“The only universal is that the game has to perform. I mean that casinos are not loyal to Bally, IGT or any other manufacturer, they are loyal to the title of the game. The titles are what makes them money,” Prater says. “Therefore, we put a lot of effort into understanding each market and what our customers are looking for. We have the office staff and expertise to understand what we need to do to succeed.”

In a wide-ranging interview in his office at Bally Technologies headquarters a stone’s throw from the main runway at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, the 41-year-old Prater talked about the problems and opportunities of selling gaming machines around the world.

Prater noted that he has a college degree in journalism and then worked in the newspaper business for a while. After turning in his reporter’s notebook, Prater worked for Ameristar Casinos, a casino operator, for two years and then spent another two years at Sigma Game on the machine side before moving to Bally seven years ago.

Casino International - Are you responsible for Bally Technologies’ marketing activities in the USA or worldwide?

Marcus Prater: I’m responsible for Bally Technologies’ marketing activities both in the United States and around the world. Here in Las Vegas we do marketing campaigns, advertising, messages, trade shows, product launches and things like that. We have control over the Bally brand and try to coordinate all of our products with decisions coming out of Las Vegas to our offices around the world. However, what we are selling here in the United States, may not be right for Germany or Macau or wherever, but we coordinate the marketing out of this office.

CI - Are there any differences in selling gaming machines and products in the USA as opposed to say other countries?

Prater: Sure, absolutely. You know that every market is different whether it be Vegas versus Atlantic City or Hanover, Germany versus Montevideo, Uruguay. We go into those markets to gain an understanding what the casino operators want as well as what the end players are looking for.

CI - How do you take into account the various cultural differences for gaming machines sold in Germany, or Argentina or wherever? How do you avoid stepping on these cultural toes?

Prater: In terms of the things which would affect the eventual user and player as opposed to the casino operator, what we have found out is that it a very high-performing game in the United States works elsewhere as well. Typically we would have an international market for that without a lot of modification. But there is also a strong link between content for different international markets. We have a development team in Manchester in the United Kingdom. That office is charged with changing the concepts or developing the concepts for the European market in particular. It also does modifications such as the translation of the glass, some of the help screens and similar things. The group in Manchester does international content beyond Europe. A good example of cultural differences is that for the Chinese the number seven is considered unlucky and eights are considered lucky. Therefore, our Blazing Sevens - and there are sevens on just about every game we make - so when we went into the Macau market we had to change our Blazing Sevens game into a Golden Eights game which uses the same math program but different symbols.

CI - Why was the company’s name changed from Alliance Gaming to Bally Technologies?

Prater: Our name change was probably long overdue. The Alliance name in its heyday was an alliance of different companies. We sold off some of these divisions and one of our casinos so Bally Gaming and Systems became our core business. The other part is that Bally is celebrating its 75th anniversary next year. Clearly 75 years of history on a name and that name is known the world over in gaming circles is Bally, so it just made more sense to hang our hat on the Bally brand. The reality is that we have become a technology company. Everything you see in our machines and in our systems is technology driven. We are a software company, we are in research and development, and so it became natural to call it Bally Technologies.

CI - Has this caused any confusion with Bally’s Casino on the Las Vegas Strip?

Prater: Yes, there is a little confusion with our name and the casino. We get calls for people wanting a room for the night and I get calls from vendors wanting to sell me stuff for the casino and so forth. I have sort of given up correcting people since the difference is that they are Bally’s, and we are Bally. We are a singular Bally with Technologies, which is plural.

CI - What does your slogan: “The World’s Game Maker” mean to you?

Prater: The reality is that we have been doing this for 75 years, longer than anyone else. Over the long history of our company we have always been a global company and have had a large presence in Europe. The fact is that our library of games is among the deepest in the gaming industry. The other part of that is that we had a great deal of success with the Game Maker multi-game slot title in the 1990’s and you’ll be seeing more of the Game Maker title coming soon.

CI - What will Gavin Isaacs, former president of Aristocrat Technologies bring to Bally as your new Chief Operating Officer? (Editor’s note: for an in-depth interview with Gavin Isaacs, please see the March 2006 issue of CI.)

Prater: I think that Gavin will bring a lot to Bally Technologies. He will bring the expertise he has gained at Aristocrat in running their American operations. He also has extensive experience on the international side. Gavin’s global experience and his local knowledge if you will, clearly will be a great thing for us. As Chief Operating Officer he will be the number two executive here at Bally Technologies. Moreover, his background from an operations standpoint I think, will help us with some of our internal activities such as manufacturing, customer support and that sort of thing. He is also very good with customers and I think that he will be well received by all of our Bally Technologies customers who are looking forward to working with him directly. Gavin is knowledgeable, enthusiastic and all of those assets together are certainly a winning combination for Bally. While Gavin Isaacs started in Australia he has worked his way around the world and understands all of those markets for Bally.

CI - Specifically what is Bally Technologies doing to increase sales in markets in Russia and Asian markets?

Prater: The Russian market, as you are probably aware, is kind of stalled at the moment because there are so many pending regulatory changes. The short version is that for Russia our main goal is to try and improve gaming performance because it is mostly a video market and about a year ago our video products did not perform well in Russia. In the last year since we have gotten our Alpha platform into our games the performance has improved dramatically. Therefore, we have to go about making better games and working with our local distributor and then waiting for the market to open up. In Asia the story there is that we have made a commitment to the market by opening an office in Macau in February so we have a full staff there. We have a Managing Director, sales, service and the like. In Macau we are learning the market and then creating games specifically in content that will work in Macau. All of the companies that are going into Macau are learning because it is has never been a very big slot market before. Now however, it is growing and is moving to a slot market . Therefore, it is some what of emerging market that is also maturing at a rapid pace. In order to be on the ground in Macau is to understand what is happening is probably the most critical thing we can do there. Our new Managing Director, Cath Burns, has already assembled a good team. There is about US ten billion dollars worth of new construction and investment going up on the Cotai Strip that is scheduled to be completed by 2010 and so it is remarkable what is happening in that part of the world.

CI - What is the most unusual place you have sold gaming machines?

Prater: I would say that the most unusual place is the Genting Highlands Resort Casino in Malaysia. It is outside of Kuala Lumpur and the only casino in the country. They basically chopped off the top of a mountain and put this huge mega resort there. The Genting Highlands makes the MGM Grand here in Las Vegas look small in terms of the overall size and scope of the resort. You take this winding car ride up the mountain and half the time you are driving through the clouds and when you get to the top the resort sticks out above the clouds . They love to gamble there, the tables in particular, but that is probably the most unusual spot for me.

CI - Can you give me your views of what casinos say five years from now might look like?

Prater: I think the notion of server-based gaming will be in full swing, certainly within five years. Therefore, gaming and systems are starting to converge and what you will see in five years is probably a complete convergence of the two. This will present itself in the form of downloadable gaming. The operator who will use the technology that we will provide will be able to configure their floor in a new way so that the players will get additional personal benefits such as bonusing events, secondary games and tournaments in this setting. At the end of the day the slot floor will remain a vibrant and entertaining area but will provide much more personalization at the player level. So there are a lot of things happening and I am convinced that while five years is a long way off in a technology driven world but these are some of the highlights that you will see.

CI - What’s your favorite Bally Technologies product?

Prater: Right now my favorite product would have to be our Hot Shot Progressive, which is a new game, and it is a hit game from a marketing standpoint. We introduce a lot of titles and a few of them become a home run success. Hot Shot is shaping up to be in that category. At the present time Hot Shot is now in casinos throughout the US and is rolling into international markets.

CI - When you walk into a casino, do you ever stop to talk to players playing your machines or your competitors’ games?

Prater: I certainly do spend a good bit of time walking casino floors and observing and talking to players. The average person playing a slot machine does not know whether they are playing a Bally Technologies’ machine or an IGT machine. However, I ask them what they like about that particular game. A lot of times when we introduce a new game, like our new Hot Shot Progressive game it is interesting to see if the players get the fact that they are going into a secondary bonus game which is a mini version of Blazing Sevens and that’s how they win the progressive. It is gratifying to see that players get it and to get some feedback as to why they like the game and the entertaining aspects of the game. So definitely we have to look to the players since they ultimately decide how well we do.

CI - Are slot machines getting too complicated? Do they have too many bells and whistles on them for the average player?

Prater: That’s a good question. However, I would have to say that the answer is apparently no, in that slot revenues continue to go up. We continue to innovate and bring new games and titles. If you saw a very complicated video slot machine on a casino floor ten years ago, the average player would be frightened to death of it. Today however, players are familiar with computers, the internet and cell phones in their lives so they are more familiar with technology. I think that the introduction of new technologies is at the right pace as it relates to other advances in society.

CI - Is there anything you might want to add about Bally Technologies?

Prater: You know it is all about new products. We are looking forward to the next round of games and platforms that we will be introducing at the G2E in November here in Las Vegas. Our product line up has never been stronger, frankly, and the games are working better than they have since I have been here. Right now we have what I would call a triple threat in terms of products like Hot Shot from the gaming operations and revenue-share category, our CineVision games on the video side and our five-reel S9000 stepper slot. We have three unique products that no one else has and all of them are performing very well. Bally Technologies has multiple products and services so it is a good place for us to be in and I am very, very pleased with our product lineup. Finally, we will continue to compete for the entertainment dollars with the best games we can develop. I think that we as gaming manufacturers have to push ourselves to make sure that we make the most entertaining games we can.

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