show and Atronic’s increasing strength and success in Latin America, for sure we will be back next year.”

WMS GAMING EXPANDS ON QUALITY AND INTEGRITY VALUES
At the WMS Gaming booth, Mariano Mariño, International Sales Manager, also confirmed that they intend to exhibit at the next SAGSE show. We had seen the day before Sebastian Salat, VP and Managing Director International, on the panel assuring operators that server based gaming would respond handsomely on the tricky issue of gaming security with “Professional talented support with security protocols on a parity equal to banking protocol systems”.
We assured Sebastian that we would be return for more professional nuggets on server based business on another occasion. True to its corporate mission, the WMS staff embraces the company’s core values of innovation, tenacity, passion, quality and integrity, guided by the principle of teamwork and pride in its leadership. The company goes to great lengths to ensure that through player feedback, market testing and unique product development, it consistently produces high earning and entertaining products that will prove popular with the public.
Under the direction of President and Chief Executive Officer Brian R. Gamache, the WMS Management Team has recently completed re-engineering the company around quality and product integrity. Through the development of best-of-class Employer of Choice initiatives and creating a meaningful corporate culture, Gamache has encouraged and enhanced the kind of excitement and originality that was the foundation of WMS decades ago.
WMS Gaming presented in Buenos Aires a few key products such as: LOL Progressive: a proven multi-level progressive with five progressive awards; G+ Series: An entire line of high-volatility, primarily free-spin based games with a streamlined interface designed to celebrate the win. Bigger reel symbols, larger win meters and universal “Big Win” audio, create an unforgettable high-energy experience. 
Also at SAGSE 2007, WMS exhibited the traditional five-Reel mechanicals, which is an exciting and rewarding all-base game offering a full library of exciting themes designed to provide video-like action.
We asked Marino for a comment on the event: “We think it was a great show with excellent results. Many decision makers visited our stand, and this is one of the most important reasons why we say the show was great.”
 
BALLY PRESENTED A WIDE ASSORTMENT OF GAMING PRODUCTS
We have worked with Bally games for a long time, now, and whenever they are on display, the words sizzling and blazing just mean great gaming business. And the Bally booth in Sagse 2007 was just buzzing with good vibes all through the three days! We know this, because our booth was just around the corner, and could only manage to meet and talk briefly to Carlos Mautone, Director of Sales South America, on the last day of the event.
Asked about the Argentine expo, Mautone said: “The SAGSE 2007 Expo came up to Bally’s expectations and exceeded them. The great majority of visitors that Bally received had decision making status and we managed several potential sales, particularly for Argentina and Chile, for machines and systems.”
Bally showcased a variety of its latest video and reel-spinning slots designed for the rapidly expanding Latin American gaming market, including Hot Shot Blazing 7s, Hot Shot All About Money, Quick Hit Black&White, Quick Hit Black Gold, Golden Monkey, Poppit, Atari Pong, Multi-Play Blackjack and Multi-Poker.
In addition, Bally also introduced a number of specialty products, including its next-generation version of the classic Game Maker multi-game platform, Game Maker HD on the ALPHA Elite V 20 / 20 dual wide-screen cabinet; Roulette and Keno Cash on the stunning V32 vertical touch-enabled cabinet, featuring a dramatic 32-inch vertical display; and two examples of its new “Two-Way Frenzy series of games, Double Dragon Frenzy and Super Fireball Frenzy, on the equally dramatic CineVision wide-screen platform.

SUZO AMERICAS WITH TOTAL SOLUTIONS GUARANTEE
The South American market is of vital importance to Suzo International, who had an outstanding presentation in Buenos Aires once more. In 2001, the company opened a branch in both Argentina and Brazil to better service the region. Companies outside of South America who deal with South America are acquainted with the varied, complicated, often bureaucratic procedures of exporting their goods here and the complications and costs it means on the client side for import.
Suzo Americas have focused on improving the export-import process. Gaming companies exporting to South America can bundle shipments and make use of this logistical centre used by Suzo Americas. Instead of sending several smaller shipments to South American customers, these can be sent together to Suzo Americas’ Freeport distribution centre and be managed / shipped from there. The Freeport is in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Suzo Americas offer the possibility of just-in-time delivery from its Montevideo Freeport distribution centre, allowing companies to first receive goods when they are really required for the manufacturing process. Suzo Americas always strive to offer complete solutions to the local market. 
In the Suzo booth, we met Jan and Martin Spies, directors of Signs4U, from the Netherlands. Suzo Americas announced prior to Sagse 2007 a joint venture agreement with Signs4U, a manufacturer of customer casino signs. This Dutch company has quickly established themselves as a market leader and a combination of strong demand for its signs and the excellent relationship with Suzo has led to the natural step of Suzo Americas setting up a local manufacturing site for Signs4U at the Freeport in Uruguay.
Jens Peiler, General Manager of Suzo Americas, stated that they had managed some very good potential sales at the Argentine event and had a “very successful exposition,” with contracts projection for “what we prepared during SAGSE is very high numbers”.  Peiler concluded: “Suzo Americas have grown rapidly in recent years. This is because we focus on customer needs. Slot machines require a whole range of components and we at Suzo Americas are willing to stock these.”

ARISTOCRAT STAYS AHEAD IN LATIN AMERICA
As can be expected, not everything works at 100% for everyone, anywhere. And if there was one failing at the SAGSE 2007 expo, this concerned the position of the last pavilion in the Argentine expo, where gaming and amusement companies were banded together. For some companies this arrangement did not work out, and unfortunately, Aristocrat was one of them.
As constructive criticism is something we cannot avoid, perhaps Monografie, the event organizers, could locate gaming companies only in gaming pavilions, next time around. Of course, for this to happen, exhibitor space must be booked early. Just because it’s South America, things cannot be left for Mañana! Otherwise, with minor hiccups, Sagse 2007 was just supreme.
Aristocrat is one of the oldest gaming devices companies represented in Latin America, which sells and places gaming machines throughout the region. The company manages sales, service, and support from its Buenos Aires, Argentina office, where Aristocrat also has a product showroom and training area. Aristocrat’s gaming machines can be found in nearly every country in Latin America in legal gaming establishments.
In the Argentinean event, Aristocrat exhibited its Multi Line games, which utilise line combinations across the reels to award wins. Aristocrat has produced a popular range of Multi Line product including the highly successful Queen of the Nile, Frog Wild 2 and Helen of Troy.
Also at the expo, Aristocrat showed its Stand Alone Progressives (SAP) games with one level jackpot meters displayed on the screen, whilst its Double Stand Alone Progressives (DSAP) are those games with two level jackpot meters, displayed on the top box as LEDs. SAP’s and DSAP’s give players the opportunity to win game features as well as the jackpot.
At the Buenos Aires show, some specialty DSAP games such as Zorro were an extension of the bonus bank concept, that is, players choose to pay for the chance to win additional bonus features while also playing for the jackpot. Other games on show were: Big Ben y The Golden Gong (SAP); y African Dusk, Wild Cougar, King Galah, Corrida de Toros y Mr. Woo.
In Buenos Aires, Aristocrat were represented by the company’s top regional executives: Juan Pablo Irarrazaval, Executive Business Manager Latin America, Sean Evans, Senior Vice President Sales Americas, and Alejandro Saraintaris, Latin America Sales Manager. 

LATIN AMERICA IS WELCOMED TO THE WORLD OF MERKUR SUN
Not that this review is getting the bad news at the end, but somehow it just worked that way. The people of this German company were very happy with a prominent position, but did not get some of the expo equipment until the second day of the show. But as with most fairy tales, Merkur Gaming had a happy ending to its first presentation in Sagse 2007.
Klaus Schwerbrock, Merkur Board Advisor said: “The expectations on the Kiddie Rides side were met and we are very happy with the results. With the casino machines there were a few contracts, and we have received a good level of decision-making visitors.”
Merkur Gaming also exhibited in the Amusements pavilion its Walt Disney licensed kiddies ride. Schwerbrock added: “We signed a contract for our distributors of the Kiddie Rides in Argentina”.
The well-known symbol Gauselmann, the Merkur Sun, bundles the corporate strength for AWP machines (single and multigames), Multiplayer, Touchscreen products, Sports and Entertainment games, Internet terminals, Money-Changing machines, Sports Betting and Kiddie Rides all under one roof – Merkur Gaming. Most products are exclusively manufactured by the adp Gauselmann GmbH factory in Germany, with its focus the development of top quality games and products combined with optimised customer orientation.
One of the true highlights of Merkur Gaming at the Buenos Aires show was the new ‘Games Unlimited’ that offers six different games with interesting freegame features and exciting risks. Further games for this machine will follow. A further innovation of Merkur Gaming was the jackpot system ‘Treasure Mania” that combines the thrill of the interactive multilevel jackpot game and state-of-the-art TFT-technology. The striking multicolor technology made it a true eye catcher and ready for every gaming location.

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