Thursday 14th August 2014
FOBTs: have we all gone horse racing mad?
If you’ve read the tabloids recently, you could be forgiven for thinking that our industry’s trade association BACTA has done the unthinkable by calling for high-stakes gaming machines, known as Fixed Odds Betting Terminals, to be allowed in all adult gaming venues. FOBTs allow sizeable bets of around £50 per spin on roulette, for example … Continued
Monday 11th August 2014
Bad Robots – when gaming machines fight back
Gaming machines have to put up with a lot, as inebriated customers poke and prod their screens and buttons, before fumbling around the payout tray to retrieve any winnings. So it’s little surprise that they’re finally fighting back, as part of a newly commissioned comedy series for E4. Bad Robots is a six-part series by … Continued
Thursday 31st July 2014
Licence changes could be good for juke box hire
Venues interested in juke box hire could soon find it is easier for them to offer recorded music, without the need for special permission under entertainment licensing laws. A consultation by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport concluded earlier this month, with broad support for the proposal to treat both live and recorded music … Continued
Friday 25th July 2014
Growth in Machine Games Duty shows value of game machine hire
Gaming machine hire is a way for venue owners and managers to tap into a multimillion pound market, particularly during the summer months. The latest Betting, Gaming & Lottery Duty Bulletin, published by HMRC and the ONS, shows tax receipts up to and including June 2014. In that month alone, £15 million was collected in … Continued
Friday 18th July 2014
Pub pool tables continue to set the scene
Pub pool tables help to bring a sense of scenery to pubs – and this summer, they have been doing the same in several theatre productions.The latest of these is A Handful of Stars, a production at London’s Trafalgar Studios until Friday July 25th.A previous run of the show at Theatre503 was a sell-out success, … Continued
Friday 27th June 2014
How gaming machines can have emotional impact
Gaming machines often feature a large sign attached to the top of them, advertising the biggest jackpot that can be won in any one game – which is now £100 on the more modern pub machines and up to £400 on club machines. But is the chance of monetary reward the greatest motivating factor in … Continued
Friday 20th June 2014
Gaming machines perform well on ‘price elasticity of demand’
Gaming machines are among the best performers in the UK betting and gaming market on the economic measure of ‘price elasticity of demand’. This is a principle that is used to estimate how much an increase in price might reduce demand – and therefore profits – so retailers and operators know what price point will … Continued
Friday 13th June 2014
A successful World Cup for gaming machines
England’s World Cup campaign may not have gone to plan, but there’s plenty of reasons why gaming machines are likely to have benefited – and may continue to do so until the final is played. Figures from Halifax show how Britons engaged with their finances during the first England match, with cash machine withdrawals down … Continued
Friday 6th June 2014
An immersive theatre experience set around a pub pool table
A piece of so-called ‘promenade theatre’ in Manchester’s Ancoats district sees small groups of audience members taken through a series of settings, including a scene featuring a pub pool table. Angel Meadow opened on June 10th and runs until June 29th, an ANU Productions feature attached to Manchester’s HOME arts project. It challenges the audience … Continued
