Coin Slot Location

Location-Seven
web of Spain's
01achine industry
W
HAT happened to the coin
machine industry in Spain
between July 1981 and April 1982
could arguably be said to represent the
progress of the industry m so many
countries over the years .
The difference with Spain was that it all took
place in the space of nine months instead of years
and that comprised a set of extremes so violent
that it will always be held up as an example of
either Governmental incompetence or industrial
conmanship-depending upon the side of the
fence you're on .
It is also true that such a tangled web of
heavyweight official phraseology, Governmental
U-turns , political considerations , taxation
evasion , financial speculation and peculiarities of
Spanish society have combined to leave a
situation where no-one really knows what
happened during those topsyturvy months , nor
really what has emerged from the mess in the way
of an industry.
Cause , effect and conclusion are never clear-cut ,
but there are some straight facts which , when
taken at face value suggest only one thing , a
Government blundering around in a field in
which it has no experience and an industry which
committed suicide on the altar of its own
vibrancy.
But , back to the beginning .
Before 1977 there was no payout machine
industry permitted in Spain . After 1977 it was
there in limited form . Machines were permitted in
casinos and in the newly legalised bingo halls
while other machines were being turned out on
credits exchangeable for food and beverages .
Two years later the industry opened up still more
when the fledgling manufacturers' association sat
down with the Government to work out new
regulations .
It is important to run briefly through those
regulations because they have an important
bearing on what happened subsequently .
Machines were broken down into three
categories: A-pure amusement machines on
which there was no restriction; B-A WP
machines, with a five peseta stake and a 100
peseta prize and which had to be installed in the
ratio of one for every two category A machines on
the site; and C machines, the hard gaming
machine restricted to casinos .
The regulation setting up a ratio between
category A and B machines in bars sufficed to