But in a relatively short space of time, Cadillac Jack has found its niche in gaming, and is doing very nicely. Their reputation is growing as rapidly as the orders are coming in, and it shouldn't be long before they are growing beyond the Americas. Kunal Mishra, VP Product Management and Marketing spoke to Casino International.


Casino International: What's the company's ethos, what do you believe in and what can customers believe in with Cadillac Jack?
Kunal Mishra: Cadillac Jack really prides itself on speed to market. One of the core strengths of the company is gather feedback and then localize the product for that specific market. New market entry for Cadillac Jack is a very big deal: we enter a new market with a well thought-out plan. In other words we'll place our base product in a few locations with select customers and then work closely with those customers to determine the specific changes to the product which correlate directly with the specifi needs of the market. Based on that analysis, we localize our product for the needs of the market. Another strength of Cadillac Jack is the depth of our product line. We have a full range of video slots, reel spinning slots, wide area progressives, Latin-style bingo games and a back office system.
To this point our biggest markets are Mexico, the Class II market in the US and the Class III market in the US.

CI: Where are your offices, and how many staff do you employ?
KM: We have more than 250 employees, and this number is constantly increasing. Our corporate headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia and we operate regional sales and service centers in California, Washington, Oklahoma, Minnesota and other select locations. We recently opened two offices in Mexico, one in Mexico City and one in Guadalajara.

CI: So Mexico is a major market for you?
KM: We believe we are one of the leaders in that market. Our leadership position in Mexico is directly attributable to the depth of our product line that we have developed specifically for Mexico.

CI: Could this success be moved further south?
KM: We are studying Latin America as a whole right now to see which markets our products will translate well in.

CI: What obstacles are there to that?
KM: Right now we are in the investigation and evaluation stage. Our goal is to appropriately service the product and the customer in each new market. This goes back into our philosophy that when we enter a market we want to go in there and be a leading provider of machines. We focus on the needs of the market and create specific teams within the company whose sole job is to modify the product to be able to fit the technical and player needs of that market.

CI: Why 'Cadillac Jack'?
KM: Our Founder and Chairman of the Board, Mike Macke, started the company in 1995 and he created a Blackjack game that was called the “Cadillac of all Blackjack games”, hence the name.

CI: What's the company's tag line?
KM: “Everything Matters”.
In 2007 Cadillac Jack established itself as an international provider of slot machines and started its penetration into the Class III market in the United States. The entry into this market and our success in Mexico has allowed us to introduce our theme “Everything Matters”. This sends a clear message to our growing client base that Cadillac Jack will be the most responsive to their needs. We may not be the largest provider, but we will be the most attentive to their needs. So whether it comes down to our service or our product mix or sales or marketing – everything matters to Cadillac Jack. All the things that matter to our customers directly affect our business every day.

CI: Is that Cadillac Jack's unique selling point?
KM: That is the core strength of the company; Cadillac Jack has always been a pioneer in opening new markets. The difference in Cadillac Jack now is that we not only open new markets, but we defend our position very successfully and the way we do this is by having a good product mix and surrounding that product mix with service. We pride ourselves on this.

CI: Where do you see new growth for the company?
KM: Right now the primary focus of the company is the US Class III market. This promises significant growth and upside potential especially for a company the size of Cadillac Jack. The install base of machines in the United States Class III market makes it a very lucrative proposition for us and we are entering as an established player in different markets. Certainly we are always opening and evaluating new markets in Europe and in Latin America but the primary focus of the company, as far as new markets are concerned, is the US Class III market.

CI: What's your manufacturing capacity?
KM: Our capacity at this time is more than 12,000 machines a year. We manufacture in Atlanta.

CI: What are Cadillac Jack's key products?
KM: Both now and going forward the key products are the wide area progressive and video products. Cadillac Jack has historically been strong in the video slots and we have also been very successful with our Latin bingo mix, but the product that has a very significant growth domestically, as well as internationally, is Cadillac Cash, our wide area progressive that is available both in domestic and in international formats.
This product fits a unique niche in the market, especially with the wider international markets which have been under-served in wide area progressives.
The second group of products we're excited about is our mechanical reel product line, it is a line that we are continuing to invest a lot of money in because once again we believe it is under-served in both the domestic and international markets and there is a high demand for mechanical reel games. While you certainly see the trends are going towards video there remains a very loyal and large following of reel spinning players.

CI: What do you tell new customers coming to you?
KM: If you're a new customer coming to Cadillac Jack the first thing that we tell you is players like our games. Our commitment to the customer and to the market is absolute; we are confident in our product suite and are even more confident in our ability to localize our product suite, not only for the market, but for a specific customer as well.

CI: How is Cadillac Jack ready for server-based gaming, looking forward?
KM: The Class II arena that Cadillac Jack has historically been strong in has always been server-based. Class II products, even though they were technologically strong, didn't have the playability features of the Class III products that were, coincidentally, a little behind the technology curve in that they were stand-alone machines. At Cadillac Jack, over the last 2 years we have confluenced the playability features of the Class III with the enhanced product line, along with traditionally strong technological base of Class II products. When you get the confluence of both those technologies coming together it bodes well for Cadillac Jack and our place in the server-based gaming world.

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