Spain was once an amusement market… It isn't now. From a situation a few years ago when the FER show was perhaps 35 per cent non-gambling equipment and 65 per cent AWP-style games, it has gradually edged into a five per cent: 95 per cent ratio.

That’s not surprising in any market which permits gaming machines in the street; after all, an AWP will always out-take an amusement game by a mile. And in the case of Spain, the fact that the country has the ‘loosest’ slots in Europe’s street market gives it that extra edge.

You can now go into a Spanish arcade - in most of the 17 semi-autonomous jurisdictions - and play for €1,000. And if you are in Andalucia, the most liberal of all of the communities, that can be €6,000.

The B2 machine, as they are called, the higher payout models, are given their own section within Spanish arcades and pay higher taxes, but no-one worries about higher taxes when the takes will justify them. For the bulk of the business, the AWP machine remains in place with its (generally) €240 top prize, which is still good enough to interest most players.

The show was therefore dominated by payout machines and the biggest draws were the B2 games. The size of the payouts and the potential size of that sector within Spain’s 240,000-machine market, was enough to see a strange sight…

A show dedicated to the Spanish street market with huge stands from the traditional casino slots makers. Novomatic was side-by-side with Atronic and Aristocrat. Not unnaturally, they had their eye on that B2 business which has now become close enough to their traditional market that it can no longer be ignored.

Equally big, however, were the booths from the bingo industry. The specialists in producing bingo games in upright terminals, linked together within one location, are situated in Spain. The three big exponents of this particular art, which is growing in importance as more and more communities permit them - and overseas sales in countries like Mexico are very significant - are Metronia, Global Zitro and Ortiz Gaming, all at FER with massive stands.

The big question on everyone’s lips was whether the country’s trade associations would come to an agreement with the show organisers to switch FER into April and dismantle the ‘second show’ - that in Malaga. At the time of writing, the news had not come in.

A full report, pictures and news will appear in the November issue of InterGame.