“merkurstar will be making its international debut at G2E”

What are your expectations for this G2E edition?

G2E Las Vegas is one of the most significant gaming shows on the calendar and is an important sales and relationships platform for Merkur Gaming. I am excited about our product line up for G2E and look forward to receiving direct customer feedback for our cabinets and game novelties. First and foremost we want to provide a great product show, to present who we are and what we stand for, and of course to welcome old friends and make some new friends.

Merkur appointed you as new Chief Executive for the Americas. Do you plan to continue with the business strategies that Jens Halle implemented?

There is no doubt that Jens made a lasting impact at Merkur Gaming. I have the privilege of building upon that legacy, with a continued focus on product excellence and a partnership approach with all our stakeholders.

Merkur will bring its merkurstar cabinet to G2E Vegas. What feedback do you expect to receive from attendees?

merkurstar is the latest addition to our games cabinet portfolio and will be making its international debut at G2E. We take nothing for granted - the team has done a fantastic job in bringing merkurstar to life with all its subtleties and details - I am cautiously optimistic that merkurstar will be well received. Merkurstar embodies our “made in Germany” roots and reflects that quality and engineering.

What other products or services will Merkur Gaming exhibit?

We will be presenting an outstanding product range. Alongside our top innovation merkurstar, the ergonomics, design and brilliant graphics of the Avantgarde SLT and Evolution SL cabinets as well as the gaming sphere Ozone will be the centre of attention. In particular the Avantgarde SLT has met with great operational success and stands out with its lit framed screens in beautiful striking colours and its excellent acoustics.

Our cabinet line up for G2E will also include Highflyer with its ‘floating’ upper monitor and our Vision cabinet. We are excited to be presenting a grand total of four new full-HD game mixes featuring a large variety of themes, volatilities, and game features. And, to round it all off, Merkur Gaming will present the ‘Furious Jackpot’ – a new linked mystery jackpot concept.

What are your business targets? Is Latin America part of your expansion strategy?

We are in a continual innovation and optimization process concerning our products, service offers and customer support. Quality, reliability and competence are at the top of our agenda.

Regarding Latin America, our goal is to build upon the foundation and infrastructure already established, growing from the Merkur Gaming offices in Lima, Bogota and Mexico City. We have a great team in place and we aim to leverage our strength and experience as both a manufacturer and an operator in order to deliver best of breed ‘made in Germany’ content and products.

How important is the iGaming sector to Merkur?

I believe that iGaming and land-based gaming will go hand-in-hand. However, for the Americas our initial focus will be on land-based. First of all we wish to expand and build upon our existing competence centres, namely our offices in Lima, Bogota, Mexico City and Florida.

As to the future, I see online gaming also as an opportunity to bring new target groups to land-based gaming and develop new markets. Our subsidiary edict, a specialist in the development of B2B online casino solutions, is very well positioned in this space and as a reflection of the importance we place on iGaming edict will be a co-exhibitor on the Merkur Gaming stand at this year’s G2E.

What are your thoughts on the current state of gaming?

Commercially this remains a challenging time for the gaming industry in general, which in turn is creating opportunities for solid, agile, innovative companies such as Merkur/Gauselmann. Through the looking glass, it seems easy to predict that more and more countries will introduce stronger legal and political frameworks for the gaming industry in the future.

The move towards regulated gaming markets, terrestrial and virtual, with strong emphasis on player protection and elevated know-your-customer requirements seems inevitable. We applaud and support this development. It is self-evident for us that we will only participate in regulated markets.