Global Gaming Business, October 2022

Global Gaming Business Magazine

Staying On Top

Gaming has consistently produced games that are the top earners in the industry,

has maintained its leading position through a corporate culture that has served as a magnet for the

game design and product management talent

By Jess Marquez

22 Thailand Rising

With a population including some of Asia’s biggest gamblers and fresh legislation to allow five casinos, Thailand could be Asia’s next gaming hot spot.

By Andrew Klebanow

24 Responsible Success

Successful efforts to address problem gambling are based on effective research, and are a result of all stakeholders working together.

By Christine Reilly and Earle G. Hall

96 Testing Marketing Results

Market research is essential to gauge the value of any product or promotion, but the nature of that research is changing.

By Julia Carcamo

104 Kiosk Essentials

Boosted by the rise of sports betting, multi-functional kiosks are becoming an essential element in casino operations.

By Dave Bontempo

On the Cover: Aristocrat Gaming executives Stacey Zeleznik, chief people and culture officer; Hector Fernandez, CEO; and Deanne McKissick, chief supply chain officer

Anthony Gaud

Global

By Frank Legato and Bill Sokolic

with Futureproof Gaming Solutions STEP INTO THE METAVERSE

The Future Is Now

By Roger Gros, Publisher

One of my favorite genres when I finally get time to read some fiction are books about time travel. Granted there aren’t too many good ones because, well, we really can’t see into the future. I just finished one written in the 1960s where the time travelers advance a few years at a time until they’re 1 million years in the future. And in not one stop along the way were people staring at their phones or handheld devices.

In some ways, attending G2E each year is a peek into the future, but only by about five years ahead at the most. While most of the designers of products for gaming are very intelligent and creative, they can only work with what they have and what their customers want. And we’ve got multiple examples of companies over the years that have overreached, resulting in crashing and burning—can you say “skill games?”

Let’s do a little exercise to imagine what gaming will be like in 2072, 50 years from now.

Slot machines are something we now believe will survive, although a few years ago people were beginning to question that. But I think it’s still possible, so let’s take a two-pronged fork in the road.

Down one fork there are no more “machines” but there are definitely games. The games are played primarily on our personal devices and linked to our personal accounts, where you can pick up right where you left off. In that world, will casinos still even exist? If you can access all of your favorite games through a single device, why even bother going to a place just to play games when you can do that anywhere? It makes every corner of the known world a casino.

The other fork may be more likely. Just as we thought the slot machine was in demise a few years ago, today’s slots give the phrase “bells and whistles” new meaning. Just read Frank Legato’s Global Games section in this edition of the magazine. Believe me, these are not your grandmother’s slot games anymore.

We already see that places to enjoy playing slot machines are expanding greatly. In addition to casinos, racetracks, airports, gas stations, convenience stores and bars and restaurants, how long will it be before you can gamble at your local library, all for a good cause?

But for machines to survive, you’re going to have to make them truly special. How about putting some machines in one of those VR capsules that normally would give customers that roller coaster experience, but make it more vital and more fun when you win a

slot jackpot? We’ve already seen gaming companies experimenting with the “augmented reality” goggles. You might have laughed them off at first try, but it’s a concept that is truly in its infancy.

Another technology that’s in its infancy is holograms. Maybe instead of “going” to the casino, you can “beam” yourself to the casino? Imagine playing craps from your armchair in your living room. Or getting together for a poker night with the crew via hologram. The applications are endless.

Last month we gave you a glimpse into the future of table games with the “live” dealer concept currently being utilized by the online casinos. One of the leading ETG manufacturers is coming out with a “live” dealer on the actual casino floor, and this expands the concept of playing a game at home but still in the raucous environment of a winning table.

I believe it will be possible to “design” your experience on thecasino floor due to the data that the casino has collected about you. I hate this aspect—I haven’t done any DNA ancestry tests or set up facial recognition on my phone because I don’t want the government or its allied corporations knowing more about me than I’m willing to give. But I know I’m fighting a losing battle here, and the casinos 50 years from now will know every nook and cranny of our personalities, thereby giving you a choice on your games, your entertainment and your experience—outside of winning and losing, of course. The data analysis we see today is a mere shadow of what is to come.

Now if I hear “sports betting is still in its infancy” one more time… I’ll again be convinced that’s right and there are many ways that teams and leagues can get closer to their fans via wagering. We’re already seeing sportsbooks opening up in stadiums and arenas. What if that’s just a foot in the door for casinostyle games? Would make sense.

But I believe people will be surprised how esports will be almost as pervasive as mainstream sports are today. Most of it will be online with the players sitting in their pajamas, but I’m sure some smart entrepreneur in the next 50 years will find the key that will finally allow casinos to attract that valuable demographic.

Now most of the things we discussed today are really just extensions of what is already occurring, so it’s not like I popped into the future for a glimpse. But I’m fully willing to go if someone does the hard work of inventing a time machine.

Roger Gros, Publisher | rgros@ggbmagazine.com twitter: @GlobalGamingBiz

Frank Legato, Editor | flegato@ggbmagazine.com twitter: @FranklySpeakn

Jess Marquez, Managing Editor jmarquez@ggbmagazine.com

Monica Cooley, Art Director mcooley@ggbmagazine.com

Terri Brady, Sales & Marketing Director tbrady@ggbmagazine.com

Becky Kingman-Gros, Chief Operating Officer bkingros@ggbmagazine.com

Lisa Johnson, Communications Advisor lisa@lisajohnsoncommunications.com twitter: @LisaJohnsonPR

Columnists

Frank Fantini | David Forman

Contributing Editors

Dave Bontempo twitter: @bontempomedia

Julia Carcamo | Earle G. Hall Andrew Klebanow | Christine Reilly

Bill Sokolic twitter: @downbeachfilm

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Rino Armeni, President, Armeni Enterprises

• Mark A. Birtha, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Hard Rock International

• Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs, President, Lifescapes International

• Nicholas Casiello Jr., Shareholder, Fox Rothschild

• Jeffrey Compton, Publisher, CDC E-Reports twitter: @CDCNewswire

• Dean Macomber, President, Macomber International, Inc.

• Stephen Martino, Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer, MGM Resorts International, twitter: @stephenmartino

• Jim Rafferty, President, Rafferty & Associates

•

Thomas Reilly, Vice President Systems Sales, Scientific Games

• Michael Soll, President, The Innovation Group

• Katherine Spilde, Executive Director, Sycuan Gaming Institute, San Diego State University, twitter: @kspilde

•

Ernie Stevens, Jr., Chairman, National Indian Gaming Association twitter: @NIGA1985

• Roy Student, President, Applied Management Strategies

• David D. Waddell, Partner Regulatory Management Counselors PC

Casino Connection International LLC.

1000 Nevada Way • Suite 204 • Boulder City, NV 89005 702-248-1565 • 702-248-1567 (fax) www.ggbmagazine.com

The views and opinions expressed by the writers and columnists of GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS are not necessarily the views of the publisher or editor.

Copyright 2022 Global Gaming Business LLC. Boulder City, NV 89005

GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS is published monthly by Casino Connection International, LLC. Printed in Nevada, USA. Postmaster: Send Change of Address forms to: 1000 Nevada Way, Suite 204, Boulder City, NV 89005

CapitaL iNtENsivE

arecovery from a gambling disorder can be seen as one of the more serious problems in all addictions. Having no substance to remove, pathological gamblers are subject to lots of potholes in the road to recovery. Experts call these hurdles “negative recovery capital,” and they all have the possibility to derail a recovery. The study was conducted by Belle Gavriel-Fried and Niva Lev-el at the Bob Shapell School of Social Work, Tel Aviv University, and was funded by a grant from the International Center for Responsible Gaming in 2017. The study is the first effort to map these elements across various domains pertinent to the recovery process. The study found that some of the most serious hurdles to a recovery are technology-related— either a negative response from the patient’s circle of social media contacts, or a withdrawal from those networks. The study was published in the 27th edition of TheWager, a publication of the Cambridge Health Alliance Division on Addictions at Harvard Medical School. To obtain a copy of the study, visit https://link. springer.com/article/10.1007/s10899-021-10016-3.

Football Frenzy

Elements of Negative Recovery Capital

Like the NFL in the United States, the kickoff of Europe’s top football (soccer) leagues is a red-letter day for European bookmakers. After over two seasons of uncertainly during the Covid crisis, most of the leagues opened with no restrictions on the number of fans nor requirements for vaccinations or mask mandates. The five leagues studied by SportingPedia—Premier League, La Liga, Serie A,

Occupancy of First Round Matches by Leagues

Ligue 1 and Bundesliga—showed the strengths you might expect of the best organizations in these soccer-mad countries. Unsurprisingly, the most popular league in Europe in terms of fan attendance on opening day was England’s Premier League, where fans filled 98.5 percent of the seats on opening day. Other key findings included:

• When compared to the other top five leagues in Europe, English fans were the most impatient, with a total of 421,273 flocking around the 10 grounds on opening weekend.

• On opening weekend, the average occupancy across the stadiums of Europe’s top five leagues was calculated to be 84.5 percent.

• Only four arenas were completely sold out, with all four located in Germany.

• Manchester United, Borussia Dortmund, Marseille, Milan, and Barcelona attracted the largest crowds in each league during the opening weekend.

• Serie A stadiums had the lowest occupancy rate, with just over 70 percent of their capacity filled.

• In total, 1,683,340 fans attended the first-round games in England, Spain, Germany, France, and Italy’s top divisions.

To obtain a copy of the report, visit SportingPedia.com.

“They Said It”

Questions

Anthony Gaud

CEO, G3

As a media executive for the past 25 years, Anthony Gaud has an idea of what people want. He won an Emmy for an innovative children’s TV program, and now has set his sights on esports. His company, G3, is focused on advancing esports’ connection with gaming and he has some unique ideas about how that’s going to happen. He spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros via Zoom from his house outside Atlantic City in September. To hear a full version of this interview, visit GGBMagazine.com.

CALENDAR

1 3 4

GGB: Various casinos have tried many things to connect with the esports crowd without much success. Is there any real realistic partnership possible between esports and casinos at this point?

Anthony Gaud: Yes, I think actually that’s where it’s going. If we look at what has worked and what hasn’t worked, most people believe the esports business is a $200 billion market. More than 70 percent of the United States population are playing video games on a daily basis, whether it’s mobile games or console games. That’s a much larger market than the iGaming market, when you take into account how many people regularly gamble.

October 10-13: Global Gaming Expo (G2E)

2022, Venetian Expo Center, Las Vegas, Nevada. Produced by Reed Exhibitions and the American Gaming Association. For more information, visit GlobalGamingExpo.com.

2

Isn’t there an issue with the young players in a casino?

The average demographics of video gamers is a 35-year-old male and a 45-year-old female. You have to wonder why these gamers aren’t engaging with casino products. And when they are, what kind of casino products are they engaging with? We know that slots take up 70 percent to 80 percent of the casino floor. And that’s exactly the kind of product that doesn’t engage with this demographic. That tells us the infrastructure hasn’t been created yet, and that’s what we’re doing now—not just through my company, but also through the esports trade association, the regulated video game and esports committee, and a whole bunch of other companies. We are working in partnership to create this space.

Let’s talk about how regulators approach this space. They want to know how you can tell when somebody’s cheating. When a little flick of the wrist gets you eaten by a dragon, was that just you throwing the game or a simple mistake?

That’s where I go back to the technology, which actually can be very sophisticated detecting fraud and tampering. So without getting into the weeds too much, a lot of things players will do is quit a match before the match is over and say they lost their internet connection or something. But we look into that ourselves. We know what their internet connection is and whether they lost a connection or not. So using technology, you can start to look into the different ways that players have to cheat and try to game the system.

Are you involved in any regulatory system right now, other than informing the regulators how this is supposed to work?

We are very deeply involved, actually. In New Jersey, we helped the Assembly draft an esports wagering bill and a new amendment to that bill. We have been working with regulators in states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan. We are working with lobbyists across the country to introduce the concept of video game and esports wagering. And of course we run that esports trade association’s regulation committee. We’ve held roundtables with 32 states and territories—with all the regulators from those states.

You seem to be suggesting that esports is only going to be played on devices because that’s really where they started and remain today. So the exercise of making an esports slot machine is just not going to work because it’s not the natural form? How authentic do you have to be for players to play one of your esports games?

Well, that’s the real trick with this generation, with the millennials and the Gen Z generation. The term that’s used in the esports industry is endemic, meaning that if you aren’t part of this group, they look at you as an outsider. There were companies that tried to create games that sort of looked like video games, but when you play them, it’s not a video game at all, and it’s also not a good gaming experience. It’s the worst of both worlds. So what we intend to do is to take the existing game world, existing games that are well known, and provide ways to make wagers and compete for real money with games that people already know and love. And I think that’s the only way to really do it successfully.

October 16-20: World Lottery Summit 2022, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Produced by the World Lottery Association. For more information, visit WorldLotterySummit.org.

October 18-19: Casino & Esports Conference, Esports Innovation Center, Stockton University, Atlantic City. Produced by Gameacon Events. For more information, visit casinoesportconf.com.

November 1-3: SBC Summit Latinoamerica

2022, Seminole Hard Rock Casino Hotel, Hollywood, Florida. Produced by SBC Events. For more information, visit SBCEvents.com.

November 2-3: The Scandinavian Gaming Show, Copenhagen, Denmark. Produced by Eventus International. For more information, visit eventus-international.com/sgs.

November 22-24: Eastern European Gaming Summit, Grand Hotel Millennium, Sofia, Bulgaria. Produced by the Association of Gaming Industry in Bulgaria (AGIB). For more information, visit eegamingsummit.com.

December 5-7: Global Symposium on Racing, Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, Tucson, Arizona. Produced by the Race Track Industry Program, University of Arizona. For more information, visit rtip.arizona.edu/symposium.

February 7-9: ICE London, ExCeL London, U.K. Produced by Clarion Gaming. For more information, visit ICELondon.UK.com.

February 28-March 1: Casino & Esports Conference, Alexis Park Hotel, Las Vegas. Produced by Gameacon Events. For more information, visit casinoesportconf.com.

“Singapore and the Philippines are growing exponentially. Macau has already lost its shine.” Jay Chun, chairman, Macau Gaming Equipment Manufacturers Association, on gaming markets that may eventually surpass Macau

Football Fever

By David Forman

When it comes to sports betting in the U.S., there’s no doubt that football is king. As football returns to TVs and stadiums across the country, more Americans than ever are showing interest in sports betting and changing how they bet.

According to the American Gaming Association’s annual NFL wagering estimates, a record 46.6 million American adults (18 percent) plan to bet on the league’s 2022 season, a 3 percent uptick over last year’s previous alltime high.

Importantly, as legalization spreads, bettors are moving away from bookies and toward regulated options. Of American adults:

• Bookie usage is 50 percent higher in states without legalized sports betting.

Much of this trend can be attributed to growing consumer awareness of legal options and their benefits: 89 percent of past-year sports bettors now say it is very or somewhat important that they bet with a regulated sportsbook.

As the industry celebrates Responsible Gaming Education Month, consumers also report more awareness of responsible gaming resources.

Taken together, these results show increasing exposure to responsible gaming messaging and bettor movement toward legal operators, a reflection of consumer confidence in legal options and our industry’s commitment to responsibility— something the illegal market, which invests noth-

• 23 million will place a bet online this season, up 18 percent from 2021.

• 6 million will place a bet in-person at a sportsbook this season, up 2 percent from 2021.

• Just 13 percent of NFL bettors say they will use a bookie, down two points from last year (15 percent) and five points from 2020 (18 percent).

ing in responsibility, will never be able to claim.

More than 132 million American adults can wager legally in their home state today, 18 million more than at the kickoff of last year’s NFL season. As that number continues to grow, consumers will continue to benefit.

David Forman is vice president of research for the American Gaming Association.

With the return of the gridiron, more Americans will enjoy betting, with an emphasis on responsible wagering

Gimme Shelter

Where can gaming investors safely protect their investments?

By Frank Fantini

So where in this uncertain world does a gaming equity investor put his or her money for safety?

The answer is the two gaming REITs. And it’s not even close.

Both are providing investors with stock appreciation and significant dividends. Looked at in the most negative way, as of this writing VICI Properties is just 6.7 percent below its 52-week high and has just raised its dividend to provide a 4.7 percent annual yield. Gaming & Leisure Properties is off 6.9 percent, and its dividend yields a healthy 5.85 percent. In other words, on a total return basis, GLPI is down just 1 percent from its high.

Looked at from the other side, they are well up off their 52-week lows: VICI 27 percent and GLPI 17.8 percent. Year-to-date, VICI is up over 11.1 percent and GLPI is up 1.5 percent.

Compare that to the major stock market measures.

Exchange 52 w eek hig h Year to date Dow Industrials-15.1-14.3

S&P 500 -18.1-17.8

Nasdaq Composite-28.0-26.4

Russell 2000-28.820.1

Or compare them to gaming stocks. Here are select stocks as groups from their highs:

U.S. regional casinos-44.1

Big U.S. casinos -41.6

Gaming Suppliers -40.4

iGaming, sports betting-56.7

Pure Macau casinos -49.8

Or how about other REITs?

Nine select lodging REITs -27.2 percent

Dividend yield: 0.79 percent

ALPS REIT ETF -17.9

Now, growth-intoxicated investors might be bored by VICI and GLPI. After all, they don’t sell at multiples of promised profits several years out as online sports-iGaming stocks continue to do, despite their crashes. And collecting rent is not as ex-

citing as designing and building new resorts or touting the next technology innovation or offering free play on exotic new sports bets.

But that doesn’t mean growth isn’t there. Both VICI and GLPI have prudent acquisition strategies to use their strong capital positions to finance growth. Both continue to have safety as their tenants remain rock-solid rent payers.

isting and under development in gaming to provide steady acquisition growth for years to come.

Bottom line: in an era of inflation and recession fears, the gaming REITs provide returns, growth and safety. It’s hard to ask for more.

They Ain’t Making Any More of the Stuff

One obvious reason that the gaming REITs are proving solid in an era of inflation is that they own Will Rogers’ favorite asset—real estate.

As is almost axiomatic, the best things to own in an inflationary period are tangible assets, and perhaps no tangible asset has the appreciation potential of real estate.

Just based on consensus of analyst forecasts, both stocks have prospects of healthy returns not just on a relative basis to other stocks or to inflation, but in absolute terms. Consensus is for VICI stock to rise 13.7 percent over the next 12 months and GLPI 13.5 percent. Add current dividends and total returns would be 18 percent for VICI and 19.4 percent for GLPI.

And those projections do not include further acquisitions that VICI and GLPI will continue to make and that add to those returns.

Of course, the casino world is of limited size, but VICI and GLPI can and are extending into adjacencies. VICI is investing in non-gaming experiential properties, as it calls them, such as development of a Great Wolf water park resort in Southwest Florida. GLPI has an agreement that can help Cordish Companies expand its highly successful brand of non-gaming entertainment properties.

The world of entertainment properties outside of gaming is, as a practical matter to any investor, unlimited. And VICI and GLPI are positioning themselves to capitalize on the opportunities.

Meanwhile, there are still a lot of properties ex-

The trend in recent years has been for casino companies to sell their land and invest the proceeds in growth in what’s called an asset-light model. Initially, such transactions feel good as the proceeds pour in. The longer-term story is still to play out as the race begins between the returns generated by the invested proceeds and the higher costs of having created a new expense line in rent and in no longer owning an appreciating asset in the properties their operations occupy.

The REITs, as mentioned above in the examples of Great Wolf Resorts and Cordish Companies, are helping alleviate growth concerns by being able to provide investment capital to operators.

But there are other casino companies that, while not ruling out future REIT deals, retain land as an integral component of both their value and their strategies.

We’re about to watch one of those companies put that philosophy intro practice. Red Rock Resorts is selling the real estate of three under-performing casinos in the Las Vegas Valley, not to become a tenant at those properties, but to demolish them and generate cash that can go into the development of bigger and more profitable casinos that will sit on companyowned land.

Warren Buffett likes to say there is more than one way to get to heaven. We suspect both the gaming REITs and Red Rock have found their routes to get there.

Frank Fantini is principal at Fantini Advisors, investors and consultants with a focus on gaming.

The world of entertainment properties outside ofgaming is, as apractical matter to anyinvestor, unlimited, and VICI and GLPI arethemselvespositioning to capitalize on opportunities.the

AGEM update

AGEM Member Profiles

Silver Member Profile

TCSJohnHuxley www.tcsjohnhuxley.com

TCSJohnHuxley

is the world’s leading manufacturer and supplier of end-to-end live gaming solutions and services. The company’s extensive portfolio of products are trusted by land-based and online casino operators the world over, for their quality, reliability, innovation and security.

Bronze Member Profile

Century Gaming Technologies www.centurygamingtechnologies.com

AGEM September 2022 Meeting Recap

• With G2E fast approaching, Event Director Korbi Carrison gave an event update at the September monthly meeting. She confirmed visitor registration was trending very strongly with increased interest from global media representatives, indicating the show will be very well attended and feel very similar to the 2019 event in terms of numbers. In line with local regulations, she confirmed there will be no mask or vaccine mandate. Once again, the Innovation Lab will be on the show floor, focusing on emerging technology, iGaming and sports betting, and there will also be a Networking Lounge on the show floor for the first time. Communications have been sent out highlighting some of the keynote speakers, with the final keynotes announced in the next few weeks. With so much interest and a real buzz building, the expectation is that 2022 will be a bumper show.

• For the 2022 general election cycle in Nevada, AGEM’s Board of Directors/Voting Members approved the strategy for political contributions recommended by Mike Alonso. Additionally, AGEM is working to arrange a “meet and greet” event for membership with both Nevada gubernatorial candidates, Governor Steve Sisolak and Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo. The goal of such events is not to focus on a specific policy, just to introduce them to AGEM members and facilitate discussions on the issues and goals of the gaming supplier sector.

• At the beginning of the September meeting, Daron Dorsey announced Jack Bulovsky, AGEM’s first executive director, recently passed away and acknowledged Bulovsky’s role in the early days of AGEM, when he was instrumental in creating the foundation for what AGEM has now become. AGEM will be making a charitable contribution in Bulovsky’s honor and will circulate details to the membership at a later meeting once they are finalized.

• With our in-person meetings and gatherings returning, AGEM intends to invite industry and community-related speakers and individuals to monthly meetings to engage with the membership. This month, Karen Marben and Kam Green from Goodwill of Southern Nevada attended the meeting and shared information on their organization’s Train and Place initiative. This compelling model and framework is set up to fill in-demand roles that have been hard to place, especially since the pandemic, with Goodwill working closely with employer partners to customize training programs for entry-level applicants in numerous fields to those who may not previously have had the opportunity.

Forthcoming Events

Operating in Las Vegas and Montana, Century Gaming Technologies provides superior games, service, and state-of-the-art technologies to keep its partner locations at the very forefront of emerging gaming technologies.

Associate Member Profile Axiomtek Co. Ltd www.gaming. axiomtek.com

Axiomtek Gaming is a business unit of Axiomtek, a leading designer and manufacturer of PC-based industrial products. Since 1996, Axiomtek Gaming has been offering standard, off-the-shelf embedded computers and all-in-one gaming boards to the gaming industry.

AGEM is an international trade association representing manufacturers of electronic gaming devices, systems, lotteries and components for the gaming industry. The association works to further the interests of gaming equipment manufacturers throughout the world. Through political action, trade show partnerships, information dissemination and good corporate citizenship, the members of AGEM work together to create benefits for every company within the organization. Together, AGEM and its member organizations have assisted regulatory commissions and participated in the legislative process to solve problems and create a positive business environment.

• AGEM will be located at Booth 3700 at G2E, and looks forward to welcoming members back to this premier industry event. Once again, the AGEM Memorial Awards presentation commemorating Jens Halle and Peter Mead will take place at the AGEM booth on Wednesday, October 12 at 4 p.m. Nominations are currently being reviewed by the Awards Committee with some strong recommendations put forward by AGEM members and past award-winners.

• Other events AGEM is sponsoring during G2E include the Kick Up Your Heels event hosted by Global Gaming Women on October 6, 5 p.m.-7 p.m. at Wynn; and the Chairmans’ Reception, which is co-hosted with the AGA and combines the Hall of Fame Awards. Two of this year’s honorees are well-known within the supplier segment and well-deserved of the awards—Gavin Isaacs, former president and CEO of Scientific Games Corporation and current chairman of Games Global; and Mike Rumbolz, former CEO of Everi Holdings and current executive chairman of the company’s board.

AGEM index

The AGEM Index fell by 32.33 points in August 2022 to 831.50, marking a 3.7 percent decline from the prior month. Compared to one year ago, the index was down 181.38 points, or 17.9 percent. During the latest month, seven of the 12 AGEM Index companies reported stock price decreases, which resulted in eight negative contributions to the AGEM Index and four positive contributions. The largest negative contributor to the monthly index was Konami Corp. (TYO: 9766), whose 9.7 percent decrease in stock price led to a 19.75point loss to the index. Crane Co. (NYSE: CR) contributed a 5.21-point decline to the index due to a 4.6 percent decrease in its stock price. The largest positive contribution to the index was PlayAGS Inc. (NYSE: AGS), whose 55.3 percent increase in stock price equated to a 3.22-point gain for the AGEM Index. All three major U.S. stock indices saw month-over-month decreases in August 2022, marking the second time this has occurred in the past three months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 4.1 percent from July, while the S&P 500 declined by 4.2 percent. Meanwhile, the NASDAQ fell 4.6 percent over the latest period.

The Giant Awakens

With citizens who are known to be some of Asia’s most prolific gamblers, Thailand has emerged as Asia’s next

Bangkok

In June 2022, a committee from the Thai House of Representatives announced that it had developed a plan to allow up to five casino resorts across a number of provinces with the primary goals of creating jobs, attracting foreign visitors, and generating additional tax revenues. How these future integrated resorts will fit into the East Asian gaming puzzle remains to be seen, but it is apparent that, if done right, Thailand’s casino industry could be a formidable competitor to those countries that currently serve Thai gamblers.

Thailand is a very attractive market. With a population of over 70 million, a well-developed transportation infrastructure, an educated and growing middle class, a very wealthy upper class, and a vibrant tourism industry, the kingdom has the potential to support a gaming industry. The question is, can these new casinos effectively compete with well-established competitors?

Proposed Locations

The committee exploring casino development recommended a total of five casinos in different regions of the country. In addition to one casino in Greater Bangkok, the committee proposed that one casino resort be developed in the north, either in Chiang Rai or Chiang Mai; Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani or Khon Kaen in the northeast; Phuket, Phang Nga or Krabi in the south; and Pattaya City in the east. Each location is unique, as are the markets that they will serve.

Bangkok

Bangkok is the kingdom’s capital. It is an expansive metropolitan area, spanning over 600 square miles with over 14 million residents residing in the metropolitan region. It is served by two international airports that together

handled over 100 million passengers a year in 2019.

Bangkok is also one of the world’s great cities. Earning the right to develop an integrated casino resort in the nation’s capital will be a prize sought by the world’s preeminent casino developers. One can expect to see development proposals that will match what the world’s greatest integrated resorts offer today.

While Bangkok will be the most coveted location, other markets have the potential to generate significant returns on investment.

Pattaya

Pattaya City sits on the Gulf of Thailand, approximately 75 miles east of Bangkok. It is the center of the Pattaya-Chonburi Metropolitan Area, a region with a population of over 1 million. A modern highway system connects the metroplex to Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. That proximity, along with its expansive seaside resorts, makes Pattaya the second most popular destination in the kingdom, having attracted 30 million visitors annually prior to the pandemic. Dozens of hotels line the city’s two-mile-long beach, and the region boasts over 100,000 lodging keys.

Pattaya is also a popular retirement community for foreigners. Thailand offers a unique visa program for non-nationals over the age of 50. Attracted to the city because of climate, lifestyle and low cost of living, thousands of expatriates now reside in and around Pattaya. The city is also a popular destination for medical tourism, with over a dozen hospitals and medical facilities serving this segment of the tourism population.

A combination of a large local population, massive tourism visitation, a population of expatriate retirees, and close proximity to Bangkok makes for a very compelling development opportunity for a casino resort.

Phuket, Krabi, and Phang Nga

The South region is comprised of three provinces: Phuket, Krabi, and Phang Nga. All are located on a narrow land mass that connects the kingdom to Malaysia, and is bordered by the Gulf of Thailand to the east and the Andaman Sea to the west. They are collectively seaside resort communities that are favored beach destinations for visitors from Europe and Asia.

Phuket province is comprised of a main island along with 32 smaller islands, and has a population of approximately 600,000. The province is adjacent to Krabi, with a population of 475,000, and Phang Nga with 270,000. All have robust tourism economies, with Phuket serving as the center of international tourism. The region’s primary airport is Phuket International Airport, although Krabi is served by its own regional airport. Phuket International is the kingdom’s third busiest airport, recording over 18 million arrivals prior to the pandemic.

The challenge for a casino developer is finding a suitable location that can serve a fairly broad region. Unlike Pattaya, resorts are spread over a wide geographic area. Although the regional road network is adequate, there is a dearth of mass transit. Any developer would have to build a property that attracts foreigners, both staying at the property and at other resorts.

Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai

Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai are Thailand’s two northernmost provinces. Of the two, Chiang Mai is the larger tourist destination. With a population of 1.8 million, the province is served by Chiang Mai International Airport. In 2018, 31 airlines handled over 11 million passengers.

Chiang Rai province is the kingdom’s northernmost province and borders Laos and Myanmar. While it attracts fewer tourists than its sister province, it is a very attractive tourism destination that would benefit from the jobs and tax rev-

enue that an integrated casino resort could provide. A casino in this province would also preclude Thai players from visiting casinos across the border.

Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Ubon Ratchathani

Udon Thani, Khon Kaen and Ubon Ratchathani are three cities in northeast Thailand in the Isan region, near the border of Laos. Udon Thani is 350 miles north of Bangkok, and the greater area has population of approximately 450,000. A regional airport offers connectivity to a number of domestic destinations including Bangkok. A casino in this city would intercept players going to Laos, while serving a reasonably sized local population.

Khon Kaen province has a population of 1.9 million people while Khon Kaen city has 150,000 residents. Ubon Ratchathani is located near the borders of Cambodia and Laos, and has a population of 1.9 million. These sites were probably proposed as candidates for an integrated casino resort because of the economic benefits that such a development could have on the local economy.

Where Thais Gamble Today

Thai gamblers primarily play in Cambodia and Laos and for a variety of reasons, may be somewhat loyal to these destinations.

Poipet, Cambodia

The closest place for residents of Bangkok to legally gamble is in Poipet, a city in Cambodia across from Aranya Prathet, a border town in Thailand that serves as the primary overland crossing between those two countries.

Poipet is a three-hourdrive from central Bangkok via a four-lane highway, although peak travel periods can stretch the commute to over four hours. An old rail system that runs from Bangkok is slated to be replaced with a high-speed line that will ultimately link Bangkok with Cambodia and China.

The casinodistrict’s location relative to Thailand and Cambodia’s immigration checkpoints is distinctive. Patrons leave Thailand and enter the Poipet casino district without actually going through Cambodia Immigration. This allows Thai residents to enjoy a day of gaming entertainment without enduring the ordeal of passing into and out of immigration. A Thai citizen returning home need only present an identification card to re-enter Thailand, minimizing the border crossing process to just a few minutes. Non-residents visiting the casino district must first go through Thai Immigration, obtain a visa to enter Cambodia, and pass through both immigration points a second time before re-entering Thailand. Those foreign tourists trying to re-enter Thailand must also present proof of their onward travel before being allowed re-entry.

Prior to the pandemic, the casino district was comprised of 12properties, with approximately 750 tables, 3,900 electronic gaming machines, and about 2,500 guest rooms. These propertiesranged in quality from one to fourstars. Like many businesses in the region, there have been economic casualties. It remains to be seen how many of these casinos survive the pandemic.

Star Vegas Resort & Club is one property that recently reopened.

Holiday Palace, Poipet

Owned and operated by Donaco International, a public company listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, it is the largest and most attractive hotel casino in the market. Originally built in 1999, the property features 150 gaming tables, over 1,000 slot machines, and 385 lodging keys.

Poipet’s casinos have certain competitive advantages that an integrated resort in Bangkok or Pattaya may be precluded from offering. Its casinos compete aggressively for junket customers and offer commission rates that can approach 2 percent of rolling chip volume. When one considers that until Macau’s recent change in attitude towards junket promoters, commissions were capped at 1.25 percent, this pricing strategy will give Poipet operators an advantage over any Thai casino that will have to pay a 30 percent tax rate on gaming revenue.

Singapore

Singapore has long been a favored destination for Thai gamblers. Frequent flights into Changi International Airport, a modern transportation infrastructure, coupled with two of the most attractive integrated resorts in Asia make the city-state ideal for higher-worth players. Both Resorts World Sentosa and Marina Bay Sands have committed a total of $5 billion for expansion of their respective properties. Those improvements include additional lodging keys, entertainment venues and gaming space. Keeping those properties fresh and vibrant will be essential in order to compete with more convenient IRs in Thailand.

Macau

NagaWorld Phnom Penh, Cambodia

NagaWorld is the only licensed casino in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a onehour flight from Bangkok’s two airports. NagaWorld is comprised of two distinct properties, Naga1 and Naga2. Naga1 has a total of 797 rooms and suites. The casino provides 1,660 slot machines and approximately 300 gaming tables. In addition, the facility offers 18 food and beverage outlets, two nightclubs, 1,072 square meters of banquet and meeting space, and a spa.

In 2017, the company completed construction of Naga2, a separate hotel casino that connects to Naga1 via an underground shopping arcade. Naga2 provides a more upscale gaming, lodging and entertainment experience that is specifically designed to accommodate premium customers. It consists of multiple gaming rooms with space for up to 2,500 slot machines and 300 gaming tables, private gaming salons, and additional gaming rooms for junket promoters. In addition, Naga2 offers a 2,200-seat theater, four restaurants, an 11-station food court, two nightlife venues and multiple entertainment stages.

Naga2 also contains rooms and suites specifically designed for VIP customers. These suites are unique in that a group of sleeping rooms is clustered around a central area that contains baccarat tables, a karaoke lounge and other amenities. This arrangement affords a group of players the opportunity to socialize and play in a private environment removed from the main gaming floor.

The company is now moving forward with development of Naga3, a $3.5 billion hotel and entertainment complex that will connect to its existing properties. When completed the combined facilities will offer over 5,000 hotel rooms, 1,300 gaming tables, and 4,500 slot machines, making it one of the world’s largest integrated resorts. NagaWorld will continue to be a formidable force in Asian gaming even with the eventual opening of casinos in Thailand.

The Macau government has made growth in international tourism a key requirement for casinos seeking to renew their gaming concessions. As part of the re-tendering process, casinos will have to provide business plans that detail how they intend to grow visitation from countries outside of China. Thailand may be one market that one or more operators will focus on. Prior to the pandemic, Thais made up a tiny fraction of overall visitors to Macau. Understandably, the vast majority of visitors were from Guangdong province and Hong Kong. Nevertheless, the number of Thais entering Macau was so small, just 151,000 in 2019, as to be categorized under “Other Asian Countries.”

Laos

Several casino properties in Laos are located near the border of Thailand, and they have long catered to the region’s gamers. These include Dansavanh Nam Ngum Resort north of Vientiane, Kings Roman Casino in Bokeo near Chiang Rai, and Savan Vegas directly across the Mekong River from Isan province. The committee clearly chose two provinces in the north to intercept gamers that currently travel to Laos.

It is still premature to forecast the impact that Thailand’s emerging casino industry will have on casinos in other countries that currently depend on Thai gamers. The more astute operators such as NagaWorld, Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World Sentosa are already taking steps to safeguard their market share by adding new amenities. Others would be wise to do the same.

What is clear is that with a large resident population that has very limited access to casinos today, the five casinos that are ultimately developed will not have to compete aggressively with other countries in order to be successful.

Andrew Klebanow is co-founder and a partner at C3 Gaming, a consortium of domestic and international gaming consultants. He can be reached at Andrew@C3GamingGroup.com.

Naga2, Phnom Penh

Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Savan Vegas Casino, Laos

Cotai Strip, Macau

Responsible Gaming: All Together Now

September was the American Gaming Association’s Responsible Gaming Month, stretched for the first time from a week. GGB did a series of columns in our GGB News Special Reports where we asked some of the RG experts and industry deep thinkers to give us their views on how RG is being handled by the industry. Here are two of the most notable pieces, although all were excellent. To read all the columns, visit GGBNews.com.

Beware Of ‘Unintended Consequences’ Why responsible gaming tools should be research-based

By Christine Reilly

When I was new to the International Center for Responsible Gaming (ICRG; back then, the National Center for Responsible Gaming), I met with staff from the National Institutes of Health. When I mentioned our interest in prevention, the staff offered a cautionary tale about an information-based intervention for eating disorders.

Not only did the program not prevent disordered eating, it also resulted in increased symptoms of eating disorders among some students exposed to the intervention. In short, some students were using the program to learn how to have an eating disorder. There are many other such examples, such as the injuries to small children with the advent of car seat airbags. Despite the best of intentions, these public health measures resulted in adverse consequences.

Responsible gamingprograms, intended to prevent excessive gambling and gambling disorder, also risk yielding adverse unintended consequences if not conceived and tested using scientific methods. For example, does setting a time limit encourage more aggressive gambling? Does slowing the pace of gambling cause players to gamble excessively? Do win/loss displays ignite “chasing losses,” a hallmark of gambling disorder, in some gamblers? Does RG messaging risk stigmatizing gambling disorder, thereby discouraging players from seeking help?

Unfortunately, conventional wisdom says that any prevention measure or responsible gaming tool is “better than nothing.” However, science shows us that interventions can help, do nothing, or make a problem worse. Many well-intentioned efforts to prevent risky behaviors have had the opposite effect. You wouldn’t use a drug that had not been tested for safety—why should prevention of gambling disorder be any different?

Although not an absolute guarantee, a scientific approach to the development and testing of RG programs promises to produce safe and effective tools to prevent gambling disorder. Here are some guidelines for such an approach.

• State legislators and gaming regulators should consult with scientists who have published in peer-reviewed journals on RG when developing laws and regulations designed to prevent gambling disorder. I emphasize “peer-reviewed” because it is vital to avoid the junk science that pervades this landscape. Research not published in a peerreviewed journal counts as no more than opinion.

• Laws and regulations promoting RG should ask gamblers— such as those signing up for a pre-commitment program to limit time and money gambling—if they are willing to participate in future research projects. This stipulation will make it easier for researchers to get an investigation going in the future.

• Companies that make their datasets available to researchers should realize that no research is conducted without the rigorous scrutiny and approval of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the researcher’s university or hospital. The IRB’s No. 1 priority is the well-being of people participating in a research project. This level of care should be emphasized to customers who are asked to participate in a research project.

• Whoever funds the research should require the investigators to publish their findings in legitimate, peer-reviewed journals. This is how science progresses. The ICRG is proud that its research projects have yielded nearly 500 articles in peer-reviewed publications.

• In addition, the funder should require the investigators to disseminate their findings to the industry, the media and the public through publications, webinars and conferences. This is the primary goal of the Annual ICRG Conference on Gambling and Addiction, held in conjunction with Global Gaming Expo.

• Finally, gaming regulators should recognize that the process doesn’t end with the adoption of an RG program. Continuous monitoring and evaluation of RG programs is vital to ensure the safety of these interventions.

The ICRG is proud to work with gaming companies that recognize the value of supporting research on RG programs, and confident that scientific research will help avoid adverse unintended consequences and produce safe and effective tools designed to prevent gambling disorder.

Christine Reilly is senior research director for the International Center for Responsible Gaming.

See how Ainsworth’s game content is taking a step forward at G2E 2022 with a focus on providing memorable player experiences. New Linked Progressive titles like Treasure Spirits, Ultra Shot and Ca$h Stacks Gold showcase exciting changes in Booth #1259.

The Future of Responsible Gaming

Changing attitudes, advanced technology and more efficient data will all play a role in reducing the incidence of problem gambling—if we all work together

By Earle G. Hall

You might remember stories of those infamous Saturday afternoon drives in the ’70s.

The sun was shining, the music was blasting and Dad had a beer between his legs and the four kids in the back were jumping, playing, and seat belts were not even a thought in anyone’s mind. Even worse, does anyone remember that uncle at the Christmas dinner table that was so drunk that everyone laughed and wondered how he would ever make it home driving in that condition?

In the 1970s, the awareness of the fatal consequences of drunk driving and not wearing seat belts was low. This article is not about debating why it was so but rather to shed light on the word awareness. Awareness is the focus of why we have to honor those that have worked so hard to educate on the risks of addiction, much like M.A.D.D. did for drunk driving. It is our responsibility to honor their hard work and dedication and embrace the tech and the tools to evolve responsible gaming, now.

To realize the obvious, we often must compare lack of awareness in one field with the abundance of it in another. To that effect, it is important for the landbased gaming industry to turn to online gaming and sports betting for awareness, inspiration and a path forward.

It is impossible to even fathom online gaming without KYC (Know Your Customer), as it ensures that organized crime does not infiltrate sites, launder money and evolve our online industry into a criminal haven. KYC has even a more noble mission to protect players as the real-time data ensures that policies and limits are set and enforced by automated means instead of placing so much burden and responsibility on humans to try and detect potential issues.

Evolving the land-based gaming industry to a place of automated, technology-driven responsible gaming can and should happen in several steps so as to not attack or threaten the status quo. Here are some suggested steps to begin the path to protecting players and increased profitability as a safe player base can be marketed much more efficiently.

Real-time Data

In today’s world, everything is in real time, all the time. It would be impossible to perceive our world not evolving in real time. This means that it is time for the land-based casinos to move away from technologies that are not in sub-zero speed. Why? Addiction is subtle and happens over time, and nudges, pokes and prodding must happen at the very early stages to ensure that the player becomes aware that they need a break or to step away. For this to happen, interaction must happen in real time or the addiction energy will set in.

Anonymous Monitoring

It is false to think that technology-driven responsible gaming monitoring must have KYC as a foundation. It is the ultimate goal, as responsible gaming can be paired with highly lucrative marketing. However, it is not needed in the infancy stages. To understand addiction, you need real-time data about speed of click, denomination changes, cash-ins and game changes. All of these parameters and more can be set to follow players anonymously. The algorithms learn over time and become much more precise than most realize. From there, all that is needed

is an intervention strategy to bring awareness to the player that they may be overstepping healthy boundaries.

KYC and Marketing

We often look at KYC as a negative thing in the land-based gaming industry. That will change rapidly with the advent of mobile cash-in and out directly at the gaming machine. Moreover, KYC is the foundation of a profitable marketing program, and casinos that have the most KYC players in their database usually have the lowest cost of marketing per player. This is where responsible gaming and marketing come together and shine. If the algorithms are protecting you from getting into trouble, then marketing can ensure you are properly served, marketed to and compensated for your loyalty and engagement.

It is All In The Math

In a paper-based world, we are locking the barn after the horse has been stolen (one of my Mom’s favorite expressions). We are unfairly putting pressure on casinos to turn shift managers, floor staff and employees into human behavioral specialists. None of this makes sense when the technology exists to eliminate (not manage) this risk. With real-time data, with algorithms analyzing player behavior in real time, with alert systems ensuring the right people are aware with a strategy of how to intervene at what stage, responsible gaming can evolve to addiction prevention.

The Fear and Why Now

The land-based gaming industry has a general reputation from the public as a haven for money laundering and addiction. While this is not true, the current technology model does not offer the guarantees or the safeguards necessary to clearly and proudly broadcast to the world the integrity, transparency and traceability of the land-based industry. This is rather paradoxical considering online gaming and sports betting have applied state-of-the-art technology to monitor and react in real time.

It is even more difficult today to defend land-based gaming when the two adjacent segments are KYC-driven and higher performing and more profitable from a marketing perspective. Will land-based gaming fade away as players move to a more powerful recognition-based system such as online gaming, where KYC has become the driving force of profitability?

Who Must Act Now

With all due respect to all the actors involved (regulators, suppliers and operators) the only actor that has been tasked with all the burden is the only one who should have none. Operators have been put in a very difficult position to monitor the impossible without the correct tools to do so. Regulators must act to create policy to enforce KYC. This would alleviate the burden on operators to decide if they should go KYC. Everyone is scared to take the risk to lose clients in the quest for legitimacy and safe, more precise marketing. Casino suppliers must act to provide real-time cloud technology that regulators can monitor to ensure blacklists are global and enforced without human intervention. This is all simple, all exists and all in operation in our gaming world in jurisdictions that are ahead of the curve.

The Final Word

Gaming is fun. Gaming is essential to the economies of tribes and states. Gaming has to leave behind gambling and become a highly competitive entertainment option for people wanting to enjoy themselves in a safe environment. For this to happen, we must evolve to real-time data flow that uses technology to detect and eliminate the bad so that we can focus on more fun and entertainment in the good.

Earle Hall is president and CEO of AXES.ai; vice chairman of the International Gaming Standards Association; and a board member of the Government Blockchain Association.

The Ruling Class

Aristocrat’s journey to the top of the slot industry

By Jess Marquez

When it comes to forming a successful team and guiding it toward a single goal, any hackneyed sports coach will tell you that the toughest part of the process isn’t the transition from bad to good—rather, the hardest jump to make is to go from good to great. Then, once you become great, you have to find new ways to sustain that excellence over a long period of time.

For Aristocrat Gaming, the rise to the top has been gradual, but the last five years have solidified the slot supplier as the industry’s best, with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

The company’s reign of excellence can perhaps best be attributed to its commitment to continuous innovation for both its technology and its team members. A proven lineup of smash-hit titles such as Buffalo Gold and Lightning Link coupled with a global presence in all major markets can make it easy to fall into the mindset that “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” but Aristocrat prefers to think of themselves as the hunter rather than the hunted, constantly engaged in a battle against complacency and stagnation.

In addition to these internal pressures, external hardships such as the Covid-19 pandemic and economic ebbs and flows have really put Aristocrat’s mantra of “Our People, Our Customers, Our Business” to the test, and all signs indicate that it’s weathered the storm beautifully. In March, the company repeated its title as Top Overall Supplier at Eilers & Krejcik Gaming’s annual EKG Slot Awards, along with a slew of other honors.

But as far as Aristocrat is concerned, that was in the past, and the only thing left to do now is to set its sights for the future, both at the upcoming G2E 2022 show and beyond.

The Importance of Leadership

When Hector Fernandez was appointed president of Aristocrat Gaming in June 2019, nobody knew what was in store for the next two-plus years, especially for a company with a global presence and over 6,000 employees. However, despite the fact that it’s been “a fascinating journey” with “a lot of challenges and a lot of fun activities,” Fernandez has maintained an optimism and tenacity that’s been a key force in driving the company’s upward trajectory.

We will start with the safety of our people, and we will make sure we’re servicing our customers, and ultimately, if we make all those right decisions, that will drive the business.

—Hector Fernandez, CEO, Aristocrat Gaming

”

“

With an extensive background in finance, Fernandez is familiar with bottom lines in a way that not many executives are, and he’s well aware that sitting back on your heels doesn’t equate to growth. He notes that for years prior to his appointment, “we were very good at hunting and chasing the incumbents that were ahead of us,” but now that that goal has been reached, “we must have the mentality that every day we have to disrupt ourselves. Because if we don’t disrupt ourselves, someone else will.”

These disruptors aren’t always physical, either—Fernandez became CEO in 2022, and his entire tenure thus far has been in the midst of Covid—but rather than play it safe and cut back on company spend, he made it a point to double down on the people-customers-business philosophy.

And, if anything, that’s made the decision-making process “a lot easier,” because instead of “having a lot of points of view and arguing different sides of the coin, we always said, ‘we will start with the safety of our people, and we will make sure we’re servicing our customers, and ultimately, if we make all those right decisions, that will drive the business.’” The hardest thing to do in any business is to make things simpler, and so far, Aristocrat has been able to do more by focusing on less.

Fernandez and his team have found a way to shut out all the distractions and noise and focus on their bread and butter, that being game design. Hall of Fame quarterback Tom Brady famously says that his favorite Super Bowl is the next one, and Aristocrat has adopted a similar mindset.

“We continue to scale the products that have worked, that players and customers have rewarded us with, and then we’re scaling on top of that,” he says. “But again, we think it’s incredibly important for us to show that power of diversification that we have built. We now operate 11 global studios, soon to be 12. And a lot of that is disrupting ourselves. The other thing, too, that I will point out—and we do declare this financially, publicly—we spend 11 percent to 12 percent of our revenue back into D&D. There’s no other public company that is doing that.”

This continual reinvestment is best highlighted by the diversity of the company’s recognitions—at last year’s EKG Awards, not only did Aristocrat take home the title of top supplier, they also collected awards for new premium games, new core and premium cabinets, video reel games, third-party IP branded games and proprietary branded games. And sticking with the theme of constant disruption, they also claimed the title of most improved supplier.

Putting People First

The reason why it’s so difficult going from good to great, as the same hackneyed coach would explain, is because it’s hard to motivate people to improve without pushing them away, especially in business. For two-plus years, companies have had to get creative in order to keep employees engaged in the midst of Covid uncertainty, social unrest and growing inflation, which is a challenge that Stacey Zeleznik, Aristocrat’s chief people and culture officer, has embraced head-on.

Over the course of the pandemic, Zeleznik says that the company implemented a new “all.flex” policy, which allowed employees to “have choices on the way they work, and where they work.” While these may seem like small changes, they have had a tangible impact on employee morale and retention during a time that some have coined as the “Great Resignation”—according to Forbes, over 47 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in 2021 alone, the most on record.

“In this environment,” she says. “that’s becoming increasingly important.”

With that in mind, the goal for Zeleznik and the rest of the leadership team is to cultivate a culture that emphasizes accessibility, and never devolves into an “us versus them” mentality. Global production requires a lot of moving parts working in tandem with one another, and the company’s commitment to putting its people “at the center of every decision we make” cannot be overvalued.

“Everything we do is geared toward making Aristocrat Gaming a magnet to those seeking success,” says Zeleznik. “We’re very proud of our culture. We want to maintain our culture. We monitor our culture very regularly, through engagement surveys. Our engagement of our people, we are above benchmark consistently. And that’s important. It’s important for us to maintain the development, the advancement of people. We’re truly a global company.”

Additionally, collaboration between employees is also an important aspect of scaling a business to the degree in which Aristocrat has been able to achieve thus far. The company’s Chief Supply Chain Officer Deanne McKissick notes that the diversity of the workforce has manifested in the form of what they term as “Employee Impact Groups (EIGs),” or small clusters of staff members who share similar interests, characteristics and cul-

Everything we do is geared toward making Aristocrat Gaming a magnet to those seeking success. We’re very proud of our culture.

—Stacey Zeleznik, Chief People and Culture Officer, Aristocrat Gaming

“

”

tures. According to McKissick, these EIGs “bring forward ideas to us, if they want to celebrate this, or if they want to educate our population about a holiday or a cultural event—something that’s important to them.”

There are over a dozen groups currently active throughout the company, both in the U.S. and internationally. Investing in employee engagement often doesn’t cost a lot; it just requires consistency and transparency in order to build trust and respect among a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.

The best employees also tend to gravitate toward companies that foster upward mobility and internal growth—according to Zeleznik, the slot supplier has invested heavily in its “AFL” project, or “Aristocrat Future Leaders,” which is a program that helps foster young team members and put them on the right path for success in their respective roles.

The more staff-driven initiatives a business provides, the better its internal reputation becomes, and that’s more important than ever in today’s environment. Good news travels fast among colleagues and networks, and it even spreads across industries. A large number of Aristocrat’s staff didn’t start in gaming, which is helpful in accumulating a diverse set of skills and experiences.

“I came from the semiconductor medical device industry,” says Zeleznik. “And there are many on the leadership team—including Hector—that also previously came from other industries. In my example, wherever we go in the world, you know it’s an Aristocrat facility. And you know that culture bleeds through.”

Performing Where it Matters Most

Building a talented, diverse roster and giving them the right tools and resources to perform is difficult in itself, but that effort doesn’t mean much if the execution isn’t up to par. Aristocrat may put its people first, but its customers—and ultimately, its business—are what allows for the growth the company has been able to achieve thus far.

When it comes to gaming, every market is unique in its circumstances and regulations, but one common characteristic among them is high expectations. As a business, it’s often difficult to meet those expectations if you don’t meet your customers where they are.

That becomes a little tricky when you serve more than 300 jurisdictions around the world, but Aristocrat has done well to establish over 20 facilities in key areas from Australia all the way to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the company recently opened a massive new Integration Center. The site is now its biggest U.S. hub aside from Las Vegas, and most boardrooms would probably think twice about expanding at that level when there are so many economic uncertainties.

However, for Fernandez, understanding customers and their tendencies is essential to provide them with products that they keep coming back to. He notes that this industry is “complex globally,” so it’s important to pay close attention to “any key indicators that we’re seeing in a specific market.” Building a consistent, standardized brand while also maintaining a high degree of flexibility is certainly a tightrope that is not easy to navigate, but it’s all about finding ways to “stay connected to that customer, to then make sure that we’re driving the right products, the right offerings, which is the most important thing.”

With that in mind, some things are just outside of your control, and even the smartest companies haven’t been able to completely out-maneuver supply chain mishaps. McKissick says that “the past 15 months have been the most challenging time for a supply chain professional” in her career, which has resulted in “bottlenecks” and “struggles with different commodities over time, whether it’s metals or resins.”

Today’s slots involve some highly sophisticated machinery and technology, and it’s been difficult to keep up production while fighting for precious materials against computer, automotive and medical manufacturers, among others.

However, by sticking with its core principles, Aristocrat has used these challenges as a way to rethink old processes, and look for means of improvement.

“It’s been a good exhibit of our collective brilliance,” McKissick says. “We’ve had to go and develop new ways of working with our engineering teams, and say, ‘Hey, we can’t find this; help us find an alternate.’ And we’ve built up a stronger relationship, a stronger dependency on each other. It’s part of the resiliency plan that we’re working through. So, it has been a challenge, but it has allowed us to get better.”

—Deanne McKissick, Chief Supply Chain Officer, Aristocrat Gaming

It’s been a good exhibit of our collective brilliance. We’ve had to go and develop new ways of working with our engineering teams. And we’ve built up a stronger relationship, a stronger dependency on each other. ”

“

Excited Aristocrat team members joined top executives earlier this year to break ground on one of several new manufacturing facilities, this one in Henderson, Nevada.

Making a Splash at G2E

For gaming manufacturers, the G2E stage is by far the biggest and brightest, the place where companies empty out the best pages of their idea notebooks. This year, instead of rebranding tired games or touching up old cabinets, Aristocrat will look to make a splash and give players and operators a host of new titles that will eventually become new staples.

According to Fernandez, the company will be unveiling “100 percent new for-sale product,” which, as he says, “is a bit mind-boggling when you think about the amount of product we’ve commercialized.” Perhaps the biggest perk of having an established portfolio, however, is that it allows you to take chances, and try new ideas that you might not have the courage to otherwise. “G2E, for us, is really to demonstrate to our customers the investments that we continue to make,” he says, and not only that, but the feedback received from the show is vital as well, because “addressing realworld problems” for players and operators is “really what G2E is all about.”

In addition to the brand-new slate of for-sale product, the company is also bringing about 70 percent of new forlease offerings as well. And, just to keep the longtime supporters satisfied, Fernandez insists that his team “is not forgetting the strength of the brands we’ve built,” and will also “showcase a new product” that’s built on the popular Lightning Link/Dragon Link foundation.

When you build a brand as successful as Aristocrat’s, one of the best ways to drive new business is to partner with other well-known companies—in the U.S., there are few brands that are more lucrative and beloved than the NFL. The high-profile partnership was first struck in November of last year,

and gave Aristocrat an “exclusive global license” to build and market NFLthemed slots. At the time, Rachel Hoagland, the league’s vice president of gaming and partnership management, said that the NFL was confident in the supplier’s ability to “bring that exciting gaming experience to fans on the casino floor looking to show their love of football.” Now, after months of development, Fernandez is confident that his team has delivered on those promises. Football, perhaps more than any other sport, is extremely localized, and placing a rival-themed machine into the wrong market could spell disaster for operators. But what about big markets with all kinds of fans? That’s the rub, Fernandez says.

“Part of the reason sports has not worked in this business is if you come to Vegas and there’s only Raiders slot machines, and you’re not a Raiders fan, you’re not going to play that machine,” he notes. “And as we did the research, 40 percent of NFL fans are displaced fans, which means that they don’t live in the city of the team they root for. So, as we signed the deal, we went back to our studios and gave them the challenge for the first time, that said, ‘Hey, you need to make a product that allows a player to walk up to it and pick which team they want to play.’”

When you build a brand as successful as Aristocrat’s, one of the best ways to drive new business is to partner with other well-known companies—in the U.S., there are few brands that are more lucrative and beloved than the NFL. The high-profile partnership was first struck in November of last year, and gave Aristocrat an “exclusive global license” to build and market NFL-themed slots.

Universality is a huge problem to solve, but the company seems to have made decent headway, enough to debut a “prototype product at the G2E booth which we’re quite excited about.” If all goes well, fans can expect to play their favorite team-themed games in time for 2024 Super Bowl, which, as luck would have it, will be hosted at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Global Games

2022

international Global Gaming Expo since 2019

BY FRANK LEGATO

For nearly three years, the international casino industry has been through an unprecedented chain of events related to the global Covid-19 pandemic. Months of total shutdown were followed by partial reopening—and a progression of baby steps toward normalcy.

That normalcy’s not fully here yet, to be sure.

Slot manufacturers, just like most other businesses, still suffer from lingering supply-chain issues, changing workforce requirements and other examples of pandemic hangovers. This year, however, one thing will be back to its former glory—the Global Gaming Expo.

After cancellation of all in-person trade events in 2020, G2E came back last year in limited fashion, with vaccination requirements and mask requirements. Significantly, restrictions on international travel meant severely reduced participation and attendance from outside North America.

All that is gone this year, with G2E back unrestricted and unhampered by international travel woes. As far as the slot sector, operators from around the world will realize what is evident on the following pages—despite the pandemic, research and development on slot products has never slowed.

Welcome to the 21st edition of Global Games, our annual look at each manufacturer’s “new model year” of games to be launched at G2E and rolled out in the coming year. What follows are individual articles highlighting the new products of 14 slot manufacturers for launch in the coming year.

As usual, attendees at G2E will be treated to a wealth of new hardware, as

slot cabinetry continues its constant evolution. The content on those cabinets often is tailored to the strength of the hardware presentation itself.

On the following pages, you will find each supplier’s take on the hot game-play mechanics of the day, from hold-an-re-spin to cash-on-reels, from expanding reels to wheel bonuses.

There will be new game families all around, but what this year’s crop of new games shows is that the top manufacturers are doubling down with new content for all of their tried-and-true game brands, licensed as well as homegrown titles.

Manufacturers also will demonstrate how factors such as electronic wallets, cashless play systems, and even the addition of sports betting functionality are changing the nature of the slot floor.

But what has not changed is the focus of manufacturers on translating not only revenue numbers but player feedback into new offerings for the slot floor. Millions are pumped into R&D annually by all the slot suppliers, and this year’s crop of new games definitely makes that clear.

So feel free to read and study the profiles contained on the following pages (in alphabetical order by manufacturer). We hope you can use this report as a guide to the slot supplier booths at this first full post-pandemic G2E event. Have a good show!

All articles written by Frank Legato unless otherwise indicated

Good people. Giant possibilities.

What

AGS

Expanding Horizons

New cabinets, new game styles and new versions of the most popular titles fill out the AGS slot portfolio

For the past few years, virtually every move made by gaming supplier AGS has been aimed at filling out the product portfolio in each of the company’s three divisions—slots, table games and interactive.

The company’s table-game division has hummed along with a collection of great progressive systems, from the STAX must-hit-by jackpots to the incomparable Bonus Spin Xtreme, which can link all tables in a property to one progressive jackpot.

Everything else the company does relies on one overriding factor—strong slot content. Game development in the company’s slot division is what feeds the success of the interactive division as games continue to port for online release—not to mention porting for release as historical horse racing titles through Exacta Systems.

The focus at AGS on the game development side has been on augmenting the company’s portfolio of products, according to Mark DeDeaux, AGS general manager and vice president, slots. “We’re really just starting to fill out our portfolio of products,” DeDeaux says. “Our expansion into premium games is probably one of the most notable developments— Orion Curve Premium games with Starwall, and with Rise, and a big focus is our entry into the high-denom video genre.”

High-Denom Move

That entry into the high-denom area begins with two games already in the field, Mega Diamond and Gold Inferno. Both are traditional three-reel games in video, offering the player the choice not only of denomination—they range from quarters to $5—but in the payline configuration. Players can choose a single payline, three lines, five lines or nine lines.

Everything about the games themselves is traditional, from the complete pay schedule above the reels to the familiar barsymbol and multiple 7 combinations on the reels, to the way the games feel when one plays them.

“A lot of work went into making sure that the reels spin and the reels stop with just the right feeling to satisfy mechanical players, and the right balance of video add-on to where it’s not overwhelming or too flashy,” comments Steve Walther, AGS vice president of game development. “And there are

things we can do with video on a three-reel that players will enjoy.”

That means animated coin-shower celebrations for big wins, symbols that glow in wins, anticipation of wins, flames around the screen as progressives “heat up,” and added watermarks to some of the symbols. For instance, Mega Diamond adds multipliers to certain 7 and bar symbols displaying 2X, 3X, 4X or 5X. Winning combinations including these sub-symbols are multiplied by any combination of the symbols—the multipliers multiply each other. For instance, the payout for a 7 combination including a 2X and a 3X multiplier will be multiplied by six.

The same applies to the wild multiplier symbols in Gold Inferno, and similar game mechanics will be featured in the two other high-denom video slots to be launched at the Global Gaming Expo, called Platinum 8X8X8X and 8X Crystal Bells. Walther notes that because of the extra multipliers and wilds, some of the line combinations in those games pay more than even the top progressive.

Walther adds that casino operators can alter the return percentage according to denomination, just as they do with traditional stepper slots— within the same game. This is another advantage of offering the games in video—as you increase your bet to the higher denominations, you will see more of the multipliers, diamonds and other top symbols appear on the reels, something that would not be possible with mechanical reels.

“We saw the high-denomination segment as an underserved segment of the market,” comments DeDeaux. “We recognize that three-reel video in high denominations is an emerging sector, and we want to come in and take it over, and put out some fantastic products.”

“When you’re changing bets and playing the game,” adds Walther, “you realize this resonates differently than most high-denom products out there.

By the time G2E comes along, they’ll be quite pervasive in the market, hopefully performing as well as we anticipate and expect them to.”

The inaugural high-denom games are featured on the Orion Curve cabinet, with 4K graphics presented on a 49-inch curved portrait monitor. Walther notes that the setup of the games will give operators maximum flexibility in placing them.

“We could put these games inside a high-limit room, right outside of a high-limit room, banked in a mixed area where people have some mid-denoms or high-denoms—they package nicely,” he says. “We put a lot of time, energy and resources into these games. This was a long-term project. And the fruits of our labor played out in a number of of good products.”

New Cabinet, Full Library

While introducing a new product category in the high-denom games, AGS has spent the past year filling out its library in all other categories, including new games in every genre and new versions of some of its most popular games.

The company recently moved into a larger headquarters facility in Las Vegas, and has expanded its game development operation. “We’ve doubled our game development studios,” says DeDeaux. “We’ve got a new studio in Sydney and we’re opening a new studio in Arizona. We’re expanding our Austin studio. We’ve done a lot in terms of continuing to reinvest in R&D, not just on the game development side, but also on the engineering side and all of the other support areas of the business.”

“It’s not just about product,” adds Walther. “It’s also about our culture. Our leadership has established a fantastic culture that makes AGS an attractive

place for people to want to come work. And that’s why we can invest in our people and grow these particular areas around the world and to produce some of the best content that’s available. We continue to have a pretty good record with how well our core product is doing versus the fair share on the casino floor. So that provides an excellent opportunity for our commercial side of the business to be able to present good options to our customer base.”

“Coming out of Covid and getting back to the new normal, we just had a record gaming ops quarter in Q2,” says DeDeaux, “so now we’re really amplifying and accelerating all the new products Steve’s team has been working on.”

That growing library of games will have a new form factor added to the current group of cabinets in the Orion family.

“We put a lot of time, energy and resources into these games. This was a long-term project. And the fruits of our labor played out in a number of of good products.”

—Steve Walther, Vice President of Game Development, AGS

AGS

Themes like Long Bao Bao and Shamrock Fortune feature fun pots of gold that grow and potentially send a little dragon on Long Bao Bao or a leprechaun on Shamrock Fortune to the reels to upgrade symbols and award chances for one of four progressives.

Called Spectra, it is a 43-inch upright cabinet, to complement the 43-inch Orion Portrait, which is a slant-top.

“This is a new generation of cabinets,” says Walther. “The Orion Portrait has been out for almost six years, so it’s time for something new. This is our new platform to take advantage of new game features. We’ve talked about 3D in the past, but this is 3D with a bit more—there are some fun little things that we’re doing with Triple Coin Treasures, like a synchronized attract across the various different screens, taking advantage of the power of the new platform that we’ve put into the Spectra series. It’s got very attractive features to grab people from across the floor, and it’s got some of our greatest content built into it.”

He adds that the number of games that will be displayed on the Spectra UR43 cabinet “will show the breadth of our portfolio for the launch,” with games to be launched by the end of this year and well into next year.

That will include new versions of many of its most popular games. “We’re going to be showing some new brand extension games,” DeDeaux says. “It’s interesting to talk about ‘AGS classics,’ given the age of the business, but we’ve got some games we’re going to focus on that will revolve around classic AGS games.”

Some of those “classics” include the Imperial 88 family, which features a lock-and-re-spin bonus with a five-spin cycle. At G2E, the company will launch the Legends of Imperial 88 family, including Tiger Lord Gold and Peacock Beauty Gold.

“Imperial 88 has done so well for us,” Walther says. “This version takes the game and puts a new couple of twists to it, featuring additional bonus capabilities—easily recognizable as a brand extension.”

Then there’s the Triple Coin Treasures series. Themes like Long Bao Bao and Shamrock Fortune feature fun pots of gold that grow and potentially send a little dragon on Long Bao Bao or a leprechaun on Shamrock Fortune to the reels to upgrade symbols and award chances for one of four progressives.

All that content on the new Spectra UR43 will be on display at G2E, as well as on every version of the Orion cabinet, and in special presentations as with the Starwall merchandising package and the Rise large-format cabinet. The lineup will include new games launched in recent months as well as many launch games that will be available within the next six months. “We’re not doing any of the long-term, futuristic presentations,” Walther says. “We want products there that customers can buy.”

DeDeaux adds that AGS has handled supply-chain issues to the point where deliveries are not delayed.

“A lot of companies are struggling with supply chain, but we haven’t had our

own struggles,” he says. “We’ve gotten into a position now where we can deliver products under normal lead-time scenarios.”

Some of the most recent releases that will be on display include new games from the Fa Cai San Xing family, which includes an interactive pick bonus feature where players can touch falling coins to reveal credit prizes. The titles in this series are sister games Fa Cai San Xing Tiger and Fa Cai San Xing Pig, both presented on the Orion Curve Premium.

The pick bonus feature in these titles is triggered when any wild symbol lands on the reels, and can award up to 18 picks. Each falling coin has a random credit prize between one and five multiplied by the total bet, that is revealed when touched. If an upgrade symbol is revealed, the coin will be replaced with a random credit prize between one and 100 multiplied by the total bet. The Wheel Bonus has 12 slices—credit awards, wilds, wild multipliers, free spins, and four progressive jackpots, the top resetting at $10,000.

Two games from the new Firestarter game family are Dragon Moon and

Egyptian Diamond, also on the Orion Curve Premium. The Jackpot Wheel Bonus features six jackpot prizes with the top progressive resetting to $8,000. The Firestarter Bonus awards eight initial free spins on a five-by-eight prize grid above the reels.

New on the 55-inch Orion Rise cabinet is Cluck Cluck Cash Deluxe. The humorous growing chicken is reprised here in a game that features three bonuses–free spins, “hold-and-win,” and an interactive touch cash bonus.

On Starwall will be a new version of an enduring hit for AGS, River Dragons. As was done last year with Rakin’ Bacon! Deluxe, the Starwall treatment brings the game to life, its 4K graphics beamed to a display that includes 420 game-controlled LED lights that change color based on game events, music and sounds.

In the case of River Dragons Jade and Sapphire, players will see the familiar colorful dragons from the base game flying around the machines on the giant Starwall display.

“We think it’s a unique value proposition for customers to have a game like River Dragons both available on Starwall and on our Orion Curve Premium,” says DeDeaux. “For customers that have already made a commitment for Starwall, and want something new, or for somebody who’s

looking for a second bank of Curve Premium outside of Rakin’ Bacon! Deluxe, we have this available.”

Tying it Together

The variety of slot offerings will, of course, share the AGS booth with the latest in table games, progressives and side bets from the table division, and demonstrations of online versions of AGS games from the interactive division. There also will be displays of new merchandising and hardware setups for the company’s Class II offerings, and for the growing library of games ported for the historical horse racing market. “At G2E this year, we’re going to showcase Class II, HHR, Class III, and also the way we’re positioning our products to be available across all three markets,” DeDeaux says. “Probably 80-plus percent of the games we develop for Class III work across Class II and HHR as well. It shows the balance in our portfolio and our commitment to supporting all segments of the business.”

“What I like personally about what we’ve been doing is we’re having a lot of fun, making some really fun games,” adds Walther. “I’m looking forward to seeing how the customers respond—how our operators respond to the fun that we’re going to put on display at G2E.”

AINSWORTH

New Era

Ainsworth spreads its wings to new game styles and a refined R&D process while emphasizing what it does best

Ainsworth Game Technology has made great strides in the past five years—particularly in the North American market, and particularly in the high-denomination video genre.

But a new era has dawned for the Australian company founded by gaming legend Len Ainsworth. It’s an era that actually dawned a year ago, around the time of G2E 2021. It was around that time that the company brought in slot supply veteran David Bollesen as chief product officer, headquartered in Sydney.

Bollesen, who previously spent 11 years at IGT, ending up as vice president of game studios in Australia, saw Ainsworth’s strengths immediately. He also quickly formed a vision of how the supplier could expand its horizons in the slot market.

“Ainsworth has a strong history around their high-denomination product—their ability to execute on high-denom has been really impressive,” Bollesen says. “But as things migrated over to multidenomination, where that became a more integrated part of game design, I think we lost a little bit of our mojo in that .01/.02/.05/.10 space.”

Bollesen instituted a return to the classic Australian style of multi-line video in the lower denominations, aiming for the same kind of success the company already enjoys in the high-denom area. However, there was much more detailed adjustment to be made in game design.

“In the low-denom space, we’ve been really breaking down the entire product,” he says. “One of the things I’ve used that helps the main framework is ‘sight, sound, action.’ On the visual arts, we weren’t presenting ourselves with clarity to the player. It could be something as simple as the way that we’re coloring the contrast in a jackpot prize—so that Major becomes something you shop across a room. With some of our products, you couldn’t even see it.

“It could be the type of royals that we were using in products in the base game. It could be the type of character that’s up above. It really wasn’t creating harmony, so we focused a lot on that visual art piece to really provide clear and meaningful value.”

On the sound front, it was a question of finding the right balance. “On the audio side, we did as much about tweaking existing sounds a we did taking them out. The audio is just an extremely important part, but you could easily

overstimulate a player or create player fatigue with the wrong sounds. Something as simple as the way that reel spins and stops—historically, Ainsworth had a very key signature sound, at least in Australia. But if you play the product over time, it actually creates fatigue... So we’ve actually pulled a lot of those components out.”

The “action,” of course, has been the most important project. “On the mathematical side, which is everything, that’s where we’ve spent probably the most time is making sure that the ride is meaningful. A player that’s playing a 1 cent game is a very different player than a 10 cent player. And that’s a very different player than a $1 or $2 player. We have to provide mathematical solutions around that in a single game that is sensitive to that player journey. How we migrate that experience is really important, and that’s where we spent a ton more time in refinement.”

The result of Bollesen’s direction is that the collection of games with which Ainsworth arrives at G2E may surprise many. “You can’t change everything overnight, but I’m really proud of what we’ve put together in just the course of one year,” he says.

“Our game development team has been vastly revitalized over the last 12 months,” comments Mike Trask, Ainsworth’s vice president of product marketing. “The fruits of bringing on David are shown in some of the content you will see at the show.”

Trask says Ainsworth’s transformation is thanks not only to Bollesen, but to a wealth of new and veteran talent on the game development side, much at the studio level. Belinda Parr, who in April was named director of the Australia studio in Sydney, is a 20-year Ainsworth game designer who has specialized in graphic design, motion graphics, visual effects and animation. Shortly after G2E, the company will announce a new head of the U.S. studio in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, joining the Ainsworth team in a consulting capacity is Loren Nelson, a veteran executive who spent five years as senior vice president of game development for Everi, after 11 years at Bally Technologies as vice president of game development.

“Loren is helping us out in a consulting capacity with some different ideas,” says Trask. “He’s been great to work with in helping us fine-tune games.”

Bollesen says the R&D efforts are rounded out with a few new third-party developers, including Horizon Digital and a subsidiary of major Ainsworth shareholder Novomatic.

“It’s important not only to have an internal perspective, but to bring on some experienced developers that have worked in the industry and have created solutions for other companies,” says Bollesen. “You get a different perspective. We don’t want to be a me-too company—we really need to have that broader solution.

“I think it’s important to cross-pollinate, and that creates the healthy studio.”

The industry will get its first look at the results of these efforts at G2E. Ac-

cording to Trask, the company will display more than 100 games total, split between Class III, Class II, VLT and historical horse racing—a genre Ainsworth pioneered, and one in which it has dominated, with more than 2,000 Ainsworth HHR machines in the field and a total of 3,500 games from various manufacturers using Ainsworth’s groundbreaking HHR platform.

New Face of Ainsworth

Trask says there are three games that will be launched at G2E that exemplify the new face of Ainsworth—Treasure Spirits, Ca$h Stacks Gold and Ultra Shot Gold. All were developed from games that have done well in the tough Australian market. “These three games are absolutely our step forward, and should signify a real return for Ainsworth to that Aussie-style game,” says Trask.

Treasure Spirits will be available for sale at the show. It is a family of three base games—Treasure Spirits Dragon and Phoenix are the launch titles, to be

“You can’t change everything overnight, but I’m really proud of what we’ve put together in just the course of one year.”

—David Bollesen, Chief Product Officer, Ainsworth Game Technology

AINSWORTH

followed by Treasure Spirits Dragon. All are 243ways-to-win games in player-selectable denominations of .01, .02, .05 and .10. In the primary game, when a stacking symbol appears on the fifth reel, prizes displayed in any cash-on-reels symbol on the array are added up and awarded to the player. This can include any of four progressive jackpots, the top one resetting at $10,000.

At the center of the game is the “Hold ‘n Stack” feature. The player is awarded five free spins in which to keep collecting coin symbols. There are frequent extra spins added along the way. Above each reel is a credit award. If the reel fills up with collected coins, that amount is immediately awarded. The award grows larger the further on the player gets in the feature.

“Treasure Spirits is performing very well here in Australia,” says Bollesen, “and historically, when you can get something to fire here, there’s a good chance it’s going to work well in other markets.”

Ca$h Stacks Gold, with four inaugural titles, features instant wins in the primary game up to 800 times the bet, as well as multiple progressives and bonuses available on a single spin. It also features the Hold ‘n Stack bonus. The base game has five, 25 or 50 paylines, depending on the denomination. The title adds the $1 and $2 denomination to the four lower ones, and for the higher buy-in, the Hold ‘n Stack feature can be particularly lucrative.

Ca$h Stacks Gold will be approved by the time of G2E or shortly thereafter, according to Trask. Behind that in Q1 of 2023, the company will launch Ultra Shot Gold, a game packed with bonus features including the Ultra Shot holdand-re-spin feature, which can progress through three levels, with increasing values to the collectible coins at each level. “Leveling up” gets the player 2X and 3X multipliers, and at the top level, the four progressives are in play, including the top Grand jackpot.

The player is given a choice between four free-game configurations—from the highest volatility with larger pays and fewer games to the lowest with lots of spins and smaller awards.

“Ultra Shot was recently released in Australia, and the early numbers show it is performing very well for us,” says Bollesen. “And that’s for a game that was 80 percent complete.” He says to develop the U.S. “Gold” version, “we took it back down to 40 percent. It wasn’t practical to start the game completely over from scratch, but we really focused a lot on those (design) principles, and executing on that title.”

The games are all presented on the A-STAR Curve cabinet, with its sleek 43inch curved floating infinity monitor. Also being launched on that cabinet is Fa Cai Coin, a new low-denomination game featuring a “Big Reel” multiplier in the base game and a hold-and-spin bonus with escalating award values as the player progresses through the feature. A “reset” feature enables back-to-back hold-andspin events.

Other new low-denom games include Beaver Bucks, a low-volatility penny game with a wheel-spin bonus and a special “Beaver Bump” mechanic in which

the beaver character “bumps” up to as many as all five reels for a credit award or a wheel spin; and, released this summer, a rare branded entry from Ainsworth in the penny denomination—Marilyn Monroe Romantic Kisses, a five-reel, 243-ways-to-win video slot packed with still images and film footage of the the iconic movie star and 1950s sex symbol.

These join other recently released lowdenom entries including Lucky Stars, with launch titles Emperor’s Lucky Stars and Blazin’ Hot Lucky Stars. Both games highlight a collection feature that grows a metamorphic pot on the monitor. The more of a special star symbol you collect on reels 2, 3 and 4, the bigger the visual representation of the pot grows. Flames and shooting stars appear when the pot is close to full, which leads to a free-spin feature.

Riding High-Denom

The addition of Aussie-style low-denom games certainly doesn’t mean the company is moving away from the high-denomination marketplace in which it has achieved the most success.

“In the high-denom space, we didn’t have to change much,” comments Bollesen. “It’s not to say that we’re not paying attention to it. I think that player is a very specific part of our market segment. It’s one that we’ve historically served well. Some of our staff has a real skill in that area, and we’ve built things around them, to help service and maximize

that potential.”

One new high-denom title to be launched at the show is Dollar King, a 10-line dollar game featuring a giant wheel-spin bonus and six levels of progressive jackpot. It is all played out in grand style on the A-STAR Curve XL, the showpiece 55-inch premium cabinet launched last year with the Take It or Leave It game family.

“In high-denom areas around the country, when we set up these sort of jumbo-style cabinets, we’re seeing 2X, even 3X (house average) performance,” Trask says. “It’s a nice little piece of the puzzle for us—it uses what Ainsworth is best at—high-D, high-D, high-D. We have utilized both legacy content, these proven Ainsworth brands—Thunder Cash, Eagle Bucks, Mustang Money—games players have been playing for the better part of a decade. We’ve now made them available on the larger cabinets.”

The same high-denom success applies to the A-STAR Slant cabinet, home

to the popular new Grand Legacy game; and the A-STAR Dual, with twin 27inch monitors. “The A-STAR Dual is the No. 1 performing cabinet in North America versus house average, per the Eilers-Fantini report,” says Trask. “That is a testament to the power of Ainsworth’s high-denom product.”

Ainsworth’s G2E presentation will round out with a display of the company’s historical horse racing games. “HHR is something that we’ve done very well,” Bollesen says. “And we’re looking at maybe building our approach toward introducing some products in HHR in the future, and actually using that as an opportunity to introduce those players to games. HHR is something we’re taking very seriously. We feel it’s untapped potential for us.”

In all, G2E 2022 is something of a coming-out for the new Ainsworth. “We really believe that G2E 2022 for us represents a significant step forward as a company,” says Trask. “We already have eyes on G2E 2023, which we feel is our true leap forward.”

Bollesen agrees: “I’m really proud of what we’re bringing to this show,” he says. “Were already talking about G2E 2023, G2E 2024. We’re looking well beyond the here and now and asking, where do we want to be as a company, not just for this show, but for the next decade? It’s exciting.”

“We already have eyes on G2E 2023, which we feel is our true leap forward.”

—Mike Trask, Vice President of Product Marketing, Ainsworth Game Technology

ARISTOCRAT GAMing

All Cylinders

Aristocrat’s game development reaches new heights in quality and quantity

At any given time, watchers of the worldwide slot market can look at industry performance reports and be sure of one thing: Aristocrat will invariably be at the top.

Aristocrat Gaming, the slot-supply unit of Australia’s Aristocrat Leisure Limited, typically has several games among the top 10 performers in the monthly Eilers-Fantini Game Performance Report and other top revenue-generators lists, having resided there for many years. The company just won its third straight award as Best Overall Supplier in the Eilers & Krejcic Slot Awards.

But there’s been no pause to polish trophies. Aristocrat continues to double down on its leading position, pumping out a remarkable quantity of games. This production will be plainly evident at the Global Gaming Expo, where the company will show more new games than ever before, including a new premium cabinet and the first NFL-themed games. The NFL-themed slot machines, announced in April and expected to hit casino floors in 2023, will offer fans the ability to customize their experiences based on their favorite team.

“Our biggest focus for G2E is our investment in our players, and casinos,” says Jon Hanlin, Aristocrat’s senior vice president, commercial strategy & business analytics. “We’ve been on a journey the last couple of years investing in D&D, through what was a tough time for the industry in the global pandemic. And this G2E is the culmination of that effort.”

For the first time, this year Aristocrat’s G2E booth will feature 100 percent new product on the for-sale side. “Every game that we will show in game sales will be brand new; no customer has ever seen them before,” Hanlin says. “Similarly on the gaming ops and Class II sides, 70 percent of what we will show this year is brand new.”

The wealth of new product, he says, is the result of continuous investment in game development, and capitalizing on what has worked in the market. In fact, popular game mechanics like hold-and-spin and cash on reels can be traced to Aristocrat, and groundbreaking games like Lightning Link and Dragon Link.

“Our product is performing very well in the market, and we’re very proud of that fact,” Hanlin says. “That’s because we have the greatest game design talent in the world, and G2E is an event to show off that talent and what they have created for our customers. Every year at G2E, we have what our customers tell us is the best product in the world presented by the best salespeople in the world. And this year, the booth is about showcasing our commitment to delivering great products for our customers, in product development and performance.”

There will be new cabinets, brand evolutions in the industry’s top-per-

forming game families such as Buffalo and Lighting Link, and a wealth of totally new game families which, as Hanlin says, will “make casino operators feel like they’re getting maximum value for every dollar that they spend with Aristocrat.”

“We have 11 worldwide game studios developing more than 100 games annually for the North American market alone, and we have never slowed down,” says Sony Syamala, Aristocrat’s vice president, commercial strategy and game sales. “We are super excited to bring such a massive portfolio of games that are absolutely brand new, and that we expect are going to perform well.”

Ryan Scott, vice president of commercial strategy and gaming operations for Aristocrat, adds that half of those games will be approved before or just after the show, and the others will be approved in the early months of 2023. “We don’t want to show customers products they can’t have,” Scott says. “Operators want to plan their year, and we’re going to show them a ton of new games they can have before they step foot in our booth again. Ultimately, this portfolio will help to further cement Aristocrat as the partner of choice, as we lead the way forward with great new content.”

ARISTOCRAT

Many Forms

That content will take on many forms, as Aristocrat has a variety of cabinet styles to match its variety in games. Last year, the company previewed the giant Cinema cabinet, featuring an 86-inch 4K HD monitor, with the player’s seat behind a separate game console in front of the giant screen. According to Scott, the massive cabinet will trial launch in November beginning with Buffalo Diamond Extreme. Full release is expected in February 2023.

For the past two years, the Neptune Double, with its stacked 49-inch curved monitors, ergonomic viewing angles and custom chair, has dominated the gaming ops space. This year, Aristocrat launches the Neptune Single, with all the graphics and game horsepower of the Double but with a more location-versatile single 48inch curved monitor.

G2E 2022 is something of a coming-out party for the Neptune Single cabinet, which will span both the gaming ops and for-sale game groups. “Last year, we showcased the first three games,” Hanlin says. “This year, we will showcase the next eight games on the cabinet. We’re excited to show the full depth and breadth of that portfolio.”

Hanlin equates the Neptune Single to a “movie theater experience,” its curved screen providing an easy, entertaining session. “There is no better viewing experience for spinning-reel slots than this cabinet,”

On the gaming ops side, the launch game family for Neptune Single is Jackpot Carnival, a festive game group with player-selectable multi-denominations that includes clever freegame features like a hammer smash, a clown and several other carnival themes. Inaugural base games include Buffalo, Timber Wolf and Power of 88, with a base game that has

Other lease options on the Neptune Single include Tarzan Link, a premium, twogame series that combines the player-favorite Tarzan with Aristocrat’s Hold & Spin mechanic; and Lightning Buffalo Link, designed by Hall of Fame game developer Scott Olive, who created the venerable Lighting Link.

Lightning Buffalo Link combines Dollar Storm’s rapid-hitting, $50,000 multi-site progressive with the successful Buffalo Link product, a game that introduced the player-favorite Dragon Link Hold & Spin Feature to the iconic Buffalo brand. Lightning Buffalo Link also comes with a jackpot mechanic to trigger the $50,000 multisite progressive.

On the for-sale side, Neptune Single will host a new ver-

sion of Wonder 4, the popular game setup that presents four separate reel arrays on which the player can wager simultaneously. In this case, they are Buffalo, Black Panther, Fire Light II, and Pompeii.

“Buffalo is a brand that continues to evolve and get better,” says Hanlin of what many consider the most popular slot brand in the world. “It’s built on a solid foundation of one of the best mechanics and one of the best math models in the world.”

“Wonder 4 has been a great game for us, regardless of which cabinet we release it on,” says Syamala. “It’s always performed very well.” The new version of Wonder 4 features a persistent free-game collection feature. “You are collecting free games as you play, and when the free-game feature triggers, it can be up to 100 free games,” Syamala says. “It is a great reward for the players.”

Also on the Neptune Single is a rare for-sale licensed game, Zorro. “It’s a game that we’ve released online in social casinos under a different title, and we’ve gotten massive player adoption,” says Hanlin. “So, we think pairing that brand with a proven math model is going to be fantastic. And it’s a premium title that’s for sale.”

“We are using an innovative mechanic in Zorro that worked well in our digital world,” adds Syamala. “We have a massive presence in digital, so we use our digital presence and seek the feedback of our 8.1 million daily active users, and then test out some of the mechanics for our land-based games.”

Finally, for sale on the Neptune Single will be Timber Wolf Chief, a game that has been out for around two years that combines the features of Timber Wolf and Buffalo Chief.

ARISTOCRAT GAMING

More New Cabinets, More New Games

Of course, the Neptune Single is not alone in hosting new games for Aristocrat. On the imposing Neptune Double, the company will show Buffalo Grand Deluxe, a follow-up to Buffalo Grand that adds frequent multipliers to that game’s wheel bonus, a higher bet structure (100-1,000 credits), and a bonus wheel with a 20X multiplier wedge. It features a $500,000 wide-area progressive.

“Internally, we’ve called it comfort food—something players keep returning to for comfort,” says Scott. “Buffalo Grand was one of those that players gravitate toward, so we’re going to give them an evolved experience where the players will have more multipliers with that same great Buffalo Grand wheel.”

Whales of Cash Ultimate Jackpots, the first use of the Whales of Cash character in the gaming ops space, features wild multipliers, a $10,000 linked progressive and a unique progressive free-game feature. Players can choose the volatility of the progressive free-game feature.

Also on the Neptune Double is Chief Platinum, an evolution of the Buffalo Chief title that features stacked multipliers, expanding wild multipliers, and free games with multipliers of up to 8X.

On the MarsX Portrait, the company will highlight three games—Lucky’s Wild Inferno, an entertaining wheel game with a fun devil character; Triple Supreme Extreme, using a triple metamorphic feature; and Iron Horse, a new locomotive-themed game brand from the same game studio that produced the original Buffalo and Cash Express Gold Class. “This game has been in the making for many years,” says Syamala. “This studio is one of our most creative studios—they don’t aim for quantity. They create only one or two games per year, and those games are really good. So, we have high hopes for the game.”

Firelight Eruption is a new game on the MarsX Portrait. “We took our original Firelight game and enhanced it with all the on-trend mechanics, like expanding reels and persistence,” says Syamala.

Also on the MarsX Portrait is Cash Express Mega Line, a lease game which presents four Cash Express themes in separate reel arrays, as in Wonder 4. “Players get to pick which Cash Express theme they’d like to play,” Scott says. “They can play four at a time in hopes of hitting the Mega Line, the common bonus feature.”

On the new MarsX Flex “large top box” cabinet—it features a 55-inch screen above the main game screen—two key titles will be featured at the show, the first being Buffalo Strike, the first Buffalo-themed game to include a community-style bonus event.

On the MarsX Dual Screen cabinet is Cashman Double Bingo. It is the existing Cashman Bingo with a persistent feature added on two separate bingo cards, called “bingo boards,” which collect cash-on-reels awards and pay them off when they form a bingo pattern.

“Each time a bingo pattern is hit on the original Cashman Bingo, it resets, giving the opportunity for players to walk away saying, ‘I already hit the bingo and have to build up the bingo board again,’” Syamala explains. “With Cashman Double Bingo, you may hit one, but then you will have another one still almost filled with one or two patterns ready to hit.”

Class in Class II

For the Class II game lineup from Aristocrat’s VGT subsidiary, the company is implementing its premium RELM XL five-reel stepper cabinet. New Class II games on the RELM XL will include a $100,000 multi-site progressive Super Hits Frenzy link, and a five-reel version of the game that has been the company’s No. 1 video title in Class II, Hunt for Neptune’s Gold.

“It’s the top game by a large margin,” Scott says of Neptune’s Gold. “It’s been the No. 1 Class II video title as long as I can remember. So, we’re going to bring that experience to premium stepper hardware.”

Also in the Class II space will be Silver Dollar Shoot Out Diamond on the Arc Double cabinet and a Class II version of the hit game Express Luxury Line.

“We’ve released Silver Dollar Shoot Out on the Helix XT in Class II, and it’s now the No. 2 video title,” says Scott. “We’re going to bring that to the premium space with the Arc Double. With Cash Express, we’ll have a Class II version on the MarsX Dual Screen. It’s an exciting opportunity there to bring that great title over to Class II.”

Aristocrat’s new for-sale three-reel steppers in Class II, with core VGT math in all-new games, include Hunt for Aztec Riches, Red Spin Run, Lucky Bunch, and Gold Gold and More Gold.

“One of the taglines that we use internally is ‘Aristocrat Class II is first-class,’” says Syamala. “So we are bringing not only our legacy VGT stepper knowledge, but we are using the power of both companies.”

Finally, Aristocrat will also show new content for its historical horse racing games. The company is currently in three states with its HHR games. “We are in a very strong position in HHR,” Syamala says. “In every property, we are either No. 1 or No. 2. We are very happy with that performance.”

The Aristocrat display will be rounded out with games for the New York Lottery’s central determinant system and VLT markets.

“It’s a story of supplying operators with a complete portfolio,” says Scott. “We are supplying operators with a complete portfolio rather than just a product. We want to instill confidence in our operators through leading performance and support.”

“I may say this every year,” says Hanlin, “but honestly, this will be the best G2E booth we’ve ever had. Aristocrat has a commitment to have the most innovative slot product portfolio in the world. And this booth will show it.”

New Ways to Play

Aruze Gaming refines its slot technology while exploring new styles of games that bring the arcade to the casino

For the past few years, Aruze Gaming has been redefining the electronic table game genre with its ever-evolving Roll to Win Craps, a hybrid electronic craps game on a normal-sized craps table with individual bet stations, requiring less than three dealers, and real dice for the shooters to throw.

Aruze had much experience in the automated craps genre, with its Shoot to Win Craps, in which players press a button to throw dice within a cylindershaped dice field, having enjoyed sustained demand at casinos in Las Vegas. The ETGs, though, were augmented by Aruze’s slot library, also ever-evolving. The company has continued to expand its Muso line of cabinets, with new form factors still being launched.

But one other distinguishing factor for Aruze is called Activ-Play. In short, it’s a category of games in which players actively, physically participate. It started with the 2011 release of Paradise Fishing, a community-style game setup that used a sort of joystick that simulated tugging on a fishing line as the player “fished” for bonus awards.

The company released several iterations of the fishing bonus technology within the subsequent few years, followed by Mad Mountain on the Muso Limited community-style setup. Then last year, the company took Activ-Play to a new level with Go Go Claw, an arcade-style game that applies slot math to the classic claw machines everyone remembers from arcades, bowling alleys and other public places.

It is like nothing else to be found in the casino. In the see-through chamber are plastic balls containing any variety of cash prizes. You use a control knob to manipulate the claw, grab a ball, move it to a bucket, and win the prize—just like at the bowling alley, all on top of a math program with a reliable theoretical hold percentage.

According to Rob Ziems, president of Aruze Gaming, the idea came from Aruze founder Kazuo Okada. “I was skeptical at first; I was concerned that it wouldn’t be very well received,” Ziems says. “I asked for 10 or 15 to try out, and we installed the first two at the D in Downtown Las Vegas, one downstairs and one upstairs. And immediately, they were a hit.”

Ziems says his first visit to the D after the installation opened his eyes to the appeal of the product. “It’s within 20 feet of a bar downstairs, and I sat down there on a Thursday afternoon,” he recalls. “It was 1 p.m. and there were crowds of people, really engaged in the product. I was sitting at the bar cheering for people. The energy was really exciting.”

By the time of the Indian Gaming Tradeshow in March, Aruze couldn’t make enough of the games. “At NIGA, customers were coming up to us and saying, ‘Hey, where’s mine? How come I don’t have one?’ Since then, demand has been high.”

By the beginning of August, 50 Go Go Claw units were lined up and ready to ship, and Ziems estimates at least another 50 will have been delivered by the time of the Global Gaming Expo. He says some customers who had placed one of the leased units are asking for more —the D and Circa ordered four new units.

Aruze hopes to replicate that success with two new Activ-Play games to be launched at G2E this year, both radical in their ideas and nostalgic of popular arcade games. It will be accompanied by new entries into the Muso line of cabinets, and a good supply of new game titles that fit perfectly with the new hardware.

Midnight and the Dragon

At this year’s G2E, Aruze will launch two new entries into the Muso cabinet family, first with the Muso Curve 55 Midnight Edition, featuring a honeycomb pattern design, a midnight black color and high-resolution graphics on the 55-inch J-curve monitor.

“The overall cabinet design, which has been well-received in the market, was developed with the whole player in mind,” says Josh Collins, vice president of sales for Aruze Gaming. “To maximize large-screen game play, the sound woofer is strategically placed in the gaming cabinet’s lower stand, transferring the bass directly from the cabinet to the player, allowing the sounds to enhance the player’s gaming experience.”

Muso Curve 55 is available for sale. “We’ve got highlight titles that will be exclusive to the Curve 55,” says Ziems. Those include X-Wheel Supreme God, X-Wheel Supreme Dragon, Gong Cash Dragon and Gong Cash Lion.

X-Wheel Supreme God features extra reel spins that increase collected wins, multiplied by a wheel spin. Scattered bonus symbols trigger a collect feature in which all prizes on collected bonus symbols contribute to a bonus prize total increased by a wheel-selected multiplier.

Special bonus symbols in the collect feature add additional spins, resulting in more chances to increase the bonus prize total. There is also a chance to win a wheel-selected jackpot when wild symbols appear on primary-game spins.

The Gong Cash games feature a compelling collection/pot feature that leads to a picking bonus in which one of four jackpots can be won. There also

is a hold-and-re-spin bonus in which the player collects cash-on-reels symbols.

Collins says many of the new titles on the Curve 55 Midnight Edition will also be available for other Muso cabinets like the Muso Curve-43 and Curve43 Hybrid. “We’re not obsoleting the 43 or the 27,” he says. “A lot of the content will be cross-compatible between the platforms.”

Ziems adds that there will be for-sale titles on the Midnight Edition. “Typically, those larger cabinets are premium cabinets that are lease-only, but we’re going to offer titles with that box that customers will be able to buy,” he says.

Aruze will also showcase the Muso Dragon cabinet at G2E. This cabinet features 3D signature in-pod configurations of four, six or eight, complete with 3D cabinet signage and an elegant Asian design featuring two golden Chinese dragons at the top, ancient golden coins between gaming cabinets, and firecrackers at the end of the bank, all symbols of luck and good fortune.

The exclusive launch game family for the Muso Dragon is Fu Jin Shu, which features a continuously flowering money tree that sprouts gold coins. The game features beautiful graphics to complement the cabinet presentation.

During the base game, the reel format expands up to four extra symbol rows when bonus symbol appears on reels 2 and 3. Wild symbols stick during the Wild Hold Spins. During each free game, the reel format randomly expands up to four extra rows and wild symbols may appear randomly across the reels. A Jackpot Feature may be randomly triggered on base-game spins, and

Shoot to Win Craps features new sounds as the “shoot” button is pushed—it pops when you hit it—as well as updated technology to run the game.

ARUZE

mystery credits can be randomly won in bought games.

In addition to the launch of the new cabinets, Ziems says Aruze will introduce newly improved versions of the other Muso cabinets. Muso Curve will be displayed with a 55-inch screen as opposed to the standard 43-inch, and the Triple 27 Hybrid will be displayed as a Triple 32, with three 32-inch screens.

Building on Success

Meanwhile, Aruze will display improvements to its Roll to Win Craps game, as well as a new version of the popular Shoot to Win Craps.

According to Ziems, the company will show improvements to Roll to Win that enhance security. “One of the things we learned when we put out that table was that while there are benefits in reducing the head count that’s necessary to run the table, there are fewer people watching the table,” he says. “And so, in working with our customers, we’ve learned that there are some security enhancements that will benefit them greatly. We’re excited to debut some of that at G2E.”

Collins says the company will debut the first updated version of Shoot to Win Craps, featuring new sounds as the “shoot” button is pushed—“It pops when you hit it,” he says—as well as updated technology to run the game.

“The existing Shoot to Win in the field is on an old platform, the AP7 platform,” he says. “We’re making some modifications, upgrading it and putting it on the APX platform.”

He adds that the Shoot to Win game has never slowed in its demand. “Most of them go out on lease, but over time, we get quite a number of customers who want to buy it,” he says. “It’s been one of the most successful products we’ve had. It’s 11 years old, and there are still a lot of them out there. We still get orders for them.”

The opportunities to expand on the success of Aruze’s unique craps games, of course, is accompanied by innovative new entries into the arcade-style Activ-Play lineup—gambling versions of a couple of the most popular carnival and amusement games in history. One based on a childhood game everyone knows is Rock, Paper, Scissors. “Fairly simple,” says Collins. “You wager on one of three buttons—rock, paper or scissor. The game goes through the cycle, and you win or lose.”

While it’s a simple enough proposition, the excitement can build on the game, with rapid decisions and a one-in-three chance of winning every time.

Rock, Paper, Scissors.

Another traditional arcade game re-created for the slot floor by Aruze is the familiar whack-a-mole machine. In this case, it’s a gator, in the game Wacky Gator. “It’s a digital version of the whack-a-mole game,” Collins says. “Instead of whacking with a hammer, it will utilize the touch-screen, as well as physical buttons.”

As demand remains high for Aruze’s products, the company can now deliver them more efficiently, thanks to a new Las Vegas headquarters location that combines three functions that formerly took place in three different locations.

“We wanted to combine our administrative role— the executive offices—with the manufacturing facilities and our service group, which were all in different locations,” says Ziems. “We’re really excited to have it all under one roof now. It was creating some inefficiencies. We were all within about a five-mile radius, but it was hard to get everybody together to have meetings. Now, all the departments are together.”

Currently, the Las Vegas facility is the final assembly point for products that are developed in Tokyo and manufactured in the Philippines. Ziems says it’s possible the company could establish a new U.S. facility, particularly for the digital side of the business. “We’re in earnest making a move into iGaming,” he says. “We hired a new vice president of iGaming (Kurt Hansen). Our CEO (Yugo Kinoshita) has relocated from Hong Kong to the U.S., and he’s living in Northern California, so it’s possible we will work toward developing an iGaming studio in Northern California in the next couple of years.”

As Aruze develops its digital division, the company will continue to stretch the envelope of what will succeed on the slot floor—including more games like Go Go Claw, which Ziems says has delivered on its promises, from customer excitement to the theoretical hold. “Casino operators are very happy,” he says. “There are many places where they want more.”

More is certainly coming from Aruze.

While it’s a simple enough proposition, the excitement can build on the game, with rapid decisions and a one-in-three chance of winning every time.

When it comes to gaming testing and compliance, GLI’s global expertise and accessibility do more than keep your projects moving ahead of pace. Our experience and knowledge in iGaming, sports betting, and cybersecurity will take you to your next level of success.

BLUBERI

Growth Mode

Bluberi sets sights on improving its market position while refining the game development process

During the past two years, the 27-year-old Bluberi Gaming Canada, Inc. has worked on evolving from a Class II supplier serving Canada out of its Drummondville, Quebec headquarters into a player in the larger Class III markets, especially in the U.S.

These days, those efforts are being headed by CEO Andrew Burke, who took over as CEO of Bluberi in January 2020 after a longtime stint heading the slot division at AGS, and Mike Brennan, the chief product officer Burke brought in to oversee the expansion of Bluberi’s slot development efforts. Brennan had long been a top executive at Atronic, Gtech and ultimately IGT, where he was vice president of product management.

This year, Bluberi adds a new game development studio in Reno, and Brennan has been busy retaining and collecting talent, and overseeing teams of game designers in Drummondville and Reno who are encouraged to collaborate with each other. Brennan says collaboration is better than a system in which a supplier’s studios are competing with each other.

Burke agrees with the approach. “I used to think you should have studios that are competing to be the best and to be the resource, the No. 1 studio,” he says. “Then you give the one that is the best more people to hire and more games to do.

“But what I found is that doesn’t result in the best games. We’ve seen people in the Reno studio give feedback on a game that the Quebec team is doing, and it makes the Quebec game better, or vice versa. That’s a win. There’s some real magic happening there, watching it flourish, where they’re all participating in each other’s success.”

“It’s a fresh-eyes approach,” says Brennan. “To have these fresh eyes at different milestones across the process can be really good if you have the right people. And we do—our team is super confident yet humble, comfortable and collaborative. And, we’re really lucky to have our group of folks in Quebec, with a couple of new hires. It’s a really a strong, complementary group.”

Where it will all come together, says Brennan, is at this year’s Global Gaming Expo.

“We’re trying to do things a little differently,” Brennan says. “Last year we talked about how we brought a lot of talent from elsewhere, and the reason a lot of us came here is to scale the things that worked previously, do new things, and avoid the things that didn’t work.

“And I think what you’ll see in our games at the show is us executing on being different, on how we tell our story—being disruptive is the word we use. G2E is exciting. We’re going to be telling our story at the show, and our story is a great story.”

It starts with the people. “From a business standpoint, we’re just in growth mode,” says Brennan. “We’ve been adding key individuals, to key disciplines. From top down, we’re trying to bring on new jurisdictions. That can be a slow

and painful process, but we’re trying to add markets.”

“It’s all about people,” says Burke. “We’ve been working really hard to retain our best folks, then develop them and make sure that all of our key people at the company feel like they have paths forward.

“And then we recruit and find outside talent to supplement the internal talent. And I think over the last year in particular, we’ve added some really great team members in product management, in analytics, to bridge the gap between the market and studios. But we’ve also promoted and really gotten the best out of our folks up in Drummondville, creating some really great games.”

“We’re looking at our hardware and at finding ways to navigate all the operational challenges the industry’s going through,” says Brennan. “And then we’ve been focusing a ton on content. And it’s really a mix of bringing the right balance of creativity and process—call it fettered creativity.”

Choice Content

Bluberi will display that creativity in several new games on Bluberi’s Novus b49 cabinet, which is still a new hardware package.

“We will be showing very subtle changes, like a brighter approach to the frame lights, but we like our cabinet,” Brennan says. “The 49-inch flat screen is doing well. And if we do make a new cabinet, which everybody’s working on, we’re hyper-focused on making everything backwards compatible. We’re trying to be the easiest company to do business with; we do not want to leave our customers high and dry.”

Bluberi has four “new-process” 2022 games out in the market on the cabinet, including hit games Treasure Hunter and Devil’s Lock. “Treasure Hunter has been a very good game for us, and Devil’s Lock has raised the bar even higher,” says Brennan.

BLUBERI

Bluberi will display that creativity in several new games on Bluberi’s Novus b49 cabinet, which is still a new hardware package.

At G2E, new games to be highlighted on the cabinet include Rocket Rumble, featuring an innovative progressive free-spin ladder, instead of jackpots. The graphics are great, with rockets flying to like-colored free-game choices.

Also on the b49 will be Fu Bamboo, featuring a collection feature in which a panda character grows in size with collected gold symbols until cracking—complete with a clever visual effect of the monitor cracking—to reveal a progressive picking bonus. A free-spin round features an expanded reel array.

A new game family to be launched at G2E on the b49 is Double Flamin’ Link, with the first true holdand-spin feature to appear on the cabinet. The hold-andspin round features a second chance—the character can double cashballs to reset the counter. The game will be available in Q1 2023, Brennan says.

Finally, the new entry on the Big Mech cabinet—the giant stepper cabinet with colorful back-lit reels and a see-through front—is Reels of Steel Fortune’s Forge. The oversized game is a three-reel, single-line game with a bonus wheel added. Spots on the reels can award multipliers, cashon-reels awards, or a wheel spin. The game will be released by G2E, according to Brennan.

The Art of Design

Brennan says the game development team from Bluberi is going to put on something of a clinic at G2E, demonstrating for customers and attendees alike what goes into the company’s game design process.

“In the past, there have been walls been put up (in trade-show booths),” he says. “We’re the opposite. We’re inviting anybody to come in. We’re actually inviting people to come in, and give us constructive criticism on our games if you’re at a competitor.

“It’s going to be tactile. Our theme is touch and feel things. We’re kind of making some creative moves away from digital displays, and we’re going to showcase people. You’re actually going to hear from the people who make these games, with some ‘whys’ and neat insights. We’re actually going to be making games for customers at the show. So you can meet our talent, see how it works and talk about the process.”

Burke says the result of that process is that Bluberi games are developing a distinctive style. “Over time, you’re going to be able to look at our products and say, oh, that’s Bluberi,” Burke says. “They’re doing twists on the game mechanics, and you can see that our art is very, very attractive. Our focus is on building our identity, and Mike and the team have done just an awesome job in the early stages of that.”

“I’m most excited about our booth,” says Brennan. “I know I’m biased, but we haven’t been doing other trade shows. We’ve only been doing G2E these last two years, because we’re a small company and we’ve got to spend our money wisely. And so for us, G2E is our Super Bowl. It’s our big event.”

“I think this is going to be probably the biggest G2E in my career,” adds Burke. “For me personally, I know that’s a bold statement, but it’s my first time in the CEO seat, and for a couple of years we’ve been in turnaround phase. But now we’re out of the turnaround phase and we’re fully on into growth mode. And I really feel like this G2E is the first real sign of that for us.

“Mike put this challenge forward—he said to the team, ‘I want to have more good games—good game concepts than we can develop.’ And I think we’re starting to get to that point where we have more good ideas. We’re in the early innings, but still, there’s something really exciting here.”

ECLIPSE

Top Talent, Growing Presence

Eclipse Gaming Systems combines veteran game design talent with the best emerging talent to move forward in more markets

D

uluth, Georgia-based Eclipse Gaming Systems has been riding a steady growth stream for the past few years. Since he took the helm in 2018, CEO Tim Minard has assembled a team of leaders in all departments that is taking the Class II supplier to new markets, as the company launches more and more titles each year, moving toward an eventual expansion into Class III markets.

In the meantime, Eclipse has continued to grow its Class II footprint, thanks to a game development team headed by Chief Technology Officer Steven Slotwinski, formerly a longtime game producer for WMS Gaming and Scientific Games, and chief operating officer for a subsidiary of NHN Entertainment, responsible for multiple social-mobile product lines.

These days, Slotwinski is using that Class III and interactive gaming experience to continue the expansion of Eclipse’s footprint in Class II markets. “My experience making land-based and interactive products has definitely guided my approach to product design, especially when it comes to prioritizing the player experience per market,” he says.

“At Eclipse, I have started an initiative to better understand what our players are attracted to in each market. This includes everything from the theme artwork to the math-model ride that each player experiences per theme, the attractiveness of our merchandising, and how comfortable players feel wagering with different bet structures.”

To realize this vision, Slotwinski has continued to build up the game design team with veteran talent from the industry as well as young talent from the rich pool in and around Gwinnett County, the company’s home base in the Metro Atlanta region.

“We have partnered with the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and the Gwinnett school system in Georgia (from elementary through the college level), to help educate the next generation of STEAM students on the gaming industry,” he says, referring to the disciplines of science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics that are the biggest contributors to the art of slot game design.

The company also has partnered with multiple universities in the area, creating internship programs to promote gaming careers at schools like Georgia Tech.

All that training and R&D staff development will be evident at the

Global Gaming Expo, where Eclipse is set to launch 14 new titles in a 26game display, including four new game families and themes for multiple markets and multiple player segments.

That content will be featured on new hardware this year as the company rolls out its Impact 49 cabinet, the 49-inch portrait cabinet that joins the company’s current Impact 43 and Impact 27 form factors. “This year we decided to go bigger by adding the Impact 49 to our platform selection,” Slotwinski says, adding that the format is available in multiple pod configurations featuring wedge artwork and a 360-degree LED sign package.

ECLIPSE

Exploiting the Strengths

In addition to brand-new offerings, the product lineup from Eclipse Gaming at G2E will feature reprises of game families and slots that already have proven themselves in the field. One of the most popular game families for the company this year has been the Jackpot Series led by Tick Tock Jackpot, a game presented on a five-by-eight-reel configuration with a unique countdown picking game that has players battling the clock to collect bombs that will set off a “chain reaction” explosion of credit awards and progressive jackpots.

Tick Tock Jackpot also features a hold-and-re-spin feature on expanded reels, leading to more credit awards and progressives.

At G2E, Eclipse will showcase three games from the Jackpot Series—Tick Tock Jackpot, Sky High Jackpot, and Mucho Grande Jackpot.

Another G2E Eclipse spotlight will be the debut of the new Cash Arcade family with The Big Shake series, featuring a virtual replication of the classic arcade and casino coin-pushing machines.

Central to the game is a bonus wheel, which dumps its awards onto the main replica of a pile of gold coins under the mechanized pushers that continue to push the pile to spill credits to the player’s meter. It is a remarkably authentic replication of the player-favorite arcade game, and Slotwinski says the programmers used “real-time physics” to replicate the gravity of the coin spills.

Players can choose their favorite tune to play by touching the track pick button on the front of the coin, adding to the immersive appeal of the game.

The inaugural titles are Big Shake Neon and Big Shake Carnival.

“These games look amazing in 4K graphics, and the use of real-time physics is something the Class II industry has never seen,” Slotwinski says. “These games will attract a lot of attention and have great success in any casino; they offer an incredible player experience.”

Another game family to be featured at G2E is the Spin Big series, consisting of three-reel games in single-line or five-line versions. Inaugural games are Spin Big Galaxy, Spin Big Mardi Gras, and the newest, Spin Big Gears of Wealth.

The common feature is a two-tiered bonus wheel, spun for credit awards, free games, or one of two progressive jackpots, played out on a huge wheel that covers most of the 49-inch portrait monitor. Hitting an “upgrade” symbol on the first wheel activates the second wheel, with higherpaying wedges.

There also is a pick bonus, in which players pick one of three game icons to reveal a mystery credit award.

New individual games Eclipse will feature at G2E include Riches of the Gods and Bison King.

The Greek-themed Riches of the Gods game takes the player to the foot of the mountain where the

gods live, complete with multipliers, free games, and a wheel bonus that awards multipliers or a spin on an upgraded wheel. The wheel awards can be upgraded three times during the wheel-spin feature.

Bison King features the “Cash Stack” bonus, in which all five reels display cash-on-reels symbols that appear as stacks of cash. Free spins aim for more cash stacks—the accumulated totals of the cash-on-reels symbols are awarded when the stack reaches the top of each reel.

The Bison Bonus Wheel can be activated during the Cash Stacks feature, spinning for credit awards or progressive jackpots. Players can win multiple progressives during this feature.

Other highlights include the Hall of Fame Series, which consists of classic and high-performing Eclipse titles, transformed from their original Flash platform into a 4K presentation. Titles include Wicked Mad Hot, with a flaming graphics presentation of free games with multipliers; and Big and Bad Bolt, themed around a lightning storm on a farm, with comical farm characters dodging lightning in the “Bolt Bonus,” a bonus-within-abonus that features a funny animated sequence as lightning bolts strike for bonus awards.

Bringing it Together

Slotwinski is anticipating a successful G2E. “I am very proud of all the products Eclipse will be showing at this year’s show,” he says. “We have seen our success grow through the continuation of each of our product lines and game families.”

Meanwhile, Eclipse continues to grow. Since 2020, the company has expanded its workforce by 35 percent, has steadily increased its licensed jurisdiction count, and has continued to build on its Class II footprint.

“We have huge ambitions that we plan on completing in the next 18 months, which include unique new hardware solutions combined with more distinctive content,” says Slotwinski. “We are augmenting this pipeline by partnering with some well-known hardware innovators and third-party game developers to increase our pipeline strategy going forward.”

That pipeline will, in large part, be crafted with continuous feedback from players, he adds. “We are continuously visiting the casinos in our markets to identify trends, and then we build products geared for those players. There really is no better feeling than making a product that people like to play.”

“These games will attract a lot of attention and have great success in any casino; they offer an incredible player experience.”

—Steven Slotwinski, Chief Technology Officer, Eclipse

EVERI HOLDINGS

Everithing

Everi parades one the most diverse slot game portfolios in the business

It’s been 25 years since Everi Holdings’ legacy game company Multimedia Games entered the Class II gaming space. From there, it’s been a progression of technology, game styles and new markets that has evolved into a remarkably diverse collection of products.

The evolution has been methodical: central determinant content for Washington lottery, then the New York lottery in 2004. The debut of the TournEvent tournament system in 2006. The transition to Class III from 2008 onward.

Since Multimedia and Global Cash Access merged to form Everi in 2015, the business has experienced significant organic growth, becoming a top supplier of mechanical-reel stepper, core video, and premium slots as well as tournament offerings.

“If you look at our most recent numbers, the future’s really exciting,” says Loren Rosenberg, Everi Games senior vice president and chief product officer. “We had a record second quarter this year, with our highest-ever quarterly sales of gaming machines, and in the latest Eilers slot survey, and we had 14 percent ship share in the markets that we participate in. If you look at the premium side of the business, we’ve really separated ourselves from the smaller suppliers, and we’re in a class of our own right behind the big three.

“As a company, we’re investing heavily in our R&D. Since January 2021, we’ve added 150 people across our game development and technology teams. You’ll see that investment reflected in our product roadmaps. We’re going from 64 games this year to approximately 88 next year in North America alone. This reinvestment translates to offering more product diversity to our casino operators.”

At Global Gaming Expo, Everi’s depth and breadth will be on full display with new products in each of the company’s categories, or “swim lanes,” as Rosenberg calls them. It starts with a new video cabinet called Dynasty Vue.

“It’s the first cabinet in our new Dynasty Series,” says Caitlin Harte, Everi’s director of product management. “The form factor is unique in that its custom display allows our game designers to create game mechanics that you would see on a portrait cabinet, while providing the sight lines comparable to a dual-screen, and the integrated base of a slant-top.”

The company is launching four game families on the Dynasty Vue at G2E. Money Slam offers an innovative reel array, with credit awards and four jackpots in a “cash-on-reels” connecting pay-style mechanic, with a bonus

wheel at the top.

Combo Cash utilizes a “Win What You See” bonus that replicates the feature from the company’s smash hit Cash Machine—where numbers appearing on three reels form a simple display of the bonus

Wild Wheel continues the tradition of wheel-based bonus games begun by Everi’s Wicked Wheel series, and High Rollin’ Gems is a multi-game offering that brings together three of Everi’s highest-performing mechanical reel-spinners, in a brand-new video package.

“All of our launch families present a wide range of features right out of the gate, and we’ll have a large catalogue of games launching throughout 2023,” Harte says.

Stepping Up

While Dynasty Vue joins a multitude of successful form factors on the video side, Everi is beginning to ride the success of its newest stepper cabinet, the Player Classic Signature.

Officially launched earlier this year, the cabinet brings modern technology to a form factor that remains loyal to the traditional reel-spinner. The cabinet features wider reels than the original Player Classic, with full-spectrum color lighting enhancing the spinning reels. The digital display above the reels includes the traditional pay schedule, while payline configurations light up to show players how they have won.

Players, by the way, can select the denominations on the games. Pay schedule amounts and progressives displayed on the top monitor instantly change as the denomination is adjusted.

“We designed Player Classic Signature thoughtfully to bring our legacy of success into the future, yet still honor and respect the rich history of Player Classic and the loyal stepper player,” says Rosenberg. “We stayed true to everything that we’ve learned since the launch of Player Classic 15 years ago, and selectively updated and enhanced it for the changing player and operator needs.”

Inaugural releases Blazin’ Gems Deluxe and Triple Jackpot Gems Deluxe bring the “double nudge” feature to the new cabinet—a feature that offers two chances at improving results on nine lines that can result in more than

The Platinum Signature series features two doubleprogressive meters— two progressives (triggered by three wild symbols) apply to the base game and two larger progressives to the free-games feature.

one of the five progressives on a single spin.

Among the highlights on the cabinet at G2E will be several new game families. The Platinum Signature series features two double-progressive meters— two progressives (triggered by three wild symbols) apply to the base game and two larger progressives to the free-games feature, Platinum Spins. Inaugural games are Black Diamond Platinum and Crystal Star Platinum.

The Extra Spin series—with base games Patriot Extra Spin and Wild Gems Extra Spin—gives players an extra chance at landing three wild symbols to win one of two progressives. When wild symbols land on the first two reels, the third reel re-spins for another crack at the prize. (The top progressive is won with three wilds on the ninth payline.)

Other game groups featured on Player Classic Signature include the Crowns Diamond Respin Series, which randomly re-spins up to five times after a win, with prizes equal to or higher than each previous re-spin; the Pay Upgrade Series, which includes the rare persistent feature on a stepper game when a multiplier on a win applies to the subsequent three spins; and the Classic Bonus Multiplier series, featuring multipliers up to 30X.

The new stepper cabinet joins a mechanical reel group that has catapulted Everi to the top of the genre. The Skyline Revolve premium cabinet has been home to several hits, including Cash Machine Jackpots and Gold Standard Jackpots. The format offers player-selectable denoms and classic mechanical stepper math.

“Skyline Revolve is the No. 1 premium mechanical product in the market, according to Eilers,” says Rosenberg. “Gold Standard Jackpots and Cash Machine Jackpots have each been home runs.”

This year, the company will use the cabinet to introduce a licensed theme baby boomers will remember with a chuckle: Rocky and Bullwinkle, and a sister game, Boris & Natasha.

Both three-reel, nine-line games feature the Skyline Revolve bonus wheel and a five-level progressive jackpot, but boomers who were fans of the quirky 1960s Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons will find the audio that accompanies

most reel events to be hilarious. The games’ developers convincingly recreated the voices of the show’s characters—the heroes Rocky and Bullwinkle and Cold War Russian-spy villains Boris and Natasha—who react to game events with wisecracks from the show. They even pipe up in attract mode:

Natasha: “You got plan, Dahling?”

Boris: “I always got plan!”

Even the narrator of the cartoon series, who would hyper-dramatically introduce each scene, is reproduced. When the wheel spin is triggered, the narrator declares, “Just in… a mysterious wheel began to spin!” This one will have boomers laughing out loud.

The premium steppers will join a host of games on the company’s standard mechanical platforms, including not only Player Classic Signature but the Skyline format, which places a 24-inch LCD display with a vintage-inspired bezel on top of Player Classic; and the original Player Classic, which continues to pump out titles.

The Skyline will host several recently released titles, including Triple Double Cash as well as the 5X Skyline Series, which consists of 5X Gran Coronas and 5X Wild Jackpot Gems.

On the Player Classic, Everi will show four new titles, including Wild Stacks Deluxe Ruby Fire, Wild Stacks Deluxe Sapphire Riches, Wild Wild Stars, and Wild Wild Charms.

Flexing in Premium Video

Everi’s continued top performance on the stepper side is matched by video in a wealth of configurations, from the premium Empire DCX, Empire Flex Fusion and Empire Arena formats to several new core video launches on the standard Empire Flex and MPX portrait cabinets.

At G2E, Everi will show two new titles for Empire DCX, the theatrical presentation that hosts the hit Shark Week Feeding Frenzy—Little Shop of Horrors Director’s Cut and Willie Nelson Live.

“Little Shop of Horrors was popular on the Empire MPX cabinet, and this is a naturally upgraded version,” Rosenberg says. “We’ve made some really nice twists to the game, and believe players are really going to like the additions.”

The mystery wild feature from the original is enhanced in this new version—instead of individual symbols becoming wild, entire reels turn wild. Bonus features include Rampage Reels, which displays up to six individual reel arrays for a free spin; and a wheel bonus including credit awards, jackpots and extra spins.

The new Willie Nelson game brings footage from a live Willie Nelson concert to the big 4K DCX format, with bonuses including a lock-and-re-spin event, a pick bonus, and a mystery free-spin event. The lock-and-re-spin event aims to fill the screen with Texas-themed stars to trigger one of four progressives. The picking bonus has the player selecting from, naturally, guitar picks. All events are accompanied by video from live Willie Nelson shows.

On the Empire Arena, Everi is following up the recent success of Fu Lu Shou Land of Wealth with two new game families—Fruit Ninja Frenzy and

EVERI

Super Fiesta!

First introduced as one of the base games for the TournEvent tournament system, Fruit Ninja Frenzy has at its heart a “frenzy” of player interaction, as various pieces of fruit fly across the screen and the player physically swipes and slashes the touch-screen to obliterate as many pieces of fruit as possible within a short time, revealing bonus awards each time. Players have loved this feature, which always creates a lot of onlooker attention. There also is a lock-and-spin bonus featuring cash-on-reels symbols.

Super Fiesta! features the Forever-Wilds re-spin bonus that locks wilds in place for free spins, and the famous piñata bonus.

Flex Fusion first launched with Cashnado, and the company will show two new enhanced versions of that game, Storm Surge and Super Nova, at G2E this year.

Cashnado began rolling out early last year, after the Covid-abbreviated 2020. “This was the marque product we rolled out early last year,” Rosenberg says. “Cashnado continues to perform well as we deploy more units in the field.”

Storm Surge and Super Nova keep the popular Cash Grab bonus, in which players touch flying dollar bills to release bonus awards, and adds features such as progressive odds that scale as the player increases denominations. The other bonus is Key Pays, in which credits, bonus awards or progressives appearing on the reels hit when accompanied by a key on the first or fifth reel and double if a key lands on both reels.

Also on the Flex Fusion is Lift Off, which features the Rocket Respins hold-and-spin feature, in which cash-on-reels symbols and multipliers appear and lock for three spins.

“Flex Fusion is a great form factor for us to develop and grow these homegrown internal brands,” says Harte. “The two game families that have been released are Cashnado and Smokin’ Hot Stuff Wicked Wheel Fire & Ice. Both have seen great, promising numbers right off the bat.”

Core Strength

Everi also will showcase the depth of its product catalog for the core Empire Flex and Empire MPX portrait cabinets. The newest successes in core video are two games played without reels. Cha-Ching! displays a field of gift boxes that essentially is a pick bonus used as the primary game. Money Line features cash-on-reels symbols, multipliers and free-spin symbols on an otherwise blank game field.

Among the highlights of G2E debut games in core video are Fu Blossom Blessings and Fu Blossom Prosperity, featuring the elegant Asian art first seen on the premium Fortune Garden game with a modified “growing flower” persistent-style bonus in which three flowers grow toward large credit awards and progressives, and a separate Fortune Spins feature that grows the bonus multiplier as high as 5X. Everi also has made this title available for tournament play in the TournEvent Winners Circle package.

Other standouts include Genie’s Prize and Pixie’s Prize, 40-line games with random symbol upgrades and a bonus granting the player three “wishes” to unveil prize amounts.

The Full-Screen Jackpots series, with games Fortune Teller and Lucky Genie, features mystery wild reels, an accumulator, free spins, and a quick-pick game. The main bonus is the Fortune Wheel, which spins for credit prizes and/or multipliers. Lucky Genie has a Fortune Grab, in which players touch floating objects to earn credit prizes, extra picks, and/or jackpot spins.

The Banner Series has two diverse themes available—Aztec and Pegasus— and features a persistent element in which players collect banners to transform

Also on the Flex Fusion is Lift Off, which features the Rocket Respins hold-and-spin feature, in which cash-on-reels symbols and multipliers appear and lock for three spins.

EVERI

low symbols into the mystery symbol for future spins and a chance to connect for big wins.

Then, there’s the Potion Explosion Series—Bewitching Bucks and Wizardly Wins. Both themes feature expanding reels that can upgrade wilds to stacks of 2X multipliers and a match-three bonus to win jackpots.

Finally, Everi will display the variety of configurations and tournament products now available on TournEvent Everiway, the next iteration of the TournEvent slot tournament system. The system, which has been used for customized slot tournaments around the country, has expanded feature sets to meet the evolving needs of slot directors and marketers.

This year’s TournEvent story starts with TournEvent Classic, the traditional group-style play that was introduced 15 years ago and served as the basis of several annual “TournEvent of Champions” national contests.

The company then introduced the TournEvent Now feature, which allows operators to offer TournEvent on demand, so players can complete their tournament sessions at their leisure. TournEvent Winners Circle combines exclusive in-revenue content with premium merchandising designed for high-profile play.

TournEvent Cross Play ensures TournEvent options are available on any Everi dual-screen or portrait cabinet on the floor. TournEvent Concierge kiosks allow players to self-register for tournaments right at the promotional kiosk, as well as view leaderboards and learn about active and future tournaments.

“We have all these new, distinct features of TournEvent,” says Michael Conway, Everi Games vice president, communications and media-games—and familiar host of the TournEvent of Champions contests. Conway notes that TournEvent Now, in addition to making it easy for players to play their sessions, came at the right time during the Covid era. “How do you run a successful tournament when you don’t want lots of players in close quarters?” he says.

But it answers other questions as well. “How do you do build simplicity and flexibility into long-term tournaments? One of the biggest advantages of

TournEvent Now is that operators can run long-term promotions through their loyalty programs, which minimizes the staff needed and the time needed for games to be out of revenue. Operators can move players through multi-round tournaments on their time, at their pace.”

TournEvent Winners Circle, he says, “is our premium presentation.” He recounted seeing it in action at Louisiana’s Coushatta Casino. “This new premium bank presentation looks top-notch both out-of-revenue and in-revenue, with synchronized attract content across the bank and an enhanced sign package.”

“Last year, we spent a lot of time creating, then refining, these five features—TournEvent is very much a part of us,” says Rosenberg. “TournEvent has always been about the players, but operators’ needs have changed over the last 15 years, so we were innately focused on addressing these needs.”

Everi’s G2E booth, of course, will also feature all of the company’s fintech solutions. But the slot display will demonstrate the remarkable variety in the company’s product roadmap.

“It’s important for us as a company to never lose focus on the markets we currently operate in,” Rosenberg says. “As we make strategic decisions to enter new markets, it’s critical that we continue to innovate and support our casino partners across North America as we firmly believe there is more growth to come with the investments we are making in Class II, Class III, and Washington lottery.

“And we have the talent and the products to get us there.”

GAMING ARTS

Branching Out

Gaming Arts

It was big news in July when Brian Christopher, the YouTuber who is known as the top “slot influencer,” took his millions of online followers via live stream, as well as a physical crowd of his fans, to the slot area of the Plaza in Downtown Las Vegas that bears his name—it contains his favorite games—to launch a new video slot based on his videos, live streams and his own character, which grew from his hosting thousands of slot games.

In addition to the star YouTuber, the launch of Brian Christopher’s Pop’N Pays More was big news for Las Vegas-based Gaming Arts, whose engineers and game designers worked with Christopher to develop the game.

Gaming Arts worked with Christopher to recreate what he does online presenting a slot game. What he does is narrate while he plays a new slot, beaming the video and narrative to his own YouTube channel BC Slots, which has some 479,000 subscribers and has logged a remarkable 318 million views since its 2016 launch. Christopher also has some 41,500 Instagram followers.

His reactions to game events have become catchphrases among his followers—“Rude!” after a near miss; “Oh Nelly!” after a big win; “Line it UP!” in anticipation of a winning spin. “Do it to it!” “It’s all about timing!”

Gaming Arts recorded all of his catchphrases for voice-overs in the game— more than 200 recordings were made—and designed a slot game around his brand in its popular Pop’N Pays More series. It’s a 1,047-ways-to-win slot with a feature that expands reels 2-5 up to eight symbols high, which occurs on a staggering 70 percent of all spins, producing maximum excitement for the player. At full expansion, there are 16,384 ways to win on every spin and there is a free game feature offering up to 15 fee games with frequent re-triggers.

But mostly, it is Christopher who distinguishes the game, narrating play on his own themed slot as he would any new game.

The launch was a big success, and by September, the games were in a total of 17 casinos, with reports of daily win running at two to four times house averages.

“We are the first company to work with an influencer to do an influencerbranded game,” says Mike Dreitzer, CEO of Gaming Arts. “And he is so compelling. He’s such a great entertainer and spokesperson for the industry. The emotional connection that folks have with the brand is unparalleled. It’s something to be experienced to believe.”

Christopher was not the only big beneficiary of the launch. The game also provides a showcase for Gaming Arts’ new VertX Grand cabinet. Launched in summer of 2021, the VertX Grand features an ultra-bright, 4K 49-inch portrait monitor, theater-quality sound, an ultra-bright LCD button deck, programmable LED play buttons, and attention-grabbing LED side lights.

VertX Grand has rolled out with several successful games, and there will be more to come at the Global Gaming Expo. “We’ve been focusing on our new cabinet, the VertX, taking advantage of that while still supporting our other titles and cabinets,” says Scott Sims, the veteran game designer who now heads

the slot game design studio at Gaming Arts. “But the VertX is definitely our focus.”

Sims is one of several additions to Gaming Arts who has helped the company’s young casino slot division make great strides. Sims joined the company in 2018, with experience that included seven years in game design at Aristocrat, eight years as chief game designer for online company Genesis Gaming, and a year as director of game production for Bluberi.

He joined Gaming Arts just after Keith Kruczynski— himself a 12-year slot design professional at Bally and Scientific Games—joined as vice president of game development and design.

This year, the company brought in a veteran from the operations side, Scott Reams, as product manager. Reams had run slot operations for several major casinos, including five years at Caesars Entertainment in marketing and casino services, as slot performance manager for Penn National Gaming, assistant director of casino operations at Tropicana Las Vegas, and most recently, director of slot operations at the M Resort in Las Vegas.

“Scott has been a great addition,” says Jean Venneman, chief operating officer for Gaming Arts. “Having that operator background has been really great. He knows games and he plays games, so he’s been able to jump in pretty quickly.”

“We’ve got a really great team and team spirit,” says David Colvin, founder and chairman of Gaming Arts. “This is a tough business. It’s mature, it’s expensive, but we’re really going after it. And we feel like we’re making our mark. You can see our products across the casino floors in America, and we really are starting to to get some serious traction. I am very proud of the fact that Gaming Arts is one of the most innovative gaming companies in the industry.”

That traction will not only come from the company’s growing staff of veterans. “We continue to work with third parties in a bigger and bigger way,” Dreitzer says. “Both internally and externally, we’ve expanded our capacity. We realize we

are in the ‘hit records business,’ and we’ve got to have the content. We’ve got to have depth of library. So we grow the team internally and then do thirdparty partners externally to be able to offer a much, much fuller catalog than ever before.”

In addition to third-party slot developers, the company last year announced a partnership with Taiwan-based Jumbo Technology Co. Ltd., to offer the electronic table game Ocean Phoenix in North American markets.

Ocean Phoenix, a six-player shooter game in which players at individual stations work to slay four mythical beasts, was launched in March at California’s Pechanga Resort Casino and has enjoyed exceptional perormance, according to Dreitzer.

Product Plan

According to Reams, Gaming Arts’ G2E booth will highlight new content on the VertX Grand, as well as the legacy upright Phocus U104 and the hybrid Phocus S104. “We’re continuing to maintain all three platforms right now,” he says. “The VertX has hit the ground running, especially with Kung Fu Empress, and now the Pop’N Pays More family with Brian Christopher, and the HaloTop wheel option, on which we’ve seen some very strong performance numbers, especially with Spooky Spins.”

Kung Fu Empress debuted on the VertX Grand cabinet. Based on the popular video game of the same name, it uses the big VertX Grand display for an expanding reels feature to great effect, but that’s only one of a generous package of bonus and primary-game features.

During game play, the main character, Chipao, does her Kung Fu move that throws one or more wild symbols to the reel array. When the Chipao wild symbol stops on the fifth reel, all picture symbols on that reel become Chipao symbols, greatly increasing the payouts for players.

There are random “battles” that occur throughout game play. When a “PicA” symbol lands on the reels, it triggers the “Punch Bonus,” in which the Kung Fu Empress attacks the cute “Log Man” to award bonus prizes. The bonus prizes keep coming until the enemy collapses.

Also seeing much success on the VertX Grand is Casino Wizard VIP, the enhanced version of the multi-game electronic table game featuring video versions of blackjack, roulette, craps and baccarat along with new side bets. The new ver-

sion doubles the number of games on the multi-game unit. The new Casino Wizard VIP adds Pai Gow Poker, Super Big 6 Wheel, Swap‘Em Poker and Triple Card Poker to the original four selections, most featuring high-hold side bets, special bonuses and/or progressives.

At G2E, Gaming Arts will launch two new game families on the VertX Grand: the “Go” family, with Jackpot Go and Tic-Tac Go; and the Winning Wings family, with Winning Wings Fairies and Winning Wings Butterfly.

Jackpot Go features a hold-and-re-spin bonus and a progressive bonus in which “go” symbols on the reels collect to potentially win different progressive jackpots. Tic-Tac Go features a persistent bonus in which the player collects “X” and “0” symbols on the reels, which travel to a tic-tactoe board on the top screen. Whenever the player forms a tic-tac-toe win on that screen, a bonus is awarded.

Both of the “Go” games will be available by the end of the year, and in Q1 next year, the company will launch the Winning Wings games, with hold-and-re-spin bonuses and great artwork depicting the fantasy themes. Also on the VertX Grand next year will be a comical take on the dragon

GAMING ARTS

Pyramid symbols trigger a persistent feature as orbs drop down to the screen and move reel-to-reel, right to left, across the game screen. Landing a pyramid on one of the orb symbols awards credits and the chance of a multiplier.

theme, Big Fat Dragon.

“Big Fat Dragon is a focus on a giant character, this giant dragon,” explains Sims. “It’s the center of a very interactive feature, like our Kung Fu Empress game. It’s of a lot of him interacting with the reels.

“Any food item that lands in those reels, he’ll actually eat for a credit prize, and anything that’s not a food item will effectively block those spaces. You’ll keep spinning until the whole reel window is blocked. So, it’s like a reverse hold-and-spin; you almost want to keep the spaces open.”

Legacy Formats

The VertX Grand games will be joined at G2E by a lineup of new content for the company’s dual-screen Phocus cabinets, as well as new offerings for the HaloTop wheel cabinet.

One of the highlights on the S104 hybrid cabinet is Cash Quest, with base games The Adventures and The Protectors. According to Sims, the games use Gaming Arts’ proprietary 3D engine to take players into battle with one of three villains to win credits, wild symbols or both.

During the base game, players collect swords and keys, which are used to defeat the character in the bonus round. There also are free games with guaranteed wilds on every spin.

Also, on the S104 is the Egyptian Gem series, with base games Rise of Pharaoh and Rise of Queen. On both games, pyramid symbols trigger a persistent feature as orbs drop down to the screen and move reel-to-reel, right to left, across the game screen. Landing a pyramid on one of the orb symbols awards credits and the chance of a multiplier.

There also is a free-games round in which the player spins a wheel to reveal a number of orbs that will be on the reels during the free spins. “This is a highvolatility game,” says Sims. “If you land a couple of pyramids, the orbs come in different colors, so they’re higher value.”

By the end of the year, the Phocus S104 cabinet will host an innovative new title in Lucky Pick, which includes a clever punchboard-style persistent feature. Next year, new themes on the cabinet will include titles Leprechaun and Bumble Bee.

On the HaloTop wheel cabinet, the company has achieved success with Spooky Spins, a wheel bonus with a ghostly theme that awards credits, multi-

pliers and free games. It is a follow-up to the successful Inferno Wheel brand.

The company also recently released the Gumball Game on the HaloTop cabinet, and at G2E, will display classic three-reel games on the format, in the Halo Super Wheel Stepper Video series. Inaugural games are Giant Gold Bar Super Wheel and Triple Double Stack 7s Super Reel.

“The two games are different, with a little bit different volatility, but more of a traditional reel style,” says Sims. “It’s video, but it’s going to feel more like a time-on-device kind of classic reel slot to get into more middenom and higher-denomination. And of course, on top of that, it’s got a wheel. We all know everyone loves a wheel.”

Finally, on the HaloTop is Flip Mania, a game that uses the 3D engine to replicate the coin-pusher games from old arcades and casinos. The first title is Coin Dozer. “As you’re playing the base game, you’ll trigger coins that the players then flip into the top screen,” Sims explains. “It creates a perceivedskill ability to flip them into the top and try to land and even get into one of the progressive buckets or a feature bucket, or just have coins that are pushed off the board to add bonus prizes.”

One more addition for the company’s legacy cabinets is a new version of its mystery progressive product called Rocket Roll. The space-themed addition is a must-hit-by progressive jackpot funded by a side wager. According to Sims, the $1,000 progressive, when hit, resets at $976 to keep the excitement going.

In all, the Gaming Arts G2E display will demonstrate a maturing supplier that is not afraid to go out of the box with a few radical ideas.

“We try to be very innovative with everything we do,” says Dreitzer. “We don’t want to just be a ‘me-too’ company. We have to be different. We have to come to the table with a unique proposition for our customers and their players. That’s how we believe we’ll be successful.”

Meanwhile, the company will continue to broaden its library, which now includes the historical horse racing market, as the company has partnered with Exacta Systems to release its titles in several HHR markets.

“We are focusing on continuing to broaden our library,” Dreitzer says. “When our customers make the decision to put a Gaming Arts game on the floor, they need to know that there’s a whole library behind it. So, we do our best to continue to expand the depth and breadth of our library, through a lot of different games in different styles.”

Make An

Your players demand and deserve an engaging gaming experience, one that promises big-win potential and bonuses that deliver an exciting ride. Eclipse Gaming’s new game content and IMPACT™ cabinet family deliver on that promise, delighting players and increasing coin-in. Let us help you make an impact on your casino floor; visit us at G2E in Booth No. 2840 or contact your Eclipse representative today.

IGT

Top Products, Top Results

IGT

International Game Technology PLC has many worldwide businesses—lottery, sports betting technology, casino management systems and cashless technology among them. But none is more important than the slot business on which IGT was built over the past five decades.

And while the company may have conceded market share to a growing number of competitors over the years, there is still not a company that sells more slot machines than IGT.

Perhaps it’s because the variety of products in every category always grows. Every year at the Global Gaming Expo, IGT can be counted on for a parade of new cabinets, new game categories, and new products in core video, premium video, mechanical-reel steppers, video poker, electronic table games, systems and more. This year will be no different.

Nick Khin, IGT’s chief operating officer, global gaming, says this year’s G2E display will reflect hard work and creativity that has boosted results throughout the past two years.

“I’m really proud of our progress over the last 18 months,” Khin says. “And it’s really showing through in our results. In the second quarter, we reported a 20 percent increase in our gaming revenues versus 2021.

“Once again, IGT leads the way in terms of unit sales here in North America. Nobody sells more than IGT, and we’ve been in this position since 2019. IGT tops the charts in terms of unit sales in in any given quarter.”

Those numbers, he says, are the result of a constant reinvestment in R&D in all product areas. This year has seen the launch of a new stepper cabinet, the DiamondRS—the successor to the S3000, which was launched nearly eight years ago—and the rollout of the new large-format cabinet, the Peak65. At G2E, the company will introduce its new PeakDual 27 core video cabinet.

Much of the content on the new cabinets represents encore performances of some of the company’s most famously successful brands.

“Last year, we talked a lot about increasing our focus and our investment in premium,” Khin says, “and in particular, in the multi-level progressives area. Today, we have a number of really high-performing MLPs in the market.”

Successful titles like Prosperity Link, Wheel of Fortune Wild Spins, Lucky Coin Links, Wolf Run Eclipse and other MLPs will be augmented this year with a number of G2E launch games. “We are going

to be once again showcasing a significant number of new MLPs in both the forsale area and the premium segments,” says Khin. “You can expect to see us continue that level of focus.”

Wide-area progressives represent another growing area, he says. “We’ve always been leaders in in wide-area progressives, especially in the mechanical reel category,” Khin says. “In fact, if you look at recent Eilers performance reports, we dominate the the WAP space. And over the last 12 months, we’ve launched a lot of new WAPs into the market, both in the mechanical-reel area and in the video segment.”

Other highlights of IGT’s business that will be on display at G2E include more new video poker, the CrystalFlex Terminal—which combines slot, keno and video poker games with live sports betting—and new systems hardware.

Called Avento, the new hardware offers a faster, more powerful CPU processor, and will be replacing current in-game hardware. Khin says it’s “ready for prime time.”

Also on the system side, IGT will unveil its new VLT central monitoring system, Intelligen Evo, with new architecture and a new database setup. “It will allow operators access to a lot more data than they currently get today,” Khin says. “In fact, it will give them access to spin-level data.”

An additional highlight from the system portfolio will be the company’s IGT Advantage casino management system and its integral cashless solution, Resort Wallet with IGTPay.

Core Video

The business of core video this year begins with the new hardware, the PeakDual 27. It features two 27-inch monitors with a 27-inch video topper, but what makes it unique is that the main screen is a curved display.

“The slightly curved main display is new to the market,” says Roger Pettersson, vice president, core video, PMM and market research for IGT.

“This has a little bit softer viewing angle. There’s a bit less glare as well, with the curvature of the screen—just overall a more comfortable playing experience. This has never been tried by anybody, globally, and we feel that it’s not a gimmick; it’s really improving the viewing angle and the ability of the player to be more comfortable at the machine.”

The cabinet offers a lower profile than the legacy CrystalDual 27 cabinet, with a lower back

and a better line of sight. There is a large digital panel that improves the player interface.

“We’re really excited about this cabinet, and we’ve got a lot of great content for it,” Pettersson says. Four launch titles will be shown at G2E, including brand extensions on some of the most popular games in IGT’s history.

Fortune Coin Extra reprises one of IGT’s highest-performing games. “Fortune Coin has been one of our best games over the past six years in North America,” says Pettersson. “This is a key brand extension for us.”

The new version reprises the original’s coin collection feature, and “Coin Boosts” that increase the value of the cash-onreels coins. It adds extra free games and a jackpot picking bonus with the low jackpots removed. It also adds a red coin to the collectible gold coins in the base game.

“This extra coin does a lot of different things,” says Pettersson. “It gives you coin boost multipliers. It gives you extra coins. You can actually get into the jackpot bonus through these extra coins, and you can get the low jackpots to be removed.”

The Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania franchise is revived on the

PeakDual 27 with the twin games Lucky Larry’s Lobstermania 5 Link and Super Sally’s Shrimpmania Link.

The new Lucky Larry game—with a player-selectable multidenom setup—adds a buy-a-pay feature called “Treasure Zone.”

In the active Treasure Zone, treasure chest symbols open to reveal cash awards. At the minimum bet, only the first reel is the Treasure Zone. At max bet, the zone covers all five reels.

“We’re taking this classic popular brand and bringing it forward for today’s modern players,” says Pettersson. “The treasure chests are instant pays if you have that reel purchased, and they can get pretty exciting on some of these amounts.”

The hold-and-spin feature on the new game is triggered with only one scatter symbol. “The hold-and-spin comes with multipliers, which adds a lot more volatility and excitement to that bonus,” Pettersson says.

The game also reprises the popular Buoy Bonus, but as “Buoy Bonus Deluxe.” In addition to the comical sequence in which a wisecracking Larry tosses lobsters overboard to light up bonuses in buoys in the water, there are three separate sub-bonuses—a Pirate Bonus treasure picking event, a Dolphin Bonus that multiplies the buoy amounts, and a hilarious UFO Bonus, in which Larry is sucked up into an alien vessel (along with some cows).

Looking at the PeakSlant49 content, IGT is showcasing Cats Wild Serengeti and Fu Gui Hao Men II, both reprisals of historically successful titles. The new Cats theme is a partner game to the popular Wolf Run Eclipse, with the same progressive free-spin bonus. The new Fu Gui Hao Men title features a hold-and-spin bonus played out on an expanded reel array.

“We’re showing over 40 unique themes at G2E this year in core video,” Pettersson says. “We have a very robust lineup, and our show is shaping up quite nicely.”

“We’re taking this classic popular brand and bringing it forward for today’s modern players.” —Roger Pettersson, Vice President, Core Video, PMM and Market Research, IGT

Mechanical Reels

On the mechanical stepper side, the star will be the new DiamondRS cabinet, which has been in the market since early summer. It features a new generation of transmissive reels technology called “Diamond Glass,” designed to look like traditional slot glass, that allows a stepper cabinet to host multiple payline configurations on the same cabinet—essentially, a multi-game, multi-denomination mechanical reelspinning slot.

As with the new core video games, the top games so far on the new DiamondRS format are revivals of IGT classics—Pinball and Double Top Dollar. “I don’t think there’s any surprises there,” says Khin. “We knew both of those games were going to do well.”

Two more brand extensions will be launched at G2E—Diamond Jackpots Super Times Pay and Double 3X4X5X Pay Double Double Wheel.

Both games super-charge the multiplying-wild-symbol genre created by IGT. Diamond Jackpots offers wild symbol multiplying pays up to 10X, and adds a fourth-reel bonus in the top box. 3X4X5X includes all the interactive multiplying wild symbols of the original along with a two-level bonus wheel—credits and multipliers.

“We’ve been asked for these classic themes time and time again, so we are listening and binging them over the best way possible,” says Royall Freestone, IGT’s product manager, mechanical reels. “We’re taking those classic themes and adding features, but still staying true to the legacy brands as close as we can.”

Freestone adds that the DiamondRS technology broadens the capabilities of the stepper format. “We’ve really been able to be innovative and do new things we’ve never been able to do before in mechanical reels,” she says.

That is evident in Fortune Storm, a new theme on the DiamondRS that will be featured at G2E. The game features a top-box bonus wheel shaped like a giant “8.” “We’re not calling it a wheel; we’re calling it a ‘track,’” says Freestone. “It features a very exciting use of the transmissive technology, with lightning appearing on the reels. The track awards credits, jackpots or free games.” Triggering the free games triggers a guaranteed spin on the “8 track.”

“We dominate the premium mechanical reel space,” says Khin. “If you look at the Eilers lists, 18 of the 25 top games are IGT games. And we don’t take this leadership position lightly. We continue to invest in in that segment.”

Premium Video

The IGT lineup of premium video slots this year is the result of intense investment in R&D to achieve three strategies, according to Boris Hallerbach, director of product management, premium content for IGT.

The first is the multi-level progressive strategy noted by Khin. “Prosperity Link is out there and doing incredibly well,” says Hallerbach. “We’re looking to show the depth of our portfolio at G2E this year with additional titles and some key brands.”

Next was increased investment in the video wide-area progressive. “This has been a key strategy for us over the last three years, to invest more R&D into the video WAP segment,” he says. Finally, with the 25th anniversary year just concluded for the Wheel of Fortune brand, the company continues to pump out new entries into the storied franchise.

All of the highlight games in this year’s premium video lineup—on premium cabinets like Peak65, Peak32 and PeakSlant49—as in other segments, draw upon past successful brands. In this case, brand extensions revive Fort Knox, Cleopatra, Hoodoo Link, Sphinx, and of course, Wheel of Fortune.

Fort Knox Heist “adds a really interesting Lock & Respin evolution to the Fort Knox library,” says Hallerbach. “It has a point-collection mechanic, much like the original Fort Knox did in the bonus, but you’re unlocking vaults in Lock & Respin bonus to make it even more exciting for players. The blackout mechanism that players have become accustomed to in the Lock & Respin bonuses really plays out nicely in the Fort

Knox bonus.”

IGT reprises the spooky Hexbreaker theme with Hoodoo Link, in the MultiWAY format with expanding reels. A “Luck Zone” awards progressives and bonuses, and the game incudes an “Unlimited Free Games” feature. The expanding reel feature grows symbol rows toward credit awards and a four-level jackpot.

In the wide-area progressive segment are Cleopatra Grand and Money Mania Sphinx Fire. Cleopatra Grand features a Lock & Respin feature that adds rows of symbols on an expanding array to “unlock” progressives, leading up to a top wide-area prize resetting at $500,000.

“Cleopatra Grand is debuting on our Peak65 hardware,” says Hallerbach. “It’s the best large-format hardware on the market today, according to Eilers. But we’re taking a really great brand in Cleopatra and bringing some great evolution into the game. It features multiple bonuses that are engaging.”

The Money Mania offering uses the Sphinx theme in a game featuring a Lock & Respin feature that travels up a ladder as cash-on-reels symbols lock to win credit awards on the way to four progressive levels, the top resetting at $100,000.

Finally, the Wheel of Fortune franchise is repeated on the Peak65 with Wheel of Fortune Lucky Coins, with a math model based on the hit Coin-O-Mania and featuring mystery wedge symbols in the base game that trigger a wild feature and free-spin awards.

“This takes a great base game mechanic from our core library in Coin-OMania and brings that forward into the Wheel of Fortune universe,” says Hallerbach.

Video Poker

In the video poker segment, some of the offerings, as in other game groups, exploit great hardware—in this case, the PeakBarTop, the advanced and ergonomically designed bar-top unit launched three years ago.

“The PeakBarTop continues to to grow in terms of strength and performance,” says Khin. “It outperforms our older bar-top product, and of course, it really outperforms anything that’s out there in terms of competitor bar-top product.”

Brad Fredella, senior manager, content management, global poker for IGT, notes that while the bar-top unit is still on the rise after three years, the company continues to roll out new content consisting of specialty multi-hand video poker

on the hardware occupying the main slot floor.

“The PeakBarTop has been extraordinarily successful for us,” Fredella says.

“But even as we rolled out the PeakBarTop, we had already rolled out the CrystalSlant poker cabinet, still a mainstay in the business. More recently we started rolling out in big numbers with the Cobalt cabinet, which is the upright cabinet that we use for video poker.”

Video poker games also are now offered on the CrystalCurve cabinet.

As usual, IGT will highlight several new specialty video poker games that offer bonus features and multipliers in exchange for extra wagers, maintaining the original pay schedules for each poker variation.

At the top of this year’s list is Fortune X Poker, with a random multiplier bonus occurring an average of once every nine games.

When the “X” mode is triggered, wins on the subsequent five hands can get a multiplier from 2X to 12X.

“There’s a random trigger that activates a string of multipliers,” says Fredella. “You’ll get the option to use a 2X multiplier on the first hand, after you see what the dealt hand is.

If you don’t want to use it, you progress to the next hand, which is a 3X. And it goes right up the line to 5X, 8X, to 12X. The key is that when I decide to use a multiplier, it will end that streak.”

Big City 4s Poker borrows the growing-pot feature from the VLT game Big City 5s. In the poker version, three-of-a-kind and full-house hands grow pot values, and a four-of-a-kind hand triggers the bonus for a minimum 150 credits.

Poppin’ Multipliers Poker features a random bonus on either the deal or the draw. Multipliers are randomly awarded on one or more hands in the multi-hand setup that increase wins from 2X to 10X. A bonus on the deal multiplies all hands on the screen. This bonus, for an extra per-hand wager of three credits, hits between every 1.5 and 3.5 plays.

The CrystalSlant and Cobalt cabinets will feature a new multi-game poker program called Mega Hot Poker. It will feature nine titles, with a mix of proven and new games. “Our All Star and Super Star multi-game programs are named that way because all

content is proven, star performers,” says Fredella. “Mega Hot Poker is a mix of each—classic hits that are proven performers like Hot Roll Poker and Split Card Poker, with newer games like Super Hot Roll an Double Big Wheel.”

At G2E, the company will roll out a new keno package called Keno Star. “This is a multi-game set with many of our great four-card keno games and the new eight-card keno game,” says Khin.

The PeakBarTop also will soon have the option to offer sports betting and video poker, as will IGT’s CrystalFlex terminal. “We have received a lot of feedback from operators and players on what we could do to improve that offering,” says Khin. “We took that feedback and over the last 12 months we’ve been working on a new player interface for both the PeakBarTop with sports betting and the CrystalFlex Terminal.”

VLTs, ETGs and More

In addition to all the traditional casino categories, IGT will use G2E to display its games for video lottery terminal markets, where it is the clear leader.

“As you know, IGT is an absolute powerhouse in VLT,” says Khin. “We are No. 1 in almost every VLT market in in North America. We have a dedicated team that only works on and develops VLT content. This year at G2E, we’re launching extensions to some of our most popular and highest-performing VLT games that are out there in the market.”

One of those games is Big City 5s, which inspired the Big City 4s poker game. “We’ve just come out with an evolution of Big City 5s called Big City 5s Diamond Jackpot,” says Khin. “We just placed it in Oregon, and it’s performing over 400 percent.”

Finally, the company has expanded its lineup of electronic table games, which are featured on yet another new cabinet, the Dynasty Vue. This year, the company will launch its Hybrid package, its first ETG offering to include both live-dealer and RNG table games. All this will complement IGT PlayDigital’s portfolio of iGaming and sports betting solutions.

“In addition to the new Dynasty Vue cabinet, we’re also going to be showing new hardware,” says Brandon Bruno, director of sales, ETG. “We have an adjustable wheel housing that is brand new and some new custom signage to go along with it.

“But the big thing is that blend of being able to offer a live-dealer product while also offering operators the ability to run RNG/virtual content either simultaneously or in a stand-alone unit.”

In all, it’s a mind-boggling array of product on tap for IGT. Says Khin, “The bottom line here is that we are hoping we continue to demonstrate to our customers the significant positive momentum that we have, and that we continue to have in almost every line of business that we that we operate.”

INCREDIBLE TECH

Growing in Class

Incredible Technologies improves its groundbreaking Prism VXP platform while re-emphasizing Class II content

Ten years ago, Incredible Technologies, the top amusementgame company famously responsible for the legendary Golden Tee Golf tavern game, arrived at Global Gaming Expo with its first display of casino slot machines. If the ensuing decade has proven anything, it is that IT pays close attention to those who play its games, and consistently improves on what has shown to be the favorites of its players.

That continues this year, as IT draws on its most popular themes and game mechanics in augmenting all its form factors and game families.

“G2E 2022 comes at an important time for Incredible Technologies as we continue to embark on the second phase of our gaming growth plan,” says Dan Schrementi, president of gaming at IT. “Our first phase focused on North America, and building a corporate brand as an innovative and capable Class III slot manufacturer in all viable markets. This next phase for IT is focused on market diversification. Through these pandemic years we kept our staff fully employed and we invested more in R&D to fuel our goals to diversify and service more of the gaming market.

“This includes a rapid expansion of product and innovation in Class II gaming, development of cutting-edge cabinet hardware in our Prism VXP, a new product launch in the historical horse racing segment and a first-of-itskind innovation in our new electronic table game initiative.”

Moving On Up

The cutting-edge cabinet Schrementi mentions is a product that raised many eyebrows at last year’s G2E, the groundbreaking Prism VXP—the cabinet with the 55-inch moving flat-screen monitor that physically rises and lowers according game events triggered by a main 27-inch 4K landscape monitor and huge, 18.5-inch button deck, which doubles as an extra monitor.

IT launched four game families last year on the Prism VXP, each with spe-

cial bonus events that caused the huge backdrop to rise via an industrial-grade motor. According to Kelsey Sullivan, product marketing manager for IT, the first year of operation showed the industry that the new cabinet is durable enough to stand up to 24-hour use and reliable in its operation.

“We were a little conservative with the expansion feature at first,” Sullivan says. “We wanted to see the motor operation and make sure it was going to perform as everyone expected. And it did.”

This year, IT unveils the Prism VXP Elite Package. “We’re finally able to really stretch this cabinet’s legs and show it off,” says Sullivan. “We are confident we can use the motor as much as we want, so in the Prism VXP Elite, the motors are pedal-to-the-metal. We’re using them a lot, both in attract mode

and in the features.”

In attract mode, after an operator-adjustable idle period, the cabinet will go into a “wave attract” mode. The rear portrait monitor will raise and lower automatically, with banks of games behaving like a sports-arena wave. “Walking by the original out-of-session, you wouldn’t know that it moves,” Sullivan says. “So we want to show that off.”

The new version of Prism VXP also features improved artwork on the “Flex Edges,” the video monitors between the games in a bank. “The Prism Flex Edges were on the original, but this is much more game-integrated,” says Sullivan.

The debut game family on Prism VXP Elite is Dragon Rush. Players will notice the improved graphics immediately in a bank setup, as the large dragon flies across all screens in synchronization.

The game itself features a hold-and-spin bonus triggered by six collected golden eggs. A short-cycle persistent feature can boost the player into the feature—if golden eggs land on the screen, they stay for three spins, giving the player more chances to get the six scatters and trigger the bonus.

There’s also an added collection feature that builds up piles of golden eggs and coins in the top box. Golden eggs that land on the reels and don’t trigger the bonus travel up to the pile on top, which will randomly pop to award bonus credits.

Other highlights on the Prism VXP include sister titles Leonidas and Medusa, which are new versions of games made popular on the company’s original Infinity U23 cabinet.

Leonidas Return to Sparta features a stacking top Leonidas symbol and a free-spin bonus with locked wild symbols for two or more Queen scatters. Randomly, Leonidas will reach down to the reel array to nudge a second symbol to the screen and trigger the bonus.

For the bonus, the VXP display physically expands to make way for a mega-wheel. Players spin for additional free spins, 2X wilds, wild stacks, or a jackpot bonus. With each free spin, wilds are added to the reels as arrows and Leonidas’ shields appear on the reels and lock in place as wild symbols for remaining free spins.

If players land on Jackpot Spins, Leonidas randomly slashes prizes with his sword, potentially revealing a progressive.

“Leonidas was one of our most successful games on the U23 cabinet, so giving it this big canvas with updated features will be a hit,” Sullivan says.

Sister game Medusa Viper’s Desire features mythical Grecian symbols including Medusa herself, the highest-paying symbol. The bonus features are basically the same, except that Medusa uses her glowing eyes to put wild symbols on the reels (naturally).

Also on the Prism VXP is Multi-Ball Blast Panda

Joy, featuring a pachinko-style bonus on the big monitor. “We took the idea of a pachinko game, and we incorporated some scatters that land in the reels that look like balls, and the players do a pinball-style launch to shoot them into what looks like a pachinko board,” Sullivan says.

Any one ball will trigger the feature, and at a higher denominations of 5 cents or 10 cents, the player always gets an extra ball to shoot.

Buckets at the bottom of the screen include credit awards and jackpots. On the way down, balls can touch pegs that double or triple the prizes, or other pegs that award free games. Prizes increase in value as ball progresses down.

Finally, a new version of Ultra Rush Gold will be on display on the Prism XVP. Two base titles, Ultra Rush Gold X Wei Yi and Ultra Rush Gold X Bingwen, will be highlighted.

“Ultra Rush Gold is one of our most popular and successful brands,” says Sullivan. “This version uses similar math, with a twist on the bonus that upgrades the wellknown Lock and Spin bonus feature.”

That Ultra Rush Gold game family also will appear in other product categories, including on the Infinity V55 premium cabinet, in IT’s growing Class II library, and in an HHR version.

On the V55, the Ultra Rush Gold title features the three-spin persistent feature, like in Dragon Rush, where the gold scatters will lock. According to Sullivan, there is an alternate game available on the V55 designed for markets that do not allow persistent features or players who may not want persistence.

The debut game family on Prism VXP Elite is Dragon Rush. Players will notice the improved graphics immediately in a bank setup, as the large dragon flies across all screens in synchronization.

INCREDIBLE TECH

“For those instances, we’ve taken some of the bones of Ultra Rush Gold and created Full Force Link, with a similar bonus mechanic but without the persistence.”

Full Force Link is offered with two base games, Full Force Link Mystical Owl and Full Force Link Vegas Revue. Six scatters initiate three reel spins on an array of just wheel scatters and credit awards. Once a scatter lands, the spin count is reset back to three. Players who fill the grid are awarded a credit bonus based on their bet level. Wheel scatters that lock during the Full Force Link can award multiple wheel spins.

Class Move

Incredible Technologies has rededicated itself to the Class II market, beginning with a major partnership unveiled at the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association trade show in August.

IT brought its popular Ultra Rush Gold game to Class II in style at the show, in collaboration with Choctaw Nation Master Artist D.G. Smalling. The new Class II version of the game carries the same math as the original in a new package, but displays the art of Smalling. The art also is incorporated into the edge display.

“We’re really underscoring our commitment to Class II and tribal sovereignty,” says Sullivan. “We wanted to work with a Native artist. The attract mode does really neat stuff with his sketches, and it has his picture on the machine. A player outside of the community may not know who it is or why the art matters, but the attract mode helps tell that story. This is going to be a Class II property exclusive.”

The artist himself was on hand at the OIGA show, doing sketches and chatting with attendees. There was an auction at the IT booth at the show of some of Smalling’s work, with proceeds going to Native charities that help children get involved in STEAM education programs (science, technology, engineering, art and math).

“In using Ultra Rush Gold, we wanted to pair this work with one of our most successful math models,” says Sullivan. “So we thought it was a great opportunity to bring his artwork in. We’re looking at working with other indigenous artists in other regions of the country, and incorporating them into this program.”

The slot machine, along with Smalling’s artwork, was actually set up in an exhibit at the Choctaw cultural center in Oklahoma.

The other Class II game to be highlighted at G2E is Wheel Force Double

Supreme Hypersonic.“This game is doing really well at its initial install locations, even up to three times house average,” Sullivan says. This one is unique in that it does not display reels—just bonus wheels. For each wager, two wheels spin side-byside to determine the award. One wheel holds credit prizes; the other has multipliers up to 5X, bonuses and a re-spin feature. A dual-sided window between the wheels indicates the prizes won on both wheels.

A bonus wedge awards players a wheel spin for either free spins or a jackpot bonus pick-em game, in which players aim to match three jackpot amounts.

The wheels don’t necessarily yield one award per spin during paid games. On free spins or re-spins, up to five arrows can be triggered to award multiple prizes.

“During your regular paid spins, you’re just spinning the wheel,” says Sullivan. “We know people love wheel bonuses, so this whole game’s a wheel—it’s an allnew concept.”

The slot products at IT’s booth will be accompanied by products for the historical horse racing market, including HHR versions of hit Power Wheel themes. Also on display will be the company’s first electronic table game product, a game including several table games on a platform powered by Zuum Interactive’s software.

Schrementi notes that IT’s team members overcame many challenges to put together a display for G2E that will turn many heads. “Preparing for these launches at G2E 2022 has come with a heavy toll on our staff who, like others, have worked through extraordinary times in the industry,” he says. “Supply chain disruptions, inflation issues and staffing through the post-pandemic environment forced our team to find new ways to win and reach our goals.

“These challenges continue to make us a stronger organization, and we are proud to show off our work to the industry in October.”

KONAMI GAMING INC.

New Dimensions

Konami Gaming expands into Class II and HHR markets while riding the success of its Dimension series of cabinets

Konami Gaming, Inc. always produced great content. Through several evolutions of hardware and technology, the one constant has been game content that players love.

That’s one reason Konami, as it prepares to launch what will be its largest cabinet, the Dimension 75C, will keep the emphasis on the games the large-format cabinet will host. These days, in addition to pumping out brand-new content, Konami is hearkening back to its past, pulling out the game features and mechanics of some of its most popular historic games and bringing them to the modern Dimension platform.

“Our Class III business continues to be solid,” says Tom Jingoli, Konami’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “The Dimension series has been a really good product line for us, whether it’s the 49J, the 49 flat or the 75C, which we’re getting ready to launch. The focus has been on content.”

That’s not just new content, but new and improved versions of Konami classics. “If you go back to when we probably had our most successful launch with the Podium, we just had so much great content on that form factor, and you still see that box out there now,” Jingoli says. “So that’s what the focus has been the past year. We are really focused on content right now, and on bringing back some of those titles for the newer cabinets.”

“Our customers specifically have told us that it’s not about the latest, greatest bells and whistles,” adds Jay Bertsch, Konami Gaming senior vice president and chief commercial officer. “What we’ve heard over the last couple of quarters is they want more of the same—meaning they want those bread-and-butter games that we’ve always done an extremely good job with.”

The strategy has put Konami in a position of strength as it prepares for G2E, according to Tashina Lazcano, director of marketing and communications for Konami Gaming. “Coming out of last year, Konami saw a number of big wins, for both our casino customers and their players,” Lazcano says, “including the expansion of the All Aboard line, the extension of our Dimension 49J premium lease product with Ocean Spin and Lucky Envelope, and the industry’s No. 1 top-performing core portrait cabinet in Dimension 49.

“Coming into this year, Konami is really looking to deliver entertainment and technology that’s focused on that winning experience.”

Konami also will demonstrate its Synkros cashless and cardless technology, and the latest additions to its Synkros casino management system at the show, including the Synk31 money laundering/Title 31 product.

But the games are where the focus will be the strongest. New game families include America’s Rich Life, Cash Parade and BattleBots, along with strong new offerings like Great Guardians Link and Bull Blitz, as well as a brand extension of the Fortune Mint series.

“When you talk about exciting games, Bull Blitz is one that we’ve been waiting on,” says Bertsch. “It’s had tremendous success in Australia, and if we have even a snippet of that success, it will be incredibly beneficial to the company. We’re thrilled about that.”

He adds that the company will continue to emphasize the Fortune Mint series. “At the end of the day, the Fortune Mint game series has just been tremendous,” Bertsch says. “The two game families that are really carrying us into a great position as we get into G2E are the Triple Sparkle series and Fortune Mint. They’ve been the bread and butter for us for the last two quarters, and we just continue to get tremendous placements.”

To these hot game groups will be added several games on the Dimension 49 and Dimension 27 core cabinets that bring past Konami hits into the modern formats. China Shores, Mayan Chief, Mystical Temple and other hits originally on the Podium and K2V platforms are being reborn in the Dimension series.

75 Plus 49

The newest cabinet in the Dimension series, the Dimension 75C, with its massive 75-inch main monitor, was rolled out this year with its inaugural All Aboard and Ocean Spin game families. The company launched four 75C titles in the All Aboard series as an exclusive multi-game mix, which also were individually released on the Dimension 49J cabinet, the premium cabinet featuring the J-curved 49-inch portrait monitor.

Each version features the central All Aboard feature, which transforms all train symbols into credit awards for a hold-and-spin sequence—three free spins, and every time a train symbol lands, those credits lock in and the spin count returns to three. Each time an additional train symbol lands, it reveals a new credit award, and all of the credits on the board are awarded again.

Ocean Spin features a wheel bonus triggered by six cash-on-reels coin symbols. The total amount of the coin values is tallied, and the wheel spins to a multiplier applied to the coin total.

Both game families have done extremely well in the field, and the company has high hopes for a game just released on the Dimension 75C, Lucky Envelope—a linked progressive slot with a 243-ways-to-win base game and four jackpot levels that scale by denomination.

At G2E, Konami will launch a new series for the Dimension 75C that also will be available on the Dimension 49J: the Great Guardians Link, with base games Great Guardians Dragon and Great Guardians Phoenix.

The main feature on these games is a hold-and-spin bonus identical to the All Aboard feature, the only difference being the collection of yin-yang symbols instead of trains.

“Dragon and Phoenix have very similar math to the All Aboard games,” says Andrew Culverson, senior manager of games and product for Konami Gaming. “They added a standalone progressive to this game. On All Aboard, players were really chasing that All Aboard feature.

Now with the addition of that stand-alone progressive, if you have a bank of four getting average coin-in, that top jackpot should hit every other day.”

The top prize resets at $7,500 or $10,000, and according to Culverson, chances of hitting the progressive go up as the wager increases.

“The game is really driving people to play, and not just to chase the Great Guardians feature, but also to chase that stand-alone progressive,” says Culverson. “There also is a unique free games feature that’s similar to Dynamite Dash and Piggy Pennies.”

Another highlight on both the Dimension 75C and 49J is America’s Rich Life, a patriotic five-reel video slot with a large bonus wheel, complete with a boost feature that raises the wedge amounts.

The two base games are Seaside Riches, “with a West Coast/California feel,” says Culverson, and Luxury Nights, with an East Coast/New York City vibe.

The free games feature has the player collecting Golden Gate Bridge symbols in Seaside Riches and Statue of Liberty symbols in Luxury Nights. Collecting six or more Wheel symbols triggers the bonus wheel.

Konami has added James Brown’s “Living in America” as background music for the bonuses. “There are cool features with that,” Culverson says, “where the eagle will moon-walk across the top of the wheel on the main screen.”

Also on the Dimension 75C and 49J is BattleBots, to be released in Q4 2022. Based on the popular robot combat sport and reality TV show broadcast in over 150 countries, the game features iconic environments, sounds, scenes, and bots from the show. The premium linked progressive series includes giant symbols, expanding reels, and a free-game feature that offers a chance to cheer fan-favorite bots in a bonus battle.

Finally, one Dimension 49J/75C game that shows much promise is Bull Blitz. Following proven success in the Australian market, the game was launched this summer in North America with themes Fortunes of the Orient and Roses & Riches. Backed by comprehensive multi-denomination options, the series offers players the chance at a big linked progressive Grand Jackpot, a progressive Mega Jackpot, and three static bonus awards.

KONAMI

Any six or more golden bull symbols trigger the Bull Blitz feature, a high-energy credit collection bonus. The three-by-five reel array transforms to 15 independently spinning reels with random credit prizes, golden bull symbols, and blank positions.

Konami has launched games on the 75C format at Resorts World and the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip. “Results have been really strong, and continue to be strong,” says Jingoli. “We’re excited about the flexibility of the format, because all of the content on the Dimension 49J will be available on that 75C box.”

Top Box, 49 and 27

Konami’s new game rollout will extend beyond those two formats to include every one of the company’s form factors. That includes the new Dimension Top Box, a tall presentation that stacks a 49-inch flat-screen monitor on top of a 27inch main game screen; the Dimension 49, the top-rated upright portrait monitor; and the Dimension 27, the core video cabinet featuring three 27-inch monitors.

The rollout of the Dimension Top Box cabinet is highlighted by Cash Parade, a game series designed to make the most of the cabinet display with a synchronized “parade” that travels across the top monitors in a bank of machines.

The main Cash Parade bonus is triggered by a combination of colored tickets and a magic star symbol on the fifth reel. “When that happens, you’ll see the characters going across the top monitors, and they will drop credit prizes to the customer,” says Culverson. “Depending on the ticket, you can even win a progressive.” A red ticket wins a chance at the Grand Jackpot, with resets ranging up to $10,000.

Also on the Dimension Top Box, which will launch early next year, are two legendary Konami brands in China Shores Pagoda and Mayan Chief Pyramid, based on games originally on the K2V platform.

The legacy games are recreated meticulously, with a special free-game bonus added in which free games that can accumulate into the hundreds of spins are played out on up to 24 different reel sets in the top box.

“We had all this real estate in the Top Box,” comments Ian Arrowsmith, senior director of game development at Konami. “We decided that instead of running through hundreds of spins we would use multiple reel sets, with the same great wins you would not normally get.” One of those is from a collection feature during the free spins that accumulates jackpot symbols for a possible progressive.

“Ian’s team did a great job doing a brand extension and an enhancement of these games,” says Culverson. “The player will collect the yin-yang symbols and the gold coin symbols to trigger the main feature. Based on the number of triggering symbols, the reel sets will accumulate on the top monitor.”

The other aspects of legacy games are carefully recreated. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job on some of these older games in that we didn’t change one thing,” says Jingoli. “The graphics are a little more robust, but the game play is identical.”

On the Dimension 49 portrait cabinet, Konami is launching Lucky Drums, with base games Lucky Drums Lion and Lucky Drums Dragon. Both games feature an operator-adjustable level for the Grand jackpot in the fivelevel progressive setup. “In the past, $10,000 would have been your only option for the Grand,” says Culverson.

“This allows a customer who can support a $10,000 jackpot to have it, while allowing smaller casinos where that’s considered too high to adjust it down to a $2,500 reset.”

Players will enjoy the Lucky Drums feature—if you collect three drum symbols in the primary game, the reel array doubles to a six-by-five setup for a random number of games. Free spins also have this feature. “The fun part of this game is that you an actually play the drums in the jackpot feature,” Arrowsmith says.

Also on the Dimension 49 is Chili Chili Fire Hot Rush, another brand extension of a famously popular Konami title originally released on the Concerto dual-screen cabinet.

“The Chili Chili Fire symbols will trigger the free games, just like the first game, but then it adds the twist of collecting coin symbols and expanding reels,” says Culverson. “This is similar to Bull Blitz.”

As in that hit game, there is a special “repeat” symbol that pays a second time for accumulated cash symbols on an expanded reel array.

Finally, the Dimension 27 cabinet will host two more reprises of successful titles, Mystical Temple Grand and Prize Strike.

Mystical Temple Grand is an enhanced version of Mystical Temple, a hit on the original K2V platform. It features a three-level progressive jackpot with two static bonus jackpots, and a free-game bonus featuring long stacks of top-paying symbols.

Prize Strike is a clone of the hit Australian game series Golden Strike. It features a hold-and-spin bonus with multipliers and oversized symbols in a coin collection feature.

In addition to the new offerings in all of Konami’s established formats, the company is expanding into new markets with its entry into into the historical horse racing genre, VLTs and Class II.

“Historical horse racing games have been a huge success for us,” says Jingoli. “It’s been a great little piece of business that came to us during the pandemic. Having incremental revenue come in on that space has been really good.” He says HHR versions of All Aboard and other favorites, converted via the Ainsworth platform, first went to Churchill Downs properties in Kentucky, and then to Boyd Gaming properties in Louisiana.

“We’re new to that space, but everything that we’ve tried has worked really well,” Jingoli says. “We’ve been very successful with the games that we’ve launched in that space. We continue to look to expand that business footprint into other states.”

The company also is entering the New York video lottery market. “We did our first launch of our VLTs at Saratoga casino and we’re really happy about that,” says Jingoli. “Initial performance looks pretty strong.”

In Class II, the company will soon complete installation of its first group of games for the Miccosukee tribe in Florida.

“Company-wise, we’re in a pretty good spot right now,” Jingoli says. “We’re excited about G2E. We’re expecting a pretty big turnout this year, especially on the international side.”

“At the heart of it is really more fun Dimension content and more Synkros technology aimed at reinforcing, creating and facilitating those winning moments for players,” says Lazcano.

“We’ve logged more than 20 years of collaborative development efforts between our three owned studios in Las Vegas, Sydney and Tokyo. There is an established, great working relationship between those three studios, and they continue to produce some of the most popular games that we’ve seen.”

LIGHT & W

A New Mural

Light & Wonder maintains a new focus on producing great cross-channel content as a games and enabling technology supplier

There is no major supplier in the industry that has been through more changes the past year than the company now known as Light & Wonder, Inc. A year ago, it was Scientific Games Corporation, a supplier of slot and table games, systems for casinos, and social and real-money online gaming; a full-service supplier to worldwide lotteries, including tickets, hardware and systems; and a sports betting platform supplier.

Early last year, the company announced that it would shed its lottery division, on which Scientific Games was founded in Atlanta in the 1970s, and its sports betting business, OpenBet, to focus on being the leading cross-channel global game company. Last September, the company announced the sale of OpenBet to Endeavor, and within weeks after that, the company announced the sale of the lottery division to Brookfield Business Partners.

Since Scientific Games was to remain the name of the worldwide lottery business, the company’s leadership, headed by Executive Chairman Jamie Odell, decided to search for a new name, ultimately deciding on Light & Wonder, to reflect the creativity of the company’s game design teams. In April, the company officially changed its company name and stock ticker symbol.

At the end of August, the company announced that Barry Cottle, who had led the divestitures and company transition as president and chief executive officer, was departing, and Matt Wilson, who leads the land-based gaming business as executive vice president and CEO, will serve as interim CEO of the company while an executive search is conducted.

Wilson himself had been brought in to head the land-based gaming division by Odell in early 2020—one of many executives, including Executive Vice-Chair Toni Korsanos, who formerly were with Aristocrat when Odell was CEO of that company.

Reviewing the company’s changes over the past year, Wilson says it made sense to shed all but the games, systems and interactive businesses.

“We were always a company that was heavily debt-burdened; we were put together through acquisition,” Wilson says. “So, we wanted to make sure we were in a position under the new leadership team to have the agility, focus, and financial stability to make the right decisions for the company long-term.

“So we made the decision that we had to rapidly de-lever. We sold lottery, we sold sports to rapidly pursue our bold, unique new strategy and invest in our products and people. The pieces that are left in the portfolio are three very complementary businesses. There’s the land-based business, of which 85 percent of the company profits come from, and it’s primarily focused on building great slot games and enabling technologies, like our great systems business. You’ve got the social casino business, which is about taking those games and publishing them in a social casino platform, and then the third business is digital, which is obviously getting legalized at a pretty rapid rate in the U.S. market.”

Wilson says the three businesses left after the divestiture—casino games, social casino and digital—“all of a sudden, really fit together. The vision we created as a company under Barry’s leadership is to be the industry’s leading cross-platform

global game company.”

Wilson dissects that mission statement further, noting that being No. 1 “is our clear ambition; we want to be the leading games company.” He says the second part of the statement—“cross-platform”—defines the manner in which content will be rolled out. In other words, to all channels at once, and connecting and enabling that cross-channel experience for operators and players through the back-end systems.

“We want to be able to take our games and publish them across channels in a very coordinated way,” Wilson says, “so we are doing a lot of work to streamline our roadmap. So when you see a game like Golden Fire Link, we are setting ourselves up to be able to publish that game in land-based, social casino and digital all at once, getting it in front of maximum eyeballs but also leveraging the channels to test games and improve our hit rate. It’s a stark contrast from where we were last year. We are also working towards converging our landbased casino management system and our digital player account management system to provide operators with a 360 view of the player across channels, enabling them to grow player loyalty and improved experiences.”

Wilson says the renewed emphasis on content in all channels has prompted the company to beef up its game development team. In July 2021, the company brought in Rich Schneider, formerly longtime product executive for Aris-

tocrat and IGT, as the new chief product officer. Ted Hase, the veteran game designer who headed up Aristocrat’s Studio 54 team, was brought in to head a new game design studio for Light & Wonder, called Studio X. And more recently, Victor Blanco, chief technology officer, joined the team to drive technology innovation.

“We have great talent, but we believe in building talent density across the board, so we have been adding to the roster and are laser-focused on ensuring our talent strategy fuels our company strategy,” says Wilson, “including people who know how to make great games.”

Wilson says the new talent augments an already-healthy multi-studio game development team at Light & Wonder, who keep adding to the company’s famous game franchises, from Hot Shot to Dancing Drums, Monopoly, The Wizard of Oz, and even extensions to the tables business as well with well-known player-favorite brands like Ultimate Texas Hold’em and 3 Card Poker.

Additionally, Roulette X, a top-performing game in the ETG segment, will be showcased across four different platforms including an introduction as a felt game at the show. To top it off, the tables group will also showcase a data analytics solution, Shuffle Connect, which gives operators the ability to tap into critical performance data across their utility products, and will also show a cashless gaming solution for table games named AToM.

New entries in all that proven content and technology will join several new game categories in Light & Wonder’s display at the Global Gaming Expo. And, as often is the case, it will begin with new hardware.

New Landmark

L&W will be showcasing its latest new cabinet, the Landmark 7000 Wheel, at the show. A variant of L&W’s successful Landmark 7000 stepper, the new cabinet features an eye-catching 19-inch bonus-game wedge wheel on top of a package that brings together some of the most important creature comforts of any highdenomination stepper format.

The mechanical wheel topper offers unique, emotive lighting purposefully de-

signed to draw attention from all around the casino floor while optimizing the seated player’s view of the wheel as it spins, building anticipation towards the jackpots it can award.

Just above the reels is a 32-inch, 4K+ portrait monitor featuring striking graphics. It is available with a five- or 14-button deck and can support any bet and denomination configuration.

The cabinet made a smashing debut last summer with the launch of a new version of the famous Blazing 7s stepper title.

For Wilson, it is the fourth major hardware launch since he took over the gaming division. “We initially launched the Kascada portrait cabinet. Then, we launched the Mural cabinet, which is the huge, oversized gaming operations cabinet, and three months ago we launched the dual-screen Kascada cabinet, which has gone straight to No. 1 in the Eilers industry surveys.

“And then we got the first numbers for the Landmark 7000 cabinet. The mechanical-reel Blazing 7s went straight to No. 1.”

The revival of that most legendary of Bally reel-spinners will be followed up at G2E with the launch of Sinatra, using the new Landmark platform to celebrate the music of the legendary crooner.

The Sinatra game celebrates the sights and sounds of Frank Sinatra with multiple bonus features, including the Sinatra Bonus, which includes videos of Sinatra singing a few of his greatest songs during game play. The top wheel acts as a bonus game, offering either a Sinatra Bonus, credits, or “Records,” a watermark players try to collect to get closer to the jackpot.

At G2E, L&W also will display a third game for the Landmark 7000, Johnny Cash-The Man in Black.

LIGHT & WONDER

Going Big

The new Landmark games will join a parade of new content for all of the company’s other form factors. Among the showcase hardware of the past year has been the Mural cabinet. Launched in April 2021, the Mural features dual stacked 55-inch 4K curved monitors—that’s 110 inches of game real estate, the most in the business—in a presentation that rises 11 feet.

This year, the Mural will host the first game from the new Studio X headed by Ted Hase—Dragon. As one might expect, the huge canvas is home to striking graphics, as a dragon flies over the reels and drops down credit awards, wild symbols and multipliers. The base game is on a five-by-five-reel array.

The game includes a unique cash-on-reels feature. Cash-on-reels symbols cascade down for several spins before disappearing at the bottom. This feature is enhanced by the free-game bonus, which plays out on an expanded reel array 10 rows high. A wheel feature can lead to one of four jackpots, including two progressives.

Also on the Mural is Ultimate Fire Link Explosion, which, upon its release, shot to No. 1 on the Eilers-Fantini performance list for wide-area progressives. At the heart of the game is the fireball symbol, drawn from previous Bally games. Four scattered fireballs trigger the Fireball Feature, the lockand-spin sequence from the original Ultimate Fire Link game on the J43 cabinet. In the Mural version, monkey characters in a tree help players reach the bonus by throwing fireballs down to the reel array.

The four-by-five-reel array expands to eight rows for the lock-and-spin bonus. The player also can trigger a “Super Fire Link” version of the bonus with the reels expanded to 12 rows.

The game also features a wheel bonus, played out on a giant vertical wheel display that shows the edge of the wheel.

Finally, released in summer this year was a game that definitely stands out on the Mural cabinet, The Wizard of Oz: Follow the Yellow Brick Road.

The images from the classic technicolor film really pop with the 4K graphic capabilities and the stacked large screens. The reels on the four-by-five array expand to eight rows for the freespin bonus. The game also reprises the popular “Glinda the Good Witch” mystery bonus event in which Glinda appears to award multipliers, free games and other bonuses.

Kascada Additions

L&W brings the Ultimate Fire Link mechanic to its Kascada portrait cabinet in Golden Fire Link. This includes an expanded reel array of nine rows in the lock-and-spin bonus and a free games bonus with “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” cashon-reels symbols. There also is a “game-within-a-game” bonus feature that recalls the game Hot Shot—a reel-spin on a classic Bally stepper title.

The new Kascada Dual Screen, meanwhile, will host new versions of classic games Gold Fish and 88 Fortunes, as well as a new video slot title, Dragon Unleashed.

Dragon Unleashed features a lock-and-spin bonus that includes cash-on-reels symbols on four reels and jackpots on the fifth reel.

The other new Kascada release is Tree of Wealth Prosperity, featuring a money tree collection feature and expanding reels in the free games, with gambler-friendly volatility.

Blazing Return

Light & Wonder this year returns with a bang to the mechanical stepper space by using the new Landmark 7000 cabinet to roll out a new version of one of the most well-known mechanical reel-spinners of all time, Blazing 7s from legacy company Bally.

The game that Wilson says has shot to the top of industry stepper surveys is Blazing 7s 2X3X5X, a supercharged version of the well-known original that adds an array of multiplying wild symbols to the multiple “7” combinations that made the original game famous.

Wilson says the three-reel, nine-line game is performing at three times house average, whereas most successful steppers are at around 1.5 times house average.

Wilson credits the new focus present at Light & Wonder for the success of the Landmark cabinet and the new Blazing 7s game.

“It shows that if you get this business focused back on the basics, we’ve got great people, great talent, great brands,” he says. “Put your energy into those key things, and success will come.”

Light & Wonder’s G2E display will certainly have a systems component, with new casino management system tools and Player Boutique, the unique gifting program that replaces the old toaster and microwave lines, allowing players to order their own reward gifts at the slot and have them delivered by Amazon to their front doors within two days.

The company also will show its Unified Wallet cashless system, which facilitates cashless play both at the slots and the table games.

But the focus for Light & Wonder will remain on the cross-channel content, and the success resulting from the company’s new focus on games.

“A year ago, we were trying to be the best games company, the best lottery company, the best sports company— we were very diversified,” says Wilson.

“Now, we’re focused on making great games.”

NOVOMATIC AMERICAS

Polishing Diamonds

The Diamond X cabinet series heads a diverse display of products from Novomatic

The success of a game often depends on the success of the housing it comes in. So it doesn’t surprise anyone that the biggest news coming out of the Novomatic Americas camp for G2E involves new upright cabinet series for the U.S. market.

The Diamond X 1.55J and Diamond X 2.32 will introduce “a sleek style and crisp game presentation to the gaming floor,” says Kathleen McLaughlin, vice president of corporate North American sales and marketing.

In addition to an appealing design, the cabinets incorporate a black metro finish which serves to contrast with the dynamic LED lighting. The result is to create a visually enclosed framework to present the game content.

Add to that an ergonomic exterior design, with the best angles plus ample foot space. “The Diamond X cabinets are an exceptional accomplishment in design, presented by Novomatic Americas for brilliant performance and complementing our successful portfolio of games,” McLaughlin says.

The main monitor features a choice between a single, expansive 55-inch full HD game screen, or two large 32-inch full HD game screens.

Both come equipped with PCAP—Projected Capacitive Touchscreen— the same technology found in smartphones and tablets. It offers high visibility on the gaming floor. “These new platforms are exceptionally elegant, ready for all demands of a winning gaming floor with premium components and full compatibility with standard protocols,” McLaughlin says.

Novomatic expects to introduce more than a dozen new games plus VGT and Puerto Rico titles, and over 100 total cabinets.

“We have had great success with our brands this year, so we have specifically focused on expanding those successes,” McLaughlin says. “The exciting new Thunder Cash X Link will premiere at G2E with a fabulous set of titles while the Thunder Cash and Money Party brands will see a number of new additions with visually interesting derivatives for various player demographics.”

Money Party Link is still a top performer across the U.S. It was the Eilers award winner for Emerging Suppliers and continues to be ordered and installed based on tremendous performance.

“With the addition of new content and branding to expand the link experience, we think it will continue to be a staple on the casino floor,” says McLaughlin. “Ultra Boost Link is really surging on gaming floors everywhere we have installed, and early indication is that the numbers are incredibly strong.”

But Novomatic is most excited about the new Thunder Cash X Link Candelas De Los Muertos series with Señorita Suerte and Senor Muerte. “Enthralling and hypnotic, this new group of games gives players graphically beautiful themes and exciting play variations, providing a level-up experience on popular Thunder Cash X linked products,” she says.

Voodoo Magic is still supplying operators with a mystical new way to play, and the new Coin Fishing, Eye of the Queen,

Magic Coins and Charming Lady Boom on the Thunder Cash Link are great additions to the brand, McLaughlin says. These new progressives give operators a way to extend a winning experience and create visually interesting derivatives of the Thunder Cash Link.

“The original Money Party Link, with the Fruity Fruity and Juicy Juicy titles, has proven to be a sweet success for us,” McLaughlin says. “The classic fruit games with a new twist are a player favorite.”

Other new themes for the Money Party Link include Sizzling Hot and Roaring Forties. As two new additions to the party, Money Party Link creates new versions of classic fruit-style games. Money Party Link Yummy Yummy has a new design that will be seen from anywhere on the casino floor, and Ultra Hot offers players even more fruit game fun by adding a little heat.

—By Bill Sokolic

More than just a directory or resource guide, Tribal Government Gaming features editorial coverage of cutting-edge issues such as tribal sovereignty, Indian gaming regulation, economic diversification, nationbuilding, compacts and more.

Tribal Government Gaming reaches key decisionmakers in the Indian gaming and traditional casino industries, including operators, regulators, manufacturers and vendors.

Tribal Government Gaming is a highly visible publication with a circulation of 20,000, including bonus distribution at NIGA in March 2023, OIGA in August 2023, G2E in October 2023 and other appropriate trade shows and conferences.

an annual publication, Tribal Government Gaming will offer a one-year shelf life providing increased frequency and recall for advertisers. Sponsorship opportunities are available for increased marketing awareness.

Don’t

the

ZITRO

Rapid Growth

Zitro spreads the footprint of its Glare cabinet range and its multi-game progressive Wheel of Legends link

Zitro still considers itself a small supplier of gaming equipment. So it’s something of a big deal that the company created four separate cabinets under the Glare configuration. The four— Illusion, Fusion, Allure and Altius—have their points. Altius, which accommodates a 55-inch top screen, will be the center of attention at Zitro’s exhibit at the Global Gaming Expo.

Zitro’s Glare cabinetry shows the importance of what holds the games. But the company also trumpets the importance of the game that resides within the cabinet. Last year, Zitro introduced the Wheel of Legends multi-game progressive link; this year, it’s the Asian-themed Fu Shou.

“We’re just getting launched into our rapid expansion phase,” says Derik Mooberry, CEO of Zitro USA.

Wheel of Legends was installed almost two months ago at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula in Southern California, the first in the U.S. “We’re looking for places to offer a marquis location,” Mooberry says. “We’re only licensed in limited jurisdictions like California, Florida and Oklahoma.

“Consumers can be influenced by the cabinet if it is aesthetically pleasing and comfortable to sit at. But it’s the content that draws them there and keeps them there.”

There is a linkage between cabinet design and software design, he says. Hardware and software innovations go together. One can affect the other.

While Altius will be the focal point at the G2E exhibit, the entire Glare lineup will be on full display. “That will grow our video slot footprint on a global basis,” says Mooberry. “But we are placing extra emphasis on the U.S. market with the launch of our new Glare cabinets.”

The four different cabinets each come with their own set of content. “The depth of our cabinet offerings will demonstrate to casino operators around the world that we can provide differentiated experiences with content in many form factors,” Mooberry says.

Zitro will feature 64 games, including consistent performers for three years including Link King and Link Me.

The most popular Zitro titles for the U.S. market include the 88 Link family of games, with Lucky Charms the top performing game. 88 Link Lucky Charms combines for the first time Zitro’s Link Bonus with a multi-way game mechanic on the Allure cabinet, with four games inspired by Japanese culture.

“These were our original launch games in the U.S. market, and are above

house average games across many casino floors today,” Mooberry says.

These games have many common features that players like wrapped up into single game. Themes include Asian characters and symbols, multi-denomination options, allowing players to bet up, and bonus round features.

Wheel of Legends is a four-level progressive link that has grown to become one of slot players’ favorite multi-games as a result of a combination of graphics, and performance, 243-ways game mechanics and exclusive features such as free games, multipliers, and extended wild multipliers.

When any of the legendary-themed characters are charged with energy, the bonus jackpot is activated. A new layout with a two-by-five reel array is shown, and direct prizes, additional free games or the Mini or Minor jackpot can be awarded. With only 10 symbols, a giant wheel shown in the upper part of the screen will be activated. “This Wheel of Legends bonus round is a great example of a multi-level, exciting and engaging feature that keeps players coming back for more,” Mooberry says.

Zitro has classic slot titles that have been performing very well for many years in many countries. “But most of our games in the U.S. market are only a few years old,” says Mooberry, “so we don’t have classic titles that have existed for decades. However, we do have games that have been consistent performers for three years now.”

Wheel of Legends is presented on the premium Altius Glare cabinet, which stands out on casino floors thanks to its large screen and stunning graphics, Mooberry says. “Wheel of Legends is aesthetically appealing, and its outstanding visuals, high-quality sound effects and exceptional performance, among many other features, make it one of the top choices among slot players.”

—By Bill Sokolic

AT

Testing, Testing,Testing

By Julia Carcamo

Arelatively conservative estimate puts the introduction of new products at about 30,000 per year. Of that large number, some estimate 80 percent or more will fail. The reasons will vary. Sometimes the product is flawed. It can also be that business owners fail to understand the consumer and their needs.

As casino marketers, we create a variety of reasons for guests to visit. If we are lucky, we get to introduce a new brand, facility, or program. These introductions are usually invested in heavily, not only financially, but with all our time (and frankly, spirit). So, it makes sense to take a step back and take time to get to know the customer and the marketplace from a nonbiased perspective.

Market research can give us an advantage in providing valuable insights by giving us an accurate view of our business and marketplace, lowering risks, and identifying opportunities and trends.

Markets Matter

When operators look at a new jurisdiction, we rely on industry research: published data and market research that can be analyzed on our behalf and primary research that can analyze key players, growth, trends and competitors. Market research endeavors to identify target customers and their needs and desires. This is the type of research that usually involves marketing.

Casino market research tends to differ from most other industries reliant on market research. Unlike industries that may do pre-market research to see if something might be well received, we seldom (if ever) test our players clubs or test a hotel. The same could be said for industries such as the music industry. A label never really knows if a new artist will fill a 500-seat facility or a 50,000-seat facility. They use cues such as downloads and Spo-

tify listening data to determine how they will build an artist’s tour.

When you consider that you have to realize the data they are using are people listening on a subscription and not having to shell out triple-digit ticket fees, setting up a concert tour for a new artist is a gamble. Toss in the fact that labels do much to boost those plays and listens, a successful (and profitable) tour, particularly for a new artist, could very well be dumb luck.

When we introduce a new offering, we may or may not necessarily examine market studies and trends. We launch and then deal with the benefits and consequences. Perhaps our dirty secret may be dumb luck as well.

However, there have been times when casino operators relied heavily on market research. When then-Harrah’s Entertainment looked to create a brand for itself, the entire effort was research-driven before it became a marketing effort. When the former Isle of Capri Casinos looked to bifurcate its house of brands, market research was conducted nationwide, and the Lady Luck was reborn along with supporting creative and messaging. In both cases, operators even tested a variety of music to land on the brand jingles.

Food Fights

More than just branding, casinos can use research to fine-tune any portion of their experiences. The shifts in consumer dining have been the reason for many operators to change their food and beverage offerings. Many buffets are now being transformed into anything from food halls to stand-alone restaurants.

Using research techniques, “an operator can uncover what their customers actually eat and what they actually pay for versus what they would perhaps only dine at with a comp,” says Elizabeth Meczka, managing director of Meczka Marketing Research Consulting. “Research lets us see how quality fits

to know whether a product, promotion or event will succeed even before it happens? Market research is the answer, but it has to be more nuanced than in the past

All over America, players are escaping to the best casino resorts in the comfort of their own homes!

For more than 30 years, Casino Player Publishing has thrived as publishers of America’s most popular gaming lifestyle magazines—Casino Player and Strictly Slots. Over the decades, millions of gamblers have enjoyed and benefited from the expert tips and gaming strategies, as well as the insider information not found anywhere else. Whether they are improving their video poker skills, searching for the latest slot to hit the floor, learning to navigate through a sportsbook or checking out the most luxurious new gaming resorts to open, CPP delivers the information, in a highly enjoyable format, directly to their door. Connect with thousands of gaming enthusiasts with Casino Player and Strictly Slots and discover how your marketing dollars will work for you.

CasinoPlayerCasinoPlayer

into their decision-making and where the comfort level is between what they would pay for and what they expect to get for free.

“Like other industries, there are some operators who might make a decision and then come to us when they see a negative effect or result,” she adds. “That’s when we come in and really dig into what might have been wrong, what customers want to see in order to repair any damages, and how the casino can create a plan for change.

“On the flip side,” she continues, “we have some casino clients that are seeing success but don’t want to rest on their laurels. They say, ‘Things are great, but we want to ensure we’re hanging on to our best players. How do we keep them coming to us instead of the competition?’”

Team Spirit

As for understanding the stakeholder perspective, no other stakeholder may hold as much power and value to our brands as team members. MMRC guesstimates that one in 25 casinos will go beyond the typical quantitative survey when gauging employee satisfaction and identifying retention opportunities.

Meczka points to the “Great Resignation” and sees why casinos might be worried about retention, and for some, new competition just adds to the considerations. Meczka says, “There are little things that you need to dig into to understand employee motivations. Going in and just asking what they like about working there isn’t going to uncover anything truly actionable. Asking them questions like what they’ve noticed can tell you a lot about how they are feeling, particularly post-pandemic. Many have been dealing with hardships, illness, and gas prices. All of this affects how an employee is feeling, and then to patrons.”

Are buffets a thing of the past?

More than just branding, casinos can use research to fine-tune any portion of their experiences. The shifts in consumer dining have been the reason for many operators to change their food and beverage offerings. Many buffets are now being transformed into anything from food halls to stand-alone restaurants.

Meczka shares a story of a casino front desk. For months, they were without a simple office supply, causing a minor issue to turn larger than it should have been. This was an easy fix, but it slipped through the cracks because everyone was functioning differently. The crack kept getting bigger as resentment rose. They felt like no one cared, but once someone could share their frustration with a neutral third party in the form of a focus group facilitator, they felt heard.

The Meczka Gaming Index (MGI) was developed over 10 years ago to give operators a measurable view of their operations from the guest’s perspective. It was designed at a time when many industries implemented Net Promoter Score (NPS) programs but perhaps had no plans for how to improve their operations as a result of the off chance someone would recommend a business.

By using a five-point scale, the analytics will yield indices such that a casino can obtain a more straightforward measure of performance as perceived by its gaming patrons. In the MGI, gaming patrons respond at one of five levels and are placed into three unique segments. Similarly to NPS, the index uses a mathematical equation to account for “loyalists,” “supporters” and “scorners” of any portion of the operations.

MMRC’s Ken Foster explains, “Operators can use the scores to see if a system or service is working or not. You can measure the scores over a variety of time frames to understand progress. It helped us add more actionable information in our guest/patron satisfaction studies because it allows easy identification of what’s working and what’s not.

“It is as relevant today as ever,” he continues. “I think it’s even more so because right now, we are seeing players clubs that used to have very high scores in the past now dropping due to lack of employee retention. I think

Who would’ve thought 10 years ago that a phone could also produce a beautiful cinematic story? The same goes for the DIY tools available to survey any target audience. There is a swath of tools available, from free basic surveys to surveys with skip logic and randomization. The tools work, but often it is the user that might be faulty.

it’s become even more important to uncover where clients need to concentrate and what they need to do to improve their services.”

While there has always been a debate that a high NPS might not equate to great revenue numbers, Foster has seen casinos with exemplary MGI scores have equally superior revenue. When you are in a competitive marketplace, a high score can be an advantage.

Close to You

Whether you rely on NPS, MGI, or traditional research, there is no denying the need to stay close to customers and their opinions.

Technological developments continue to democratize most processes. Who would’ve thought 10 years ago that a phone could also produce a beautiful cinematic story? The same goes for the DIY tools available to survey any target audience. There is a swath of tools available, from free basic surveys to surveys with skip logic and randomization. The tools work, but often it is the user that might be faulty.

Third parties can bring a sense of neutrality that allows participants to be truthful. An experienced focus group moderator also knows how to recognize the guy or woman in the room that has to take up all the air wherever they are. Likewise, they understand how to let the quietest person in the room still have a voice. When you have built a relationship with your patrons, whether it is through their complaints or simply seeing them on the floor every Friday, being an objective observer of their comments is just more complicated.

Meczka agrees, “You’re going to hear what they’re saying with some kind of spin on it—they’re just saying that because last month they didn’t get a buffet comp or they weren’t invited to something—whereas as facilitators, we’re just hearing what they’re saying. And I think sometimes it’s just hard to hear if they’re also complaining about a promotion that was your idea. It’s way too personal.” She also notes that some customers might give an answer they think the casino wants to hear. A third party can eliminate that for customers and allow them to respond without a filter. Professional focus group moderators can also keep the group on task and gently move people back into the discussion.

There are a number of reasons why you should use a professional partner in your research, but the need to stay close to your customers’ thoughts and opinions should always outweigh waiting for the proper budget. If you’re going to go down the DIY route, there are things you should consider (that a professional researcher brings to the table) when developing your in-house research.

• Sample size and sample composition—too large of a sample is unnecessary, and too small of a sample is unscientific and non-actionable. The same could be said for the composition of the groups unless you are focused on a particular group.

• The phrasing of questions—along with being short and simple, avoid making assumptions in the questions. Avoid unnecessary adjectives, adverbs, and emotionally loaded words.

• Stay focused on the aims and objectives of the research.

• Be mindful of what the respondents will need in order to respond, such as time or memory, and their comfort in providing an answer.

Ultimately, doing in-person research, whether it is focus groups, blue ribbon panels, or whatever method you choose, has the added bonus of providing stakeholders with the sense that you are listening to them. I hear that in every session I have ever been a part of. If you have regular customers visiting regularly, don’t they deserve to feel like they have a voice?

Julia Carcamo is a casino branding expert and the author of Reel Marketing: The Art of Building a Casino Brand. As president & chief brand strategist at J Carcamo & Associates and founder of Casino Marketing Boot Camp, she aids casinos in building and maintaining engaging brands. She is also cofounder of the Hispanic marketing firm espÑOLA.

There are a number of reasons why you should use a professional partner in your research, but the need to stay close to your customers’ thoughts and opinions should always outweigh waiting for the proper budget.

in DIGITAL

CUTTING EDGE

by Frank Legato

Next-Level Gifting

Nizoni Gifts

Imagine This

Welcome to the World of Nizoni.

Imagine This recently launched its newest brand, Nizoni, one of the most innovative lines of high-tech, useful products for gifting programs at casinos.

Many Imagine This Nizoni products offer Bluetooth capability and a variety of uses. The company’s goal in developing this line is centered around personal convenience and relaxation. With a flare of modern design, these products cross over to a wide range of ages, making them fun gifts friends and family will love too. One of the latest products is in the company’s Health and Wellbeing Collection, which includes:

• 5-In-1 Deep Tissue Foam Roller Set

• Electronic Heating Pad

• Cool Mist Humidifier

• Rechargeable Percussion Massager

Imagine This’ in-house product design team is continually looking to create items with high perceived value, with the quality customers can depend on, and at affordable prices. As technology evolves, so do the sets Imagine This offers.

Imagine This’ products are designed exclusively for the casino industry. The company does this to protect the perceived value of the items it produces, so

you will not find them for sale on major retailer websites.

When operators order from Imagine This, they can be sure the company has never missed a delivery date. Imagine This designs. manufactures and inventories its own products, producing them well in advance to navigate the ever-changing global supply chain challenges.

Imagine This continues to expand its line, which gives clients a wide variety of choices to mix and match when they are developing their Continuity Set offers.

Contact Adam Bullock at 877-491-4900 for more information or samples.

Form + Function = VersatilitY

Today’s kiosks

variety of

and have

a lynchpin in the spread of sports betting

By Dave Bontempo

Gaming can employ a famous Major League Baseball quote.

Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson reportedly called himself

“the straw that stirs the drink,” regarding his role of jumpstarting the World Series champion New York Yankees in the 1970s.

Jackson denied it years later, because it portrayed him as selfish.

But gaming kiosks don’t have that image problem.

They truly are the straw that mixes the drink in the casino world, facilitating every step of gaming’s increased functionality.

They were first a source of money and convenience for players who either wanted to access cash or draw money to pay for parking on their casino exit. Then came the bill-breaking capability, and wayfinding, as operators directed patrons to different establishments on their property.

Check-ins became another prime responsibility of the kiosks. Customers were allowed to use them, unclogging the long lines that create a bad first experience at a property.

And it grew. Operators put up menus and specials on the kiosk, along with a list of shows and casino services. The better the information, the more useful a kiosk was.

Kiosks have crossed over into something more prominent now. They are an integral part of many sportsbook operations.

Strategic Deployment

A kiosk near a sportsbook provides more than a convenience. It delivers a betting option for a customer who could be shut out in a sportsbook line. Las Vegas brick-and-mortar gamblers know all about that on an NFL Sunday. Horse-racing bettors and NFL patrons often find themselves in the same line, battling against time.

The mobile age has alleviated much of that on the football side, and some of it on the horse-racing side, but it will never eliminate the kiosk.

Some people like the size, convenience and look of a device that delivers money, odds and the means by which to bet. Both the manufacturing and operating sides love the advanced, sophisticated kiosk.

A Kiosk King

Darren Simmons, executive vice president and fintech business leader for Everi, sees the interactions between mobile devices and floor kiosks as the biggest new jump in the role of kiosks.

An example would be the players club and cashless wallet signup.

“Providing a quick way for customers to move the flow to their phone and fill out information in lieu of having them stand at a kiosk opens up new ways to engage with our customers, while creating more effective flows,” he says. “We even have experiences where employees can use the combination of a mobile device and an employee kiosk to be more efficient in paying out jackpots to players. Form factors are increasingly part of the evolution.”

Simmons asserts that features, function, security and design have all been enhanced to enable optimal footprint and greater efficiencies for employee bandwidth allocation—all while increasing patron value.

For example, a former retail food-ordering kiosk has been retrofitted to enable loyalty, wallet and TITO purchase features—all on the same basic, wall-mounted screen form factor.

Another example of the flexibility would be promoting virtual wallets or credit card signups on a kiosk. The process can be moved to a mobile device to be completed with the majority of data prefilled, he says.

“Frankly, there is very little they cannot do today or will be able to do very soon,” Simmons asserts. “The indication of how advanced this channel

has become is that we are really talking about the patron choosing which channel they prefer for a given interaction.

“This enables a wide range of enhancements to guest experiences, as team members are free to focus on hightouch, high-value interactions.”

Better guest service includes new industry adaptations to Covid, he maintains. The pandemic made operators look to a world in which fewer interactions were needed to perform the same number of transactions.

“This also pushed us to expand our use of mobile devices for functions that customers could perform on their own ‘kiosk in their pocket,’” he says. “This has extended to hybrid-use cases such as $ToGo where a patron’s phone becomes a ‘second screen’ to enable touchless, private, secure interactions with the kiosk.”

Simmons touts several Everi offerings.

Everi’s Slot Concierge allows self-service interactions between its Trilogy Engage Loyalty kiosks and its TournEvent Now products. Customers can use the loyalty kiosks they are familiar with to check leaderboards, schedule times to play and purchase new entries with loyalty points.

“I also enjoy the Money2Go ($ToGo) feature,” he adds. “I am a heavy user of this, in the non-gaming bank transactions world. It allows the user to conduct parts of the transaction on their phone, and complete the transaction on the kiosk in a quick and simple way.

“I hate carrying cards and prefer to stage transactions with my mobile device in lieu of using the standard card PIN and navigation process. It seems like a longer process with more steps, but in practice it is very easy and convenient, as mobile is a medium that people love to use.”

Simmons would like to see more kiosks interact with a single resort application more seamlessly. That means removing the various cards and sign-ups that are necessary at most resort casinos and pulling them into a single device that customers interact with, integrated with other technology while visiting.

“Imagine an enhanced mobile experience that worked as well as a remote control for a TV,” he says. “Why do I have to touch any control panels; why can’t my wallet and slot credit meters follow me and my device?”

The Complementary Kiosk

At GAN, the kiosk fits nicely into their lineup.

The sports-betting version is a sleek, visually pleasing device that accommodates a broad spectrum of wagers.

The kiosk is a vital component of the company’s overall operation.

Its proprietary sports betting platform, GAN Sports, creates a seamless plugand-play experience for partners to launch their desired sportsbook.

That dynamic encompasses retail on-property, online, or both. GAN touts its

ability to stand up a company’s sports betting platform and configure the requisite odds, lines and marketing activities to help them meet goals.

Its platform also allows for localized pricing, allowing partners to manage risk at the property level. This means that each property can control its pricing parameters down to the event level.

The GAN sports-betting kiosk is an interesting piece of the puzzle. GAN does not build it. The company purchases the hardware, inserts its software and sells the finalized unit to an operator.

Its kiosk is operating at Red Rock in Las Vegas. Company officials expect the distribution to spread.

As for the kiosk itself, the bottom half has a component to enter money.

The top portion has major sports categories splashed across the top. Customers go into those areas and end up with a sportsbook at their fingertips. An NFL game example is the money line wagering odds, point spreads and over/unders. Parlays are also possible to bet.

A customer can place a $100 bill in the kiosk, make $50 worth of wagers and get a voucher for the other $50, which can be played anytime.

“The kiosk enables the patron to identify themselves or bet anonymously and swiftly find their desired team, player or event to bet on,” says Richard Veltri, COO of GAN Sports. “It has a single large screen in order to display as many betting markets as possible and it is very comfortable for building larger parlays.”

Veltri says the GAN platform brings forth a unique in-house proprietary UI/UX architecture powered by modular technology. This enables every operator to have a unique customer experience.

“Moreover, the kiosk is part of our omnichannel solution powering patrons’ mobile activity, and can fully power operators’ loyalty programs,” he adds.

Veltri touts the look, feel and functionality of the GAN kiosk.

“The super-fast front-end is beautifully designed and enriched with our deep local sports product offering,” he asserts. “Not to forget the Digital Parlay cards functionality, which enables the patron to quickly find the most interesting parlay bets of the day and week.”

GAN touts its ability to stand up a company’s sports betting platform and configure the requisite odds, lines and marketing activities to help them meet goals. Its platform also allows for localized pricing, allowing partners to manage risk at the property level. This means that each property can control its pricing parameters down to the event level.

Kiosks Keep the Ball Rolling

Kambi is a giant in the sports-betting world, and kiosks figure strongly into its playbook.

The company touts itself as the leading independent provider of premium sports betting technology and services to the regulated global betting and gaming industry. It is a partner with more than 40 operators on six continents.

Officials say the company not only provides a first-class sports betting experience, but acts as an incubator for operator innovation and differentiation thanks to its data-driven sportsbook core and flexible technology.

Kambi has a clear strategy for kiosk interaction with their business.

Officials believe kiosks facilitate the most efficient experience possible for its partners’ customer retention on-property. Through the Kambi kiosk, casino patrons can quickly get their bets down on any market in any sport that they would through a mobile device, providing a similar entertaining experience found elsewhere on the casino floor.

Kambi’s Bring Your Own Device technology—mobile phone, tablet, watch, etc.—was a significant help in a world where social distancing was of the utmost importance, officials say.

Unique to Kambi, the technology enables bettors to view lines and construct bets from anywhere, on or off property—generating a QR code which can be scanned at the counter or a Kambi kiosk, reducing queues and eliminating the need to come into contact with any other surfaces.

The Kambi kiosk offers all the great features that bettors will find on its online platform, including in-game betting and Kambi’s award-winning Bet Builder. The company recognizes that players expect the same engagement in the retail space that they get online, and it provides them a full offering in all of its retail terminals.

As the sports betting industry matures, a greater variety of companies are entering the market. Therefore, providing operators with the ability to differentiate and express their unique brand is crucial to their success.

While kiosks have been instrumental to the company, it has already seen the value of an alternative.

Last year at G2E, Kambi debuted a new bar-top terminal, enabling players to enjoy their sports betting experience while watching sports at the bar of their sportsbook venue.

The launch of bar-top terminals, which can be configured and branded to meet individual partner requirements, further strengthens Kambi’s retail product suite. Its unique bar-top sports betting terminals allow bettors to enjoy the thrill of sports betting, such as in-play wagering, from the comfort of their barstool, with no need to visit a kiosk or a counter to place their bets.

The launch of bar-top terminals, which can be configured and branded to meet individual partner requirements, further strengthens Kambi’s retail product suite.

Making Kiosks a VIP Global Payments

President Chris Justice says the company utilizes self-service kiosk technology, what it refers to as its VIP Financial Center, as one piece in its larger payments ecosystem.

“The VIP Financial Center is a multifaceted solution that can provide a number of different services in one package,” Justice indicates. “One important aspect is its physical nature.

“While this may not have been noteworthy a few years ago, the rise of purely digital payments has made physical methods stand out. Therefore, selfservice kiosks are the perfect solution for patrons who still prefer to play with cash and don’t want to interact with the cage.”

The company integrates kiosks into a larger picture, he says. The continued evolution of kiosks blends with the service needs of the industry.

During the pandemic, for instance, self-service kiosks emerged as a catalyst to serve patrons and operators, he asserts. Operators ensuring the safety of patrons and employees saw them as the ideal solution, giving patrons the services typically done at the cage while curbing the spread of the virus.

This was one of the expanded roles kiosks have played in recent years.

“The greatest change to kiosks recently is the sheer breadth of services that they can provide,” Justice says. “Self-service solutions should work alongside other payments solutions. A kiosk on its own can only do so much. Integrating it into a larger payment system gives it more capability, satisfying patrons.”

Modern kiosks, which are exclusively an in-person service, also need to connect casino gaming with iGaming, he indicates. As more casinos adopt an omnichannel approach, their kiosk solutions ought to reflect that.

In the case of Global Payments, kiosks play a role in its hot product, VIP Financial Center.

Far from being a glorified ATM, the VIP Financial Center can provide a wide range of solutions including TITO ticket redemption, bill breaking, e-check, cash advance and other services, he says.

Justice indicates that VIP Financial Center is the company’s comprehensive self-service solution. It utilizes Global Payments’ industry-standard e-check network, VIP Preferred, which seamlessly connects patrons to their checking accounts.

He touts the product’s ability to connect the in-person gaming experience with the latest payments technology. Customers can bypass the cage, using VIP Financial Center to get exactly what they need and quickly return to their favorite games.

“Between its vast range of capabilities and its seamless payments process, VIP Financial Center is unmatched in convenience and ease-of-use,” he asserts. “VIP Financial Center is powered by VIP Lightspeed, which gives patrons the same services they can access at the cage while taking up less real estate on the game room floor.”

Justice adds that the VIP Financial Center interfaces with Global Payments’ other solutions like VIP Preferred and VIP Mobility, the industry’s first mobile solution enabling true cashless gaming, giving it unparalleled flexibility in the gaming kiosk marketplace.

Throughout the industry, both the manufacturing and operating sides love the advanced, sophisticated kiosk. The more they ask of it, the more they accomplish.

For over 70 years,

Silver State Schools Credit Union has been committed to strengthening our communities, supporting our neighbors, and serving the educational and Southern Nevada community. We are proud to partner with and support the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, its students, educators, and staff, as we build a better future for the next generation.

FRANKLY SPEAKING

by Frank Legato

Ax Me Anything

Gaming regulators in my home state, Pennsylvania, have had their share of problems with illegal, unregulated, untaxed “skill games.” These are slot-like machines that are placed in gas stations, convenience stores, pizza shops, even laundromats, that take in money and pay out in cash. Their manufacturers claim they employ skill, so they are not subject to gaming regulations.

Of course, the “skill” involved is deciding whether to wager again on a game once you’ve gotten a peek at an outcome. It’s not exactly fixing a carburetor, or even shooting at video asteroids.

Besides, on a lot of these machines, you can turn off the “skill” element. Then, the only skill you need to play is the ability to move your opposable thumbs. Heck, you don’t even need thumbs. Just bash the button.

Yes, just like a slot machine.

The state’s licensed, regulated, tax-paying casino owners naturally want these machines wiped out; they are unfair competition. State officials want them wiped out because they don’t get a penny from the revenues—and there’s no oversight of the games. There have been complaints of rising crime where these machines are.

Like last month at a 7-Eleven in Philadelphia. Authorities say bandits have been stealing money out of skill games at convenience stores, and at this particular 7-Eleven, a guy was caught on camera bludgeoning a skill machine with an ax. (In italics, even.)

According to a local news report, it was around 4 a.m. when this guy took out his hatchet and started doing a Lizzie Borden on the skill game. The store owner and employees just stood there with their mouths open.

“It’s like right out of a Friday the 13th horror movie,” the owner told a local news reporter. “All you’re doing is getting ready and going to work one day, and all of a sudden, you’re faced with people with an ax in their hand.”

Things like that never happen in normal, regulated casinos (outside the greater New York area, anyway). Heck, half the time, I don’t even remember to take my ax when I go out for a night in the casino.

Yes, it’s a much more visceral way of hacking a slot machine program than writing a bunch of code.

And come on, you knew there was going to be a hacking joke in here somewhere.

It wasn’t even the first time this happened in Pennsylvania. Thieves

hacked open a Sunoco mini-mart’s machines last February. Sunoco stores have been popular targets of these scoundrels. One team of thieves hit machines at two different Sunocos in as many hours one night last year.

According to one news report, the company that makes the games “responded by making the machines in metal.”

What were they made of before, oatmeal?

Anyway, the newly fortified metal machines seem to be better against the ax. One guy tried and tried at a Gas-And-Go store but couldn’t break one with his hatchet, after which he unsuccessfully tried to load the entire machine into his getaway car.

That’s one more argument on the side of shutting these machines down for good. I’ve been going to real casinos for 40 years, and I’ve never seen anyone have at a slot machine with an ax. Fists? Yes. Entire flailing bodies? Sure thing. But no lethal weapons. And, I’m guessing here, but I really don’t think casino security guards would stand around while a guy tried to carry a slot machine out the door to his waiting car.

But there are no security guards at the 7-Eleven, or the Gas-And-Go, for that matter. Just pimply teenagers earning minimum wage on the night shift. No one there’s going after a guy flailing an ax around. These skill games are in little places. That’s why in Georgia, a guy whipped out a sledgehammer and cracked open a machine, grabbing around $7,000, after which he calmly walked next door to McDonald’s, where his parked car was waiting. (He might have even stopped for a Big Mac.)

It’s why one woman in Texas was able to pull out a can of lighter fluid and set a machine on fire after a losing session.

That really happened, by the way. It really angered another woman in the place who had been waiting to play the now-crispy machine. So that being Texas, the second woman followed the fire-starter to the parking lot, took out a gun, and shot her. (The woman recovered, but the skill machine didn’t.)

My suggestion here? If you want to play a slot machine, go to a casino. That’s what I’m going to do right now. Let’s see. Lighter fluid? Check. Ax? Check. Sledgehammer?

Damn, I misplaced my sledgehammer. Maybe they’ll have one in the gift shop.

GOODS&SERVICES

MGM ACQUISITION OF LEOVEGAS FINALIZED AFTER SHAREHOLDER VOTE

MGM Resorts International has announced that its acquisition of LeoVegas has been finalized after the company’s shareholders approved the $604 million offer.

MGM’s proposal, which equates to $5.65 per share in cash, was already approved by the LeoVegas board back in May. That figure represents a 44 percent premium compared to LeoVegas’ closing price on April 29, when the deal was first announced.

“The completion of this transaction represents a major milestone for MGM Resorts as we continue to pursue our strategy of growing our online gaming footprint worldwide,” said Bill Hornbuckle, MGM Resorts president and CEO.

“We look forward to welcoming the LeoVegas team and are excited to begin working with them to grow our global digital gaming business and maximize the full potential of our omnichannel strategy.”

With regards to the motivation behind the deal, MGM said previously that LeoVegas provided a “unique opportunity” for the gaming giant to grow its online gaming presence.

MARKER TRAX, KOIN MOBILE LAUNCH KOIN DIGITAL WALLET

“Customers want the convenience of a single digital payment solution they can fund however they choose, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and use seamlessly throughout their resort experience, while operators love the ability to track spend, optimize brand loyalty, reduce operating costs and generate gaming lift. Marker Trax with Koin addresses all these objectives head-on,” said Charlie Skinner, chief operating officer of Marker Trax.

Customers enrolled with Koin can use a single digital wallet for all of their resort purchases, including gaming, food and beverage, accommodation and retail. Operators, in turn, will see the benefits of lower overhead cost in customer loyalty programs, increased spend and game lift with better systems to track customer behavior across the entire resort.

“It’s a mutually beneficial innovation for all parties, and we’re excited for where it will lead gaming, as the industry continues to embrace broader digital and payment technologies,” said Gary Larkin, chief strategy officer for Koin.

AGUA CALIENTE DEBUTS L&W SINATRA-THEMED SLOT

Agua Caliente Casinos were the first properties in California to offer the Sinatra Landmark 7000 Wheel, a slot machine inspired by classic pop legend Frank Sinatra and designed by Light & Wonder, Inc.

Arriving first at Agua Caliente Casino Palm Springs, it later made its debut at Agua Caliente Casino Rancho Mirage and Agua Caliente Casino Cathedral City.

According to Light & Wonder, Sinatra was designed as an “old school, sleek and smooth game” to pay homage to Sinatra’s artistic style.

averages, according to the supplier’s CEO. Brian Christopher’s Pop’N Pays More, based on Christopher’s YouTube streaming of his slot play—which has led to millions of fans following the social media influencer on his YouTube channel and website— was launched this summer with an event staged at the special Brian Christopher slot area at the Plaza in Downtown Las Vegas. The game features an avatar of Christopher as the “host” for a collection of bonus events.

Mike Dreitzer, CEO of Gaming Arts, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal the game has been performing at anywhere from two to four times house average at many of the 17 locations where it has been placed.

Christopher, in an interview with the ReviewJournal, said the game strikes a chord with the estimated 5 million regular viewers of his live-streamed play.

“I think that’s why they’re so engaged with all the events we do, in our comments, in our videos, on our cruises together,” he said. “When they find out that there’s a slot machine near them, it’s a way for them to be a part of the experience, to play the game that they see Brian playing and feel a part of our community a little bit more.”

JACKPOT DIGITAL TO INSTALL ETGsAT SAC & FOX CASINO

J

ackpot Digital Inc. has announced it has received licensing approval from the Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri Tribal Gaming Commission, which is the regulator for Sac & Fox Casino located in Powhattan, Kansas, to install Jackpot Blitz electronic table games at the property.

The company will install two of its dealerless Jackpot Blitz ETGs at Sac & Fox.

L

as Vegas-based Marker Trax, LLC and its affiliate Koin Mobile have announced the launch of Koin, a stand-alone gaming financial wallet platform that improves convenience and reduces costs for both patrons and operators.

Koin, combined with Marker Trax, delivers on their joint mission to create a seamless and convenient digital marker experience. The new Koin solutions allow patrons to use a single digital wallet for all their gaming, resort and general retail purchases.

This traditional high-limit slot experience offers a feature on top of the ordinary jackpots—the Sinatra song bonus—where players will be entertained with some of Frank Sinatra’s most iconic songs— “Come Fly with Me,” “New York, New York” and “Best is Yet to Come.”

INFLUENCER SLOT OUTPERFORMING FLOOR AVERAGES

Jackpot President and CEO Jake Kalpakian said, “We are excited to place more Jackpot Blitz ETGs in the field and we expect installation of these units in the coming weeks. Our tables are installed on a revenue-share basis and produce recurring monthly revenue.

T

he game created by Gaming Arts with help from “slot influencer” Brian Christopher, which carries Christopher’s likeness and builds his catchphrases into the game, is outperforming house

“Through Jackpot Blitz innovative dealerless technology, casinos are quickly recognizing the benefits of more revenues by dealing more hands per hour while at the same time drastically reducing costs and eliminating operational/employee requirements all at once.”

The Most Immersive Casino Marketing Gathering

from our three-day signature event, this gathering is hyper-focused on the Northwest casino markets – the changes we are now seeing and those we see on the horizon. More importantly, we will be covering the skills marketers will need to rely on the most to make a positive impact on their operations.

COTTLE STEPS DOWN AT L&W; WILSON NAMED INTERIM CEO

Light & Wonder, Inc. announced that Barry Cottle, who has served as president and CEO of the company— formerly known as Scientific Games—for over four years, is stepping down from his position. Matt Wilson, Light & Wonder’s executive vice president and group chief executive of gaming, has been appointed interim CEO while an executive search is conducted, while also continuing in his current role.

Cottle will continue serving the company as a consultant while the search is conducted for a new CEO. The company’s board has commenced a search process to identify a permanent CEO and has engaged a leading national executive search firm. The search builds on the board’s well-established succession planning process and will include both internal and external candidates.

Wilson joined the company in March 2020, just before the industry shut down due to Covid-19. He previously had spent 16 years at Aristocrat, where he oversaw a transformation of that company’s North American business under Jamie Odell, the current executive chairman of Light & Wonder who was CEO of Aristocrat at the time. He ultimately went on to become president and managing director, Americas at Aristocrat.

Wilson was one of several former Aristocrat colleagues Odell brought to the company, including Vice-Chair Toni Korsanos.

Cottle became the company’s CEO in June 2018, after serving seven years as CEO of SG Interactive. During his time at the helm, he oversaw the company’s efforts to shed its lottery and sports betting businesses to concentrate on producing games for omnichannel distribution, and its subsequent rebranding as Light & Wonder.

KONAMI PROMOTES CROSBY TO SVP, CHIEF GAMES OFFICER

Crosby had previously headed game research and development for Konami Australia for over 20 years.

Konami President and CEO Steve Sutherland said in a statement that Crosby “has been with the Konami organization for 23 years, leading with demonstrated commitment to product quality and driving exceptional results for casinos across diverse market segments. Through Gerard’s expanded leadership and ongoing collaboration between Konami’s world-class R&D teams in the United States, Australia and Japan, we anticipate expanding games product outcomes for our casino customers worldwide.”

As part of his new role, Crosby will now oversee all of Konami’s game development around the world.

He will also retain several of his duties for Konami Australia specifically, where he is listed as its general manager of product development, director, secretary and office holder. Crosby is also a board member for the Gaming Technologies Association, one of Australia’s most prominent gaming organizations.

CHINOOK WINDS NAMES HAROLD BAUGUS AS NEW GM

Chinook Winds Casino Resort’s new general manager is Harold Baugus, as announced by the Siletz Tribal Council.

An industry veteran, Baugus has 30-plus years of gaming experience, with nearly 20 of those in tribal gaming specifically. He most recently served as CEO of Isleta Resort and Casino.

Baugus started his gaming career as a night-shift security officer, before eventually working his way up to the role of CEO at Gila River Gaming Enterprises. From there, he served stints as general manager of Sherwood Valley Rancheria and Indian Head Casino.

ANDREW LO NOW CHAIRMAN OF SUMMIT ASCENT, LET GROUP

GGB

Acres Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Advantech . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .7

AGEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109

Ainsworth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27

AGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Aristocrat Gaming . . . . . .116, Cover Gatefold ad

Aruze Gaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51

Axes.ai . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9

Bluberi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69

Casino Player Media . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97

Casino Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112

Eclipse Gaming Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73

Everi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5, 41, 43, 45, 47

Fantini Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100

Flexia Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91

Fox Rothschild LLP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77

Gaming Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61

Gaming Laboratories International . . . . . . . . . .55

GAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

Global Gaming Business . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16, 102

HBG Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

IGT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10, 11, 25

IGT Global Solutions Corporation . . . . . . . . . . .67

iGaming Player . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .95

Incredible Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57

Interblock d.d. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .115

J Carcamo & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .111

Kambi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20, 21

Lewis Rocca Rothgerber Christie LLP . . . . . . . .79

Novomatic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63

Playtech Ltd. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35

Red Square Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37

G2E (RX) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .99

Light & Wonder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17

SNA Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101

Soft Construct Limited . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .33

A

K

onami Gaming has promoted veteran game designer Gerard Crosby to the role of senior vice president and chief games officer.

ndrew Lo has been named chairman of LET Group Holdings Limited—previously known as Suncity Group—as well as its affiliate Summit Ascent Holdings Limited, per the two companies.

Lo had previously served as deputy chairman of the board since December of last year, following the arrest and resignation of former chairman Alvin Chau. Chau’s previous holdings in the companies were also acquired by Lo back in May.

Thalden Boyd Emery Architects . . . . . . . . . . . .59

Tribal Government Gaming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .93

UNLV Division of Philanthropy

& Alumni Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107

Vaask . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83

Vegas Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103

Wipfli/Joseph Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .87

World Game Protect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .49

Zitro International . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .29

Matt Wilson

Gerard Crosby

Andrew Lo

Barry Cottle

Harold Baugus

QA

& John Koster

Regional President, Caesars Entertainment

The Eastern market, particularly Atlantic City, has been a tough one for Caesars Entertainment. Prior to its purchase by Eldorado Resorts two years ago, Caesars had not reinvested in its resorts in the city—Caesars Atlantic City, Harrah’s Resort and the Tropicana— for some time, resulting in lower revenues and fleeing customers. John Koster was appointed president of the region just over a year ago and has overseen a renewed investment in the city. He spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros in a suite at Caesars Atlantic City in August. To hear and view a full podcast of this interview, visit GGBMagazine.com.

GGB: When Eldorado bought Caesars Entertainment, they promised regulators it would spend $400 million to upgrade the three Atlantic City properties. How much of that has been completed?

John Koster: When we talked last year, it was a lot of talk from the company and myself but now the rubber has truly hit the road. We have seen a lot of progress. We just opened up Bobby’s Burgers the other day over at Harrah’s. It was a pleasure meeting Bobby Flay, and who knows? There might be future opportunities with him.

Hell’s Kitchen will open up to the general public on September 21. It’s a bilevel, 235 seats, and it is absolutely beautiful. In about a month we’ll be opening up the 185-seat Nobu restaurant. That is coming along beautifully. I’ve dined at the Las Vegas location several times and I must say that Caesars Palace does not have the view that Caesars Atlantic City is going to have of the Boardwalk and the Atlantic Ocean. It’s just fabulous.

We just talked to our partner on the Nobu hotel suites, and we’ve made some minor adjustments there, but that project’s going to begin very shortly. So we’ll have 83 rooms and suites in our Centurion tower on the top floors. And that will round out Caesars, and I think we’ll soon see that we don’t have enough Nobu hotel suites. That will

be a future expansion project for sure.

We’ve also opened several more restaurants and outlets at Harrah’s and the Trop, and still have a few to go that will open before next summer.

What else is left?

We haven’t quite finalized the entertainment component. We’re still working with Spiegelworld, the company responsible for Absinthe and the Atomic Saloon shows at Caesars Palace, but Gary Selesner, who is helping us with all of our entertainment and higher-end restaurant concepts and used to be the regional president for the Western properties, will be out here soon, so that deal should be signed very shortly. And once it is, it will be all systems go, and then we will be hoping to get that project open by next July. That will be a unique show here in Atlantic City. And there will be a unique Italian restaurant concept included in that development.

There are lots of celebrity chefs in the Caesars properties in AC, at the same time the Borgata seems to be headed in a different direction. What is the strategy behind a celebrity chef restaurant?

We’ve had very successful relationships with our most recent celebrity chef arrangements. Hell’s Kitchen is on fire, to use a really bad pun, in Tahoe and Rincon—you can’t get in.

The Chef Nobu cache is very, very powerful. He has two restaurants in New York City and then with us having the first Nobu hotel and suites here on the East Coast, that will be very powerful. And added to Gordon, we all know how he does in terms of the celebrity. And then we’ve got Bobby and Guy Fieri. They all carry a lot of national branding all by themselves.

Are buffets dead in Atlantic City?

Caesars Palace has the Bacchanal. That’s the model. But it’s Vegas, right?—45 million people a year walking by with no seasonality.

We’ve had to right-size the whole company, so

in terms of buffets there is a direction that the company is going to continue to follow. In Atlantic City, having a variety of quick-service, medium to high-end caliber outlets matched what our customer demographics are. If there’s a better model, we’ll find it.

You have the biggest sportsbook in town at the Wild Wild West. Is it sometimes hard to figure out how to utilize all that space?

I think with our mobile Caesars sportsbook, we’ve got 1.5 million people signed up, which is a massive growth with a huge amount from the New York City area. So we are beginning to see the cross-pollination of the digital and sports customer into brick-and-mortar. Was it too big a footprint to begin with? Probably. But is it going to be something that we can grow into Wild Wild West? I would say yes. Especially now that it’s football season.

Tropicana, by the way, has got a perfectly sized sportsbook. It’s surrounded nicely by gaming. That really is a great model, by the way. Our president and COO, Anthony Carano, came up with that model. The Harrah’s one is nice. It’s a little bit smaller. So you’ve got the three different sizes, if you will.

So with all these great changes at the Caesars Atlantic City properties, how are you going to inform the public?

By the time we get to next summer, everything should be done and open, so stay tuned. We want to make sure that people are aware of what we’ve got here. We really do need to relaunch Caesars in Atlantic City.

I must say our air program is continuing to flourish here in Atlantic City. We’re bringing people in from 49 locations around the country. That’s worked very successfully, bringing them right into the Atlantic City airport. We have the biggest air program here in Atlantic City, and that’s going to continue to grow.