Manufacturers have become frustrated with Australia’s lengthy product approval processes, and have been pointing to “regulatory bottlenecks” as one of the main reasons for a lack of innovation in the market. “If an Australian gaming operator ever wants to see what the future gaming floor looks like, they need only buy a plane ticket to Asia,” said one industry commenter in recent talks with Asia Gaming Brief. “We see technology moving so quickly in general ‘run of life’ segments that seem to be difficult for gaming to adopt,” adds Neil Spencer, an Australian gaming industry consultant. “For example, take the reduction of cash usage in the community. You can go to your local supermarket or retailer and be confronted with ‘card only’ checkouts. Yet the same innovation won’t likely come to the EGM space anytime soon,” he said. Up until now, the road to product approval has been a time-consuming and expensive affair...
