play.
Lucky seven: income from fruit machines might be declining but they still have an important role to play in bringing in revenue for your venue
according to the British Amusement Catering Trade Association (BACTA). John White, BACTA’s chief executive, says there are around 38,765 pubs with category C machines and 80 per cent of pubs have some kind of gaming machine on their premises.
7
Count the money
The percentage of income from gaming machines has halved since 2000 at JD Wetherspoon. The company said that income from the machines has fallen from six per cent of its overall figures to three per cent. Despite this decrease, though, these machines still have an important role to play, as the machines accounted for £48m of the chain’s £1.6bn revenue in 2016.
8
Raise the stakes
Currently, the maximum stake for gaming machines in pubs is £1 with a maximum cash prize of £100. Both BACTA and the pub industry have been calling on the government to increase the maximum
trade.inapub.co.uk p46-47 gaming machines.indd 47
stake to £2 and the maximum cash prize to £150 so that pubs can compete on a more level playing field with local betting shops.
9
Keep up with coinage
So far, the introduction of the new £1 coin hasn’t caused licensees too much trouble when it comes to their slot machines. BACTA has been working with the Royal Mint for the past 18 months to iron out any teething problems, and the more modern machines usually allow licensees to download new technology.
10
If in doubt, Deal yourself in
Is Deal or No Deal the most popular video game in British pubs? It’s certainly one of Bell-Fruit’s most famous brand licences, with up to 105 variations of the game introduced to date based on the theme of the Channel 4 show — most games only have two or three versions, no matter how popular they are. Perhaps punters just can’t get enough of Noel Edmonds?
JUNE 2017 47 25/05/2017 12:49