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Non-Tech : Applied Gaming Solutions - AGC (ASE) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: fivedollar who wrote (408)	7/8/1999 8:18:00 PM
From: J. Plantinga	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 509

Update from the Company I just spoke with Rob at AGC and asked him about some of the concerns that have been raised recently by the faithful on this thread. Here's the info I gathered from my call. The word is still "any day now". The only hold up has been the UPS problem, but that has not been solely a technical/work issue. With the number of agencies involved, most of them Viet, lots of red tape seems to be the norm when it comes to planning/decision making. This may sound like an excuse to some, but things that take and the unexpected does happen sometimes, and any kind of explanation of this--however legit--will sound like an excuse to some people. I've had a little experience with plain old straight-forward western bureaucracy, and I can believe that it's an order of magnitude or two worse when it's business contracts with a developing, communist country. JMHO. Rob indicated that delaying the launch is preferable to going on-line with sub-standard equipment and risking blow-ups. He said they will definitely make an announcement before going live, and that if they aren't able to launch very soon, the company will probably issue a statement of some kind to bring shareholders up to speed. The delays don't seem to pose a significant risk to the company as current working capital (approx. 1.5 to 2.0 Million) is sufficient for 10 to 12 months of operations at their current burn rate. As for revenue generation, the first cheque will be issued to AGC a week after the launch. AGC will be paid in US funds and will receive payment into an off-shore account. As a further safeguard to getting paid, the System requires codes to be input by AGC from outside of Vietnam. Without this input the System will not run. This provides a significant level of security to AGC. With respect to marketing, the advertising campaigns have been planned in three stages. The first two stages have been completed already and have introduced the lottery to Vietnam and educated them as to its workings. The third stage will be the actual launch promo. This stage hasn't been initiated yet--for obvious reasons. That's it for the current state of affairs. We also discussed some more forward-looking matters. The Ho Chi Minh City deal hasn't been signed yet, but is basically a formality at this point. It's expected to be inked at the Hanoi launch. The Company's goal is to have HCMC on-line around the end of this year and the entire country of Vietnam by around the end of next year. As before, efforts will be made to finance this development without going the equity route thus minimizing dilution. Beyond the Vietnamese markets, there are no other contracts pending, but discussions have been opened up by a number of other countries--of which he named at least five. He also mentioned that Russia is looking to set up a state-run lottery and will be probably be putting the project out to tender in the fall. It's probably safe to assume that AGC will be submitting a bid--but who knows. I hope this answers some of the questions out there. The company has a toll-free number (1-888-685-7788) for anybody that wants to call for themselves and follow-up on any of this stuff. My take is that the wheels are not about to fall off this thing and that a little more patience will be rewarded. Again, just my opinion. Cheers, all! JPlantinga