“Colombian market will be even more attractive than it is today once the illegal machines issue is solved”

JL: The Colombian market is one of the biggest and most important Latin American ones. We have a very strong representation here already, and we have some of the best quality products in the floor already. So, overseas we want to maintain our position and grow up going forward. We see Colombia as an exciting market which is in constant development, in a moment that it’s going to get more regulated. For that reason, we feel is going to be more important for all the company.

MEL: What we always said that Colombia is a market that always welcomes the latest things that WMS has to offer. In this show in particular, we are introducing the G+ Deluxe with or without double progressive, a product that it’s giving great results. We also showcases our Stand Alone, the Spinning Streak Progressive and the innovative Life of Luxury, what is seems to be  one of the biggest products for WMS.

Another of our developments presented in Bogota is our Multi Pay and Real Boost, which is one of the new brand game that we introduce for the first time in Colombia. And, of course, we have the progressive GodFather, that we introduced in the Las Vegas show last year, and we think  it is one of the more exciting products right now.

JL:  It´s important to us to mention that WMS has a very strong track recording from providing progressives. I’ve spent last week travelling trough Colombian with Maria Eugenia and without exception in every location that we went in “Life of Luxury” has been the best performing products in the casino. So we are always hoping to capitalize in that success and provide the next generation of progressive products, and with a brand such as “Godfather” that is very well known, we believe the combination of our expertise in the field of progressives, the brand itself and our knowledge of the Colombian market we have very high expectations for the “Godfather” theme.

JL:  From my experience in the last week, we can see that there are unconfirmed numbers of around 70 to 80 thousand illegal machines in the market. So, this is overseas stealing, from one of the better word, revenue from those operators that are paying the taxes. So clearly there is scope for the business to go if we can eradicate the illegal operator. The average revenue of the machines can grow, which means that the operators can afford to buy the latest and greatest products of all. It’s important that the authorities get the grip of the situation because this is a political issue.

 We can see that the operators are trying to work together with the government, to make changes. We can also say the government has challenges of its own; it has resource issues and it finds very difficult give a final solution to the situation. But the market is for sure a big one, and we believe we will saw these problems solved in the next years, making the market even more attractive than it is today with better revenues for the operators and more opportunities for the manufacturer.