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Cash still popular on the menu at The Café Royal, Annan Scotland
Despite a reported downturn in cash payments in certain sectors, cash is very much the preferred payment choice
for many customers, especially in the food takeaway industry. The Café Royal in Annan Scotland implemented a cash automated system in both their in-house and take away premises back in March and have seen a real positive effect including, a rise in cash payments, a reduction in cash floats and staff free to interact more with customers.
CashGenic, the cash automation solution from Innovative Technology, was launched last year as an affordable option for those customers wanting to pay by cash safely and hygienically. The solution is available from strategic partners as a compact, all-in-one counter-top device ensuring easy customer access, with pay-in and pay-out managed by staff via a mobile tablet device.
Andy Bullock, Senior Business Development Manager ITL said, “We are delighted that CC Dynamic, one of our CashGenic UK suppliers, have been rolling out the system, branded as £XCHEKKA. Working alongside Maggi Electronics who are installing the cash handling device, they have successfully deployed £XCHEKKA at venues throughout England & Scotland, with many more in the pipeline.”
Commenting on the successful installation at the Café Royal, owner and National Federation of Fish Friers (NFFF) member John Pagani said, “Overall, it’s been a tremendous success. We have been looking for something like this for a long time, but suitable systems seemed only available at a very high price. The £XCHEKKA system is affordable, so much so, we ordered two, one for our indoor café and the other for our take-away. Staff love it, they no longer have to count change and the hygiene aspect has been exceptional, especially during these COVID times. They can concentrate on serving the customer to provide excellent customer service rather than worrying about change and
having to wash their hands after touching the money and sanitising again.”
Chris Woodall, Managing Director of CC Dynamic said, “Customers who install £XCHEKKA are seeing some excellent time and cost savings efficiencies and even more importantly – an uptake in cash payments. Plus, their customers are reacting positively too. At The Café Royal customers are even bringing cash specifically to have a go at using the new machine! John’s customers like that he is ahead of the game and taking their hygiene and safety seriously.”
Continuing to point out further benefits, John said, “The amount of coins the business needs has been dramatically reduced, we used to get around £1200 a week from the bank for floats, this is now down to £200-£300 a week, a huge cost saving. This alone is impressive, but it also benefits us in terms of security as we don’t have to hold as much cash in the safe.”
creator-economy
Red Bull runs one-day Balatro speedrun event, Boss Rush, on April 17
Eight creators compete across five timed stages with eliminations, broadcast on Red Bull’s Twitch and YouTube channels.
Red Bull will stage a one-day Balatro speedrun competition, Red Bull Boss Rush, on April 17, 2026. The event brings together eight creators for timed runs in the roguelike deckbuilder, with viewers able to follow via individual creator POV streams and a central hub broadcast.
The competitor lineup includes Red Bull Player Ludwig, plus The Spiffing Brit, FrostPrime, Feinberg, Adef, Yahiamice, mbtyugioh and dreads. Red Bull said live commentary will be provided by esports host Yinsu ‘Yinsu’ Collins, card-game specialist Blake ‘Rarran’ Eram, and DrSpectered.
Boss Rush is structured as five 30-minute stages, with players ranked by completion time. Red Bull said the opening three stages use a shared random seed with unlimited resets, and points are awarded by placement each stage; the bottom four are eliminated after stage 3. Stage 4 determines the finalists, followed by a final winner-takes-all matchup.
The event also includes a downloadable Red Bull Boss Rush mod featuring a custom-branded deck and new Red Bull-themed Jokers, Bosses and Skip Tags. Red Bull highlighted additions including ‘Witch’, ‘Princess and Frog’, ‘Zebra’, Old Dog, ‘Pirate’, ‘Genie’, ‘Prince Charming’, and ‘Jester’, each designed to alter scoring or run economics.
Red Bull Boss Rush will stream on twitch.tv/redbull and Red Bull’s YouTube Gaming channel. Scan is supplying gaming PCs for the competition, according to the company.
Relevant data as follows:
- Red Bull Gaming on Twitch; https://www.twitch.tv/redbull Primary broadcast destination for the event.
- Red Bull Gaming on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/redbullgaming Secondary broadcast destination cited in the release.
- Red Bull Gaming: https://www.redbull.com/ Official Red Bull site for event context and confirmation.
- Balatro on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2379780/Balatro/ Authoritative reference for the game featured in the competition.
- Scan Computers: https://www.scan.co.uk/ PC supplier mentioned as providing systems for the event.
The post Red Bull runs one-day Balatro speedrun event, Boss Rush, on April 17 appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Argentina
Blask data shows LATAM casino lobbies diverge beyond Pragmatic Play’s baseline
Brazil stands out for crash-game visibility, while Argentina fragments across 15 providers, according to Blask’s review of five markets.
Blask has published new data on casino lobby distribution across five Latin American markets—Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru—finding a shared baseline of Pragmatic Play dominance but sharply different secondary content patterns by country.
Across all five markets, Pragmatic Play “consistently dominates the top 30 most-distributed titles,” accounting for up to 16 positions in each country, Blask said. Beyond that layer, Blask argues there is “no single playbook” for how operators and aggregators build lobbies.
Brazil is the clearest outlier for mechanics, with crash-style titles such as Aviator and JetX appearing in the top 30, while similar formats are “largely absent” in the other markets analyzed. Blask also points to Brazil as the only country where Pocket Games Soft holds a meaningful distribution share, driven by its Fortune series.
Mexico shows the opposite pattern: the highest concentration of Pragmatic Play titles and a thinner secondary layer. Blask flagged Endorphina as an example of a provider appearing in Mexico’s top 30 but not elsewhere in its dataset.
Argentina is described as the most fragmented market, with 15 different providers represented in the top 30—more than any other country in the analysis—and broader visibility for live and table content. Chile “closely mirrors Mexico” structurally, Blask said, but includes a single non-Pragmatic title with near-ubiquitous placement across operator lobbies. Peru, meanwhile, spreads remaining top-30 positions across 12 providers, including studios not seen in the other markets and “legacy European brands such as Novomatic.”
Blask’s conclusion is that operators should not assume a winning lobby mix in one country will translate regionally. “Beyond the dominant layer, performance is defined not by regional trends, but by local player behavior and demand signals,” the company said.
The post Blask data shows LATAM casino lobbies diverge beyond Pragmatic Play’s baseline appeared first on Eastern European Gaming | Global iGaming & Tech Intelligence Hub.
Argentina
Same providers, different games: Blask uncovers hidden patterns in LATAM casino lobbies
Casino lobbies across Latin America may look similar at first glance — but a deeper look reveals they operate on entirely different logic. According to new data from Blask, all five major region players (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Peru) share one common layer: Pragmatic Play consistently dominates the top 30 most-distributed titles, accounting for up to 16 positions in each market. But everything beyond that baseline tells a different story.
Crash games cluster in Brazil but not elsewhere
Brazil is the only market where crash-style mechanics achieve consistent visibility at the lobby level. Titles like Aviator and JetX both rank among the top 30, while similar formats are largely absent in the other four markets. At the same time, Brazil is the only country where a second provider, Pocket Games Soft, secures a meaningful share of distribution, driven entirely by its Fortune series. This dual pattern suggests a highly specific local demand profile rather than a regional trend.
Mexico runs on a tighter playbook
While Brazil expands, Mexico narrows. The market shows the highest concentration of Pragmatic Play titles and one of the most limited secondary layers. At the same time, it introduces isolated signals that don’t scale regionally such as the presence of Endorphina, which appears in the Mexican top 30 but nowhere else in the dataset.
Argentina breaks the pattern entirely
Argentina stands apart as the most fragmented market in the region. Its top 30 includes 15 different providers which is more than any other country analyzed. Unlike neighboring markets, where a handful of suppliers dominate, Argentina distributes visibility across a wide range of studios, particularly in live and table segments. The result is a lobby structure that resists standardization.
Chile shows how a single game can outperform the system
Chile closely mirrors Mexico in overall structure but with one key exception. A single non-Pragmatic title achieves near-ubiquitous placement across operator lobbies, becoming one of the strongest outliers in the entire dataset.This suggests that even in highly concentrated markets, individual titles can break through if they match local demand precisely.
Peru stretches the long tail further than anyone else
Peru takes the opposite approach to Mexico. While maintaining the same Pragmatic baseline, it distributes the remaining positions across 12 different providers, many of which do not appear in any other LATAM market analyzed. This includes both niche studios and legacy European brands such as Novomatic, pointing to a mix of underserved demand segments and alternative content sourcing strategies.
One region, no single playbook
The key takeaway from the analysis is simple: LATAM is not a unified market when it comes to content distribution. The same providers appear everywhere but the way their games are positioned, combined, and supplemented varies dramatically from country to country. For operators, this means that copying a successful lobby structure from one market to another is unlikely to work. Beyond the dominant layer, performance is defined not by regional trends, but by local player behavior and demand signals.
The post Same providers, different games: Blask uncovers hidden patterns in LATAM casino lobbies appeared first on Americas iGaming & Sports Betting News.
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