The threatened close-down of much of the Russian gaming machine market - concentrating gambling into four separate regions by 2009 - has left some of the biggest players with questions about where they go next.

Rumours are that one of the bidders for the fourth largest German AWP maker, Bergmann, which was in bankruptcy, was Boris Belotserkovsky, owner of major distributor/manufacturer, Unicum, in Russia.

In the event, Bergmann was sold to Uwe Christiansen, managing director of Löwen.