Gauselmann commits to UK gaming market

A commitment worth £15m in UK adult gaming centres by the Gauselmann Group has reaffirmed the company’s long-term faith in the market.

The funds are being committed to the completion by the end of 2020 of an infrastructure project. It is the second stage of a three-part programme of investment.

Through its Praesepe subsidiary, operating over 150 arcades, bingo halls and FECs, the group is currently focusing on its Cashino locations across England. The programme began in 2018 with eight sites and another 23 will be completed by the end of this year. A further 36 venues, including six completely new ones, are scheduled for the end of next year.

The object is to ensure that the Cashino brand is the leader in the low-stakes gambling business in the UK.

Said Mark Schertle, chief operating officer at Praesepe, said: ““One of the main attractions of Cashino is the social side of gaming it provides to our customers and the key aim of the programme is to enhance this social aspect, improve the overall customer experience, which in turn helps create the modern casino feel for which we are striving.

“With that in mind, we’ve added serviced bar areas serving soft drinks, installed bean to cup coffee machines and introduced a host of hot and cold snacks across all of our refurbished venues. We’ve also added brand new screens and the latest gaming machines alongside significantly improved décor.

“Drawing on my background in retailing I believe the consumer offer we are now providing is very, very strong and sits comfortably with the emphasis every sector of modern society now places on quality.  As my colleague David Purvis at Blueprint said recently, the days of offering consumers a game on an old machine and serving cheap coffee in a plastic cup that’s so hot that you can’t hold it are long gone.”