Aristocrat’s upper hand at Sofia show

London, September 17th, 2008: Aristocrat Technologies Europe has given strong backing to the inaugural Balkan Entertainment & Gaming Expo, which takes place in Sofia, Bulgaria between 30 September and 2 October, confirming a significant presence on the show floor as well as influential involvement in the co-located Eastern European Gaming Summit.

Aristocrat has been working closely with local firm Bar Game to bring the PokerPro® electronic poker phenomenon to Bulgaria on a mass scale. Having already gained significant market penetration in the early stages of its sales drive, the partnership is now reaching out to more operators in Bulgaria and neighbouring Balkan states via its presence at BEGE and will feature live tournament play across no fewer than 12 PokerPro® tables on the show floor throughout the three days of opening.

Away from the show floor, Aristocrat’s European Manager for Multi-Station Gaming, Tim Klok will present Gaming Summit delegates with evidence of the upcoming popularity of electronic poker tables. Commenting on the theme, Mr Klok said: „Poker is a fundamentally great game with the rare ability to cut across cultures and export brilliantly onto a range of media. Electronic Poker tables such as PokerPro are creating a new and valuable revenue stream which is not switch spend from other parts of the casino, but new and incremental income to add to the bottom line. Electronic Poker encourages players to adopt new gaming technologies that promote community playing and gaming on demand.“ He continued: „Providing a fantastic marketing proposition, operators are maximising the appeal of Electronic Poker with promotions, launch events and incentives, stimulating foot fall and bringing new customers from various population demographics through the casino doors.“

In addition to PokerPro® , Aristocrat will be showcasing a number of its latest Viridian games at BEGE. „Bulgarian operators continue to place orders for the new cabinet and were amongst the first in Europe to install Viridian on their gaming floors,“ explained Aristocrat Europe’s General Manager, Sales & Marketing, Daniel Lindsay. „With growing availability of both native and emulated games and several new Viridian-dedicated titles coming on stream, we anticipate escalating sales figures over the coming months, particularly in south east Europe.“