Britain’s 650 seaside arcades represent the UK’s fastest growing sector – as FECs.
The United Distributing Company’s Derek Horwood confirmed at the London Open Day that his sales director Michael Green had ‘hit the nail on the head’ with that assessment.
The conversion of the traditional seaside arcade into a fully-fledged FEC is gathering momentum, said Horwood. “Seaside arcades are now in reality FECs and their business is practically all in redemption games. It is the fastest growing sector by far and our business is now very much weighted towards this genre and, for us at least, gambling devices have taken a back seat.”
He added: “The typical family - parents plus two children - get more fun playing novelty redemption games where they can win prizes, rather than paying money into gaming machines. For years redemption has been big business across the Atlantic. It would appear that now, belatedly, it is heading over here.”
