The 400 game centres in Hong Kong now have a strong element of gaming machines in them, according to a report by an InterGame correspondent. Pushers, baccarat, blackjack and slots are installed alongside conventional amusement machines.
The trend stems from the failure by the authorities to have touchscreen poker games rated as illegal. The 2003 action by the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority, which approves arcade licences in Hong Kong, failed because it was unable to show that touchscreen poker games took bets or paid prizes.
That brought in a number of games new to the market, led by Konami’s horse racing game, G1 Winning Sire. It was quickly followed by pushers from Japan and slots from Taiwan.
The InterGame report on Hong Kong will appear in an upcoming issue.
