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G2E ASIA 2011
G2E Asia has evolved, as has Macau’s gaming business – Casino International reports back from the area’s premier gaming exhibition
When Macau began hosting a gaming exhibition, its value was negligible – a large group of suppliers gathered for a very, very small group of customers. Now the show has spread its wings somewhat, and is servicing the entire Asia-Pacific region’s gaming requirements and allowing the industry’s most significant suppliers to show their wares before a truly international audience.
After simply trying to apply US or international product to the Macau and Asian markets, international suppliers have finally learned that tailoring product to the market reaps dividends – and with this in mind, the star of the show for this journalist was JCM, the bill validator company that’s becoming so much more. On their stand was a concept – and that’s an important distinction, as it was not the finished product – that will make its way on to almost every table game in Asia, if JCM can deliver.
A few years ago, JCM developed Trident, a bill validator fitted to a card table. A neat idea, and one that can help a casino on the accounting side no end – but no use at all in a country where large numbers of low denomination bills are used on table games. This would slow the game down to the point where its benefits are far outweighed by potential revenue loss and customer unhappiness. So what’s their solution for Macau and other similar markets? Project 8 is its working name, and JCM have worked with German company Giesecke & Devrient to develop it so far. Project 8 is a note sorter attached to the table game. A player buys into the game by proffering notes to the dealer in the usual way; the dealer then drops the notes into the sorter, where they are held in escrow so that the dealer can communicate to the player the value of the notes; if the player agrees, the gaming chips are issued. With the cash held in escrow rather than going right into the drop box, the player has the option to call the money back if they disagree with the reader’s evaluation, for example.
This whole process – sorting the notes – takes around five seconds. In total, with communicating with the dealer, agreeing totals, and notes being sorted, the whole process takes around 15 seconds to process 12 notes. The benefits, when you look at the numbers, are obvious – more play, less downtime, happier players and increased profits. JCM estimates that this could lead to up to an hour of saved gameplay every day, though this is a rough figure. The sorter will work with two 1700-note cash boxes, so it won’t need to be emptied that frequently either. And once you tie this in to JCM’s Intelligent Cash Box system, the benefits in terms of security are huge. As JCM’s Tom Nieman explained: “No more drop box, no more not knowing how much money is on the table – today it’s a world in which accountability is a real priority.
“It’s about the potential of high-speed transaction automation in table games. Because of the density of table gaming here in Macau, the buy-ins are so large and the number of notes so great there is a recurring break point in games. To process a buy-in, the notes are fanned and inspected with a wand, approved by the pit boss collected and diapered into a drop box; we’ve timed this process and it can take over two minutes for 40 notes to be accepted. In that break point no one is making any money, the player can’t play; nobody wins.” As it stands, the prototype is too bulky to be workable – but if JCM can brings its size down, this is a sure-fire winner for Asian casinos.
Shuffle Master’s new CEO Gavin Isaacs enjoyed his first exhibition at the helm of the highly respected table games innovators. He told Macau Business why he made the move from Bally, which surprised some in the industry. “It’s a great career move for me. I wanted to become the head of the company and at Bally I would have had to wait a long time. Shuffle Master had an opportunity, and it was a really good fit for me. It’s the same industry but it’s a quite different part of the industry; it’s on-competitive for Bally, so we came to an agreement and it’s been a good move for me.”
“Shuffle Master is a very stable company but I can see areas I’d like to improve. The mantra from the board is we want to grow the company and we’ve already started moving into the online space.” Shuffle Master’s table game intellectual properties are absolutely ideal for online gaming, but it’s this that has caused them some problems in the past – with some operators using the game ideas without paying the piper. “We’re licensing those people who are already using our IP and making sure they pay for it – we don’t want them to stop using it, we just want them to pay for what they’re already using,” explained Isaacs.
The company is now focussing on slots in their attractive Equinox cabinet, outside North America, with some solid product aimed squarely at Australia, Asia, and eventually Latin America and possibly Europe. They’re already working well in Australia, so the chances are good for the slots to succeed internationally.
Also of note is a new shuffler which not only shuffles up to eight decks, it will tell the dealer if there is a card missing.
Macau has rapidly become the market that the world looks to in terms of gaming revenues, consistently breaking its own records and all thanks to table games, not slots, the traditional bread-and-butter of North American casinos. But slots are catching on in Asia, though it has taken some time – and wherever there is an emerging market for slots, Novomatic will be there. The European company is widely respected throughout the gaming industry, with a variety of proven performers installed worldwide.
The company had a large presence at G2E, with a strong line-up of slot titles alongside their electronic multiplayer installation based on NOVOLINE Novo Unity II. Following Novomatic’s relatively recent acquisition of Octavian assets, their fully-scalable systems products and jackpots were another highlight.
The latest Super-V+ Gaminator multi-game mixes were presented in two groups of Super-V+ Gaminator cabinets that were linked within the Octavian casino management system ACP (Accounting Control Progressives System) and connected to new mystery progressive jackpot theme WILD NIGHTS.
The SL2 slant-top was used to show a selection of CoolFire II games, this cabinet being particularly flexible as it comes in three different modular versions: NOVOSTAR SL1 with one monitor for multiplayer installations, NOVOSTAR SL2 with two monitors, and NOVOSTAR SL3. The SL2 and SL3 versions feature a flip-screen feature, so the player can use either of the two main screens to play, and an extra start button in the foot rest.
This was the first outing for the SL1, and it was used to great effect to show Novomatic’s electronic multiplayer installation based on the innovative NOVO LINE Novo Unity II system. The new feature of the system is the flexible interconnecting of a great variety of electronic live games and slot games on a virtually unlimited number of individual player stations. This multi-game functionality allows the operator to link any chosen number of terminals to different games such as Roulette, Baccarat, Poker, Black Jack, Sic Bo and Bingo as well as a great slot games offering – all within one installation.
With a host of trial installations in the Asian region, expect Asia to be a further success for Novomatic.
TCSJOHNHUXLEY entered G2E Asia on the back of a very exciting installation at Galaxy Macau, with a broad array of product in the region’s shiniest new casino, including Omni Baccarat displays.
TCS played the exhibition very smartly, realising that the local market in Macau is simply not Roulette driven, and therefore used the show to display other gaming products. The Roulette side of the business was still on display of course, as Asian markets outside of Macau – notably Singapore – are still very interested, but it was not front-and-centre as we’re so used to seeing.
At the event, a dizzying amount of product was on show, where does one begin? With the Supernova Table Bonus System, which can be applied to any game at all. It adds a mystery prize and can be either added to a single table or be used to create a local-area progressive for your property. Simple but very clever, like most great ideas.
BacaraX is a non-commission derivative of Baccarat, where the commission is earned in a different way; instead of the banker paying out at half rate when the banker wins on six points, when the banker wins on seven points the dealer moves the winnings out to a bonus box and the outcome of the next hand dictates the payout for the player, with the possibility of multiplying their winnings and adding something new and different to a game which dominates Macau’s casino floors.
Also of note is Gaming Floor Live Baccarat, an extension of the Gaming Floor Live software that has proved quite successful in analysing other table games. It allows you to manage table games from the back office, changing table minimums and other essential functions. It’s an incredibly detailed product, one we will look at in more depth when we have more space…
Asia has always been a healthy market for Gaming Partners International [GPI], mainly because of the casino chip side of the business which thrives on the many tables games in the area. But GPI appears to be receptive to their customers’ needs, with a couple of developments on show at G2E Asia with this market specifically in mind.
The Chip Inventory System [CIS] harnesses GPI’s RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology to give a property an accurate handle on the status of all enabled chips throughout a casino. It helps casinos increase inventory movement efficiency and security and gain valuable insight into their operations. By tracking currency from the cage or vault to its authorized location on the gaming floor, it allows real-time monitoring and authentication of inventory and provides fast, accurate validation of chip amounts and serial numbers. GPI’s Kirsten Clark clarified the company’s stance on the next generation of CIS, 2.0: “Our philosophy is that a casino should be able to work with any systems provider they want. Our goal is to give them accurate data and the various components for them to really maximize their RFID investment and security – but to give them the data so they have the ability to determine how they want to use that to improve their operations. Unlike prior versions, one of the key advantages of Chip Inventory System 2.0 is that we’re telling operators we just want to give them access to what they need, regardless of who they work with in back of house – we’ll work with them and our system will work with them.”
The next development is the Portable Chip Reader, created with casinos that might use RFID enabled chips but who might not have taken the step to make every table RFID-relevant. In terms of cost, this would be a huge undertaking in a casino with hundreds of card tables, so the PCR might be just what is required. Kirsten Clark explains succinctly: “The portable RFID reader gives casinos the ability to extend RFID to the pit without having to make the initial investment of putting RFID on every table. If a property is going to make the investment in RFID, they want to be able to extend the protection – you don’t want counterfeit chips to be easily passed in the pit, but to deploy RFID across hundreds and hundreds of tables it can be a costly proposition property-wide. Because of the portability, durability, read-speeds, this can be used with a group of tables so it’s available for authentication when needed and the chips don’t have to go back to the cage.”
Another change of note in Macau’s casinos, aside from the slot usage increasing noticeably, is the apparent acceptance of electronic automated gaming – Sic Bo, Roulette, for example. This is an area where Alfastreet have scored some success around the world –notably in South America and Asia – and they now have a great new product which will appeal to Asia’s many time-sensitive players. It’s a multigame terminal, with a twist – the twist being the player can play two games simultaneously. For example, if they select Roulette as their game choice, they can choose two wheels, and just keep playing. It means downtime for the player is at a minimum and stimulation is at a maximum.
Alfastreet’s Albert Radman told us: “This will be placed in large numbers around Asia in the very near future. We already have an installation in Marina Bay, Singapore, of 40 units, and it’s working well.”
As for the company’s continued success in the Asian region, Albert says they know what they are doing and what they must do to sustain it: “We know the customers and we know how to please them: with complete support for a beautiful product.”
Exciting developments at Atronic, aside from their excellent slots, are on the systems side. The company’s new CEO is very focussed on innovation, and it’s already showing in the company’s offering. What we saw at G2E Asia is available shortly – or even already – and uses genuine imagination and innovation to help the casino operator streamline their operations even more effectively. Of note was FloorMaster, a piece of software which communicates to the back office the whole gaming floor, who is playing the slots, how much has been bet, how much lost, duration of play, and much more. It communicates everything about the gaming floor, in real time.
Another innovation on the RGB stand for Atronic was VIVO – Virtual In, Virtual Out, a cashless system which allows players to use an iPhone alongside RFID technology to cash in and out; gaming with a virtual wallet. With the emergence of mobile commerce, this could grow and grow. It also reduces cost over time, as there is no need for a printer or paper in a TITO sense.
The company was also showcasing a social networking-style gaming innovation within the casino, so players can set up an avatar and challenge other players in the property. Then players can use another Atronic Systems creation called myBar to buy another player – or themselves, of course – a drink.
myGuest is a further innovation from Atronic, a tool for a slot manager working their floor to work on their smartphone so they can see information about the players on the floor; player level, coin balance, status in player tracking terms… myGuest is a great weapon in the fight to retain customers by increasing guest service levels.
And if that’s not enough, myChoice is a way to get customer feedback on games. The slot machine has an RFID tag on it which the customer’s smartphone can then touch to download and rate the game. Everything is recorded to the casino’s central server, and it’s a quick and simple way for customers to tell the casino what they like and don’t like.
Inspired Gaming Group brought their Sabre cabinet to Asia to make its debut with GLI-compliant Multi-Win Roulette content, alongside the not-yet-approved Multi-Win Baccarat. Sabre’s a great-looking cabinet, and combining it with Asia’s number one card game should result in some success for Inspired. The playing interface is really crisp and intuitive, simple enough to pick up easily but slick enough for a player to be impressed – and it gives the player the potential to bet across four wheels or games simultaneously, which should certainly appeal to the Asian market. The player can play one of four types of Baccarat, which should increase the appeal. There are two core types of Baccarat – commission and non-commission, but in our variant on Sabre we have commission, non-commission (Super 6), and a side-bet (based on drawing pairs) commission version, plus a side-bet non-commission version. Sabre gives Inspired an excellent platform to develop their side bets for Baccarat, expect developments on this before next year’s G2E Asia.
Their stand was extremely busy; Inspired is doing very well in Asia, particularly outside of Macau in Laos, Vietnam and many other emerging gaming markets.
Bally’s presence was predictably large, considering the size of the hall; slots dominated with several titles displaying the creativity the company is famed for. The show saw the Asian launch of the extremely impressive Pro Series cabinet, with the Alpha 2 platform, and the superb iDeck technology, rendering the button panel a touchscreen – and therefore completely customisable, which is particularly important when you factor in server-based gaming. The ‘spin’ button has been retained though, as it’s the one constant through slot machines.
Much of the Bally offering had been seen at G2E in Las Vegas late last year, but there are some improvements and refinements; the company has taken the care to translate all of the in-play screens to Simplified Chinese, along with all help screens, for the local market.
Cash Spin, which has been doing well for Bally internationally to say the least, was also available for the Asian market. It’s a wonderful looking slot, bright, colourful and instinctive, even with touchscreen technology in use for spinning the bonus wheel. Importantly for the Asian customer, Bally has added the option for the player to choose their own volatility for the game. As slots continue to pick up in Macau and across Asia, expect this to lead the charge.
Cammegh used the show to meet potential new customers and to grow the reputation of their Roulette wheels and associated tools. Cammegh play the long game, as Richard Cammegh explained: “We’ve been building our brand, building awareness in this region, and building relationships over time; that’s what we do here.”
On the stand they were showing the Slingshot 2, Crystal Wheel, and the new Mercury 360, which they say is the most sophisticated wheel they have ever done. It includes an Ethernet port so the wheel can give play statistics across a network, plus a built-in electronic level sensor for easy setup, and the display model included their random rotor innovation, which increases security. Speaking of which, there is a tamper switch within which records any suspicious activity with the wheel, and Wheel Manager software is included. The wheel also remembers every spin in its life and records it all for checking, so suspected dealer collusion can be investigated using the wheel’s records alongside security cameras.
TransAct’s Epicentral Print System was front and centre for the thermal printer company, as they offered personal demonstrations to customers to highlight the potential for marketing directly into the customer’s lap as they play slots. The system works with any slot machine and uses the Epic 950 TITO printer, regardless of game manufacturer or slot system.
The exhibition comes hot on the heels of TransAct’s big announcement, that Galaxy Macau would be using the Epic 950 TITO printer exclusively on its 1100 slots. That’s a big coup for TransAct and the very best shop window any supplier could be in.
Also on show for the company was their ServerPort, an upgrade to existing Epic 950 printers which allows them to take advantage of Epicentral among other things. The Epic 880 roll-fed thermal printer, ideal for VLTs and kiosks, and the Ithaca lines (8000 and 8040), which are suited to food service applications.
Crane Payment Solutions, since acquiring Money Controls, surely has the most complete array of cash handling product in gaming; but how much of that is suitable for Asia? The company had a fair showing of its product suite in Macau, with NRI, Money Controls and CashCode all represented, but the emphasis was on bill acceptors as Bill Murphy, Asia Pacific Sales Director, explained: “Coins in casinos in Asia are very limited now, very few are running coins. What we’re promoting here is the bill acceptors, the CashCode one and the Ardac Elite. We’re Crane Payment Solutions and we have three brands in Money Controls, CashCode and NRI.
“This is a big market for a small number of customers; we’ve had a lot of people visit us though, including people from the Philippines, all over really. It’s been a very good show for us. We’ve had some key decision makers visit us and we have actually taken orders on the stand.”
DigiDeal’s stand focussed on the X-Pod, what the company calls a ‘modular wagering terminal’. It’s basically a way to add player stations to an existing DigiDeal table game setup, up to 99 in fact. Each terminal has its own bill validator, ticket printer and supports full player tracking. The terminal itself is very stylish, and surprisingly compact.
With the staffing problems widely reported in Macau and new properties gobbling up available and new staff as fast as they can be trained, a company like DigiDeal should be doing very well in the Asian market, not least because of the security aspect of the games – there’s no dealer collusion possible with an electronic table game, after all. The flexibility of their product offering is the key, with table games able to be classified as either slots OR table games, depending on what the operator needs in that jurisdiction. And with player acceptance of electronic table games well and truly on the rise in Asia, we think you’ll be seeing a lot more of DigiDeal in this part of the world.
Thermal printer specialists FutureLogic had their Gen3 printer on the stand, though it’s not yet available to buy, alongside some other very interesting product. John Edmunds explains: “We’re only showcasing the Gen3 concept today, it’s not yet available to buy. It’s designed to link into promotional couponing, but you want to print a different kind of ticket to a cash-out voucher. With this, you can do a near-photographic quality print, it really makes the ticket more eye-catching.
“Gen3 holds 450 tickets, 50% more than even the Gen2 printer; we’re thinking if you want to print coupons, you’ll be doubling up some of your print so it keeps maintenance down quite a bit. It also prints twice as fast, so if you’re printing two or three tickets in a go, you don’t want the customer to feel they are hanging around waiting; it prints at eight inches per second.”
Also of note was the new version of PromoNet, where the graphical user interface has had a complete redesign; also, and arguably most interesting, FutureLogic were demonstrating a host-assisted couponing system that works from an iPad, so promotional tickets can be triggered just by a member of staff walking the casino floor and selecting a player.
FutureLogic’s exhibition space is employed far more effectively now that the company runs its products on a small network of slots, so customers can really see the printers in action in real time. It’s exceptionally effective.
IGT has undergone a management restructure and a global rethink in terms of division of territory recently, with Andrew Hely now Vice President, Asia-Pacific. Andrew explains: “The way the world is divided up for IGT has changed; the recalibration is to create an Asia-Pacific region. I’ve been looking after Australia and New Zealand, and there was an expansion of that remit so I now look after the Asia Pacific area too. What IGT has basically done is try to create a more sensible three time zones from a commercial standpoint.” That certainly seems to make sense. But what of the show itself? IGT has often led the line with big licenses but is there any proof that the big names are right for the Asian market? Andrew continues: “There is a role for that high-end product in the market, but it has to be measured. There’s always a role for good core games with strong maths, volatile games, that’s where our Australian product will come in and buttress the high-end products.
“The focus this year is really trying to tailor the products for the market place. We still have a plethora of the US-style slots, the premium end titles like Sax and the City, Dark Night, Ghostbusters, but what we are telling customers here is that we are introducing the Blue Chip Neo products, which is the staple product from the Australia and New Zealand market. We’ve brought in some proven game maths and themes from down there and tailored them to the Asian market here to try and create a tailored product range which is complementary to the US product set; it’s not designed to compete with that range.”
Bill validator company MEI continues its success in Asia; last year they tied up the Singapore casinos business, and this year Galaxy opened with 100 per cent MEI validators within. It’s a great advert for any company, when a property chooses your product exclusively, but for the three highest-profile casino openings in the world to do it, it’s pure gold.
G2E Asia saw MEI launch their new version of the SC to the international market, as Graeme Lewis told Casino International: “The new international version of the SC bill acceptor brings a number of new features the market is looking for. It’s faster – we think it’s probably the fastest bill acceptor on the market. It has four-way barcode acceptance, increased security, more note capacity, and great support tools.” Also very importantly, it could not be easier for an OEM to upgrade to the new version; Graeme adds: “If an OEM has integrated the SC product and they want to upgrade to the new SC, all they have to do is swap the head over – there’s really hardly any work to do. It’s a nice clean transition.”
Interblock’s steady rise into Asia has been marked by key, high-profile installations of their G3 electronic table games. Now, the company is promoting G4, the next generation, and in particular G4 Organic Island, which Vice President of Product Management Tim Richards thinks will be a great fit for Macau. Tim explains: “It’s been a great market for us; we’ve placed a lot of G3 product here in Macau, so now we are promoting the G4 product line, which has new games and more flexibility. We’ve got great customers here, we’re working to expand the market and expanding the products, placing new products here.
“We’re really highlighting Organic Island and our multigame capability. Players can sit at the terminal and switch between games; they can chase trends on a Baccarat game or a Sic Bo game, or move between the same type of game or different kinds of games on the same terminal. Our focus here is to push this concept, these island-style installations, into this market.
“There is more mass market acceptance here now for product like ours. Over time in any new market, no matter whether it’s slots or table games, you’re fine tuning the gaming floor. The customers here now are used to G3 and are ready for G4, and now we can feed those players that want to chase trends. Now, a table game player will sit at a Baccarat game because there’s a nice streak going on there or the shoe seems generous to them, or they want to jump between games – that can all be done very easily at the push of a button on our G4 Organic Island. Any table player, in Asia or elsewhere, you want the freedom to get up and see other games, try them out, see where the luck might lie.”
DLV, the Latvian slot manufacturers, brought their attractive Diamond widescreen cabinet, and used to show visitors their DIAMOND GAMES Premium series. The cabinet boasts TITO support, a 16:9 ratio screen, two hoppers, enhanced audio quality and an eye on ergonomics which all combine to make it a big step forward from the company’s Diamond DTFT cabinet. An close eye has been paid also to the cabinet’s durability, including moisture resistance and dust-tightness.
The company has had immediate success since deciding to take on the Asian market, with installations already this year in Cambodia. Already well known in Eastern Europe, parts of the EU and Latin America, DLV are expanding into Asia and do not bet against them succeeding!
Giorgio Abbiati, CEO of Abbiati Casino Equipment, was very positive talking about G2E Asia 2011. According to Giorgio it was “the most successful show in Asia in the last five years, very busy with the number of visits, as the majority were important decision makers.”
Giorgio added: “This show had brought to Abbiati a number of interesting opportunities and we met a number of new clients not just from Macau, but also from other Asia regions, including Singapore and India.”
The biggest interest from visitors was for the new Abbiati TV Poker table. Despite Poker not being considered a popular game in Asian countries, the enormous interest shows that this game is becoming more popular. The new table was designed and manufactured using top quality materials and in collaboration with Dallmeier, as Abbiati had used their high-quality cameras – as Giorgio sums up, they are “the best on the market.”
The American Roulette table, with Winning Number display, was specially designed for G2E Asia; manufactured using carbon fibre and top quality leather and the table itself was completed with the Roulette wheel incorporating Abbiati’s patented laser technology. Abbiati had also brought to Macau the Bean Shape Baccarat table.
During the show Abbiati also introduced to visitors their new line of chips and plaques which contain more security features, including edge designs and UV logo.
Abbiati also used the exhibition to announce that they have now received their licence approval to sell gaming chips in Nevada, approved by Nevada Gaming Control Board, which has been a key element for discussions with American Operators in Macau.
It’s no secret that we’re huge fans of WMS product; over the last five or six years, they’ve had the most innovative and exciting slots on the market, though their main competitors have been closing the gap of late. So what did G2E Asia bring from WMS, who always set the bar so very high? It brought innovation in the G+ Deluxe cabinet series, which now has a very cute feature in that a player can track the machine’s performance and see if it has paid out recently or not; what the player then does with that information is up to them, of course. It’s a feature an operator can implement or not as they see fit, but it would make sense for an operator to help a player feel empowered and more in control of their luck.
Alice was another standout, with a design similar to the classic Goldfish game, which has done well in Asia. The features are different but the feel is reminiscent, so players might find familiarity in its look and overall design.
Candace Lucas, Executive Director of Marketing Operations for WMS, told us the company is also pushing its new Bluebird XD cabinet into Asia. She explained: “We’re also promoting our Bluebird XD cabinet, which is like a hybrid slant-top/upright cabinet. If you look at the design it’s no larger than an upright would be – it gives the operator the best of both worlds, the comfort of a slant-top for the player with the footprint of an upright.”
EGT is slowly easing its way into the Asian market, as Nadia Filipova told Casino International, with business happening in the Philippines and Macau. Nadia said: “Development has been done in the Philips with PagCor and machines have been accepted for trial there. We hope we will have a substantial number of machines installed there before the end of the year.” EGT now has a representative office in the Philippines, which oversees their involvement in Asia outside of Macau. Within Macau, the company works with a local partner, Winning Asia.
The emphasis at the event was on the Widescreen Vega Vision+ cabinet and its multigame mixes. The GLI-certified cabinet features multi-language capabilities, including Chinese and Spanish, so it’s a genuinely international product, and multigames are really picking up in Asia.
EGT already has over 100 machines installed in Macau and is actively working on growing that number; their research and development team has been designing specifically Asian-themed games, for example; this will also hep as they work to expand into Singapore.
There was much more to see at G2E Asia and we’ve really only touched on the highlights here. The show really has picked up after a couple of quiet years, with a nice buzz about the floor and a feeling of business being done. G2E Asia 2011 has re-established this show as one of the gaming industry’s Big Four, alongside SAGSE Buenos Aires, ICE, and G2E Las Vegas. And hurrah for that.
