The smoking ban in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland has been blamed for declining takes on AWP and SWP machines by pubs in those countries. There is anecdotal evidence of a link between smokers either staying away from pubs altogether or going for a smoke outside, and less money being pumped into coin slots.
Where once smokers would have their fix on their own at the same time as playing a fruit machine, now they are doing so in beer gardens away from the machines. And, of course, there is concern that the same will apply to the rest of the UK when the ban is fully implemented.
Gamestec found its machines' takes have dropped by five per cent since the ban was introduced. However, its managing director, Rolf Nielsen, says the implementation of several measures in the Gambling Act 2005 is set to reverse this trend:
1 The Gambling Act allows 'off machine advertising' of gaming products for the first time. This means that adverts will be allowed on TV and conventional media but, perhaps more importantly, also in pubs. "Many machines only really trapped hard core gamers," says Rolf. "This is a great opportunity to pull in new gamers."
Gamestec is currently looking at introducing such advertising.
2 The removal of a tax loophole that has come into play with the increase in stakes and prizes in October will make it more attractive for licensees to take the customer-baiting step of raising the prizes on offer.
The promised increase in stakes and prizes was granted by the government in October. The maximum stake rose from 30p to 50p and the maximum prize from £25 to £35. However, the majority of pubs have so far shied away from applying these new conditions, because of a tax loophole, says Rolf.
AWPs are defined as machines that do not pay out in excess of £25, and so the upgraded machines have so far fallen into the next tax bracket - many licensees have concluded this is not worth it. The tax applied to a machine promising £35 wins will revert back to that for machines promising £25 wins in the Budget.
"Indications are that games of 50p are very popular," he said. "It gives you a much greater percentage of a pub's customers to go at."
3 It will become possible for gamers to 'play off the win meter'. Under the old laws, when a prize was won, it had to be withdrawn, rather than used as a stake for another game. This condition is to be removed. Rolf says this will encourage customers to play more games. It will also reduce the number of technical faults, the majority of which are caused with the mechanism that takes coins into the machine.
These moves will be instigated by September, the deadline for the new Gambling Act being fully enacted, but they are likely to be phased in in stages before that.
Inspired Gaming Group is to release a DVD for licensees in March, providing advice on how to minimise the effect of the smoking ban on games machines. It will feature advice on re-positioning machines to tap into changes in footfall.