For LAI Games' Marshall Ashdown, while the EAG International show "seemed a little smaller and undoubtedly the footfall was down on last year, overall it was a very positive experience as the visitors to the booth proved to be mostly serious buyers."

He added: "I hate to repeat the old cliché but it was definitely a case of quality rather than quantity as far as visitors were concerned. I guess it helps having a much better range of games this year and our Speed of Light in particular generated a huge buzz at the stand - and more importantly very healthy orders."

More generally, Ashdown noted that business in eastern Europe, the Middle East, Russia and even the UK, through distributor AMG Leisure, is currently performing well. Business in the US has also picked up slightly and the manufacturer is "certainly seeing better results this year so far compared with last."