"Novomatic is very strong in the Peruvian market"

Could you tell us about the products that NOVOMATIC decided to exhibit this year at Peru Gaming Show?

At the beginning of the year, we launched three new cabinets for international casino markets. We previewed them for the first time internationally at ICE in London, then took them to G2E Asia and showed them for the first time in the Asian market. Now, at the Peru Gaming Show last week, we showcased them for the first time in Latin America.

Those cabinets are the PANTHERA 2.27, PANTHERA Curve 1.43 and V.I.P. Lounge Curve 1.43. The PANTHERA 2.27 features two 27-inch monitors and a new 15.6-inch interactive touch deck. On this cabinet, we are presenting a range of titles, including the new NOVO LINE Interactive Edition X mix that features 10 strong NOVOMATIC titles, as well as Jackpot Edition deluxe that adds an exciting two-level progressive jackpot to NOVO LINE games.

The PANTHERA Curve 1.43 is the cabinet we are pushing with our new Enchanted Fortunes Linked Jackpot. We are presenting this linked progressive jackpot here with 6 titles: Asian Fortunes, Pyramid Fortunes, Treasure of Tut, Goddess Rising, Book of Ra Mystic Fortunes, as well as Voodoo Fortunes with the game’s main character coming to life on the show floor.

On the V.I.P. Lounge Curve 1.43 cabinet, together with the V.I.P. Scorpion Chair, we are presenting the new NOVO LINE Concurve Edition 4 with titles such as Pure Jewels Xtreme, Phoenix and Book of Ra Xpand.

As I mentioned, this is the first outing for these new products in Latin America, and they should be ready for the Peruvian market by the end of this year.

We also have some products firmly established in the market that we are showing again in Peru such as the NOVOSTAR 2.24 and GAMINATOR Scorpion 2.24 cabinets with a wide selection of popular games and NOVOMATIC classics.

Finally, we are showing the Octavian myACP system, which continues to spread in terms of installations and popularity, especially throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Is this screen on the side of the bank of machines for advertising or for playing?

For advertising. We have a media technology company, NOVOMATIC Media Technologies, and produce a variety of customized signage, end of bank fillers, big displays, for lots of international casinos. The operator has the option to use these for their own advertising, or we can supply graphics that relate to the game, for promotions, tournaments or jackpots.

So they can buy just the machine or the machines plus this advertising.

Yes.

Can you tell us about the products that are already well-known here in Peru? What is your best-seller in the country?

Well, it’s difficult to single out a particular product as we are very strong in the market and the Peruvian casino market is both large and diverse.

There are a good mix of games that perform very well, the NOVOMATIC classics such as Dolphin’s Pearl, Sizzling Hot and Roaring Forties are some of the most popular traditionally. We also have new titles such as Hold Your Horses, which is performing very well. We also have a wide selection of cabinets for our content. Most recently, the V.I.P. Lounge has been a best-seller, and since its launch in Peru last year, has been an outstanding success.

What is the biggest challenge for NOVOMATIC this year in Peru? What’s next?

Our biggest challenge in Peru is that the NOVOMATIC classic titles are so strong in the market that introducing new games means having to compete or succeed these games – as players have built such an affinity to these games this always remains challenging. However, we like to package games in different ways, in different cabinets, with newer versions, and giving players more options such as the Jackpot Edition Deluxe and the Enchanted Fortunes Linked Jackpot.

We really understand the Peruvian market. We operated in Peru for many years and through that, could really get hands-on with products inside the venues and understand player wants and needs closely. We continue to feed that insight back into our development, especially for Peru.

What’s next depends on the way the market moves forward and how regulations dictate that. Online gaming is something currently being discussed in Peru, following the recent legalization in Colombia. The way that the regulatory framework has been constructed in Colombia is very robust, very transparent and I think this could be a framework that could potentially be adopted by other Latin American countries including Peru. We are already in negotiations for Greentube to supply NOVOMATIC content in Colombia, so if the Peruvian market opens with a similar regulation, we will be in a position to enter this online market too, so that could be part of future growth here.

NOVOMATIC used to operate casinos in Peru until last year. Are you projecting to buy or develop new casinos in the country?

At this moment in time, we continue to concentrate our operations in Europe as a priority. On the supply side, we are committing resources to the development of new content for the regional markets, with Latin America being one of our main focuses.