At present, the EU requires importers of entertainment game products made in the US to pay a 25% import tax, which is indeed a heavy burden for most European manufacturers whose sales have fallen due to the epidemic.

However, this particular cloud could have a silver lining for companies like Elaut, the Belgian maker of cranes, pushers and other devices including many ticket redemption games.

Elaut has a branch in the US, and has established a partnership with the well-known game manufacturer Benchmark. It has a factory in Florida, their products can be easily transported to Europe, because Elaut Belgium is located at St Niklaas, near Antwerp. Its factory can be used to build Benchmark games in Europe.

Meanwhile, the long-established distributors of US-made games in Europe are trying to work out how they can shave margins to take in some of the extra taxation. Many manufacturers believe that on the basis of the decline in sales caused by the 2020 epidemic, the additional import tax is a heavy burden for them. (2021/01/04)