From the 1st of January, UK manufacturers and operators can access European compliance testing services through NMi UK, a joint venture between NMi and UK test house GDS Laboratories. Following their successful entry into the Italian market with their subsidiary NMi Italia, NMi is continuing its successful expansion model by teaming up with local industry experts. This development confirms NMi’s leading position in Europe as a testing laboratory for AWP machines, FOBTs, Casino equipment, online gaming sites and lotteries.
NMi’s Director, Pieter van Breugel, explained: “NMi is committed to providing a comprehensive service to the gaming market in Europe and – to date – has obtained licenses for 20 jurisdictions. Our plan is to open a number of additional offices to serve national markets, and the UK is a logical next step for us.” Although NMi has already obtained Gambling Commission approval as a test house for the UK market, their approach has been to explore partnership opportunities with local experts. He added, “We are delighted to be entering into partnership with GDS Laboratories, as they are the market leaders in the UK, with unparalleled experience of the technical standards and legal regulations, and excellent relationships with the regulator and the industry.”
The deal sees NMi acquire a shareholding in GDS Laboratories, which will change its name to NMi UK. The Directors of GDS Laboratories, Dr Rich Edwards and Andrew Rosewarne, will retain operational control of the new venture. Andrew Rosewarne stated, “This is an excellent strategic fit for us, as a number of our customers are moving into the developing European markets, and we will now be able to offer a multi-jurisdiction service for these other territories. In addition, now that we have become the busiest test house for UK land-based gaming machines, we have increasingly been receiving enquiries from internet and mobile gaming operators, so the link-up with NMi comes at a very good time.”
European market access through a local presence
NMi takes the view that Europe is comprised of countries with their own unique cultures, protocols, legislation and outlook. Through local offices in their country of origin, The Netherlands, in Italy and, as of January 2010, the UK, NMi offers compliance-testing services delivered by local experts in their customer’s own language and adapted to fit in with their working practices. NMi is now able to offer manufacturers of gaming equipment and software a ‘road map’ into Europe, through their developing network of localized laboratories and contacts with the gambling regulators in almost every European country.
Section 240 compliance
GDS recently achieved extension of the scope of their ISO 17025 accreditation to include the Statutory Instruments of the UK Gaming Act relating to gaming machine requirements, and are the first UK approved test house to take this step. Dr Edwards explained, “The Statutory Instruments relating to Section 240 of the Act were published after the Technical Standards had been finalized, and the Gambling Commission has notified the industry that test houses should be testing against both sets of requirements. There are some very specific additional legal requirements in the Section 240 regulations that manufacturers need to be aware of, and we felt it was important that we obtain extension of the scope of our accreditation to cover both sets of documents.”
Launch at IGE
NMi UK will officially be launched at the International Gaming Exhibition (IGE). NMi experts from The Netherlands, UK and Italy will be available at the NMi-stand (no.3254) to answer your questions about market access, testing and certification.
