Scheduling its latest Regional Meeting to coincide with the ARE Expo worked extremely well, with Bacta welcoming 40-members from the area and ARE boosting its attendance with some key additional businesses present in Manchester. Engaging with members face-to-face and on their ‘turf’ has been a successful strategy as Bacta navigates what is a busy political agenda.
Bacta continued its nationwide membership engagement programme with 40 operators attending the North West Regional meeting which was held to coincide with the opening day of the ARE expo in Manchester.
A busy and topical agenda included an update provided by RBW System’s James Wheeler on the Bacta Portal with a specific focus on Phase 1 of the self-exclusion system and RBW Guardian system functionality.
This was followed by a presentation from Katherine Murphy of OPAL on issues relating to combatting Serious Organised Acquisitive Crime and an explanatory session from Dave Richardson of Better Change on Bacta Training and Apprenticeships.
Keeping members informed of the key business-critical and regulatory issues that Bacta is progressing, National Council provided the latest updates on Category D Consultation, Bingo Consultation, Gaming Machine Technical Standards, Stakes and Prizes and Social Responsibility.
Reflecting on the meeting, Bacta Director of Communications, Allaster Gair said: “This was Bacta’s fourth Regional Meeting of the year as we continue to keep members fully up to speed on our political engagement activities as well as the enhancements that we are making to our membership services.
“The regional meetings serve as a two-way street: as well as providing an important opportunity to update on the progress made they are also an opportunity to listen and to learn about the issues impacting Bacta members some of which may be specific to the region.”
Commenting on the timing and location he added: “We are very grateful to Karen Cooke and her team at Swan Events for allowing us to co-locate with the ARE expo. Having the show floor as the backdrop to the presentations, the talking points and the conversations that took place during the meeting was a major plus and was appreciated by all of the attendees.”
Originally published on Coinslot on May 4, 2026. Republished with permission.