Ainsworth releases two new Ambassador games
Ainsworth Game Technology has two new games available to hoteliers, to maximise their gaming revenue. "Lucky Rabbits" was launched during the Easter period, and is proving a strong performer.
With entertaining cartoon-style animation, bright colours and adorable rabbit characters; the game offers lots of scattered ‘Lucky Rabbit' wins for maximum thrills.
"This game offers up to 25 free games and the opportunity to re-trigger feature during free spins," said Todd Triebler, Marketing Manager of Ainsworth Game Technology.
"We also have a new special feature: 3 high symbol ‘Lucky Rabbits' for maximum wins and player interactivity, and expect this to be a hit with hotel patrons," Triebler told Hotelier.
In addition, Galaxy Gold is the first in a series of games to feature a new ‘attract mode' use of the Ambassador BenchTop's revolutionary 29 inch screen.
"The ‘attract mode' introduces unique game animations and artwork on the top half of the screen. The pay table details are now relocated to their own full-size screen available at the touch of a button," explained Triebler
This unique Ambassador feature provides the player with larger symbols and explanations of the pay-table. The gaming experience is enhanced by the animations making full use of the Ambassador's 65,000 colour display and 3D graphics. Up to 25 free games and the opportunity to re-trigger during free spins are offered, and during free games all wins are tripled.

Hotel Groups link gaming rooms with new technology
Two leading Sydney hotel groups, P.J. Ryan's Hotels and the Surfside Hotel Group, have recently signed with Australian company MaxGaming, to operate linked poker machine jackpot systems for their numerous hotels.
The MaxGaming product offers individually themed, branded and configured linked jackpots utilising the exclusive MaxGaming 15 year jackpot licence.
"MaxGaming offers us a 'fraternal link' to our six hotels, so that we can offer an in-house jackpot between our various properties," said Peter Ryan, CEO of the PJ Ryan Group of Hotels.
With a NSW state-wide linked jackpot and an internal link between
properties, MaxGaming can offer choices to both small hoteliers and groups.
Predominantly based in the Sydney CBD, the PJ Ryan's Hotels and Surfside Hotel Group signings by MaxGaming will link several hundred machines over 13 strategically located venues, offering city players an even greater choice and chance to win large linked jackpots.
The Surfside Hotel Group will operate a 4 level link branded and themed
under the name "Las Vegas Link". Surfside will retain the top level of The Stash jackpot with payouts offering $20,000 - $25,000 and introduce an additional 3 levels of jackpot, starting from $88 up to a $55,000 top prize. This will operate at all of their member hotels.
The P.J. Ryan group is offering their players a chance to win one of three levels of poker machine jackpots, themed as "Treasure Quay" with prizes starting from $50 up to $15,000.
"There are now three large hotel groups operating their own jackpot links in the Sydney area, namely the Surfside Hotel Group, Ryan and Laundy Groups," said Maxgaming Sales and Marketing Manager John Newson.
"They have chosen configurations to support their customer's requirements, and in each case they have linked most of their machines at all of their sites. With greater than 800 machines already participating in various maxgaming hotel links throughout NSW hotels and thousands of dollars in jackpots won daily, the big winners are the customers - and the operators."

Aristocrat takes lion's share of business in NSW hotels
Poker machine manufacturer Aristocrat has advised Hotelier magazine that it has
increased its market share in NSW hotels, and now boasts 80 per cent market share.
"Based on data we obtained from the DGR, as of January 2004, King of the Nile has grown to over 1000 machines while 50 Lions is up to 600 machines," Aristocrat told Hotelier. "Quarter on quarter Hotel machines have increased in turnover by 3% on average per EGM. This is comparing Sept 2003 with Sept 2002."
Hot on the heels of successful games released in 2003 Aristocrat has a number of new
games in the pipeline that will be rolled out progressively throughout the year. It is through such games as 50 Lions, King of the Nile, Dream Catcher, and Hyperlink(r) and Bonus Bank products, that Aristocrat continues to grow its market position in NSW.

Aristocrat Technologies Receives Key Product Approvals in Three of America's Largest Gaming Jurisdictions
US subsidiary Aristocrat Technologies, Inc., has received key product approvals in three of the largest gaming jurisdictions in the United States, allowing the Company to now offer its most innovative games to casinos nationwide.
The New Jersey Casino Control Commission recently approved Aristocrat's random bonusing product Mr. Cashman® and its globally patented Reel Power® game, a unique concept where players buy reels instead of lines. Aristocrat offers both products on select base video slot games designed on Aristocrat's powerful MKVI™ slot platform.
The Company also announced that the Mississippi Gaming Commission approved three of its top-performing MKVI video slots - King of the Nile™, Tiki Torch™, and Double Dolphins®.
And in Nevada, the country's largest gaming jurisdiction, Aristocrat received Nevada Gaming Commission approval for eight additional MKVI games - Boot Scootin'®, Go Ape, Sun & Moon™, King of the Nile, Wild Amazon®, Black Panther®, Gamblin Jack, and Wild Cougar®.
"It's very exciting to see these product approvals continue to come in, allowing us to further expand our product offerings in the largest gaming jurisdictions in the country," said Gavin Isaacs, President of Aristocrat Technologies, Inc.
"Reel Power and Mr. Cashman are two of our best-performing and most innovative products worldwide; we're thrilled to be able to offer our New Jersey customers the chance to delight their players with this boundary-pushing technology. Mississippi customers now get to play our MKVI video slots, which feature multipliers and a variety of bonusing features to increase player excitement and anticipation.

Pacific machines a hit at Thommo's
Pacific Gaming's Voodoo Magic poker machine is exceeding expectations within the Thommo's Group of Hotels. The machines have been operating within the group of member hotels within the Sydney metropolitan area since late February.
"The game is in the top 20% of 1 cent denominational play," Geoffrey Glynn, the CEO of the Thommo's Group of hotels informed Hotelier. "This is our first Pacific machine as part of our endeavour to offer a range of different manufacturer's machines.
"We are extremely impressed with the results. Performance is exceptional. Voodoo Magic has strong player appeal across all age brackets."
Pacific Regional Business Manager - Hotels, Louise Heffernan explained that this is only the
beginning of Pacific's strategy to focus on the hotel market. "We are pleased that Thommos realised the value of Voodoo Magic in their gaming machine choice, which we believe is extremely popular with players," she said.
"We will continue to focus on the hotel gaming market, and look forward to further installations from both Thommos and other hotel groups who are looking at a great return on their investment."
Pacific Gaming have entered into a strategic relationship with the Thommos Group of Hotels, which was established in 1997, and whose strong brand identity is visible in numerous hotels throughout Sydney.

IGT's Winning Combination
IGT continues to expand on their winning combination with the release of a variety of new games. Leading the pack is Classics, an innovative new link product.
"Classics" has been designed using a symbol driven scatter progressive jackpot system that offers four metered prizes. "A key point of difference to this new product is that players can win a jackpot at any time during play, whether they are in the feature or the base game", said Melinda Madigan, IGT's General Manager Marketing.
"Clearly this gives players an equal chance to win and they never feel like they will miss out, so there is a high perception of value."
The Double Diamond series has been a success across gaming floors over the past year and are classed as the leading mid-denomination games in the industry. The series was recently boosted with the release of two new games ‘Royal Riches and ‘Lucky Hearts'.Providing 5 cent and 10 cent games provides a balance between $1 and 1c games.
"This product reinforces the industry's move toward raising the performance bar with more 5 cent and 10 cent products", said David Byrne, IGT Sales Manager NSW and ACT.
"These games have proven their worth and continue to be a standout with IGT being the only company to deliver a solid performing product range in the mid denomination", continued Mr Byrne.
IGT has also maintained a focus on dynamic new standalone game concepts such as ‘Enchanted Unicorn' a number one game from the US. Enchanted Unicorn features charming and exquisite imagery that has a magical and mystical feel. Characteristics include a Treasure Chest Bonus, captivating Unicorn substitute and charming Moon Scatter. The Treasure Chest bonus features a delightful prize ladder where players select a box to reveal prizes in individual steps, trying to avoid the wizard to receive bonus credits.

The federal government is considering a range of options as part of plans to implement new global standards that clamp down on the use of betting to disguise the origin of cash. Following industry consultation, draft legislation is expected as early as May, allowing laws to take force from next year. In addition to potentially urging gambling businesses to track occasional customers, the government is concerned about the relative anonymity of online and telephone betting - which makes it hard to identify and monitor customers for suspicious wagering transactions. The legislation may also require casinos to track the movement of players from table to table under tough new plans to crack down on money laundering.

Falling poker machine sales across the nation could soon rise if a recent increase in interest from businesses follows through.
Mr Len Ainsworth, founder of Aristocrat and current chairman of Ainsworth Game Technology, believes domestic sales are about to lift. He said on Channel Nine's Business Sunday television program that excessive regulation and taxes have curbed domestic activity in recent times.
He believes that gaming venues "are understanding that they can't sit down and worry about what the taxes are going to do. Rather, they must concentrate on lifting their earnings - and their earnings depend essentially on poker machines."

$20 note limit for NZ pokies
In an attempt to curb gambling spend, poker machines in New Zealand no longer accept notes greater than $20. Until March 18, banknote acceptors took notes of any denomination.
Parliament decided to limit banknote acceptors to $20 as a way of slowing down how much money gamblers can put into gaming machines. It takes a machine about as long to scan and accept a $20 note as it takes a gambler to insert $20 in coins. Gamblers using $50 and $100 notes gamble much faster than they can if they put coins into machines.
If any machines are found still taking greater denominations operators can be fined up to $10,000 per machine.

New gaming machine clamps
The Victorian Government plans to slash the number of poker machines in suburbs with a high proportion of problem gamblers.
Gaming Minister John Pandazopoulos announced that existing caps on the number of machines would also be extended into neighbouring suburbs with similar socio-economic and gambling problems. The Government plans to double the number of capped areas in Melbourne and regional Victoria to 10, to better target problem gambling.
Mr Pandazopoulos said the new regions and boundaries would be based on public access to gaming machines, average player losses and the socio-economic status of an area.
"The independent gaming authority will determine the appropriate number of gaming machines in the new capped areas."
As a result, operators could be forced to remove up to 1000 pokies from problem areas under the new and extended caps, but the overall number of machines in Victoria would remain at 27,500.
Initiatives to combat problem gambling in Victoria include bans on advertising of poker machines, freezing the number of machines in Victoria, giving more power to councils over the placement of machines and regulated loyalty schemes to allow players to set loss limits.

Card and board games a hit in pubs
A number of Sydney hotels are finding that there is a resurgence in the popularity of games such as chess and scrabble with their patrons.
Pubs such as the Darlo Bar in Darlinghurst, the Friend in Hand in Glebe, Barons in Kings Cross, and the Rose of Australia in Erskineville offer a range of games which also include Connect Four and Ludo. Tournaments are also popular and fun among the locals.

Growth predicted for Australian company Betcorp
Leading gaming analyst Sean Monaghan from ABN Amro believes that Betcorp's share price is undervalued.
Their recent report values the stock at $1, following a landmark ruling from the World Trade Organisation.
Betcorp earns 100% of its group earnings through its wholly-owned World Wide Tele Sports (WWTS) activities, which are based in Antigua. In late 2003, the government of Antigua challenged the US government at the World Trade Organisation (WTO), with respect to the US trying to block its citizens using credit cards to gamble on-line. In a landmark ruling at the end of March, the WTO ruled that the US legislative stance is illegal under international law. This means that US players, which represent the majority of internet gamblers, can legally bet at WWTS.
"While the US will likely appeal this decision, we believe the risk profile of on-line gambling operators is declining, and the risk profile of Betcorp's earnings are lower," said Mr Monaghan.
"If a large US bank were to start allowing credit card processing for on-line gambling, this could actually increase expenditure of US residents."
Betcorp is debt free and is generating significant cash flow. WWTS receives over $1 billion in wagers annually and has paid out five billion dollars in winnings to date.
Betcorp's Australian-based business, Sportsbet, is Australia's first licensed sports bookmaker. It is predominantly an online sports betting business, with an internet betting site that has been operational since June 2001, and provides telephone betting services.

Gambling in Australia: thrills, spills and social ills
A new exhibition in Sydney looks at the past and present of gambling in all its major forms - the lotteries, racetracks, the Tote and TAB, hotels, licensed clubs and casinos.
Sydney's Powerhouse Museum opened their showcase Gambling in Australia on April 7.
It covers the evolution of gambling over the past two centuries, analysing its place in the national psyche.
The display is divided into a 5000-word catalogue that explores the origins and evolution of gambling in Australia over the past two centuries, with accompaniments such as paintings and photographs.
The $500,000 exhibition is funded by the Casino Community Benefit Fund, which was established to channel 1 per cent of Star City Casino's proceeds into social programs, including G-Line, a telephone counselling service for problem gamblers.