Electrocoin’s sales and marketing manager John A Stergides has known that a show in the north of the UK “has been needed for some time,” and was pleased to see ARE make the most of the opportunity. Speaking to Coinslot, he shared how good timing and organisation combined with the supplier’s own strong range of products to deliver a “busier than expected” few days.
Coinslot: A new show, new location, new style venue, new timings. How would you rate ARE’s debut and what were the highlights? (ARE Expo)
John A Stergides: We think for a new show it performed as expected with a very positive response from the industry.
A show up north has been needed for some time and we think ARE will continue to grow. It was great timing after Easter, so there was an opportunity to speak with operators on how the season has gone thus far, and to learn which new products were providing good indicators.
Coinslot: There was a very positive vibe around the new show, does it have the potential for good footfall and business opportunities in the coming years?
John A Stergides: We think it will. We will all need to support such opportunities, as aside from the Park Avenue Open Day event in June, there isn’t anything in between EAG and ACOS. Plus being up north, it gives an opportunity to those who couldn’t make it to EAG whether that’s because of distance or it’s too early in the year, so we expect the show to grow.
Coinslot: You gave strong backing to ARE particularly with the quality of product you took to Manchester. Talk us through some of the crowd pulling innovations in your portfolio?
John A Stergides: We had a great reception to our products as we provided a wide range of options – naturally some of our more popular products were the likes of our Rocket Launch, Spinning Cyclone, Magic 7 Key and our Hoops Mania 2 pusher.
We had on display four to five different types of cranes which was a first, including our Fun Time Double Crane and this was complemented with Venom Pinball, ACE Gaming’s latest Cat C/B4 compendium, Bar X Refurb unit.
Coinslot: Were there any notable wins from the two days – new agreements, installations, partnerships?
John A Stergides: The second day was busier than expected so it was a busy couple of days. It took a little to take off on the first day, but sales were made so it was very positive.
Coinslot: The staging of ARE Expo was particularly timely given the latest declarations made by the Gambling Minister on the 80/20 rule and her less than favourable tones on AGCs. From your conversations over the two days, what is the mood around the industry?
John A Stergides: I think it’s business as usual because as expected we are pushed to the back of the queue in priorities for the government.
But we remain optimistic especially with the possible changes in the Cat D cranes/prize value and hopefully we will be able to achieve this with the current government.
ARE Expo
Interview with Electrocoin John A Stergides on ARE Expo 2025 is published in the below issue of Coinslot.
