Merkur Gaming: “The show was overwhelmingly positive”

Merkur Gaming answered Focus Gaming News’ questions about its performance at ICE 2016.

With a traditional style that always bets for latest innovations, Merkur Gaming, German developer and provider of slots machines, agrees that ICE Totally Gaming 2016 was a total success. Its highlights are multi-games solutions and products for the international casinos markets that were exhibited at the most influential trade show of gaming industry.

How did Merkur Gaming live the 2016 edition of ICE Totally Gaming?

For Merkur Gaming ICE was counted as a major success. Our booth attracted a huge number of visitors from all our key markets and, particularly important, we received a large number of enquiries from countries that are, for us, high value targets for our future expansion. The large team that we brought to London all made huge individual contributions, whatever their roles. We brought an effective social element to our booth also, with the Happy Hour reception that we ran for the final show hour of the first two days and our on-site organisation proved to be faultless. There is a very real feeling that Merkur Gaming is now ready to take the next step in its development: something that will be clearly seen in the coming months. It is an exciting time indeed for this long established and hugely successful company!

Which is Merkur Gaming’s assessment of the show?

I am quite sure that my opinion of ICE Totally Gaming 2016 will be the same as that of the vast majority of exhibitors and attendees: namely, this was –without doubt– the best edition of ICE for a long, long time. Probably, in fact, the best since before the start of the economic downturn in 2008. First, ICE broke all previous records, on every level. Second, the show has clearly solidified its position as the most important gaming business-to-business event on earth. Thirdly (and I think, most significantly) the atmosphere, the ‘vibe’, if you like, of the show was overwhelmingly positive.
 
Which approaches does Merkur Gaming highlight from ICE’s latest edition?

Apart from the feel of the show itself that I have already mentioned, we can highlight the record number of visitors, the commercial success of the show in terms of contacts made and actual business written and also the massive effort that all the exhibitors (no matter what their size or status) had put in to ensure that ICE 2016 was memorable for all the right reasons.
 
What were the featured products at your booth?

Merkur Gaming used ICE to give a full international debut to our new merkurstar™ cabinet that had been given a first showing at last year’s G2E in Las Vegas. The upright merkurstar was presented with a brand new suite of high attraction games that really gave visitors something exceptional to see. We call our cabinets and games ‘products that deliver’ and, on every level, they delivered in style at ICE. Our slant top product solution, Avantgarde SLT™ is already an established success and that, too, delivered at the highest level; certainly when judged by the number of positive enquiries received by out hardworking sales team.
 
You’re now at Merkur Gaming after many years working for another company. How do you feel with this new challenge? Which are your main goals in this new stage?

In our business, and more generally in life, things can often be seen to be cyclical. I have previously worked with three of Europe’s leading entrepreneurial companies but the challenge of helping Merkur Gaming in its move to broader internationalisation was one that I could not resist. Having only had a few weeks to prepare for ICE was a challenge all of its own but, thanks to the great team that I have joined and with the encouragement that I have been given from the highest level in the company, I felt instantly at home. The goals that lie ahead are simple to state but no doubt harder to achieve. My task is to use my experience, knowledge and contacts to help ensure that the Merkur Sun shines brightly over a range of new markets and so achieves even greater success … and to do it in a timely manner!
 
And the conclusion?

And finally, if I may, I would like to add a personal comment. The journey that saw me arrive at Merkur Gaming began exactly a year ago when my former boss and long time friend, Jens Halle, told me that he wanted to ‘introduce me to a new possibility’. Sadly, Jens’ time with Merkur was all too short but his memory lives on within the company’s structure and through the many friends that he made. So, at exactly 10.00 on the opening day of ICE, I held my own personal remembrance by simply saying “This one is for you, Jens.” And so it proved to be.