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GPI Expanding Gaming Machines in South Africa

Market leader for limited payout machines in the Western Cape and Kwazulu-Natal, Grand Parade Investments (GPI) is continuing its expansion in the South African gaming market. The company hopes to acquire operator licenses for 7,500 machines and to manufacture slot machines, negating the need to import them.

GPI is expanding their operation of limited payout machines to Gauteng and Mpumalanga and once this is complete they expect to dominate the South African market. Its plans to manufacture slots machines in the Western Cape will revolutionize the distribution of slot machines in South Africa as they will be produced locally instead of abroad.

GPI Signs Deal with Bohwa 1 Gaming

GPI has signed a deal with Bohwa 1 Gaming that will allow it to acquire an operational license for another 1,000 limited payout machines in Gauteng. The company is currently licensed to operate 1,000 machines, with 220 of them operational at the end of June this year. The additional licenses will be subject to approval from the Gauteng Gaming Board.

According to Alan Keet, Chief Executive Officer of GPI, while there has been a delay in the supply machines in the last year, there are plans for this to be rectified and "we look forward to a steady roll-out over the next four or five months as the Gauteng Gambling Board looks to address the backlog."

By the end of this year, GPI expects to have installed 800 machines in Gauteng. A maximum of 40 limited payout machines can be installed in a single venue in Gauteng and Mpumalanga, while that number is only five in the Western Cape and Kwazulu-Natal.

GPI has also signed a deal with Merkur Gaming, a manufacturer of limited payout machines in Germany. The company will occupy surplus space in two factories in Cape Town.

GPI Plans to Remain Local

Despite having been offered opportunities to expand overseas, GPI plans to remain local and aim for dominance of the South African market, according to CEO Keet. The company has a stringent site selection policy and this has proved successful in the past.

In June 2010, GPI owned operational licenses for 2,000 limited payout machines. Hassen Adams, Chairman of GPI stated that the company has "moved significantly closer to achieving our stated objective of acquiring operator licenses for 7,500 machines in the medium term. Following these two [latest] transactions we are now able to roll out as many as 6,000 machines."