Amatic of Austria had a strong presence at the second South-East European Gaming Expo in Belgrade last week.
"The show is in just its second year and this is an emerging market, so it is difficult to predict how things will develop," said the company’s George Steiner. "We just know that it is important for us to establish our name here early if we are to be a part of the market when it is developed."
He said that the development of the industry in Serbia was pretty much in line with the development of the country itself. "Everybody is waiting to see what changes will happen regarding regulations. Machine income is low at the moment and operators are not investing in machines because their licences are being reviewed in May.
"If the right things happen then, the business here could experience a boom. At the moment operators want cheap machines, but we think this situation will change over the next few years. As the average income increases, the industry will benefit. We have already seen this pattern in the Baltic states, Hungary and Romania."
Indicating the exhibiting companies, Steiner added: "All these people are here to make contacts. They want to have achieved brand recognition by the time the market takes off. That is certainly our approach - this is a marketing exercise rather than a sales exercise. Serbia is not quite ready yet for machines like ours."
