– Disney® Kiddie Rides offers excellent prospects –

Hammersmith/Luebbecke. „From the strategic point of view“, says Rolf Klug, member of the board Merkur and Spielothek International, “we made a big leap ahead”. The proud announcement of having signed a licence agreement with the Walt Disney Company Ltd. in Hammersmith (UK) was made a few days ago.

This licence covers development, production, and sales of Disney® Kiddie Rides in all of Europe, Middle East, and other selected countries. So far MERKUR GAMING already had a manufacturing licence and marketing rights of these gaming machines that are extremely popular with children for Germany. In recent months the gaming machines ‘Donald Boat’, ‘Mickey Golf Car’ and ‘Tiger & Winnie the Pooh Carousel’ were favourites.

The new licence agreement will enable the Gauselmann subsidiary to develop new Disney® Kiddie Rides in order to be able to respond much more flexibly to the requirements of the different markets and to take up new and topical themes from colorful Walt Disney. “This also improves our marketing opportunities, because we will also benefit from the effects of the mostly very comprehensive promotional campaigns designed and organized by Walt Disney for their products“, explains Ullrich Künnecke, segment sales-manager.

Preparations for new products have already started and all those involved are sure that in some months the first “in-house developed products” will be launched. The MERKUR GAMING team can draw from decades of experience of the successful and tried and proven technological competencies of the East Westphalia-based Gauselmann Group.

Under the umbrella of Merkur International MERKUR GAMING is responsible for the Europe-wide sales within the internationally active Gauselmann Group. In 2005, the total business volume of all Gauselmann Group companies amounted to EUR 1.004b, with fully consolidated revenues of EUR 688.2m. At the end of the fiscal year 2005 the company employed 5,638 people worldwide and has sold approximately 2 million gaming products around the globe since its establishment. More than 500 game developers everywhere in the world are working on game designs, mathematics, graphics, and quality management, thus underlining the competence and ability of the Gauselmann Group to innovation.