41 minute read
Frankly Speaking
by Frank Legato
Bets and Bacon
Advertisement
You know, I’m always ready to support new placements of gambling devices, because it’s good for the industry, and I’m all about what’s good for the industry.
But some of the mixing and matching of gambling with strange venues lately has me questioning if the ventures will be successful.
For instance, slots in strip clubs.
Commissioners in Clark County, Nevada, home to all of our favorite Las Vegas casinos, are looking into changing a 42-yearold regulation that says strip clubs and other “adult-oriented businesses” are “unsuitable for the conduct of gaming.” The ordinance was passed in 1980, before I ever set foot in a casino (or a strip club, for that matter).
The issue came up because Sapphire, an enormous nightclub location that happens to feature adult entertainment, requested an exemption to the no-slots-at-strip-clubs rule.
“Why are they prohibited in strip clubs?” asked one commissioner after the request.
I can’t answer that, but neither can I answer another question that pops up:
Why would a strip club want them?
Oh, right. They make money. But so does exotic dancing. I’m picturing exotic dancers exotic-ing away, flailing around, gyrating to music under flashing lights... and no one paying them a bit of attention, because the customers are all locked into holding and spinning and climbing bonus ladders and picking for progressive jackpots.
“Hey! Over here!”
“I’m wrapped around this damn pole!”
“Anybody?”
OK, for you strip club owners, here’s the only way it works. Put a screenin-screen image of the dancers on each slot monitor, with a common bonus: Pick from a field of icons (garters, feathers, whatever) to reveal one of the dancers. Reveal three images of the same dancer. You get a prize, and a cash voucher prints out. That’s the dancer’s tip. (Just so you know, I’ve filed a patent for this.)
I know. What’s the point of having exotic dancers if you want everyone’s attention fixed on slot screens? And if you’re paying for the machines, that’s what you want. You might as well have a regular casino.
Maybe they can dance on top of the machines. Hey, in the old days, they used to park convertibles and speedboats up there as prizes. Why not have Mandi up there doing her thing?
“Thanks, Mandi. Here’s a cash-out ticket!’
While strip-club owners ponder those possibilities, grocers in Ohio are pondering taking sports bets. Kroger and Acme have both applied for licenses from the state to place sports betting kiosks in their supermarkets. So, grocery lists will now look like this: √ Milk √ Eggs √ Sausages √ Bengals plus 6 I’m waiting for them to start putting betting kiosks at the McDonald’s drive-through. (In fact, I’m going to file a patent for that idea, too.) Moving on from the gaming device to food, I think I’m changing my name to George. Or, maybe, Jorge. That way, I can eat for free at the Downtown Grand in Las Vegas. They have a restaurant there called the Triple George Grill, and they’re now offering the “George Lunch,” free to anyone who can verify their first name is George. That gets you the Single George—half a sandwich, choice of side, soup or salad, a soft drink and a small dessert. If you’ve got two Georges in your party, you get two George Lunches. Three? The Triple George—three George lunches plus a choice of crab cake, shrimp cocktail or fried calamari, plus bottled sparkling water.
This is all to celebrate the 17th anniversary of the Triple George Grill. You can even celebrate if yours is a George-less party. Non-Georges who order the George Lunch get it for $20, and get a $50 match bet coupon. Or, for $200, get the 64-ounce tomahawk ribeye and a match-bet coupon.
Sixty-four ounces? Better line up a few Georges, or even Bernies, to help you eat it. George the EMT might also be a good idea.
By George. (Come on, you knew that was coming at some point.)
In other foodie news, since you’re already downtown, you can bop over to the D and go to Bacon Nation. That’ a 24/7 restaurant celebrating the porcine staple. You can pick from around 60 bacon dishes there, including Elvis-themed peanut butter and bacon sandwiches, milkshakes with candied bacon added, and a “reverse BLT,” with “woven bacon strips” replacing the bread.
And you don’t even have to be named George, although you might want to bring along George the EMT to this place, too.
Geez, I’m a little queasy even thinking about all that bacon.
I think I’ll head to the strip club and play some slots. Then, on to the McDonald’s drive-through to lay down a bet on the Steelers.
What a wonderful world.
The is the Experience
How to create extraordinary moments for your guests and engender instant loyalty
By Julia Carcamo
The story about the birth of Southwest Airlines is very enlightening. It details the battle the founders faced when they tried to start their fledgling airline, but buried in court documents and the eventual start of short-haul flights was the notion Herb Kelleher had that if employees were treated well, they would treat customers well.
This was well before the days of marketing shifted to a branding focus, but at the core of this concept was what would become the Southwest brand.
When I was a little girl, trips to the airport and flying were indeed an experience. Journalist raconteur Andre Leon Talley once shared the story of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and her sister getting their hair done just to arrive at the airport. Like most of the day, how you experienced something mattered. Today, flying is much less glamorous. It has become a method of getting from point A to point B. It is no wonder airlines appear to be doing the bare minimum to get your business.
So why does Southwest continue to choose its brand over what analysts might think is a better business strategy? More than likely, you have had a chance to take a flight on Southwest, and you have experienced the focus Southwest has on its brand as coming through its employees. From the job descriptions for a mechanic (seriously, check it out) to the quirky ways employees deliver the not-so-typical safety instructions, you are in the presence of a Brand (with a capital B).
We have all heard of or experienced brands with memorable, talkable experiences. Disney, Chewy, Chick-fil-A, and Zappos. The list (actually) goes on.
A couple of years ago, when the Clubhouse app was getting off the ground, I had some great conversations with who I lovingly referred to as some “old-school casino guys.” They have some great stories of how, at least in their minds, things used to be. As a brand marketer, I have to ask why casino operations are no longer mentioned in the great experience conversation.
For some, it has been a matter of budget cuts and process improvement. For some, it may have never been a genuine commitment, but I am here to tell you that your brand will not endure if the guest experience is not worth talking about positively (and sharing with others).
Large or small, your company can create great memorable experiences, and there are lessons to be learned all around us.
Team members who are given tools and trust create extraordinary moments.
Ritz-Carlton has maintained its leadership in luxury lodging by focusing on fundamentals and adhering to rigorous standards. The lynchpin in their strategy is their people—ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. Borrowing the family dinner concept of many restaurants, Ritz-Carlton’s lineup happens at every single hotel, everywhere in the world. Every shift is covered, and every team member participates. A signature part of the lineup is a “wow story” spotlighting team members’ actions to create those legendary Ritz-Carlton moments. The consistency of having the same message delivered everywhere supports the focus on service. Moreover, the operator understands that things might still go wrong with a guest’s experience. So, every team member is authorized to repair an experience up to $2,000.
As a side note, I recently had a conversation with someone who could recall a casino operator with a similar approach. Still, I am not sure anyone does this anymore.
There’s pet-friendly, and then there is PET-FRIENDLY.
One of my favorite hotel brands is Kimpton. I stumbled onto them quite accidentally. Our admin booked me there because it was close to a meeting I was having in another city. When I arrived, I discovered the stories of a pet-friendly hotel ahead of its time. In the words of their director of pet relations, “we invite you to bring your hairy, feathery or scaly family member with you for your stay—no matter their size, weight, or breed, all at no extra charge. If your pet
Ritz-Carlton has maintained fits through the door, we’ll welcome them in.” its leadership in luxury And for those who traveled without their famlodging by focusing on ily member, the hotel would provide a goldfish. Unfortunately, the latter practice ended, but fundamentals and adhering the lesson was that Kimpton understood its guests would miss their pets and created an to rigorous standards. The inviting space to feel at home.
lynchpin in their strategy is Guest loyalty is more than points.
their people— A subsequent visit to a different Kimpton and a second dinner at Capital Grille proved to me ladies and gentlemen that CRM systems are only as robust as the serving ladies and gentlemen. usage. During the original Kimpton trip, I discovered they had yoga lessons as part of their in-room TV selections. Additionally, I could call the front desk for a mat and other equipment for my class. It was a nice break from the typical visit to the hotel gym. On a visit to a different Kimpton location, I was surprised to find yoga equipment already placed in my room with a note from the front desk when I checked in! Now, whenever I travel, I look to see if Kimpton is an option, even though I have many points with a bigger chain. My first dinner at Capital Grille was nice. My second visit was extraordinary when the sommelier asked if we wanted to try a bottle of wine because it was similar to a previous one. Remember, this was only my second visit there. This is akin to a $150 customer coming in for the second time and the steakhouse knowing their preferences. Sure, we probably know the preferences of our VIP guests, but how many preferences do we capture (and use) for our mid-tier guests?
Some investments in the brand experience do not have a one-to-one ROI.
Years ago, as we toured one of our Midwest locations, one of our finance executives noticed a soft-serve ice cream machine near the buffet. It wasn’t in the buffet dessert area. Instead, it was located just outside of the buffet. While we enjoyed lunch with the property team, someone came up, took a cone, helped themselves to a frozen treat, and walked away. Of course, the finance executive asked the general manager why he hadn’t moved the machine in to be part of the buffet, and then, of course, he wondered what the property’s ice cream costs were. The GM shook off the comment and said he had thought about it when he took over the operation. If he could make a few people happy to give them something inexpensive, he figured the profit in the casino could cover it. In truth, only a handful of people helped themselves without purchasing the buffet.
Apple does not see a direct ROI from their Genius Bar. However, they see it in their brand loyalty every time they announce a new phone, tablet, MacBook, or watch.
On a worldwide stage, Apple is an excellent example of creating brand loyalty with an investment in the experience. Easily accessible and free customer support costs money, but it also creates a culture of ease and commitment to customer success. Apple does not see a direct ROI from their Genius Bar. However, they see it in their brand loyalty every time they announce a new phone, tablet, MacBook, or watch.
Short-term sacrifices can pay off in the long run.
Returns of Zappos purchases are reportedly three times higher than for brickand-mortar stores, but the company’s 365-day return policy and complimentary two-way shipping mean customers can shop confidently. Additionally, Zappos’ approach to its culture and customer service means that each customer is treated with care.
Today’s consumer demands a friction-free experience.
Before the pandemic, we were becoming accustomed to exceptional ease in obtaining the goods and services we wanted. The pandemic showed many a Luddite the joys of friction-free everything.
I can order my dog’s food and have it delivered on a regular schedule, so I never have to look at their faces when I run out of food and have to borrow some from the neighbor. I can easily refill groceries by this afternoon without leaving my desk. In fact, my best friend was able to order food and medicine for me when I was sick from over 700 miles away with a few taps of her phone.
Reducing the effort guests must go through to experience your brand is a must for anyone. How many people does a guest have to speak to get a question answered? How about your website? What does it take for someone to find the information they need to plan their next trip?
The development of cashless and player wallet technology is removing some of the friction guests have experienced, but brand marketers need to be asking what other points of friction we should be eliminating. Reducing the effort guests must make to enjoy their visits will net you happier guests, and happy guests tell their friends and family good things about you.
Why is customer experience so important to your brand?
While all of these stories are seemingly based on training and tools, a deeper review will show you a tale of brands committed to creating experiences that go beyond a logo.
Acquisition costs will only go up, and I don’t mean just online betting options.
Customer attention has become fragmented, and brands now have to be in more places than ever before. So, when you get a new customer, you need to be ready to wow them. And when it comes to your current customer base, they need to continually experience the brand in a way they will share with others. There is a reason “bring a friend” programs have been part of our goto player’s club promotions.
Marketers must include the experience in their brand focus. We must look at more than just the top of the brand iceberg; we must look for improvements wherever possible.
Any size operation can take the journey to an experience-centric brand.
Evaluate your mission, vision, and purpose. Do your actions reinforce these values? Are you committed to excellent customer service but focus most of your efforts on efficiencies? You can see how these two mindsets might coexist in the same environment yet are at odds with each other.
Prioritize a branded customer journey above and beyond just knowing the touchpoints and having them be the right color/logo/font. Forbes Insights Report showed that 74 percent of consumers are at least somewhat likely to buy based on experience alone. However, it is never just one touchpoint that will create loyalty. It is the sum of all. Understanding the customer journey (and indeed, the team member journey as well) can aid you in creating memorable experiences.
Create a feedback loop. Never underestimate the minds and feelings of your guests. You may think you know how they feel, but until you ask, you never indeed do. My experience in guest research has taught me that casino customers love to give you their thoughts, opinions and ideas. So, ask for them! This can be done in various ways, from post-visit surveys to blue-ribbon panels, to formal focus groups.
Invest in your team members. From the moment they decide to apply for a job, they should understand your brand and their potential role in creating that experience. They are your brand. This should include your call center, which we often outsource even though they have as much if not more contact with our guests. Have you ever written off a company based on one interaction with an employee? If you outsource any of your customer interactions (such as your call center), ensure your partner understands your brand and its values and is willing to be as dedicated to that vision as you are.
The guest experience is a battleground for brands, particularly if you operate with competitors only a drive away.
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 co-founder of the Hispanic marketing firm espÑOLA.
Going Beyond the Game
Eclipse Gaming Systems gives back to its Native American communities as it prepares to evolve toward wider horizons
By Frank Legato
Only a very few private citizens of Georgia have been honored with a resolution of commendation in the state Senate. One of those citizens is Tim Minard, chief executive officer of Duluth, Georgia-based Eclipse Gaming Systems.
It wasn’t just the progress of Eclipse, a 14-year provider of gaming machines to several Class II Native American markets, which led to Senate Resolution 831, adopted March 30, although that was part of it.
Since he became CEO in 2018, Minard, with help of principal David Lawrence and Sales VP Greg Drew, has reinvigorated Eclipse’s Class II business, overseeing the launch of a new platform and the high-performing IMPACT cabinet series. Eclipse has moved into new corporate headquarters in Duluth, an Atlanta suburb, and Minard has built a team of seasoned professionals that have strengthened its core Class II business by expanding its footprint into 14 states and positioning the company for an eventual move into Class III.
The state Senate resolution recognized and commended Minard for his contributions to Georgia through Eclipse and his former Georgia-based companies, Sports Challenge Network and Cadillac Jack—and his dedication to the state through efforts to lure businesses to Georgia, as well as his investments in entertainment centers throughout the state.
The heart of the Senate’s commendation of Minard went to his philosophy of not only fulfilling the equipment and service needs of his customers, but actively working to improve the communities in which he does business, through everything from scholarship programs to a wealth of charitable activities, volunteer efforts, and partnerships.
It is that attitude and culture he brought to Eclipse, where it has evolved into a mantra, a tagline, and a mission statement: “Going Beyond the Game.” Minard and Eclipse established the Beyond the Game Foundation, which has been quite active in Gwinnett County, where Eclipse is located, and the surrounding Metro Atlanta region.
The Metro Atlanta efforts have included the East Lake Foundation, dedicated to revitalizing the East Lake neighborhood and creating new opportunities for the families living there; the Chris Tucker Foundation, which provides scholarships to youth and families in Metro Atlanta, with a focus on
—Tim Minard, CEO, Eclipse Gaming Systems
Eclipse headquarters in Duluth, Georgia
“It’s exciting to see the transformation of our products that have been on casino floors for decades to the newest products we are launching today. —Sean Evans, Senior VP of Sales, Eclipse Gaming Systems “ STEAM students (science, technology, engineering, arts and math); and countless other efforts.
But over the past four years, Minard has extended this philosophy of service to the communities of Eclipse’s customers, the Native American tribes in the Class II markets the company serves.
“Everybody talks about (success) just being in the game,” Minard says. “Based on our tribal business, I recognized that tribes wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for these casino properties. It’s 100 percent of some of these tribes’ economic development. And so, I focused on getting people to understand that the better we do, the better they do, and the more they can serve their own community.
“And it expanded beyond that to the realization we should be helping the communities as well. We took it upon ourselves to culturally build that into the mix, and think about being a great citizen, a great partner to our tribes, and then to our communities around us.”
Minard relates a story in which a tribe asked Eclipse to sponsor a golf outing to raise money for tribal education. “I said, how about we buy you books or whatever else you need, and then we’ll go play golf?” He says that way, he’s building a relationship with his customers, rather than simply responding to a request for money.
Going beyond the game.
The Game Business
Not that the game itself is unimportant; quite the contrary. The reason Eclipse and Minard’s former companies have had the resources for all this charity work is that he is an innovator in technology who knows how to move a company to the next level.
At GameTech International, he was head of the video lottery terminal and gaming division. At Sports Challenge Network, he was a pioneer in the use of then-new mobile technology to create XBowling, a complete program of contests, competitions and score-sharing that created an interactive digital community for one of the oldest sports in the world, bowling.
But perhaps most pertinent to how Minard is moving Eclipse forward is his experience as chief financial officer and executive vice president of Cadillac Jack, another Atlanta-based Class II supplier which, after being acquired by AGS in 2015, has evolved into a significant player in the Class II and Class III markets.
Minardsees a similar eventual path for Eclipse, and the process of growth has already begun, as the company still has substantial greenfield space in Class II markets, particularly in the East. The first step has been to attract veteran talent.
For game development, Minard brought in Steven Slotwinski, a longtime game producer for WMS Gaming and Scientific Games—and chief operating officer for a subsidiary of NHN Entertainment, responsible for multiple socialmobile product lines—as chief technology officer. He brought in Laura OlsonReyes, a veteran of AGS, Scientific Games, Bally Technologies and Aristocrat, as senior VP of marketing. He named Sean Evans senior vice president of sales. Evans was one of the top sales executives at Aristocrat during its most crucial growth period in the U.S. in the early 2000s, and held top sales positions at Scientific Games, A.C. Coin & Slot, and Aruze Gaming.
Other top executives each bring special skill sets that are helping to grow the company. President and Chief Operating Officer Robert Visintainer, who joined Eclipse in 2019, has a 25-year history in which he oversaw global operations and supply chain management for NCR Corporation. Chief Financial Officer Louise Ward has more than 20 years’ experience in accounting and financial operations and building best-in-class financial and operations teams.
In all, it’s a team tailor-made to expand the Eclipse footprint in Class II, and ultimately, attack the goal of evolving the company into a full-service supplier in both Class II and Class III.
“At Cadillac Jack, we saw Class II at an early stage grow and grow, and then into other markets with compacts,” Minard recalls. “And then it grew into
Chief Financial Officer Louise Ward has more than 20 years’ experience in accounting and financial operations and building best-in-class financial and operations teams
—Steven Slotwinski, Chief Technology Officer, Eclipse Gaming Systems
tribal Class III, and then commercial Class III for some of the Class II providers. Then the other offshoots that are coming out—HHR, iGaming, social gaming—all that’s in the path of Eclipse.
“The question is, what do you need to do as an organization to get to the next level?”
Part of getting to the next level is building an organization that will grow significantly in the Class II market, where Eclipse is poised to enter new jurisdictions. “There’s still so much growth ahead in Class II,” Minard says. “What we love about Class II is there are a lot of recurring revenue partnerships with the tribes—deep relationships, sustainable for a long period of time. And then, as we continually grow that area, with approximately 120 tribal Class II casinos in America, you’ve got tribal Class III, which is another approximately 280 on top of that. So, there’s so much growth potential.”
Improving Performance
That process will be moved along by the company’s technology, which vastly improved when Slotwinski refocused the game development process for current and future objectives.
“We did a great job redesigning the functionality of our platform,” says Slotwinski. “We have re-architected our proprietary platform to give Eclipse the ability to create content much more efficiently than we have in the past. Additionally, we have added the ability to easily enter other product lines like Class III, iGaming and HHR with little rework. These are just a few examples of what we have been able to accomplish in a short period of time.”
“The platform redesign has positioned us well to enter the Class III market,” says Minard. “We built it from scratch, and we’re ready to hit the gas; we are ready for that push when the time is right.”
Minard adds that the company’s location in Metro Atlanta is a big advantage, providing a wealth of engineering talent to augment the company’s veteran developers. “We are bringing in industry veterans, and we have a rich market here,” he says. “There are many slot manufacturers represented here, and I know other manufacturers that are looking to come into Georgia. It is a very populous marketplace with great engineers, great media, entertainment talent, and awesome art talent. It’s a good spot to be in.”
That doesn’t mean Atlanta will be the only engineering hub. Minard sees a future in which the company will have design studios in several locations. “We understand other markets also have great talent, and I think you’ll see us move into other markets as well.”
While Class III may be in the future for Eclipse, the company has used its technology to develop some of the top games to be found in the Class II space. “Many of the top-performing titles in the Class II space are Class III games that have been converted to Class II,” Slotwinski comments. “Our focus has been to make unique Class II games with the polish of a Class III game. It’s this type of effort that has allowed us to be competitive in the Class II industry.”
Several new product launches this year will focus on use of the company’s new hardware in the IMPACT series.
“We began by creating our IMPACT 27, a dual 27-inch cabinet, then proceeded to build our IMPACT 43, our first portrait cabinet,” says Slotwinski. “This year we decided to go bigger by adding the IMPACT 49 to our product line. We have elevated that cabinet in multiple pod formations that include wedge artwork and a 360-degree LED sign package that will light up any casino floor.”
Evans adds that the Eclipse product on slot floors is carving its own niche as distinctive and unique. “Our product is seen by players as a different product,” he says. “It’s exciting to see the transformation of our products that have been on casino floors for decades to the newest products we are launching today.
“But more importantly, we’re expanding in properties. We have a pretty audacious goal to add about 15 properties this year, and we’re more than two thirds of the way there. And for us, that’s important to do in our existing markets, like Washington, where, by early next year, we’ll be in almost in every property in the state, which is more than double our penetration a year ago.”
Built for the Future
The expansion at Eclipse is bound to continue with the company being set up for success due to strategic moves over the past two years, including consolidating its operations into the new 40,000-square-foot facility in Duluth. This allowed Eclipse to increase its production capacity seven-fold.
Since 2020, the company has expanded its workforce by 35 percent, has steadily increased its licensed jurisdiction count, and continues to build on a footprint that began in 2020 with 40 tribes in 10 tribal gaming jurisdictions.
According to Visintainer, the company has remained active in its expansion and development efforts despite a global pandemic that shut the industry down for months and is still wreaking havoc on supply chains affecting countless businesses.
“During the pandemic we doubled down on our investment in technology,” Visintainer says. “We invested in our proprietary platform and re-architected it to scale for our upcoming business objectives. We also migrated our front end to Unity just prior to the pandemic. These initiatives enabled us to come out with dozens of different features we can now incorporate into games seamlessly.”
“The revisions to our platform also allow us to produce games with a heav-
ier focus on the visual and audio details rather than on software development,” adds Slotwinski. “Our feature library is extremely modular now, which allows our team to easily prototype games much earlier in the development process, thus giving us more time to focus on what the players want to see and hear.”
Along with those increased efficiencies in game development, adds Slotwinski, has been an influx of new talent—not only veteran game developers, but new engineering talent from the rich vein that exists in the Metro Atlanta region.
“We have been fortunate to obtain veteran talent from the industry throughout my three years at Eclipse,” Slotwinski says. “Our talent pool continues to grow with experienced talent as we become more successful in this industry.
“Additionally, we have partnered with the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce and the Gwinnett County school system to help educate the next generation of STEAM students on the gaming industry. We have partnered with multiple universities in the area and began internship programs with them to help promote gaming in Georgia.”
As far as the supply chain issues, Minard and Eclipse were lucky to have a veteran like Visintainer on board, whose experience managing supply chain issues at NCR has been invaluable in keeping production humming along.
“Leading up to the pandemic, I noticed negative patterns around the CPU, monitor, and integrated circuit industries,” Visintainer says. “Three months prior to the pandemic I began to preposition our critical inventory, which really helped us through the pandemic. We did not see any shortages in terms of us being able to deliver cabinets to our customers.”
With all the right elements in place, Eclipse is poised for further growth in Class II, with Class III remaining on the back burner for the future.
“Washington state is a very important market for us,” says Evans. “The growth we see there almost doubled the number of tribes that we participate with. We’re just launching this year into the Northern California tribal market, where there is a good concentration of Class II games. We’re excited to see our first units get installed this month at Blue Lake Casino, and there are five or six other properties that we’ll see prior to the end of summer. California is a great opportunity for us to build up the recognition of our product.”
Other Class II opportunities exist in Kansas, where Eclipse will be in two new properties, increasing the company’s footprint to four out of five tribal properties. “Also, in Oklahoma, we have a large concentration of machines, and we’ve been there for a long time,” Evans adds. “And in the East, there are opportunities in New York and Florida that our team’s pursuing. We’re in about a dozen jurisdictions, and we’ll probably pick up four or five new jurisdictions next year.”
Minard has said that any company is “one title away from being a superstar.” He points to several new games within an estimated 18 new titles to be launched by the end of the year that could very well be that superstar title.
“The games we’ve got ready and about to be approved are really good,” he says. “We’ve seen great early signs on one of our games, Tick Tock Jackpot.” That’s a five-reel, seven-row game that creates an adrenaline-pumping experience with a countdown pick game in which players work against the clock to pick symbols to create a chain-reaction explosion that reveals prizes.
Another potential winner is the Big Shake series, three-reel slots that use perceived skill in recreating an arcade-style coin-pusher game. “The coin-pusher has been around for a long time, but our take on it is bringing in a lot of different elements,” Minard says. “I feel like that can be a franchise game.”
Meanwhile, Eclipse is ready for what Minard calls “the next phase.” That means more Class II jurisdictions, and the inevitable launch into Class III.
“We see these years as our employee-building years, our strategy-building years,” Minard says, noting he is “putting 2027 up on the board” as the target date for completing that next phase. “I know we have the ingredients to make that Class III game, and depending upon the market we’re going into, we know how to do it.
“For now, we feel there’s still a lot of runway for us to expand in the Class II space and we are concentrating heavily on what it takes to be No. 1 in this industry.”
That runway, as always with Eclipse, goes beyond the game.
The smaller baccarat table is in vogue these days
The Times They Are a-Changing
The elegant game of baccarat has become a popular game on the casino floor, and everyone must be aware of the advantages and pitfalls of a game with such a small house edge
By Bill Zender
To most North American casino customers, baccarat is considered an unusual gambling game. Many players compare baccarat to that more popular card game of blackjack. In blackjack, the customer plays against the dealer and has the option to make decisions on his hand such as hit, stand, double down, split, and then some.
The same blackjack customer who sits down on a baccarat game is somewhat dumbfounded with the lack of ability to participate in determining the outcome of the hand. Based on a standard “third card” rule, the dealer makes the decision to draw a card or stand. To many North American card players, this limitation makes the game somewhat unattractive.
In the past, a large portion of casino baccarat play in North American was attributed to customers from south of the border. Baccarat has been very popular with Latin American players from Mexico, Central America and South America.
Most of baccarat customers in Las Vegas during the ’70s and ’80s happened to be the wealthy class from Mexico—players out of Monterey and Mexico City, looking to vacation in Las Vegas and gamble at baccarat. Unfortunately, Latin gamblers started to diminish as the U.S. dollar got stronger and the Mexican peso suffered through periods of terrible inflation.
Enter the 1990s and the Asian customer.
Based on the Asian gambling psyche, baccarat is the perfect casino game. Once the cards are shuffled, cut and placed into the dealing shoe, Asian players feel their fate is “sealed” in the shoe. The lack of sequence-altering options, as experienced with blackjack, is perfect for what most Asians want in a gambling experience.
As Asian customers started to flood the baccarat games, many casinos rightfully refocused their marketing efforts to attract this type of gambler who is virtually “hard-wired” for monetary risk-taking. More baccarat games started to appear on the casino floor, replacing the previously revered blackjack games.
In addition, casinos were able to trade in those old 14-spot tables that required an extensive support staff. Asian customers preferred the smaller sitdown table, dealt by one dealer, and with a lot less “bling” and allure associated with the “big table” baccarat games.
Baccarat scorecards are essential for running a successful game
Asian players love to “squeeze” the cards imagining they can add or attract a spot or two
How Has The Game of Baccarat Changed?
What has changed in baccarat with the switch in the cultural market from primarily Latin American to overwhelmingly Asian? Since many Asian customers are more superstitious than their predecessors, the casino must take certain factors into consideration.
First, Asian gamblers find certain numbers lucky and others unlucky. For example, the numbers 4 and 14 are considered extremely unlucky. In the Cantonese language, the word for the number “four” sounds similar to the word for “death.” The wise casino executive needs to remember this fact and remove “4” and “14” from the table layout.
The number 8 in the Chinese and Southeast Asian cultures represents “luck.” On a seven-spot baccarat layout, the “4” can be removed and an eighth position added after the seventh position, which will accommodate both the unlucky and lucky numerical situations nicely.
Management may also consider Asian number preferences when making change for currency of higher-denomination casino chips. Breaking a $100 chip or bill should not be done by giving the player four $25 chips, but by giving the player eight chips—three $25 chips and five $5 chips. This number preference can also be done when changing $500. The customer is given four $100 chips and four $25 chips. There are several other superstitious issues that need to be taken into consideration by management.
Note: It is important to accommodate the Asian customer’s superstitious habits, but that does not mean that management needs to always make changes to baccarat and its established procedures. In some instances, the customer will use the casino’s willingness to change procedure to gain the customer an advantage over the house. Sometimes it is best just to say “No.”
Following are some other changes to the game of baccarat that have been made to accommodate the shift in the baccarat market.
Condition Of “Squeezed” Cards In Baccarat
In the beginning, “big table” players would touch the cards. It was standard procedure for the customers wagering to handle the dealing shoe and with instruction from the “stick” baccarat dealer, draw cards from the shoe. Few baccarat customers bent or twisted the playing cards.
Occasionally, a customer would blame his or her cards for a losing outcome and crumple or rip the cards in half. This was usually followed by a stern reprimand from the baccarat supervisor. It was standard practice to reuse the playing cards over and over again unless the cards showed obvious wear or the cards appeared to have been marked.
Asian customers on a baccarat “squeeze” game generally treat the playing cards much differently. When peeking the result of the two-card hand, the player will roll the corners and side of each card looking to identify the value of the card based on the spot configuration. Once the customer has peeked the cards in this manner, reusing the cards in any future rounds is out of the question. Today, it is standard baccarat procedure to immediately replace all eight decks at the end of the shoe.
Why Pre-Shuffled Cards?
Primarily, pre-shuffled playing cards used in baccarat are vital for speeding up the introduction of new decks onto the game. When introducing eight new decks of cards, standard procedure is to have each deck inspected, backs and faces, by both the floor supervisor and the dealer, and then scrambled or “washed” together before the cards are inserted into a shuffling machine or manually shuffled.
This process is extremely time-consuming, considering that most baccarat games utilize a batch-type shuffling machine that requires the use of two eight-deck sets of cards. Pre-shuffled cards, on the other hand, can be introduced immediately into the game without the time-wasting inspection process.
Regulators in most gambling jurisdictions have approved the use of pre-shuffled playing cards when taken directly out of their packaging at the table. Pre-shuffled cards come with an additional cost, but this cost, usually a few cents, is easily recovered by the speed of getting the packaged cards on the table and in action.
In some instances, casinos have brought the process in-house, and have a dedicated “card control” room and staff manually prepare the eight-deck batch. The staff opens the decks, removes the joker and blank cards, washes the eight decks together, and places them through a shuffling machine. Once the machine shuffle is completed, the eight decks are run through a deck-checking machine and scanned for completeness.
Next, the eight decks are placed into a transparent carrier that is sealed with a security strap. This strap is removed only when the carrier reaches the table. Several casinos that have gone to this process eventually reverted to the manufactured pre-shuffled decks due to cost of card control labor and added security the factory-packaged playing cards provide.
To further enhance their baccarat game safety, many casino executives have elected to use a shuffling machine in conjunction with pre-shuffled playing cards. This process, even though more time-costly than immediately cutting and dealing the pre-shuffled cards, has eliminated several game protection issues by adding a final machine shuffle.
Following the Player/Banker Patterns (The Scoreboard)
Basically, the predominant Latin customers of baccarat went from blaming their luck on bad cards in the ’70s and ’80s to the Asian player guessing their fate based on their ability to identify game trend patterns. Casinos provide baccarat customers with paper score cards and two-colored pens which the customers can use to record and track the Player/Banker/Tie results.
The customers would use these notations to locate any winning hand trends. The trends the baccarat customer is mostly looking for are indications that the shoe’s winning hands seem to repeat or go back and forth between Player and Banker.
Management quickly saw the advantage of providing the customers with a more efficient result-tracking system, and installed electronic scoreboards on each table. Scoreboards in baccarat track the previous results, usually in two different scoreboard screen formats (Bread Pan and Big Road). The boards also post “prediction” screens such as “Little Road, Big Eyed Boy, and Cockroach Tail” which advise the customers if the patterns indicating the winning results will “streak” and repeat, or if the winning outcomes “chop” or bounce back and forth between Player and Banker.
The scoreboard serves an additional purpose—advertising. Customers walking around the gaming area near the baccarat tables will be able to view different table scoreboards and look for patterns that may attract them to a certain “lucky” game.
What Are Free Hands?
When looking for these patterns, sometimes customers request the dealers deal hands where no player places a wager. These are known as free hands. This situation free hand is also known as dealing a “dummy hand.”
Free hands serve two purposes. First, they are used when a dealer makes a third-card drawing error. Instead of burning the mistake card similar to standard error procedures in blackjack, the error card is placed aside and used in the next hand, with that hand being dealt “free” or without bets being placed. This procedure maintains the (perceived) order of the shoe.
The second use of free hands is so customers can view the flow of the cards (again perceived) to help them predict future hands. Almost all Asian customers track hand win/loss patterns either on a paper scorecard or the scoreboard. If a higher-limit customer is uncertain as to the win/loss pattern, instead of sitting at the table until someone else places a wager, as a courtesy, the dealer can be requested to draw a free hand. Some higherlimit players are allowed to request several free hands in an attempt to identify a win/loss pattern.
Note: Free hands do not represent any change to the game’s mathematical advantage, but are wasted hands that do not generate revenue. Any excessive amount of free hands per shoe will reduce the shoe’s revenue potential as well as lower the game’s standard hold percentage.
In an effort to accommodate higher-limit customers, a few casinos will immediately draw free hands at the beginning of each new shoe. The standard number of free hands drawn to begin the shoe is three or up to five. These hands can be drawn and called quite quickly since there is no bet contemplation period by the customer.
Where the overall free hand concept hits a snag is when the casino offers this option to any baccarat customer. In some situations, close to half the hands drawn end up as “non-revenue” events, which damages income
The “big” baccarat table with seven seats on each side and operated by a team of four dealers is limited to high-limit rooms in today’s casino
potential during the standard gaming day. It can also affect the cost of customer reinvestment if the casino does not have the ability to reduce the number of decisions per shoe in the player tracking computer when a large number of free hands are drawn.
The Myth Behind Offsetting Wagering in Baccarat
One of the more common myths in baccarat is the wrongly perceived mathematical change that occurs when a customer bets on both the Player and Banker wagers at the same time. This is known as offsetting wagering. Many casino executives believe that this offsetting wagering situation actually nullifies any mathematical advantage of the house. How can the customer lose? If one side loses the other side wins, and the customer receives player reinvestment credit while not risking any money.
This myth is absolutely not true. Both bets are subject to the same house advantage as if they were wagered individually or at different times. The Player bet is still subject to a 1.24 percent mathematical house advantage while the Banker bet is subject to that game type’s Banker house advantage (1.06 percent in standard, 1.02 percent in EZ, or 1.46 percent in Tiger).
This hypothesis holds true for all table game situations where the customer can “bet against themselves,” such as the “Do” and “Don’t” wagers in craps and the “even money” wagers in roulette. Each bet is still subject to the individual mathematical advantage regardless of the wagering strategies used.
In all actuality, offsetting wagering situations are good for the casino. These situations eliminate any risk due to game result volatility and provide the casino with a consistent outcome that is positive for the house. What an offsetting situation indicates is that specific customer’s reluctance to gamble. For instance, casino executives need to question why a customer utilizes an offsetting strategy to wager any promotional chips or coupons.
Recently, casinos are questioning why their slot customers have elected to wager their accumulated slot reinvestment “free play” vouchers by offsetting the promotion instruments on Player/Banker in baccarat. Obviously, they would rather “wash” their reinvestment dollars on a 1 percent game instead of a 10 percent game while experiencing no outcome volatility.
As former Nevada Gaming Control agent, casino operator, professional card counter and casino consultant, Bill Zender has been involved in various areas of gaming and hospitality since 1976. He has instructed courses on game protection, card counting, advantage play and gaming operations at various colleges and institutions throughout the country. As a member of JMJ, Inc., Zender was an owner and operator of the Aladdin Hotel and Casino. For more information, visit billzender.com.
