Refilling AWPs boosts earnings by 24%

Licensees who regularly refill their games machines can see earnings jump by 24% — that's according to a trial carried out by Enterprise Inns.

Following the recent increase in stake and prize levels for AWP machines to £70, many licensees, particularly in the leased sector, have struggled to ensure enough change is available in the machines to keep up with issuing prizes.

Figures from leading games machine supplier Gamestec show regular refilling at managed pubs has meant growth in machine incomes of 20%. But less than 5% of tenanted and leased operators regularly refill their machine hopper with pound coins.

For the past four weeks Enterprise Inns has been running a serviced refill trial at 60 of its leased pubs in the north east.

As part of the Enterprise-funded trial, Gamestec staff visit each pub twice a week and refill the machines with a cash float supplied by the pubco. The average weekly refill is around £170.

The trial has already shown 24% uplifts in the cash box, when measured against pubs that aren't topping up their hoppers.

Peter Withey, gaming manager at Enterprise, said the purpose of the trial was to demonstrate that hosts would earn more money from regularly refilling, "everyone says so, so we thought we'd try to prove it".

Based on feedback, Withey said the firm would decide whether to extend the service to more of its licensees. "Obviously it's a cost to us, but we certainly think it's worthwhile and have had lots of positive feedback from licensees."

"One of the problems for licensees has been the cashflow implications of refilling. But they do get it back and it is an investment."

The trial will continue for another two months.

In October Morning Advertiser reported some operators were choosing 'ticket out' machines, which do not dispense cash prizes, to avoid this problem. Instead, winners exchange a receipt for cash at the bar. AWP tickets boost pub incomes​