Reflex Gaming slot machines

Who makes Reflex Gaming slot machines?

Reflex Gaming is a British manufacturer of gaming machines for members' clubs and pubs. It is a young name compared with the fruit machine makers of the 1960s and 1970s, and it built its business on a corner of the market most players never think about: the machines in working men's clubs, social clubs and other private members' clubs.

Reflex Gaming Limited holds Gambling Commission account 408. Its parent company is Gameco Holdings Limited, which in turn has belonged to Dransfield Novelty Company Limited since 2019. Trade press at the time of the sale described Reflex as the UK's largest independent gaming machine manufacturer. For the other makers we cover, start at the manufacturers hub.

How Reflex Gaming started in 2004

Quentin Stott and Simon Dawson founded Reflex in 2004, three years before the Gambling Act 2005 took full effect. According to European Gaming's report on the 2019 deal (opens in a new tab), the company grew quickly with what the trade called Section 16/21 machines, including a model named Fortune £500, and pioneered lottery machines in private members' clubs.

Stott ran the company as managing director and stayed in charge of the senior team after the 2019 sale. Mat Ingram is named as a director in the same report. Founders' backgrounds before 2004 are not covered in any source we checked.

Reflex Gaming slot machines in clubs: the B3A story

Reflex's club lottery machines are its main mark on British gambling law. Trade reports credit that work with leading to Category B3A, a machine category created under the Gambling Act 2005 for lottery-style games in members' clubs. It is one of only a few cases where a single maker's product line is linked to a whole category.

A B3A machine has the same £2 maximum stake and £500 maximum prize as a Category B3 machine, but it may only offer lottery games and may only be sited in members' clubs and miners' welfare institutes, one per club. Commercial clubs cannot have one. Limits are listed on the Gambling Commission's gaming machine categories page (opens in a new tab).

How many machines a club may have

Clubs need a club machine permit from their licensing authority. The permit allows a fixed mix of machines, which shapes what makers such as Reflex sell into that market.

Our guide to club machine permits explains the permit itself, and club fruit machines covers what you are likely to find on a club floor. For the older club jackpot tradition, see club jackpot machines.

GamePro and Reflex Gaming's pub machines

Outside clubs, Reflex makes Category C machines for pubs. Its digital Category C machine, GamePro, is described in the trade as widely successful, and the company also builds analogue machines, meaning physical reels behind glass, with a Category C release rate of one new model a month according to the same 2019 report.

Category C is the classic pub fruit machine category: £1 maximum stake, £100 maximum prize, 18+ only. A pub has an automatic right to two Category C or D machines and can apply for more. Digital and analogue machines are judged by the same limits; the difference is in presentation. A digital cabinet like GamePro can offer several games on a screen, while an analogue machine has one game on mechanical reels with features such as holds and nudges.

The 2019 sale of Reflex Gaming to Dransfields

In June 2019 Dransfield Novelty Company Limited bought the entire share capital of Gameco Holdings Limited, Reflex's parent, on undisclosed terms. The deal was reported by iGaming Business (opens in a new tab) and others. The two firms described the result as joining the UK's largest independent gaming machine operator with the UK's largest independent manufacturer.

Dransfields is a family-owned business established more than 70 years before the deal, with its head office in Leeds. At the time it reported turnover above £23 million, 244 staff, more than 14,000 machines serviced and over 5,000 sites, mainly in private clubs and the free trade. Robert Dransfield, the third generation, was chairman and Chris Haley managing director. Haley said the deal secured a supply of UK-manufactured machines.

Two dates circulate for the announcement: 13 June 2019 in iGaming Business and European Gaming, and 18 June 2019 on Business Up North, which appears to be that site's publication date. The price was not disclosed.

Dransfields and the nudge: a company claim

The 2019 coverage repeated a striking claim: that Dransfields originated the nudge, the button that moves a reel one position on a British fruit machine. It is presented as the company's own claim and no independent source confirms it. Our history of nudges and holds treats it the same way.

Whoever invented it, the nudge does not change a machine's long-run return. On a well-designed machine, offered nudges are part of the payout plan, and using them well only avoids missing a win the machine has already offered.

How to check a club or pub machine before you play

1. Find the category on the machine. B3A, B4 and C each have different stake and prize limits.
2. On a B3A machine, look for the notice saying it is a lottery machine and the actual return for each lottery class.
3. On B4 and C machines, read the theoretical target return to player shown as a percentage.
4. Check whether the machine says it is random or compensated.
5. Decide your spend before you start and stop when it is gone; wins over £50 on a B3A, or over £10 on a C, must be collectable rather than fed straight back in.

What a club machine costs to play: a worked example

No published return figure exists for any named Reflex machine, so the example below is illustrative. Suppose a B4 club machine displays a 90% target return and you play 150 games at £1. You put £150 through it; the long-run average would be £135 back and £15 kept. The same session at £2 a game doubles both numbers. Any single visit can land well away from the average, because the RTP only describes very long-run play.

Operators also pay tax on what machines keep. Machine Games Duty is charged at 20% where the cost to play is 21p to £5, and 5% on machines costing 20p or less with prizes of £10 or less.

Rules that shape Reflex Gaming's machines

Every machine Reflex sells must meet the Gambling Commission's gaming machine technical standards, and B3A machines must be tested by an independent test house. New standards are coming: an interim session standard from 30 March 2027 and finalised standards from 30 June 2027. See gaming machine technical standards for what has been reported, and the Gambling Act 2005 and machines for the category system.

Reflex-style games and online slots in the UK

Reflex builds cabinets for clubs and pubs, and its games are not offered at online casinos. If you play online instead, the rules differ: £5 maximum per spin for players aged 25 and over, £2 for 18 to 24-year-olds, at least 2.5 seconds per spin and no autoplay. Our page on online vs land-based slots compares the two.

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18+. Gambling should be entertainment that costs money, not a way to make it. Decide a budget before you play: plan a slot budget. Free, confidential help: National Gambling Helpline 0808 8020 133.