Evona continues to develop on all fronts There was due to be a strong presence at the London IGE show last month by Slovakian producer of automated table games, Evona.
The company, one of the first into this form of gaming, in 1991, specialises in electronic roulette, blackjack and dice games. It also produces slots for local markets.
Evona brought a range of its products to London, but also its casino management system GameNet. Like the table games, GameNet is going mostly into casinos and slots halls in different parts of the world, while its slot machines are best known in central and eastern Europe and its home market, Slovakia.
"Our multiplayer table games are known all over the world," said Pavel Blumel, sales manager, while Milan Koys is sales director. "We have our biggest markets in Asia - Cambodia, Macau and Vietnam are all customers."
He added that the company is just completing GLI compliance, but the penetration into Macau with an installation at the Paradiso had been completed via the Canadian accreditation TST, which recognises GLI standards.
"South and Central America and the Caribbean are growing markets and we have good business right now in Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, Bolivia and Venezuela. We are right across Europe, of course, and have some games now in Africa."
In London the company was due to present the new Linux-based platform, equipped with SAS protocol. The new software platform is for roulette; it is faster, more stable and has improved graphics.
"From a player’s point of view it will have a more modern appearance and better monitor interface, but most of the benefits are for the operator in terms of connectivity with a live system.
"It will be more robust and will handle ticketing, player tracking and other features including jackpotting and mysteries." He added: "It is a total overhaul, completely redesigned."
Also new for London was the Octavia, a new eight-player roulette which can be linked to an unlimited number of independent play stations.
Evona has gone through all of the sectors of the coin machine business on its way to its current status as one of the world’s leading suppliers of automated table games.
It began as a supplier to the street market in Slovenia, with amusement games, pool tables, darts machines and music, manufacturing and operating games.
This evolved into a concentration on gambling machines and then into electronic roulettes when they were first introduced into Europe from Taiwan.
"The first Asian games were not particularly reliable," said Blumel, "but several companies began to make them here, all at around the same time, some companies in Slovenia and ourselves in Slovakia."
Evona’s first electronic roulette reached the market in 1996/7. Today its output is split 50-50 between its production of casino slots and of automated table games.
Most of the Evona business today is in electronic casinos, or ‘slots arcades,’ but it has machines in live gaming casinos as well. It is now targeting some new markets, with a certificate in Spain where it is now in the course of seeking a partner to help sell Evona automated tables there.
"There are markets opening and markets closing all of the time," said Blumel. "We have business with 30 different countries and we have to keep on our toes - Kazakhstan and Russia with their new gambling zones, for example, is where we wish to regain our historically strong market share."
He said that the company would test in the US in 2009, aiming at the Indian reservation casinos, principally with the compact eight-player roulette which now has new software for its independent stations.
"Players can see a live picture of the wheel along with all the other important game statistics on the play station’s extra monitor, which means that they can play the game anywhere in the location.
"An eight-player no longer has to be an eight-player - it can be as many players as the operator can install independent stations."
