“Merkur Gaming will premiere the all new Evostar cabinet at G2E Las Vegas 2016”

Why is the G2E Las Vegas a good fit for Merkur Gaming?

As well as being the prime show for the domestic US gaming market G2E is also a major attraction for visitors from across Latin America and beyond.

With the rapid, and continuing, expansion of Merkur Gaming Americas G2E is the event of major significance for our business. As is the case with ICE in London, the regional importance of the show is enhanced by the attraction of its location. Las Vegas is the modern day home of gaming and that clearly increases the attraction for our customers and guests, from far and wide.

What can visitors expect to see from you this year? Will you be launching any new products - others than the ones you've already introduced at other industry events such as ICE Totally Gaming?

What makes Merkur Gaming special are its people, its product and its devotion to excellence in innovation and the famed standard of German manufacturing. Our team will be joined in Las Vegas by new additions, from Mexico, the United States and from Colombia. They represent very real human assets as Merkur Gaming continues to build and strengthen its team and its capabilities across the Americas.

There will also be a world exclusive at G2E as Merkur Gaming gives a premiere to the all new Evostar cabinet. The title of course stands for Evolution and, while product details are being withheld until G2E opens its doors, it is expected that Evostar will be one of the hit products of the show. It will certainly be a ‘must see’ attraction for the many visitors can be expected on Merkur Gaming’s new, and dramatically enlarged, booth.

What will be the highlights of the 2016 G2E Vegas and why?

G2E in Las Vegas is an annual highlight in its own right. There are always surprises at G2E and it is a chance to see which developments will become the real gaming attractions of the future. Again, together with ICE, those two shows encapsulate in just six days everything that is good about the gaming industry: the chance to meet customers and guests, the chance to release new product innovations, the chance to meet and exchange ideas with fellow professionals and, most significantly, the chance to real business in real time.

What are operators most concerned about these days?

It is the operators’ duty to constantly evaluate the many factors that condition their business climate. Excellence within the operational sector runs parallel to the innovation and excellence of the manufacturing sector: neither can exist without the other. By using major events such as G2E those two elements of the international gaming industry can come together in the common goal of ensuring a continuing expansion of that industry; one that has such importance as a creator of wealth, employment and opportunity.

The gambling industry in the U.S. is going through a period of transition shaped by a range of factors, some of which have their roots within the country, while others are related to the natural affairs of the international scenario. How would you describe the current state of gambling? What does the future have in store for the sector?

As both an operator and a manufacturer within the gaming industry Merkur Gaming has the great benefit of, from its own experience, taking an informed overall view. That view is currently one of positivity and expectation.

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The gaming industry has a unique ability to re-invent itself and to adapt to a variety of political, legislative and commercial conditions

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As part of the wider entertainment industry gaming has, in recent times, shown a great dexterity in continuing to grow and prosper around the world. Long may that continue.

In a recent interview granted to Yogonet, a Pennsylvania official who's pushing to legalize online gambling in the Keystone State, said: “Sometime in the future, I see the U.S. being similar to Europe”. In your opinion, why is it taking so long for the U.S. to allow for gambling expansion in all its forms?

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It is immediately obvious that the US has a multi-faceted landscape when it comes to dealing with what can be collectively called ‘innovation’

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At Merkur Gaming, innovation is our tradition and it is our constant driving force. Adapting to the challenges of new markets is always a factor but, as is the case with the multiple new formats of gaming expansion in the US, challenges always represent one thing: opportunity. The skill lies in grasping opportunity, in whatever form it presents itself, and moving forward with tenacity and determination.