Greece Passes Landmark Gaming Legislation that Recognizes the Importance of Responsible Gambling Technology for VLTs
August 17, 2011 – Sydney, NS: Greece's parliament recently passed legislation to legalize and introduce 35,000 video lottery terminals (VLTs) in that country. A key requirement in the new law is that every VLT must be equipped with card-based responsible gambling (RG) tools.
“This is a significant international endorsement of the importance of RG tools for VLTs. And it is great news for Techlink since we are the only manufacturer in the world that currently has card-based RG tools in operation on traditional VLTs,” said John Xidos, President & CEO of Techlink Entertainment Ltd.
Techlink invented real-time, card-based RG tools for VLTs that allow players to set time and money limits, see how much they are spending, winning and losing over time and self-exclude if they wish to stop playing. These world-first tools help players to keep their play responsible and prevent problematic play. They were added to all VLTS in Nova Scotia in 2010.
“The rest of the globe has been watching this world-first installation and now that it is successfully completed, others will start using these tools to increase the responsibility of their gambling businesses. Greece is the first international jurisdiction to announce it will follow Nova Scotia’s lead and we are well-placed to pursue this contract,” says Mr. Xidos.
Greece’s new legislation is designed to help reverse the country’s fiscal crisis by legalizing slot machines and online gambling with an aim of collecting €700 million from license concessions and taxes on the new gambling income.
“Greece is doing the right thing by putting in place strong social responsibility standards. Without these, the industry would be less sustainable and suffer from higher social costs and public criticism. The government is to be commended for the strong leadership evidenced in the new gambling law,” said Mr. Xidos.
Techlink Entertainment is a turnkey gaming solutions company, based in Nova Scotia, Canada. The company specializes in responsible gambling tools, business information systems, electronic gaming machines and central systems. Techlink is proud to be the only company in the world with a card-based responsible gambling system in operation on a traditional video lottery wide-area network. This groundbreaking system was implemented with Atlantic Lottery and the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation and applauded by international responsible gambling experts as the “gold standard” in responsible gambling. For more information please visit: www.techlinkentertainment.com.
Media Contacts:
Margaret McGee
Vice-President of Marketing
mmcgee@techlinkentertainment.com
(917) 750-1078
