So the Germans have bought Praesepe and therefore own the cream of the UK adult gaming centres. And this on top of the Austrians buying Bell-Fruit and Gamestec. What price the Germans getting Sceptre? No wonder the Independent Operators’ Association has the jitters.
So would it be a problem if Gauselmann get Sceptre? Or Novomatic get Gala’s bingo clubs (another rumour, but we've also had Gauselmann's name attached to that speculation). Let the Germans and Austrians fight over the carcass of the UK gaming machine business, I say. We can’t support it ourselves, the banks won’t advance us the money to build on what we’ve got, so let’s have German/Austrian money instead. I welcome it…
For those who say they’re all the same anyway, that’s the equivalent of saying the Welsh are “all the same” as the English. Watch me when we play them at rugby…
The two are rivals in the German street market with uncompromising lack of charity, which is fine. There is nothing worse than one company dominating a market. And they have far more business sense than to simply ‘buy British’ to spite one-another.
As long as they don’t try to bring the German ‘model’ to the UK with its rented software, hardware sharing and an avoidance of digital downloading. That would not be a step forward, rather more like ticket-in ticket-out, a bridge between cash and cards… we don’t need that.
