Although the amusement industry in Ireland has slowed down due to the poor economic situation in the country, redemption remains a steady seller there.
This was the view expressed by Micky Kennedy of Harry Levy Amusement Contractor at this week’s AmEx show in Dublin, Ireland. “Redemption is bigger here than it is in the UK,” he told InterGame. “The tendency is for Irish operators to designate specific areas of their arcades as redemption areas and that is the correct way of going about it. So redemption is one aspect of the industry that is buoyant here.”
He added that operators need to make a significant investment in redemption in order to make it work. “They need to site a minimum of 10 machines,” he said. “The also need to invest in such things as ticket eaters and management systems. Once all that is in place, the operators just needs to add to it year after year. It’s a long-term investment but good games can remain successful on site for five years or more.”
Two leading games in the market for Harry Levy are Crank It and Pull My Finger, both manufactured by US-based Bay Tek Games. However, Kennedy said that the industry had been hit by the economic situation in Ireland and that the lack of investment by the banks was a crucial factor.
