Hot new games from Aristocrat
Hotel gaming operators can look forward to a progressive roll out of innovative new games from Aristocrat over the coming months.
The good news for South Australia is there is an abundance of hot games soon to be released. Following the successful launch of Mr Cashman in January, publicans can look forward to MKVI Dolphin Treasure, 50 Lions, Wild Goose and Dolphin Treasure.
Queensland is expecting a resurgence of interest in its Hyperlink products including Jackpot Carnival, Fast Lane and Scorchin Fortune, with the release of new three new games for each theme. From the Bonus Bank range, Lucky Devil continues to deliver great results for venues, expanding on the successful Bonus Bank concept that started with Mr Cashman.
In New South Wales Kenyan Gold and Silk Road are reporting strong performance, and the release of the innovative new Zorro product will be another valuable addition to NSW Hotel floors.
Aristocrat told Australian Hotelier that Zorro received NSW regulatory approval on March 3, and is available from mid to late March. The game offers five Bonus Zorro trigger features. When players spin up the letters Z-O-R-R-O across all five reels, they are taken to one of these exciting features.
One feature sees a tornado rip across the screen to reward players with free credit bonuses. Choose a Magic Door gives players the chance to win five free games with the added chance of credit prizes. If the Wild Z is triggered, players are automatically awarded three free games. In the barrel feature, players can choose their own number of free games. Zorro has added a multiplier with each free game choice.
Finally, in the Gold Coins feature, players simply touch two Gold Coins until two matching prizes have been revealed. This win is multiplied by any revealed multiplier giving the player the chance to win more.

Year of the Monkey latest game offering from AGT
Ainsworth Game Technology continues to build on the success of their Chinese New Year games with the release of "Year of the Monkey" for 2004.
The concept develops a new game every year inline with the signs of the Chinese horoscope. Previous releases "Year of the Goat" & "Year of the Horse" both set a strong performance precedent nationally, and "Year of the Monkey" is already showing positive returns.
Marketing Manager, Todd Triebler identifies that the games have wide reaching appeal and are a popular choice for patrons seeking a fun game that will entertain, excite & satisfy.
"These games are strategically designed to reflect ancient Chinese culture. Additionally, they incorporate popular free games & an interactive feature sequence. This combination ensures that the "Year of the Monkey" appeals to both fun-seekers & premium players". "Year of the Monkey" is available in 1, 2 & 5-cent denomination as well as one dollar variation ("Year of the Monkey Bucks").

Stargames: The other Australian listed gaming machine manufacturer.
Did you know that Stargames was the second Australian Poker Machine Manufacturer to list on the Australian Stock Exchange? Well, there is much more to Stargames than just their public ASX profile, and the fact that they paid their first dividend to shareholders in their third year of listing .
Based in Milperra, in Sydney's south west, the company designs and assembles its entire range of gaming machines, multi-terminal gaming machines and accessories.
The team at Stargames is under no illusions that the hotel sector is still a relatively fresh field for them, particularly in the more mature market of New South Wales. However, their new sales to hotels have been steadily increasing each year for the past three years.
Peter Wilkins, NSW Hotel Trade Relationship Manager with Stargames explained to Australian Hotelier, "Our goal was to be considered a genuine alternative to the established players in the hotel market. Advances in our game design and hardware have seen that goal come to fruition."
Stargames enters 2004 with the imminent release of a new style of cabinet, eStar™. This release, combined with the extension of a cross license agreement with WMS Gaming®, one of the USA's largest gaming machine suppliers, is expected to support Stargames to reach another stellar year and further their gains into the Australian Hotel gaming machine market.

International gaming machine giant brings hit game show to Australia
IGT, the number one gaming machine supplier in the world, now offers the new Sale of Centuryâ„¢ game to Australian publicans.
The game show, Sale of the Century, has been a global success throughout the world. Now, Australian hoteliers have the opportunity to offer their players this feature packed game design, enhanced with a special vac form, internally lit machine topper.
"Big Brand games inject a clear point of difference to a gaming floor", says Melinda Madigan IGT's General Manager Marketing.
"With authentic sounds, features and logos direct from TV and movie classics,
games such as Sale of the Centuryâ„¢ create immediate association and recall. That means instant attraction".
"They say it's all in the timing, and our feedback indicates that Sale of the Century is about to make a comeback on Australian TV with a well known Aussie star hosting the show", added Ms Madigan.
Another exciting new product, designed specifically with hotels in mind, is IGT's "Reel 21", a new spinning reel game with a feature that incorporates a card game.
Historically card games were outstandingly popular with hotel players, but many hotels found it was more profitable to use their gaming space to accommodate poker machines. Reel 21 incorporates the best of both worlds. Players now have the opportunity to play the reels and play cards for double the fun.
"I believe that Reel 21 is a promising performer for our hotels," said Carolyn West, CEO of PublinkCorp, that manages six leading city pub gaming venues. "In fact, we've just placed an order for Reel 21 games and are confident that players will enjoy them."
Reel Twenty One's feature is characteristically similar to well-known card games where a player is dealt two cards and decides whether to ‘stand' and take their prize or ‘hit' and take a chance at winning a higher prize.
Reel Twenty One is set to recapture the interest of cardie players in hotel venues.
"Reel 21 brings back a bit of history into hotels and further demonstrates IGT's approach to the constant development of new game types targeting various player segments" said John Dorahy IGT's NSW Hotel Sales Manager.

Keno Player to Fight Gaming Regulators Ruling
Victorian keno player Andrew Devery will continue his $11.5 million fight with Australian lottery operator Tattersall's over a Club Keno ticket.
Following an investigation, the Office of Gaming Regulation informed Tattersall's that there was not a breach of the rules when Mr Devery's Club Keno ticket at a suburban hotel stated he won a total of $11,576,279.04 when his lucky numbers came up.
When he took the Spot 10 Club Keno ticket to be checked, he says the winning details came up on a computer terminal - which a staff member then printed.
The Office of Gaming Regulation ruled that Tattersall's did not have to pay the winnings, as the receipt as printed did not reflect the Keno system transaction files and was caused by an error in the printer software. However, Mr Devery maintains his winning details were on the computer screen, and that the win was recorded by Tattersall's central gaming computer.

Sky City bets $195m on Darwin casino
New Zealand based Sky City Entertainment agreed to buy the Darwin Casino from MGM Mirage Inc for $A195 million in February, subject to Northern Territory government and Foreign Investment Review Board approval. This process is expected to be finalised in April.
The deal, subject to regulatory approvals, marks a further consolidation of Australia' gambling sector following Tabcorp's acquisition of Jupiters' last year, and the pending control of the NSW TAB.
Sky City owns the Adelaide Casino and three in New Zealand. Sky City managing director Evan Davies said that the Darwin casino had recently undertaken a $18 million property upgrade, and 90 per cent of the gaming machines are less than three and a half years old.
Gambling operations include three gaming rooms, 26 tables, 450 poker machines and 50 NT Keno venues. Gaming represents approximately 78 per cent of the property's total per annum revenue of A$74 million.

Smart cards for gamblers
Victorian Labor leader Mark Latham has pledged to offer smart cards for problem gamblers in his lead up to the next federal election.
If all goes to plan, poker machine venues may be forced to issue players with the cards which would lock out problem gamblers when a designated amount of money is lost. The cards would be linked to every poker machine venue in Australia to stop problem gamblers moving from venue to venue after the card's limit was reached.

South Australia pokies to be cut
Three thousand gaming machines look set to be removed from South Australian pubs and clubs, following a bill to reduce the number of poker machines in SA by 20 per cent. The announcement follows a recommendation by the Independent Gambling Authority last year to cut gaming machine numbers to 12,000 from the present 15,000.
AHA general manager John Lewis condemned the planned laws, citing a 1998 Productivity Commission report that showed a cap on gaming machines did not reduce problem gambling.
"Our fundamental position is there is no real link between gaming machine numbers and harm," he said.
The government said it was unsure how much revenue would be lost by reducing poker machine numbers and said no compensation would be paid to venues.
Under the planned laws, venues must cut machine numbers to a maximum of 20.
The Australian Hotels Association has been actively lobbying South Australia's 69 MPs over the past month.
Hotels say they will support a package of reform in return for 10 years of certainty for the industry. The recommendation is that all venues with more than 28 machines will have eight machines confiscated, without compensation. Venues licensed for 21-27 machines would have the number cut to 20.

Aristocrat selects Transact printers
Aristocrat has selected TransAct's Series 850 line of thermal printers to be largely used for slot machines in the Australian gaming market.

RaceTab tops internet gambling sites
The TAB's website www.racetab.com.au is the most popular Australian gambling site, according to Hitwise who tracks website activity. Based on vitis, RaceTab scored 11.85%, closely followed by TabOnline with 10.49%. Third and fourth place also went to the NSW TAB's associated sites.

Burswood rolls a $24.1m profit
The Burswood Casino in Wetsern Australia recently announced a net profit after tax of $24.1 million for the six months ended 31 December 2003, up from the $4.5 million reported in the previous corresponding period.
The local gaming business achieved revenue growth of 8% with main gaming floor tables up 9%, gaming machines up 12% and high-end local play suffering from a decline due to a low win rate. The very strong growth in gaming machine revenue reflected the continued upgrading of machines and the inclusion of new Aristocrat games such as Crazy Balls and Arishinko. The casino plans to introduce additional gaming machines over the next six months to replace older, less popular games.

Aristocrat retains market share
Poker machine manufacturer Aristocrat continues to hold the lion's share of the Australian gaming machine market.
The company recently reported its annual earning for the year ended 2003. Even though revenue from machines in Australia was down 16% to $302 million, market share remained stable at 66% as overall sales nationally are not as buoyant. Prices were maintained throughout the year and hyperlink continues to outperform floor averages.

AGT posts maiden profit
Ainsworth Game Technology recently announced a $5.3 million turnaround in its results to post its inaugural profit for the last six months to December. The $0.7 million net profit after tax was based on a 59% rise in revenue to $29.2 million.
The strong growth was primarily a result of international sales, although AGT had increased unit sales in NSW with its Celebrity machine. Executive Chairman Mr Len Ainsworth said "Despite the poor local climate, our domestic unit sales rose 131 per cent, largely due to the expansion of our range of gaming machines to three models - allowing customers to choose from the advanced Ambassador or Celebrity models."

Ebet enjoys gaming systems growth
Gaming technology company eBet's card-based cashless gaming systems, player tracking and loyalty systems and data management solutions continue to experience growth in the Australian gaming market.
According to its latest financial results, there was a significant increase in gaming systems sales over the past 12 months. In addition, recurring revenue from support and licensing fees continues to grow as more venues upgrade to their latest systems.
The Company's gaming systems products, including its flagship integrated gaming solution for slot machines, EPS (electronic payment system), enjoyed strong sales during the period with an increasing number of NSW gaming venues recognising the operational benefits and efficiencies offered by eBet's comprehensive product line-up.
However, Managing Director Mr Keith Cullen noted that "we have still only installed new systems and upgrades to around 10% of the total NSW market, highlighting the substantial further growth available in NSW alone."
Outside of NSW the Company recorded sales from Queensland, through gaming systems distributor UniTAB, in New Zealand, through gaming systems distributor United Gaming, and direct sales into Singapore and the Philippines.
Total revenue for the six months ending December 2003 was $8.7 million. During the period, eBet disposed of its under performing sports and race betting subsidiary Sports Acumen. Including the subsidiary the company reported a small loss for the period, however, Mr Cullen noted that on a "continuing business" basis (i.e. without the disposed of subsidiary) the company reported a maiden Half Year profit of $242,000.

New machine platform and eStar gaming cabinet
Manufacturer Stargames has announced that the research and development is progressing on its new eStar gaming cabinet and PC-based poker machine platform, and will soon be available for release to the market.
In their annual results for fiscal year ended 2003, the company advised that "for the full year to June 2004, Stargames'® performance should be assisted by the release of the Stargames' new eStar™ cabinet, the new platform, a new range of games, and Stargames' low cost base".
Stargames consolidated profit after tax for the half year ending 31 December 2003 was $1.626 million, up 23% on the previous corresponding period. Gaming Division profit after tax was up 10% to $1.909 million on sales revenues of $25.064 million, which were up 19%.
60% of sales were to customers in Australia and New Zealand and 40% to export customers in Europe, Asia and South America. In addition to gaming machines, the company has had increasing success with its Vegas Star and Rapid Roulette table gaming products.
During the past year, Stargames released a range of new stand alone and linked jackpot games to the Australian market, although. Stargames' brand licensed games released included Daredevil™, Ghost Rider™, Prince Valiant™, Mandrake the Magician™, Flash Gordon™, Blankety Blanks, Price is Right and Family Feud. New games licensed from WMS Gaming Inc® in the USA and released by Stargames included Treasure Hunt™, Leprechaun's Gold™, and The Jade Monkey.
All of Stargames' standard manufacturing activities have now been outsourced, and their production now involves final assembly, quality control, testing and despatch activities.