Supplier News
UK – Blueprint Gaming spearheading British AWP revolution
By Phil - 3 September 2014
Any adult visitor to the UK will know just how important ‘going to the pub’ is for the British.
It is a way of life – a chance to relax with friends and colleagues – and reflects the social importance of interaction. Naturally times are changing and younger people are making more use of electronic means of communication and social networks.
This has had an effect of the number of pubs in the UK but also the type of pubs. As older fashioned pubs may be closing, newer, more stylish pubs are opening up.
The UK pub culture is changing on another front as well which is key for the gaming market.
The traditional business model of providing single-game reel-based machines is seeing increased competition from video-based multi-game machines. This is a transition that took place back in 2006 in Germany. The parallels are there to see in the UK. The Gauselmann Group is one of the most successful supplier of AWPs in the German market and equally has built up a strong presence in the UK. The UK market is therefore perfectly positioned to benefit from the Gauselmann winning games and gaming machines.
Blueprint Gaming unites the best of both worlds in the UK gaming market – being a game developer and gaming machine supplier.
The games can be found in practically every gaming segment–such as AWP, LBO, VLT, bingo, online and mobile.
The machine division is headed up by Simon Barff who is already foreseeing how the
UK AWP (Category C) market is changing and the role the Gauselmann Group is playing.
He commented: “The old way was to provide single-game, reel-based machines that moved from site to site depending on their popularity and age.
This is a costly process and assumes tight machine management control… It is vital that machines like these are changed on a regular basis to maintain player interest, and to leave a machine on-site for too long a period will cause a loss of vital income. We know how video-based multi-game AWPs have revolutionised the market in Germany – and that is how we foresee the UK market going. We are perfectly placed to play a key role here as our parent company is the Gauselmann Group”.
Blueprint Gaming has already provided several thousand video-based multi-game AWPs in the market. The Gauselmann Group is strategically positioned in several segments in the UK market – with Blueprint Gaming for game development and machine sales, with Praesepe in the arcade and bingo segments and with a participation in Sceptre Leisure that operates AWPs in the pub segment.
The wide selection of cabinets–all developed and manufactured at the Gauselmann headquarters in Lübbecke, Germany–enables customers to give players an unbelievable choice.
The new ‘Genie’ cabinet joins the already established ‘Playmaker’, ‘Vision Slant Top’ and ‘Vision Casino’ series.
“These cabinets are built to superb standards in Germany and offer multigame menus. The possibility to reprogramme them on-site is the key benefit. The cabinets are eye-catching and built to last. The fact that the games are continually updated means that the costly furniture removal pro- cess can be negated. That gives retailers and machine operators peace of mind and saves money”, explained Mr. Barff.
The revolution in the German AWP market saw the player base almost double.
Providing affordable gaming entertainment in exquisite locations has strongly increased the appeal of AWP gaming in Germany.
This revolution could well be applied to the UK market and the Gauselmann Group is transforming its knowledge base to the UK to support this market growth. “This will be for the benefit of the entire UK market. Our machine and game popularity coupled with our strong position in the UK as both supplier and operator and the knowledge from the German market will all be used to create a new exciting gaming environment for players in the UK”, Mr. Barff concluded.
