Casino life October 2015 by Outsource Digital Media Ltd

October 2015

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Editor’s page Editorial: Editor in Chief: Glyn Thomas Mob: +380 952 705 596 glyn@ace123.com Features Editor: Damien Connelly dconnelly@ace123.com Associate Editor Asia: Bill Healey bill@ace123.com Associate Editor North America David Mckee dmckee@ace123.com Special Assignment Correspondent: Jack Bulavsky jackbulavsky@yahoo.com UK: Alan Campbell alancampbellcasinolife@gmail.com International Casino & Gaming Correspondent: JJ Woods jjsilks@eircom.net Technology Correspondent: Rebecca Green rebecca@ace123.com

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Welcome to Casino Life... I’m writing this in New York, having decided to take a break before G2E and it’s proving to be a great trip. Entertainment here is king, with everyone trying to out-perform – whether it’s trying to get you to book their tour or eat at their restaurant. Bright lights and music trumps all… along with good service. I have been totally blown away by just how genuinely helpful everyone has been and nothing has been too much trouble – even from the legendary grumpy cab drivers. Las Vegas will be next on the agenda but am I the only one who thinks that occasionally the service aspect wears a little thin – is a bit too insincere? We all want to be treated as VIPs. But I think we all want that to be real and genuine care not just a false smile to get a tip. And so that is the theme that weaves its way through this edition – being a VIP; being treated well – great entertainment and good service. Care as a core value. Whether it’s an operator on the scale of Pinnacle caring for smaller businesses in it’s supply chain or Gavin Isaacs enthusiastically walking the casino floors, care is a core value. Back to this issue and we have a mixed bag of goodies with Jack Bulavsky getting a well-deserved “journo of the Month award” for covering so many bases at once. Walter Bugno outlines the progress of bringing IGT and GTech under a single roof; Sonya Nikolova talks about the added breadth the company is showing at G2E; Steve Donoughue says the UK Casino Industry needs a shake up; whilst Ian Hogg sets out how staff optimization can lead to better bottom lines. Caring for customers, staff and partners is a core value of the casino industry and is aptly summed up with the quote from Pinnacle Entertainment’s Troy Stremming whose dad told him: “Your attitude more than your aptitude will determine your altitude in life.” Enough said. See you in Vegas!

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Glyn Thomas Editor in Chief

Contents 1

Editors Page

4 Improving Connections Guido Berghmans, CEO, CASINO 2000, chats with Damien Connelly about its connected entertainment 10 Do the right thing Pinnacle Entertainment’s Troy Stremming credits his mentors for two decades of success. By David McKee 16 Building Better Business A delicate balance between revenue and entertainment. Interview with Marcus Prater, Executive Director of the AGEM. Jack Bulavsky 19 GAME ON! With only weeks to go before the Ukraine conference Glyn Thomas provides an update.. 23 Progressive Innovaton Walter Bugno, CEO, IGT International chats to Jack Bulavsky 27 Are your Players Very Important? Damien Connelly met with Max Lindenberg at NOVOMATIC Group headquarters in Austria 31 Core Values Drive Scientific Games Jack Bulavsky talks to President and CEO at Scientific Games Corporation Gavin Isaacs 33 Digital Technology Sonya Nikolova Business Development Director Casino Technology Chats to Glyn Thomas 39 Dealer Table Optimisation Ian Hogg, Chairman of Shopworks talks to Rebecca Green 42 Skill-based Casino Games Offer Leading Advantages Damien Connelly talks with Aaron Hightower, VP Gaming Technology for NanoTech Gaming 47 When the Right Vision meets Reality… “T” Street, the new Playground in Atlantic City, gets an A+ from this Professor. Robert Ambrose 48 Breaking out of the aspic Gambling Consultant, Steve Donoughue MBA 52 G2E Las Vegas G2E Preview Spotlight 2015 By Rebecca Green Editorial Policy: The views and opinions expressed in Casino Life remain principally the views of contributors and do not necessarily reflect those of the editor or publishers. The publishers wish to avoid inaccuracies and, whilst every precaution has been taken to ensure that information contained in this publication is accurate, no liability is accepted by the editor or publishers for errors or omissions, however caused. Unless otherwise stated, articles appearing in this publication remain the copyright of the publishers and may not be reproduced in any form without the publisher’s written consent. Printed in the UK by MPC Ltd.

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Guido Berghmans, CEO, CASINO 2OOO, and Damien Connelly

Improving Connections Guido Berghmans, CEO, CASINO 2000, chats with Damien Connelly about its connected entertainment

“W

e are the only casino in Europe where you find the Las Vegas concept implemented 100% throughout the property. Everything we offer is behind our entrance control; our casino and bingo, our hotel, our F&B, and our Chapito events facility. The most important thing is we now have our Chapito directly connected with our venue.” Since 1999, the owner has invested over €60 million in CASINO 2OOO. From expanding the casino floor, through building a second hotel tower, to renewing the restaurants and adding the Chapito for events, CASINO 2OOO has improved significantly over the years. From my first visit to my latest, I am always amazed by the efficiency of the team. As Bob Ambrose has been writing about in his Casino Life articles, a great team makes a huge difference to any casino…and for me, the CASINO 2OOO team is the best I’ve come across in Europe. From the floor staff to the senior management team, they know their customers, take great pride in their work, and great care over their customers’ wellbeing. They seem to be telepathic to me, as they anticipate where and when individual customers will need their assistance before those customers know it themselves. You have to go and see this team in action. The benefits this team brings spread beyond the casino, with investments being made in the region. As Guido commented, “They are making changes to the autobahn that will make it easier for people from the City of Luxembourg to travel to Mondorf-

les-Bains.” The casino is located in Mondorf-lesBains, a small spa town with a population of 4,500. When you walk around the town, you can see the economic gains to the town; not least the raft of construction underway that will significantly increase its population. CASINO 2OOO is strongly connected to the economic wellbeing of the area. “With our reception and the new welcome area finalised, we now connect all the spaces in our building. When an event finishes and people are leaving the Chapito, they walk through through the ‘Passage’ and see our new ‘petit casino’ which offers a taste of our main casino floor.” When I visited, I attended a live concert in the Chapito with hundreds of other people and saw how effectively this connection happens. Many visitors stayed in the building after the concert to extend their evening’s entertainment by visiting the casino and using the F&B facilities. The latest F&B facility is the Indigo Bar: “Our new Indigo bar offers a great space for our customers to sit down and relax. It is also very popular with our hotel guests and for people who come for an event.” I can testify to this. I sat and watched people leaving the concert and, the following day, I sat in the Indigo bar area and watched CASINO 2OOO’s customers come and go—a bit like you do in a Parisian café. One of the subtle elements of this space that I never even noticed until Guido pointed it out to me is the attention given to noise; important given this is a transition area focused on keeping people in the building. The background music is low key and relaxing, and all the slot

machines have had their volume set to zero. “We asked our customers what they like about this new area. All of our customers said they liked how we have turned the sound off on every slot machine. And they like our choice of music playing in the background at a low level, which is deliberately chosen to be relaxing.” Another point of detail that caught my attention is the request service concept, where you can call a staff member by pressing a button; exactly the same as the call service buttons on slots. This allows the Indigo bar to be open yet not permanently staffed. And the service is rapid; I waited only a few minutes to be served every time I used this request service.

Connecting Events The Chapito gives CASINO 2OOO a flexible event space that can accommodate up to 1,300 people seated and 2,100 standing. It is used for both corporate and customer events, like the concert I and several hundred other customers attended. The focus on events is being ramped up by CASINO 2OOO, as Guido noted: “About 40% of people in this region know of the CASINO 2OOO brand name. We hope to grow this by using

events such as we had this evening to attract new customers. “We are working on an event programme that covers the next 12 to 18 months, whereas before we used to work on a programme that was only for the next 2 or 3 months. As our total concept is now finalised and we have joined all our spaces together, we are working hard to use the entire building. We don’t want to have a Friday or Saturday evening where we have no events or shows. We have at least 100 musical events organised in our programme. We also have blackjack tournaments and regular bingo events, so we always have something happening to attract people. We are also increasing our use of communication activities, such as Facebook and Twitter, to attract more customers via our events programme.” Then there’s the 3-day Festival Culturel organised by CASINO 2OOO, which is now in its 11th year. Growing in strength every year, this is a key tactic in helping to change people’s perceptions of the kind of entertainment they can experience in a casino resort. With a view to constantly improving its Festival Culturel, CASINO 2OOO is partnering with Francofolies de Spa with which it is able to share ideas and knowledge.

Its desire and willingness to share ideas and knowledge helps explains why CASINO 2OOO is a leading member of Casinos Créateurs d’Émotions, a federation of casinos whose membership spans Europe and North Africa. The federation started in 2004 and is open to independently owned casinos, as well as small casino groups. Members discuss and share knowledge and best practices, book the same entertainment acts, and even share concepts: for example, the Purple Lounge operates in several of the casinos in the Casinos Créateurs d’Émotions federation, including CASINO 2OOO.

Casino Developments “We are adding Novomatic V.I.P. machines and an 8-seat electronic roulette from Alfastreet. We discussed electronic roulette options within our Casinos Créateurs d’Émotions federation. We came to the decision that the Alfastreet product was the most suitable for our casino. We chose the Alfastreet product as the software seems to offer everything the customer needs, e.g. particular bets can be cancelled, which we think our customers will really appreciate.” Another thing CASINO 2OOO customers really appreciate is winning; an average day sees

customers winning over 300 jackpots. “Our customers like playing for jackpots, especially multilevel jackpots. King Kong Cash is very important for us. We keep our machines on average six or seven years. We now add only machines we know have a proven performance level in Europe.” As customer behaviour changes, so does the casino and the equipment it has on its floor: “We have 80 machines which still accept coins. Some of our customers prefer to play with coins, but this number is reducing every year. Probably within three years our casino will be completely cashless. Our DRGT cashless system is working very well; it’s easier to have cashless, and our customers like it.”

Future Opportunities “The last time our gaming laws were updated was in 2002. They are working currently on new rules that will allow us to offer all the gaming options we have previously not been able to offer, such as poker, Caribbean Stud poker, semi-automatic games, and being able to place used machines. This will allow us a lot more flexibility in our operations. And we hope that for the coming years there will be a development in our gaming laws to allow skillbased games.

“The first things we will be able to do is to have payback on the slot machines allowing us to offer free games to our customers. There will be certain types of slot machines that we will be able to add to our machine park to make our offer more closely resemble that of the large casinos people are used to playing in in markets such as Las Vegas. Ultimate Texas Hold’em Poker or Caribbean Stud poker could be something interesting. We will add poker, targeting people 30-years plus. “We are still working on the extension of our hotel; our President Tower. This will be completed

in a few months and will add a new product. Our President Tower has a Board Room allowing us to offer to businesses a new venue where they can hold business events and meetings.” One other thing that amazes me about CASINO 2OOO is its constant drive to improve the products it offers. As I was leaving, the team were starting a review of their buffet to improve it for their customers. I often think too many European casinos underestimate the value in buffets and in providing a quality food offering…but not CASINO 2OOO. It knows what its customers want.

Do the right thing Pinnacle Entertainment’s Troy Stremming credits his mentors for two decades of success. David McKee

ith all due respect to the ancient Chinese, for Troy Stremming, living in interesting times has a blessing and not a curse. He was been with Station Casinos, Ameristar Casinos and Pinnacle Entertainment during significant periods of ferment in each. Most recently, he had a front-row seat for Pinnacle’s sale of its asset base to Gaming & Leisure Properties (GLPI), a realestate investment trust spun off from Penn National Gaming. “When you look at all the things that really matter when you’re building a company – the

product offerings, your loyalty programs, your team members, your culture, your gaming licenses – all of those things will stay the same,” Stremming assures readers. “The only thing that changes is we will now be a tenant and will no longer own our real estate. It creates a lot of positives for the shareholders, our team members, but when you look at the operational structure, we’re going to keep doing the things that have made us successful to this point.” Stremming allows that there will be “some” constraints now that GLPI is to be Pinnacle’s landlord. But, he adds, “we will significantly reduce our debt balance. It puts us in a much less leveraged position.

It frees up cash flow to do things moving forward but you also will have a lease payment that you’re responsible for, so that’s a change and it will force us to be even better operators, making sure that every dollar that we spend is one that allows us to grow the business and, at the same time, making sure we can make our lease payments. It forces us, as operators, to make sure we are spending our shareholders’ money very wisely.” Pinnacle’s executive vice president for government affairs and public relations grew up playing football, basketball and baseball in Silver Lake, Kansas, a town of 1,400 people, outside Topeka. “I’m very fortunate to have grown up in a stable environment with parents that were very supportive of anything and everything that my sister and I wanted to do.” Primarily concerned with wanting to keep playing sports, Stremming took his undergraduate degree at Washburn University, in Topeka. He knew he wanted to pursue a graduate degree but “Every doctor I

talked to said, ‘Be a lawyer.’ Every lawyer I talked to said, ‘Be a doctor.’” Stremming took the advice of the doctors and got his law degree from Washburn. The gaming industry was the furthest thing from his mind, as it was only just coming to the Midwest during Stremming’s formative years. But while he was with Rose, Brouillet & Shapiro “Argosy [Gaming] was a client of the firm and as I worked on the periphery, as a new associate, it really drew my interest.” Colleague Rich Haskins moved on to become Station Casinos’ Midwest general counsel – a position to which Stremming would eventually succeed – and his young protégé followed suit in 1996. Station opened its St. Charles casino in 1994, one of the first two in Missouri, and followed it in 1997 with Station Casino Kansas City. Fortresses of revenue, they dominate their markets to this day. All was well until 2000, when Station lobbyist Michael Lazaroff admitted to extensive ex parte contacts with then-Missouri Gaming Commission Chairman Robert Wolfson as well as hiding bonuses from Station from his law partners. The brouhaha – and Station’s refusal to honor Commission subpoenas – seriously threatened to cost Station its license, but Stremming helped broker a deal that saw Station unload its two Missouri casinos to Ameristar Casinos in return for property in Nevada. Looking back, Stremming maintains that his old company did no wrong. “Many of the actions which Michael was taking were just poor decisions on his part. I don’t know that Station could have done anything different to know exactly what Michael was doing,” he says. Stremming adds that “there was very close interaction and oversight of what Michael was doing as an attorney but many of those things were done outside the purview of what anybody could see.” And the lesson to be drawn? “We could all learn, if you look back, that you want to keep a very close eye on any representative or consultant that you have or anyone who is an appendage of the business. “In all the 20 years that I’ve been involved in this industry and for several different companies, I’ve never seen any company in this industry that would jeopardize those licenses. We’re an industry that selfreports. They know immediately if there is something that is concerning from a regulatory standpoint,” Stremming says. As for the Station-to-Ameristar property swap, Stremming recalls that he was part of a group led by William Warner that was trying to raise $475 million for a leveraged buyout of the two

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casinos. Then Warner decided to stay with Station, causing discouragement among financiers. “As that opportunity began to dissipate, there was a focus on who might be able to step in and take over that purchase,” Stremming reminisces. “I feel very fortunate that Ameristar stepped up and carried out that transaction. I think they saw value in the management team and myself in keeping us involved, because this was going to double the size of Ameristar and be a game-changer for them.” Indeed, Ameristar not only picked up where Station left off, it invested $360 million in 2002 in a reinvention of its St. Charles casino. It also promoted Stremming from Midwest general counsel to vice president of government affairs and public relations, a portfolio he carries to this day at Pinnacle. “During that process as I transitioned to Ameristar, they were ready to look outside of Missouri, Nevada, Mississippi and Iowa, where they currently were operating, into new jurisdictions,” Stremming says, “there was a role that needed to be filled and Gordy Kanofsky [thensenior vice president of legal affairs and eventual CEO] asked me if I was interested and I jumped at the opportunity.” This was another teachable moment: “Have an open mind and don’t shy away from additional roles and responsibilities. You can show the value that you can bring to that new company and that new company will find a place for you.” Among Stremming’s accomplishments at Ameristar was spearheading the 2008 ballot drive that saw Missouri repeal its loss limits. Stremming recalls that “we tried for many years to remove it from a legislative standpoint. Even those in the Legislature that understood, they found it was difficult to undo something that the voters had put in place when gaming was initially legalized in the state.” The lawyer saw the repeal process as a matter of educating the electorate – and undoing much of the propaganda spread by casino opponents about the social ills that supposedly accompany casinos. “And then over time

the community realizes that’s not the case. These operators in these jurisdictions are very committed to the community.” Though Stremming believes the significance of the vote was lost in the parallel Great Recession, “sometimes in 2008-10, I’d think where would we be if we had not gotten rid of the loss limits?” Two years later, Stremming persuaded Colorado voters to raise betting limits from $5 to $100, discovering in the process that all politics are not local. “If you were running a county election it’s easier, because those folks that live there do recognize what you bring to this community,” he explains. “But when you’re to run a statewide election and trying to convince people to vote in your favor that have no connection to a casino, don’t live close to a community where there is a casino, any type of vote can become more challenging.” When coming to Ameristar, Stremming had found a new mentor in the figure of CEO Craig Neilsen. Despite having been rendered a quadriplegic by a 1985 car accident, Neilsen built Ameristar from a handful of casinos in Jackpot, Nevada, into a significant player just on willpower and intelligence. Stremming describes Neilsen as “an innovator who was meticulous.” Although he never witnessed Neilsen’s rumored propensity for predawn meetings, he says, “I do think that, early in his career, when he was really growing the company, there’s probably some truth to that. I’ll tell you this: Craig was always on. He was always thinking. He never stopped and he was a really hard worker that put a significant amount of his life into growing Ameristar the way he did.” After Neilsen died in his sleep in 2006, Ameristar became something of a question mark, despite its political activities in Missouri and Colorado. Neilsen successor John Boushy didn’t gel with the Ameristar corporate culture and resigned. Stock analysts speculated endlessly over whether the company would be sold or would be acquired by another. “A lot of times, people define those times in the history

of a company based on what they see in the stock market. And, in his case, it was a shock when we lost Craig,” recalls Stremming. “There was a lot of speculation what would happen to the company now that Craig was gone. You had all of that noise going on about what will happen, along with a change in leadership that no one was expecting. If you were to look at an operational standpoint, the company always continued to perform at an impressive level. But there was that period of time of ‘What happens next?’” Ironically, it was as Ameristar was finally pursuing major new projects in Massachusetts and Louisiana that Pinnacle Entertainment came calling. It had a $2.8 billion purchase offer that was too good to refuse. Stremming attributes Pinnacle CEO Anthony Sanfilippo and Ameristar CEO Kanofsky with making it happen in what was “not only the right move for the shareholders but it was the right price at the right time.” Pinnacle had to jettison a few properties (including underperforming Lumiere Place, in St. Louis) to make it happen but, in the end, it did. Of his current boss, Sanfilippo, Stremming says, “Some people are lucky if they have one mentor in their entire career and I feel like I’ve been pretty lucky to have many, through the CEOs that I have worked for in this industry. There’s a common theme among all of those that I’ve worked with and that’s

tenacity and dedication and hard work, and allowing their executives and their team members to have a balance between their work life and their family … those leaders that I have looked to as mentors have valued that significantly, right up to Anthony.” In addition to his duties as Pinnacle’s government liaison, Stremming wears many hats. One of them is that of the American Gaming Association’s task force on Internet gambling. Asked what that industry’s future is, Stremming laughs, “If I had that answer I would be a popular guy.” Noting that he started in the casino business when it was still using reel-spinning slots, Stremming marvels at the evolution to online social gaming, from which “some of the operators in our sector are profiting significantly,” to say nothing of the quasi-casino that is daily fantasy sports leagues (which have, unlike casino sports books, been embraced by the major leagues). “There’s a real question of what’s next. That millennial group, they like to be very involved, they like to be active, they like to travel in herds, for lack of a better term, they like quality versus quantity.” But with such deep division in Washington, D.C., and so many “major issues that face our country that are critically important,” Stremming doesn’t see Congress as an easy sell when it comes to changing the status quo on Internet betting or sports wagering. But “I certainly think there are growth opportunities

there, particularly now that the leagues have a comfort level with daily fantasy sports. The NFL has fantasy sports and that’s on the NFL Web site.” Again, it comes down to education, particularly in drilling home the message that hundreds of millions are being wagered illegally and not in state-monitored casinos. “It seems to make more sense to put that wagering in an environment where it’s controlled by those that are licensed in many jurisdictions already,” Stremming says, “and entrusted by those regulatory bodies.” He also praises Station’s, Ameristar’s and Pinnacle’s respective corporate culture for encouraging his philanthropic work. Stremming is a past president of Kansas City’s Urban League and former chairman of the Minority Supplier Council, “the mission of that organization was to marry large corporations with minority-owned businesses and grow those businesses in the community.” For instance, at Station “there was a real focus on not only making

sure that our workforce looks like our guests … but also a huge push on the involvement of minority business enterprises and women’s business enterprises. Listen, I’m not the only one that’s done this. There have been many people in our industry that have been actively involved on that front. We have a good story to tell.” Looking back on his career and its sustained success, Stremming credits it to a motto he inherited from his father: “Your attitude more than your aptitude will determine your altitude in life.” He says he’s not only lived by it but now tries to instill it in his children: “There are no shortcuts. Hard work will pay off – and do the right thing, always. Are you doing the right thing just when people are watching or are you doing the right thing even when other people aren’t watching you?” And, as someone who has been a public face of Station Casinos, Ameristar Casinos and Pinnacle Entertainment, Troy Stremming knows how it is to work in the spotlight.

Building Better Business A delicate balance between revenue and entertainment. Interview with Marcus Prater, Executive Director of the AGEM. Jack Bulavsky

arcus Prater is Executive Director of the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM), a non-profit international trade association representing manufacturers and suppliers of electronic gaming devices, systems, table games, online technology, key components and support products and services

for the gaming industry. Its current membership of 147 companies in 21 countries is a whoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s who of the supplier segment of the global gaming industry. Jack Bulavsky, Special Assignment Correspondent for Casino Life in Las Vegas, spoke with Prater several weeks before the opening of G2E 2015. About two months ago, AGEM issued a

comprehensive report titled “Building Better Business – Assessing the Impact of Hold Percentages on Overall Slot Revenue.” The report reviewed the impact of tightening hold percentages in key gaming states across the United States. Why did you commission this report? Senior leaders of our membership asked AGEM to spend energy on trying improve the overall business environment due to the fact that slot revenues are flat and declining. Part of this is because slot holds have been tightened and players are not having an enjoyable gaming experience and reacting to it with less slot play. Therefore, over time, AGEM wants to begin a dialog on this topic and show operators that there is more money to be made by possibly returning tightened percentages back to players. The report is titled “Building Better Business” because that’s what we want for everyone involved. And it’s not just the hold percentages we’re looking at to improve business. We’re also having dialog on skill-based slot games. This is all about an improved business environment as we move forward and look to the future. Let me give you an example that illustrates what I’m saying. In one section of the report specific to Nevada, it stated that gamblers are clearly not playing slot machines as much they did in the past. Slot machine wagering of $105.4 billion in 2014 was down 23 percent from the all-time high of $138 billion in 2006. There are many factors for this, but one is the impact of tightened hold percentages set by operators. What feedback have you received since the report was released? Several AGEM members have heard from operators who agree and say we need to protect the positive player experience. The idea of the report was to elevate the conversation which actually started some years ago with the success of penny slots. That’s when tighter holds on those specific games prevented players from getting to bonus rounds and missing out on the true entertainment of the game. Again, let me quote the report and this one from Daniel Mitchell, ClubsNSW Senior Policy Officer, Gambling, who said from Australia that “reducing the return to players on gaming machines isn’t a guaranteed way to increase player expenditure. In

fact, in most instances it will invoke the opposite response where players will spend less and revenues will decline. An analysis of clubs across New South Wales reveals that on a per machine basis, those clubs with the lowest return to player rates and highest venue hold percentages generate the least revenue.” Do tighter hold percentages concern European operators and other venues outside of the U.S. as well? Yes. This conversation is not exclusive to the United States by any means. It’s a conversation that needs to be held wherever there are slot machines. In the U.S., we’re aware of hold percentages from state agencies, but that same information isn’t always available from international markets. Publicly-traded casinos in the U.S. provide quarterly gaming reports and these reports are a good barometer of business, especially regional operators such as Isle of Capri, Pinnacle and Penn National. They have been slow to recover since the recession in 2008 but now those regional casino performance numbers have been improving. How would you like to see operators react to the report? It would be positive if the report sparked some of the operators to experiment with their own gaming floor. For instance, casinos with 2,000 total machines may feature some 500-coin penny games set with a hold in the low 80s. Perhaps those machines should be looked at and studied with different hold percentages. It’s understood that there is a delicate balance between giving players a fair entertainment value while maximizing revenues for casino operators. But it’s also important to note that the industry needs to consider all new ideas to stop the erosion of slot revenues in markets throughout the U.S. and elsewhere. I would encourage Casino Life readers who want more detail about this to go to www.agem. org where we have posted the Applied Analysis Report and AGEM Marketing Report. The statistical documentation highlights examples where operators have loosened slots and where those players became winners. Then, over time, those players kept returning and the operator benefited.

Game ON! With only weeks to go before the Ukraine conference Glyn Thomas provides an update.

he idea for Game ON started after the prime Minister of Ukraine announced that he supported gambling coming back to Ukraine. He did however, make it clear that the government will only allow gaming back if the new legislation stands up to international scrutiny. Thus, the idea for an event to bring together the industry and government was born. A briefing paper was sent to the PM – he responded positively and the wheels began to move. As gambling is banned here currently, the country is in a unique position of being able to start with a clean sheet of paper and to design a gaming industry that is world class. If only it were that simple. There have been a number of draft bills made already. Some RADA members (parliament) have been keen to dust off “old legislation” and as recently as July a more concerted and sensible bill appeared from nowhere that is currently being reviewed. In amidst all of this a number of other bills promoting “self-interest” have been touted – and will get nowhere, whilst the Government ministries themselves are also considering whether they should formulate something. One of the problems is that nobody knows what they are doing. It’s like trying to introduce new traffic laws if you’ve never driven. It’s not anyone’s fault but at least now, with the event on the calendar, there’s a focus to the whole issue. As well as listening to speakers at the conference we’ve arranged for private meetings so Ministers, deputies and technical staff tasked with coordinating the legislation can hear first hand from practitioners. As publishers and event organisers for over 20 years we know the international gambling community and are acting as the catalyst for change. Many people want to bring their own thoughts – we

are bringing those people who have done all this before – and can bring solutions. Everyone wants to know a timescale and even how many licenses will be issued – and frankly it’s too early to say. What will be needed first is a draft law that stands up to scrutiny across all political parties and therefore has to be one that meets international standards and has safeguards for problem gambling, ensures minors cannot play or be influenced plus has an educative element. My own take on this is that they need a strong independent gambling Commission funded from fees that issues licenses transparently and enforces rigidly. Anything tied to Government will be a disaster – they should just collect the tax. The other elephant in the room is lotteries. There are many. They grow like mushrooms and a new one appears every day. It’s alleged that they don’t pay tax and it’s alleged they may have to be regulated. It may be that only one lottery contract is awarded by tender. To find out more and be involved from the outset, you are going to have to take art. Kyiv is a beautiful city and October is clement. We look forward to meeting you,

Glyn Thomas Game ON is a two-day event that brings together the government and international gambling industry to discuss how Ukraine can develop a vibrant international standard industry that is fair, transparent and pays reasonable tax and meets the modern social objectives set by the State and by the industry. Game ON is truly international and backed by the Ukraine Government. www.ukrainegaming.com

Draft Programme Draft Pro

TUESDAY

October 13, 2015 October 13,

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10:00–10:30 Opening Addr Arseniy Yatse

10:30–11:00R Government

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11:00–11:30 am

11:00–11:30 The fight again

Algirdas Semeta, B

The role of the Bus Ukraine to have a b corruption and prom

11:30–12:00 pm

Break 11:30–12:00

12:00–12:30 pm

12:00–12:30 Casinos are go

Confirmed Michael

Casinos are part of Responsible gamin communities.

12:30–13:00 pm

12:30–13:00G Responsible

Madis Jääger, CEO

Consumers need to trust the governme

MAIN SPONSOR:

13:00–14:00 pm

Lunch 13:00–14:00

14:00–14:30 pm

14:00–14:30 Ukraine in con

Natalia Pakhomov

Independence and being a robust indu

MAIN SPONSOR: 14:00–14:40 pm

14:00–14:40 The role of the TBA

Independence and being a robust indu

14:40–15:20 pm

MONDAY

October 12, 2015 October 12, 2015 19:00–21:00 pm

14:40–15:20 Taxation and I

Natalie Jaresko, F

The balancing act b work in harmony. L

15:20–16:00 pm Registration 19:00–21:00 and pm reception Registration for delegates and reception for delegates sponsored by Macallan sponsored Whisky by Macallan Whisky 19:00 pm

Coffee. 15:20–16:00 Networ

Reception 19:00 host

This is a draft programme This foristhe a draft event p

Bringing gambling back to Ukraine Conference 13–14 October 2015 WEDNESDAY

October 14, 2015

Draft Programme

Bringing gambling back to Ukraine ONLINE OPPORTUNITIES. Conference 13–14 October 2015 LOTTERIES AND SPORTS BETTING

ress: TUESDAY enyuk, Prime Minister Ukraine

9.00–9:20 am

October 13, 2015

Opening Address: WEDNESDAY Pavlo Petrenko, Minister of Justice of Ukraine October 14, 2015

Reforms

THIS IS UKRAINE. CASINOS IN UKRAINE eform programme that has happened in

9:20–10:00 am

net of Ministers

Online ONLINE regulationOPPORTUNITIES. – the market matures Natalia Pakhomovska, Partner, DLA Piper Ukraine

LOTTERIES AND SPORTS BETTING

The current situation in Europe and how it is regulated am legislation 9.00–9:20 am Opening Address: Opening Address: ast 12 months,10:00–10:30 Reforming the Prime Minister Ukraine Petrenko, 10:00–10:30 am Online – embrace it Pavlo or lose it Minister of Justice of Ukraine e a challenge – what is the plan? Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Pontus Lindvall, CEO+president 10:30–11:00 am Government Reforms 9:20–10:00 am OnlineBetsson regulation – the market matures

nst corruption

Business Ombudsman INVITED

TBA Ukraine Cabinet of Ministers

10:30–11:00 am

Natalia Pakhomovska, Partner, DLA Piper Ukraine

Sports betting – weTheare ready current situation in Europe and how it is regulated

An outline of the reform programme that has happened in Ukraine over the past 12 months, Reforming the legislation Sergey helping from scratch will be a challenge – what is the plan?

siness Ombudsman Council in better investment climate, to fight 11:00–11:30 The fight against corruption mote a fair and 11:00–11:30 accountable am public service

Algirdas Semeta, Business Ombudsman INVITED

11:30–12:00 pm

ood for you11:30–12:00 pm

Break

Portnov, CEO Parimatch 10:00–10:30 am Online – embrace it or lose it

Pontus Lindvall, CEO+president Betsson

10:30–11:00 am

Sports betting – we are ready

11:00–11:30 am

Break

Sergey Portnov, CEO Parimatch The Lottery as a force for change

The role of the Business Ombudsman Council in helping Ukraine to have a better investment climate, to fight TBA corruption and promote a fair and accountable public service

How lottery income can sports, charities andfor heritage 11:30–12:00 pmfund The Lottery as a force change

Break

TBA l Boettcher, President Storm International 12:00–12:30 pm Casinos are good How lottery income can fund sports, charities and heritage for you 12:00–12:30 pm Sports betting f an entertainment offer to consumers. Confirmed Michael Boettcher, President Storm International Irina Sergienko, General 12:00–12:30 pm Director, Sports betting ng can help to create jobs and revitalize Casinos are part of an entertainment offer to consumers. Ukraine Bookmakers Association Irina Sergienko, General Director, Responsible gaming can help to create jobs and revitalize Ukraine Bookmakers Association

communities.

The current situation in Ukraine and future development The current situation in Ukraine and future development

Gaming – Trust and Confidence 12:30–13:00 pm Responsible Gaming – Trust and Confidence 12:30–13:00 pm The Tote. Racing can return to Ukraine Madis Jääger, CEO Olympic Group 12:30–13:00 pm The Tote. Horse Racing can Horse return to Ukraine O Olympic Group Consumers need to trust their casinos – and casinos need to Paris

o trust their casinos – and casinostrust need to the government ent

Paris Mutuel Urbain confirmed – speaker TBA Mutuel Urbain confirmed – speaker TBA

How horse racing can once again be part of Ukraine’s culture

How horse racing can once again be part of Ukraine’s culture 13:00–14:00 pm

13:00–14:00 pm

Lunch

14:00–14:30 pm

13:00–14:00 pm Ukraine in context. Taxation in Europe

Lunch

Natalia Pakhomovska, Partner, DLA Piper Ukraine

14:00–15:00 pm

e Gambling Commission

Round Table

Delegates are invited to field questions to the panel of speakers and invited guests. Invited:

Independence and transparency are the keyspm to gambling 14:00–15:00 Round Table ntext. Taxation in Europe

vska, Partner, DLA Piper Ukrainebeing a robust industry. 14:00–14:40 pm The role of the Gambling Commission transparency are the keys to gambling TBA ustry.

Lunch

● Vladimir B. Groisman, the Chairman of the Supreme Council Delegates are invited to field questions to the panel of ● Nina Petrovna Yuzhanina, the Chairman of the speakers and invited guests. Committee Invited: on Taxation and Customs Policy Nikolay Leonidovich Chairman of the of the Knyazhytsky, Supreme Council ● Vladimir B. Groisman, the● Chairman

Independence and transparency are the keys to gambling being a robust industry. ● Nina

Committee on Culture and Spirituality

Petrovna Yuzhanina, the Chairman of the ● Arthur Leonidovich Palatny, Chairman of the Committee Committee on Taxation and on Customs Family, YouthPolicy Policy, Sports and Tourism

14:40–15:20 pm Taxation and Investment – a fine balance ● Viktor Romanyuk – Verhovna Rada of Ukraine Natalie Jaresko, Finance Minister Ukraine – invited ● Nikolay Leonidovich Knyazhytsky, Chairman of the ● Anton Gerashenko – Verhovna Rada of Ukraine transparency are the keys to gambling The balancing act between taxation and profit – how theyCommittee can on Culture and Spirituality work in harmony. Lessons learnt from our neighbours ustry. 15:00 pm Closing Remarksof the Committee ● Arthur Leonidovich Palatny, Chairman 15:20–16:00 pm Coffee. Networking on Family, Youth Policy, Tourism tes 15:20 pm Sports Closingand Reception

Investment – a fine balance

19:00 pm Reception hosted by Main Sponsor – Parimatch ● Viktor Romanyuk – Verhovna Rada of Ukraine Finance Minister Ukraine – invited ● Anton Gerashenko – Verhovna Rada of Ukraine between taxation and profit – how they can Lessons learnt from our neighbours

rking

15:00 pm

Closing Remarks

This is a draft programme for the event and the organisers reserve the right to make changes at any time.

ted by Main Sponsor – Parimatch

15:20 pm

Closing Reception

t and the organisers reserve the right to make changes at any time.

ukrainegaming.com

ukrainegaming.com 21

Progressive Innovaton Walter Bugno, CEO, IGT International chats to Jack Bulavsky

We last spoke six months ago. How would you now describe the company and the coming together of IGT and GTECH? What really stands out to me is the complementarity of the two legacy organizations and how well the new IGT has come together. When we exhibited at G2E Asia and AGE, it truly felt like we were one unified team that had worked together for much longer than just the few months since the completion of the merger agreement. I’m very pleased to see how our customers have embraced the new IGT. The expanded depth and breadth of our product offerings enables us to address customer needs across games, systems and solutions, on a global level, like never before. If there are two or three things that have changed in how the company does business, what have they been? I believe the new IGT has really taken on a more international approach. This is a natural result of bringing the two legacy organizations together, where individual strengths in particular markets now combine to create a greatly enhanced global presence. We now operate in more than 100 countries worldwide. This level of scale enables another evolution in our business, in that we can leverage our size to offer our customers a broader portfolio of solutions to help increase their revenues and profitability. And how is business? How are your traditional markets doing and how is business in your emerging markets? Please name those emerging markets? We have accomplished a lot since the completion of our merger agreement in April. In our second quarter results we reported a 17 percent increase in IGT’s international business on a pro forma constant

currency basis. I’m pleased by our progress and the momentum we have in securing new and replacement business internationally. We see projected growth in economic activity for Europe in 2016. In APAC, despite slowing growth in the region overall, we are well-positioned there. Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Nepal, India and Sri Lanka represent emerging markets with opportunities for us. In Latin America, we’re experiencing good performance overall and expect that to continue with measured growth moving forward. How do you stay ahead of the digital world with its constant changes? The digital world provides a great channel for content distribution through our interactive and social gaming businesses, so we embrace it as a method for further leadership and innovation. Interactive is a viable method for expanding the scope of the player base to include a larger demographic, while creating affinity for games in casinos. In order to understand players, we have to provide gaming experiences where and how players want them. Greater technology and the concept of connecting players to casinos through online and social play appeals to players and can help foster industry growth. The new IGT is such a large company. Is there still room to grow? There is definitely still room to grow. The size and scope of the new IGT position us well for new growth. The depth and breadth of our products and solutions, combined with the strength of our relationships throughout the world give us unique competitive capabilities. We can leverage our range of product offerings to capitalize upon opportunities with market-specific solutions from our

portfolio of lottery, machine sales, systems and interactive. What’s going to be the company’s message at G2E 2015? We will have a large presence at the show that exemplifies IGT’s Winning Combination of games, systems and solutions. Our Customer First focus of helping our customers drive player engagement and profitability will be the driving force. What new games or products will be showcased at G2E 2015? At G2E we will demonstrate our portfolio of gaming products and services across all channels, including premium content, core titles, hardware innovations, systems technologies and interactive solutions. Among the highlights is our pairing of the most successful slot theme of all time, Wheel of Fortune, with the awardwinning TRUE 3D technology in our debut of Wheel of Fortune Double Diamond 3D. We will also continue IGT’s tradition of bringing pop culture’s most touted licensed brands to the G2E trade show floor, with a number of new game introductions based upon some of today’s hottest TV and Internet shows. We’re also building upon the worldwide success of our S3000 cabinet by introducing a complementary tournament solution, Spin-Ferno, which is fueled by our Tournament Manager 5.0 system and empowers multi-site slot tournaments on banks of S3000 cabinets. There’s an active conversation in Nevada about variable-payback percentages in slot machines, meaning skill-based gaming with arcade-game

elements. Is this an international conversation? Your thoughts? The skill-based gaming concept is interesting and right now Nevada is leading the conversation. In order to participate, like any other aspect of our business, we would consider the associated regulatory requirements and our customers’ needs before developing skill-based games. I think what is refreshing about the conversation is that the gaming industry acknowledges that we all need to continually innovate. That sentiment certainly resonates on an international level. Gaming operators are showing more profit from non-gaming areas such as food and nightclubs. Are you concerned about this? Today there are so many forms of entertainment in a casino, and everything works together to create a compelling destination. To keep gaming relevant we have to strike the balance between the pace of change and the investment required to keep pace. Understanding the player is of fundamental importance as we work together to address the different needs and interests among changing demographics. IGT can help operators understand players by providing them with sophisticated diagnostics tools, such as those that we offer from our systems solutions. Our systems solutions increase the quality and relevance of interactions with players, while helping operators optimize their floors so that they cater to different types of players.

www.amatic.com

sales@amatic.com

Are your Players Very Important? Damien Connelly met with Max Lindenberg at NOVOMATIC Group headquarters in Austria

very single casino I have visited recently is making space for one machine: the NOVOSTAR V.I.P. slant top. In all my travels to visit and tour casinos, this is the first time I’ve witnessed every casino wanting to place the same machine on their floors. NOVOMATIC has designed a real winner; one that generates over double the handle as the machines it replaces, according to Max Lindenberg, Director of Marketing for Austrian Gaming Industries. What’s even more intriguing, V.I.P. was created by the founder and majority shareholder of NOVOMATIC, Professor Johann F. Graf, himself, showing he still has the knack of understanding what players want. In V.I.P., the “P” stands for Player, and this unique cabinet really does place the player at the centre of gameplay. The seat is incredibly comfortable and

has so many movement options, I couldn’t begin to list them; trust me, your players will be comfortable in this seat. In the headrest area of the seat, the speakers ‘connect’ the player to the game in a very personalised manner that both grabs and keeps attention — I doubt players will get bored playing on a V.I.P. cabinet anytime soon! I’d expect the slot handle from V.I.P. to both start good, and stay good — too often I hear from operators how new games/cabinets have a handle spike when new on the floor, which then tails-off. Something tells me V.I.P. will not see a tail-off in its slot handle. Then there’s the ease and choice of play mechanics — buttons in the arm-rest, an additional Start button in the foot rest, and the cabinet has a touchscreen to provide a third playing choice for players.

Add to this brilliant cabinet the multi-game library of NOVOMATIC, which for the V.I.P. offers 43 player favourites, such as Book of Ra and Dolphin’s Pearl, and I expect V.I.P. to join the Gaminator cabinet series as one of our industry’s all-time greats.

Curves are Good Dominator is the follow-on cabinet from the hugely successful Gaminator. Dominator has proven to be a player favourite over the years. The new take on the Dominator cabinet is the Dominator Curve with its 40” upright full HD curved touchscreen. The concept of the curved screen is so the player is “in the focal point of the gaming action.” As with the V.I.P. machine, the focus of this cabinet design is the player; helping operators to retain existing, and gain new, players. Two features of the Dominator Curve stand out for me from an operator’s perspective: • The cabinet is thin (shallow depth), allowing operators to place the same number of machines on their floor while creating more floor space for their customers to walk around and watch other players playing. There’s a saying: ‘white space sells’. For me, in casinos, ‘floor space sells’ as it allows customers to more easily walk around without bumping into other customers or, more embarrassingly, being forced to stand immediately behind a slot player… literally ‘breathing down their neck’ because there’s no room to give that slot player their own personal space; and • The main door opens upwards for easy access and maintenance, just like a slant top; again allowing operators better use of their valuable floor space.

Players in Control Slot play is facing increasing competition in many jurisdictions. For example, Nevada slot wagering is -23% over the period 2006-2014. Operators need more product variation on their floors to make the gaming experience as enjoyable as possible for all their players. From my own customer research spanning many countries, being in control (or at least feeling like they have some control) is an important ‘missing piece in the casino jigsaw puzzle’ for certain player segments. Enter Panther Roulette. It’s a simple concept. Use the ball launch system common to pinball, combine it with an electronic

roulette wheel, and you’ve a hybrid (some would say skill-based or arcade-style) gaming machine. As with pinball, the player controls the ball launch…meaning the player is also the dealer. Most of us have played pinball and have likely varied the amount of power we’ve given the ball when launching it into a game in order to try and place the ball exactly where we want to in the game. The same arcade element of power variation exists with Panther Roulette. Additionally, players can switch from playing roulette to playing a slot game using the same Panther Roulette cabinet. This increases the flexibility offered to operators from this single cabinet; helping operators make better use of their valuable floor space.

‘What don’t they do?” To go through every offering from a company as diverse and large as NOVOMATIC, whose 2014 Group revenues were €3.8 billion (about $4.3 billion), is impossible here. I will touch on two other business areas: Lottery and Sports Betting. NOVOMATIC is quite a recent entrant to the lottery industry, and already has contracts with major lottery operators including the: British Colombia Lottery Corporation; Catalonian Lottery; Danish Lottery; Icelandic Lottery; and Spanish National Lottery. It also has VLT operations in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Israel, Italy, and Romania. NOVOMATIC Group is really building capability and expertise in lottery with a fresh approach to the business that is reflected by the NOVOMATIC LOTTERY SOLUTIONS slogan, “Expect Better”, as one can see from its client base. And on sports betting…well, this is one of the historic cornerstones of NOVOMATIC Group’s business. NOVOMATIC is both an operator of sports betting outlets and a supplier of sports betting solutions, and has been so for many, many years. Its ADMIRAL Sportwetten chain is Austria’s largest sports betting provider, allowing NOVOMATIC to offer what may be a uniquely comprehensive variety of gaming solutions in our industry to operators small and large, be they in Lagos or Las Vegas. The best way to see for yourself what NOVOMATIC Group can do for you and your operations is to visit its G2E booth #2656.

Core Values Drive Scientific Games

Jack Bulavsky talks to President and CEO at Scientific Games Corporation Gavin Isaacs

avin Isaacs, President and CEO at Scientific Games Corporation, is on the road more than he is in his office. Jack Bulavsky, Special Assignment Correspondent for Casino Life in Las Vegas, was fortunate to sit with him before Isaacs began his monthly travels. How much do you travel? I’m in Las Vegas at least one full week every month and also a few days every other week. Otherwise, I’m traveling around the world. I get to Australia once a year and have spent about 10 percent of my time in the past 12 months in Europe. I’ve never traveled this much and sometimes I stop and think, “Where am I?” I’m hoping the travel settles down. It’s been nearly a year since Bally Technologies, SHFL, and WMS all came under the Scientific Games umbrella. How are things going? Overall, things are on track. It’s still a learning process. Keep in mind that Scientific Games is a $3

billion company with more than 8,300 employees worldwide. All of those employees are transitioning from smaller companies. There are some challenges, but we’re doing well. I sometimes get feedback from team members with whom I used to work at our legacy companies telling me that I need to be around more often. But my job is different now and I have an entirely new plate of responsibilities. Over 8,000 employees. It sounds like you have people in every country in the world. How do you manage such a large company and how would you describe your management style? We are on six continents in more than 26 countries and have more than 250 locations across the globe. It’s my responsibility to steer the ship, and I’m able to do that because I have a great team. I let them lead. We have monthly meetings to share issues and discuss developments that are vital to the company. The company’s mission is to empower our customers by creating

the world’s best gaming and lottery experiences. By staying focused on our mission and the core values already established within Scientific Games, we’re able to move forward, no matter if our people are in China, Western Australia, Nevada, or the Ukraine. I’m passionate about what I do. I love walking casino properties and looking at machines. I love talking to staff. I enjoy getting to know the lottery side of the business. I love getting in front of customers and listening to them and enjoy the social interaction that allows me to motivate and empower and set goals. My biggest and most enjoyable role is managing people. I’ve learned that bad news doesn’t get better with age, so I handle it right away. I answer all my calls and do my best to practice what I preach. The good thing is I have solid people around me who can run the various companies and are out there driving the company’s growth with me. It flows from the top and that applies to me also. I have an active and supportive Board and we’re learning from each other. You mentioned the company’s core values? There are six core values and they all begin with “How We Play:” (1) To Improve the Game. (2) By the Rules. (3) With Passion. (4) Smart. (5) Together. (6) To Win. When we tie these values together, it means that Scientific Games maintains integrity in everything we do and we take ownership and hold ourselves accountable. We continuously innovate and raise the bar because we love what we do and have fun doing it. With one team and one mission, our goal is to surpass the expectations of our stakeholders. Do you see growth within the industry and where? Growth is out there with plenty of pockets that can be developed, but it’s not as it was 10 years ago. I told you earlier that I travel extensively and as I walk through casinos, I see busy casinos. People are still having fun and operators are making the experience fun for them. That is what it’s all about. There is a different way of thinking today as it relates to games and what brings customers in the front door. That thinking is continuously evolving and evolving rapidly. What about gaming manufacturers. What is their future and do you expect more consolidation?

I believe that consolidation among manufacturers is going to continue. There are benefits to leveraging the up-front costs of setting up manufacturing, the expense of obtaining and maintaining licenses in all the various jurisdictions, the infrastructure needed for developing and maintaining support technology, and the talent base needed for quality game development across more products and a larger business. Consolidations like ours with Bally and WMS allow us to eliminate many of the redundant costs and operate more efficiently as a united company focused on growing our business. I think other manufacturers will do the same. Developing games, themes, and concepts is wonderful, but there is a process. Once that process is completed, it takes time to see if the idea catches on. You can create a game, but if it’s not going to make money, then it doesn’t make any sense. What we know now is that those playing games today still enjoy playing the current range of games, whether it’s an older reel game or one of the newer interactive games. The challenge is the younger players who have a limited income right now. We’re aware of them and they will eventually have the disposable income for entertainment options like casino gaming. They are our future. G2E 2015 will be the first G2E show in which all the new companies are under the Scientific Games umbrella. What can we expect? As one of the world’s premier gaming and lottery entertainment technology companies, we will demonstrate our unique products including the Bally, Barcrest, Scientific Games, Shuffle Master, Williams, and WMS brands. We have a repertoire of market-leading electronic gaming machines and table games and equipment from across the company’s diverse array of brands, and those products represent our broad portfolio of gaming technology solutions. That’s what we are: one company with multiple, established brands. Our floor is going to be exciting, and those coming to visit are going to walk away knowing that each brand is continuing to do what it does best. And one more thing: I, along with our executive staff, will be on the floor and I want everyone to come by and say hello. More than anything, I hope to see a lot of interaction between us and our many customers and friends.

Digital Technology Sonya Nikolova Business Development Director Casino Technology Chats to Glyn Thomas What have been Casino Technology’s main goals for the year, and is the company on track to achieving them? Over the years we have built a strong reputation for bringing high quality products to our clients worldwide. Player comfort, versatile gaming experiences, and entertainment has always been of high priority to us. While designing the concepts, we’ve benchmarked the creative, authentic and one-of-a-kind style of products recognizable on every type of casino floor. In 2015 we are recording a number of memorable achievements which definitely reaffirms our credo to deliver not only exceptional and innovative products, but also to define trends and deliver exclusive outcomes to players which differentiates us from others. The Gamopolis series of multi-games housed in the glamorous Aurora UPRIGHT, which was introduced at the end of 2014, has turned into a total hit in Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa. Having said that, I would like to underline that simultaneously we released different multigames platforms like MULTISKIN™, HIGHWAY™, and SPEEDWAY™ each featuring between 25 and 40

unique games tailored to the specific target markets. This was an extremely challenging and risky step for us to take, utilizing lots of our resources in product development. Today I am happy to share that this strategic step has been paying off as we are one of the very few vendors in the world offering such a large library of successful titles. Designing the all-inone system suite THE BIG 5™ in 2014, we managed to provide another valuable advantage for erasing the borders between classic and online gaming by combining 5 sophisticated systems into a single solution: RHINO™ Casino Management System, ELEPHANT™ Remote Game Server, BUFFALO™ Universal Jackpot Server, LION™ Money Management System, and LEOPARD™ Online Gaming Platform. At the same time, this created high expectations from our customers and world experts observing the progress of the convergence boom. Casino Technology’s team worked hard to position the system suite at the global scene, and for twelve months now we’ve accomplished installations with more than 3000 slot machines located in gaming operations and full size casinos in Europe, Africa and Asia.

From an online perspective, what would you say are the main benefits that the web-based gaming operators gain from partnering with Casino Technology for your games? Casino Technology developed ELEPHANT™ Remote Game Server with the ultimate goal in mind to offer operators an easy access to a huge variety of games through an easy-to-manage, yet highly reliable, platform. ELEPHANT™ Remote Game Server allows the flexibility to deliver a customized player experience that can be dynamically adapted to the changing market requirements and regulations. Casino Technology’s exclusive portfolio of casino content has produced numerous top performers in different classic casino markets around the world. Now most of these games are available also online for players’ enjoyment through the RGS and this brings the added value of the integration with ELEPHANT™ Remote Game Server. Can you provide details of your recently launched ARCH™ cabinet? Is there any feedback yet from operators on its player performance? Well...ARCH™ cannot be described in an interview… it should be touched, listened to, felt, and enjoyed in a real casino atmosphere. ARCH™ creates emotions like no one slot machine has ever done, because it solidifies lots of details, revolutionary technology, and exceptional gaming and entertainment experiences that influence the whole perception of the player. ARCH™ is on the cutting-edge of the technological wave featuring a unique 42” full HD, curved, gaming

customized display and is offered with a dedicated “Treasure Journey” multi-game employing proven math concepts, intriguing game design and innovative player interaction options.This has provoked great interest. There are scheduled installations of the ARCH™ in Europe which will happen shortly after its world premiere at G2E, but the most contributing fact about the future progress of the product is its leading role in the forthcoming Las Vegas launch of the premium HOT ROD™ SLOT MACHINE produced by our licensee ALTO GAMING, a US based company, abiding by the eternal spirit of the hot rodding and the adrenaline ride of tuned engines. Bingo is also an important market for Casino Technology. Are you impressed by the popularity of BINGO GATOR™? The concept behind the BINGO GATOR™ is dictated by the trend that more and more players across the world are turning to electronic bingo in order to enjoy their favorite game in a more modern and convenient way. Answering the increased need of e-bingo solutions within the industry, Casino Technology launched a new electronic multibingo link, combining the convenience of digital technology with the excitement of the live game. The new line was especially developed for the Asian and Latin American markets where bingo is a common way of entertaining for a very wide scope of the population. Following our vision to add a special Casino Technology craftsmanship, we added also a three

level progressive jackpot, and released online and mobile versions of the games which put an advanced finish on the whole product package. The online performance and growing popularity have rated the e-bingo series amongst the top three gaming concepts in the interactive segment, while first land based installations are scheduled in Q4. We are looking forward to seeing players evaluation.

game play and features resulting in an increase of the product efficiency measured upon a time spent on device. The name SPEEDWAY calls for its concept as it perfectly answers players’ need for speed and increased game control, which from the operator’s side perfectly fits their demand for better slot floor occupancy.

What products have been amongst the best performers in sales over the last year? Why? Our biggest strength is the ultimate understanding of players behavior, preferences , gaming excitement and thrill boosters which let them return again and again to their favorite game. The recent corporate library consists of more than 300 unique game titles mixed into smart multi-game platforms targeting vast player profiles and preferred market features. We are renowned for our outstanding contribution to the multi-game concept. Our positioning for the global market started back in 2002. Our AURORA UPRIGHT multi-game with GAMOPOLIS HIGHWAY series of games has been the best performer for the past 12 months.

And what about your BIG 5 Suite? Is the BIG 5 Suite only for European operators? THE BIG 5 has an ingenious system architecture which allows easy adaptation, upgrades and modifications compliant with various market and legal requirements. Each of the systems from the collective brand can be deployed individually answering the specific gaming operator business vision and within a certain time of usage can be gradually supplemented by any of the other systems from the set. This gives a big advantage to our customers— notwithstanding their geographical location—because it allows them to enforce strategic planning of budgets, business and product diversification as well as marketing programs of retaining and attracting players having a strong and reliable tool driven by the BIG 5 completeness.

Can you tell us more about your multi-games series called GAMOPOLIS SPEEDWAY™? The proven success of the other members of the GAMOPOLIS family—HIGHWAY™ and MULTISKIN™—led us to go further into the development of more game titles with enhanced

What is one of the products produced in recent years for gaming operators at the company that has most impressed you? Being involved in all aspects of the corporate’s core business, over the years I have been really amazed by the fact that we, as a relatively small,

Eastern European, privately owned company keep delivering products, gaming technology and systems coextensive to the accomplishments of the most aggressive and gaming groups having half a century record behind them. This reaffirms one indisputable fact, that Casino Technology is a sure-footed trendcomposer in the gaming industry and has unlimited creative power which is capable of redefining the gaming experience. Investment in technology and product development is critical to any organisation involved in this highly competitive market. What is Casino Technology’s policy on investment in innovation and product development? I shared lots of insights from Casino Technology’s vision, commitment and dedication, while describing what is the driving power behind the company: constant and solid investment in marketing, building customer relationships, player psychology studies, market environment, deep analysis of trends, preferences and records of the most appealing entertainment and gaming phenomenons is what moves the progress within the company. We acknowledge everyones

contribution into accumulating of an industry knowledge that would deliver the next level, prominent outlook of the creative content. That’s why we conduct strong human resource policy that keeps the brain team motivated and gives them the incentives to pursue new horizons of game design, product inventions and technology novelties. And finally, for those attending this year’s G2E Show, can you provide details of your booth at this year’s exhibition? Any show should have a centrepiece in order to satisfy the expectations of the audience. Along with the versatile portfolio of hot products I have spoken about, we and our US partner ALTO GAMING who is a fellow host of the booth #4156 in Las Vegas have directed a great performance and “must see twists“ including demonstrations of the one of a kind ARCH™ slot machine, SPEEDWAY series of games, an Asian-themed progressive link 8 Peacocks, as well as the real convergence environment simulation powered by the system suite BIG FIVE™. Just come and see what I’ve been talking about on our booth for yourselves.

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Dealer Table Optimisation Ian Hogg, Chairman of Shopworks talks to Rebecca Green What are among the most compelling reasons why a busy casino executive should stop on this interview and read what you have to say? If they aren’t using software to optimise staffing levels then their costs are too high and their revenues are lower than they could be. Many casinos are asking their dealers and pit bosses to run manual processes such as using a hand ‘clicker counter’ to record cash drop and enter data into an ‘hourly pit sheet’ when they should be managing a table and looking after customers. It is now possible to automate these tasks and use the data to drive up revenue and cut staff costs by integrating staff schedules into a Table Management system. All casinos should be doing this. OK, so you have my attention; what is dealer table optimisation? The problem we are looking to solve is having the

right number of dealers deployed at all times: too many means having dealers sitting idle and costing money; too few leads to poor customer satisfaction and a drop off in revenues. Two roulette tables with 4 players each will generate more revenue than one with 8 players, even though the casino has doubled its staff cost. A table management system can provide real time player and transaction data, and when mapped to a specialist staff scheduling platform, rotas can be produced that optimise the staffing levels for the casino operator. It is a case of two systems— the Table Management system and the Staff Scheduling system—adding more value when they are integrated. Shopworks makes a casino-focussed, staff scheduling system which is dynamic enough to deal with the rapid updates of data and which can work with a modern Table Management system. These use data feeds from electronic wheels, chip

stackers and shufflers making the number of spins or hands relative to the number of players easy to track. Is software really the holy grail of modern day casino operations to optimise their operational effectiveness? Pretty much. A lot of effort has gone into optimising machines and player activity on machines over the years, whilst table and staff optimisation was left behind. New advances in cloud based computing have created an opportunity to show a material improvement in operational efficiency for tables. I was speaking to the product manager of a big US Table Management system supplier last month and he mentioned that his number one request from customers was to integrate the Table Management system to the Staff Scheduling system, but they hadn’t managed to achieve it yet. We have mapped the two. A casino which knows how many spins per hour are happening on a roulette table, and how many players are active, can map that data against which dealer is running the table. They can then measure efficiency and skills, and reward or train dealers accordingly. The same data can also show you when you need to open another table, and how many qualified dealers you have on premises who aren’t dealing right now. It can also offer extra shifts to dealers who aren’t on premises if you are really rushed. Can this be operated via iPad, iPhone and Windows applications? That is one of the great things about the cloud; you can access it from any internet enabled device with a browser. Dealers and other staff can access their rotas, book vacation, and do training via a smartphone, whilst management can plan shifts, access data, and see a real time dashboard via a PC or an iPad. Can this system improve the efficiency of employees? Absolutely. If we can measure the number of spins per hour a roulette dealer can manage for different numbers of players, we can feed that information back to the dealer and the management. A combination of training and incentive can ensure better performance. The same is true for card games. The Shopworks system tracks the skill numbers of each employee by task, and because

it also generates the Payroll, it can be used to pay people who perform well. As an example, we are speaking to a casino group which wants to incentivise staff for productivity; this could be how good they are at keeping the spin or hand rate high on a busy table, or how much of their shift they actually spend dealing. Because our system manages staff payroll, we can add any incentive payment into the payroll and show the dealer how they are doing against target via their smartphone. Can Shopworks help operators to ‘right-size’ their team to match customer demand patterns? Yes, that’s its main purpose. If you use our system to create a weekly staff rota for your department, it will ask you to check staff levels against a demand measurement and a budget level before it can be approved. The demand requirement is the number of dealers per hour per department. The demand levels are created using data we feed into the casino’s data analysis tools to generate their own demand metrics, which are constantly improved because of the closed feedback loop we use. If the casino doesn’t have those tools in house we can provide them. There also some very good third party tools out there designed specifically to manage casino table data; they just work better if you add in the staff data as well. We also provide real time actionable reports to allow decisions to be made such as to send staff home when you have too many, or to suspend breaks or bring in spare staff when demand metrics are being exceeded—this is normally triggered by having more customers on premises than you expected or, more importantly, overcrowded tables. Does your system track play at source using a variety of approaches and devices? This is the role of Table Management software. The data we are looking to map with staff data includes spins or hands per hour, revenue per hour, and number of players. A range of sensors and devices can be used to measure this such as the card shoe or the chip stacker. Can this software generate greater options for stylising your table system layout in the market with iPad mounted solutions? Not really. We can provide nice iPads to the pit boss, which look smarter, but it isn’t really going to make a huge difference to the look of the casino.

How easy is the management on table gaming? Is there any disruption? Quite the opposite; this new breed of system is replacing a process which is very disruptive, very inaccurate, and doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t actually produce any data in a time frame which is of much use, with a new process which is automated, accurate, and real time. At the moment dealers and pit bosses are filling out hourly pit sheets; collecting data using hand held clickers and manual counting. It distracts them from their primary tasks of looking after customers whilst protecting the casinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s interests. These pit sheets are then normally sent to someone in the back office who collates them, analyses them, and sends out some management reports. But by the time the reports get to the casino team, the staff budget is already overspent or revenue has already been lost due to overcrowded tables. Automated feeds remove the need for manual entry and make data 100% accurate. If the chip stacker counts the different colours that drop after each spin and the number of chips, then software can work out the spins per hour, the number of players at each spin, and the drop per customer. Our system then maps that with staffing data in real time and with no manual intervention. Instead of collecting and entering data, the casino staff are using a dashboard to make decisions. Does your system provide, for example, customer service statistics? If so, how easy are they to access and interpret? Our stats are really easy to access. We have a dashboard and several graphical operational reports. They arenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t really about customer service, although they do impact on customer service.

We report on things like dealer efficiency (% of time spent dealing whilst on property), costs v profit by hour for every table, supervisor to dealer ratio, and average skill score operating in the casino for each hour. It is amazing how the average skill scores are higher between 0900 and 1700 and dealer/supervisor ratios are worst between 2000 and 0400 without management. This is because the highest skilled staff are usually the most experienced and they also have most influence on the people making the rota and can get the shifts they want. Our system gives management the tools to make sure they have their best staff on when they need them most. That will impact on customer service and revenue. We are speaking to a casino group which wants to reward the prime but unsociable hours with a premium to encourage the best staff to volunteer for the most important shifts. Our system can match the dealers with the highest skill score to the most demanding and highest paid shifts. What would you say are the main benefits that gaming operations get from partnering with your organisation? We help casinos improve their bottom line. We can help them save staffing costs in an intelligent way, whilst ensuring they have enough staff on when demand warrants it to avoid leaving money on the table. This is done at the same time as removing lots of manual intervention. We also give the casino operator a central view of all this data, which allows them to benchmark each operation and really drive performance. The big impact is on staff costs and revenue, but there are lots of other benefits including more efficient operations, better staff engagement and morale, and reduced head office costs.

Skill-based Casino Games Offer Leading Advantages

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Damien Connelly talks with Aaron Hightower, VP Gaming Technology for NanoTech Gaming

rcade games are all about short experiences, which is identical to slot games. With arcade games, you generally don’t win anything other than the kudos of getting your name on the leaderboard. It’s more about extending your time on device; the better you are at playing a game, the longer you can play it,” noted Aaron Hightower, VP Gaming Technology for Las Vegasbased NanoTech Gaming. Aaron previously developed arcade games for Atari, then later moved to IGT to develop slot games, before joining NanoTech Gaming. While at Atari, Aaron worked on the equivalent of a multi-

State Wide Area Progressive, linking arcades across the U.S. to allow for tournament arcade gaming that paid-out cash prizes. Atari owns brands that have already been transferred to slot games, including Centipede and Pong. As AGEM’s Executive Director, Marcus Prater, commented in our exclusive interview with him (see Casino Life June/July 2015, pp 12-14), AGEM believes Nevada’s Senate Bill 9 “will inject new life into the slot machine segment.” Senate Bill 9 will allow skill-based slots. As Marcus Prater noted, “variable-payback percentages in slot machines…would enhance the player experience by bringing true skill-based gaming, arcade-game

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elements, hybrid games and other unique features and technologies to the casino floor for the very first time.”

Leader, not a Follower Leading the development of skill-based casino games is NanoTech Gaming. In fact, they’re so far ahead of the curve they showed their Vegas 2047 skill-based video pinball game at G2E 2014. When you consider the legal language to enable skill-based gaming was approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board Wednesday 2nd September 2015, this gives you an idea of how advanced NanoTech Gaming is. “Games such as PacMan, Donkey Kong, and Defender, during the period 1978-84, were the first video games to monetise skill. Decades later, we’re now paralleling this in the casino industry. In casinos, Craps has similar features when a player is on a roll as they can extend their game time by being more lucky at playing. Poker also has a similar skill-based feedback loop whereby you play more

to get better, with the intention of winning more money. “As we know with skill-based table games such as Blackjack and Poker, not everyone wins. However, the perception each player has of being in control of the outcome of each of their wagers is one of the main reasons table games are growing while slots are being removed from the casino floor.” During my own visits to many casinos around the world, I’ve noticed the trend that younger customers prefer playing live tables while older customers play slots— with electronic tables more mixed—and seen how casinos are allocating more space to live and electronic tables. For example, MGM Resorts International, the largest operator in Las Vegas, reduced its number of slots by 24% during the period 2007 to 2014.

Skill-based Advantages “Creating a culture of players that enjoy each other’s company and who are not competing directly against one another with conflicting goals is

part of what we are doing at NanoTech Gaming. We are drawing on experiences learned from creating engaging skillbased arcade games to develop engaging skill-based gambling games.” Two of these games will be on show at NanoTech Gaming’s G2E 2015 booth: their “Vegas 2047” video pinball, and their “CasinoKat” maze game. CasinoKat is a colourful, fast-paced game with classic arcade mechanics, designed with a Las Vegas nightclub in mind. These games show off some of NanoTech Gaming’s patent-pending technologies, including their Bet Cube System that allows players to dynamically adjust bet amount, win amount, and the skill effect for each and every game in a visually simple manner that allows the player to customise their gambling experience…putting players in control. I think it’s a brilliant concept; and one you have to see to appreciate. Underpinning all this is their patentpending NanoTech Advantage math model. This allows players to leverage the skill they’ve developed to gain a positive expected value (EV). This ‘+EV’ is then determined by the RNG to effect an outcome acceptable to players and operators alike. As AGEM’s Marcus Prater recently commented: “It is understood that there is a delicate balance between giving players a fair entertainment value while maximizing revenues for casino operators. It is also important to note that the industry needs to consider all new ideas to stop the erosion of slot revenues in markets throughout the U.S.” Perhaps the most unique feature offered by NanoTech Gaming’s products is how it places consumers at the centre of the decision making process for electronic gaming. Whether those consumers are in a landbased property, playing online or on a mobile device, or even playing via a digital (interactive) TV or lottery terminal, each consumer has the option to be in control of each and every wager they place. NanoTech Gaming’s products will offer players Transparency + Fairness

+ Honesty, all within the legal requirement of each jurisdiction they will be licensed in. As Aaron Hightower noted, “We are unlocking an entirely new category of Class III gaming machines. Everything is fully transparent from the initial display of average payback percentage as a function of bet amount, to the expected value percentage displayed during play, to the visualisation of your chance to win as the bet resolves.” What’s being offered by NanoTech Gaming is a challenge to our industry’s status quo. To appreciate it, you have to see these products in action so you can better understand these new ideas. Find out more by visiting NanoTech Gaming at its G2E booth #4116.

When the Right Vision meets Reality… “T” Street, the new Playground in Atlantic City, gets an A+ from this Professor! Robert Ambrose

reviously I have highlighted some of the visionary companies that have become part of the new Atlantic City model. One such group is developer Bart Blatstein and his team at Tower Investments that have a vision in progress at the former Pier at Caesars. This new F&B / Live Entertainment district branded as “T” Street at the Playground is such an experience. Still a work in progress, it is an additional element of hospitality the Atlantic City market needs to continue to establish its diversification and branding for the next generation of customers. Future plans for this pier include an oceanfront concert space, bowling alley and swimming pool. The “Playground experience” thanks to Blatstein’s vision is a 12 month marketable venue for this seaside resort. As “T” Street establishes its footprint above the ocean, there is a chance for the pier to re-float into a more marketable experience of contemporary shops, integrated amenities and sleek clubs.

Some History… This historic section of this Atlantic City beach has housed many themed customer experiences over the centuries. A venue called Ocean One opened in 1983. A ship-like mall that stretched over the beach to the sea replacing the century old Million Dollar Pier. The Mayor of the city at that ribbon cutting said, “…the casinos were designed to serve as a catalyst for full-scale revival of this resort and that Ocean One might be the start of significant noncasino participation in urban renewal.” (Press 1983) (It is interesting to note that the term “non-gaming” was not in vogue yet.) The idea of Ocean One set sail alone and was

unceremoniously decommissioned piece by piece as the “Pier Shops at Caesars” attempted to become the next enterprise that would reinvent the non-gaming model as high end retail. It sank faster than Ocean One! It was a platform of over-priced designer brands, a few restaurants and a fountain that synchronized water spouts to music. Over-all the theme of the concrete and steel enclosure did not reflect the demographic base that has always supported this city. Last summer the view to the public was darkened store fronts and a dry fountain. With the successful Tropicana Quarter (2004) and the establishment of similar venues around the country such as Philly and Kansas City live by the Cordish Company, the placement of this new “T” street experience in this city at this time is the right one. And the future continues to be written as recent press reports state that Mr. Blatstein’s group will close a deal in November on the shuttered Showboat property in Atlantic City formerly owned by Caesars. I have stated previously that the Atlantic City model is a new beginning-driven by elements of dreams backed by realistic thinking. Atlantic City is on a slow and steady refresh as the vision(s) come forward and the story continues to be written. Thank you to those that see beyond the “silo” and embrace a vision whose foundation is built on learning from the past, understanding the present and seeing the future. Bob Ambrose Instructor Gaming & Hospitality Center for Hospitality & Sport Management Drexel University Rja73@drexel.edu Twitter @ bobambrose http://www.drexel.edu/hsm/

Breaking out of the aspic In this article, Steve Donoughue, a 20 year veteran of advising the British gambling industry on strategy and politics argues that radical steps need taking to enable the casino industry to take on the challenges of internet gambling and changing leisure patterns through regulatory reform

he British casino industry is in aspic. It has been ever since the Gambling Act 2005 failed to bring in the revolutionary change it got so mauled for. The average number of casinos operating before the Act and after the Act has risen by about 20 and doesn’t look like ever increasing or their locations moving. We will probably never see all of the 8 Large and 8 Small casinos open and this will mean that there will never be the impetus for the government to review the ‘test’ that the 2005 Act casinos were supposed to be. This means a few more decades of stagnation, with a two tier industry that will lose out to its more exciting, less taxed and controlled online cousin. So why isn’t the industry in uproar? Why isn’t it hammering at the gates of Westminster and Whitehall? Partly it’s because its trade body, the National Casino Forum, doesn’t have the greatest of relationships with DCMS or Westminster, but mostly it’s because things are looking good for the industry. The Gambling Commission’s statistics show increased attendances every year 2011-2014, overall drop has increased by 46% and win and machine GGR are all up. The industry doesn’t have a burning platform and everyone is,

arguably, doing alright thank you; so why rock the boat? But it’s not all the industry’s fault. Successive governments have not wanted to go near gambling since the political omnishambles that was the Gambling Act. The last few years have seen the volume turned up by the campaign against fixed odds betting terminals in betting shops. Whilst not directly involving the casino industry, indirectly it tarnishes all of the gambling industry, making un-educated politicians believe that all of gambling is linked to problem gambling and for ministers this means it’s a political no-go area. This just makes for a recipe for disaster in the medium to long term because an industry that doesn’t change with the times, falls behind the times and once the rot sets in, it’s just about managing decline. You don’t need me to name the industry sectors where there is just a sniff of mould about them. They still have some customers and they still have some staff, but they’re a hollow shell of what they once were. The casino industry is almost four hundred years old and since the first Venetian ‘Ridotto’ in 1638 you have had to physically go to a building to play your casino games. The need to have these building and the way governments have regulated their number and their location has defined much about the industry and its economics. For the last fifteen years, things

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have completely changed. You have been able to play these games while physically located anywhere by playing on the internet. The impact on land-based has been relatively minor though, because the customer experience has been completely different and for many, the live casino experience has still proven superior with the internet providing more a schooling exercise than a substitute. If we look forward to the next fifteen years things are going to change dramatically as the price of data goes down and the accessibility and amount of it goes up. Imagine if you will a virtual reality headset that recreates a casino for the customer. All the graphics of such high quality that it will appear real, indistinguishable from reality, all the interactions with devices and people almost unrecognisable from real life. There will be little difference from a live casino yet you won’t have to travel there or even get dressed. With haptic feedback gloves, the punter can feel the dice as he throws them, his headphones can let him hear the speech of other customers and staff who also inhabit the virtual casino even though they really live all around the globe. Their screams when he rolls ‘snake eyes’ will be just as real as in any casino in Vegas or Wolverhampton. The technology will also soon exist to allow smells to be digitally transmitted, so the aroma of casino nights that we’ve all come to enjoy (!) will pervade through the punters front room too. Not everything will be an advancement for society but for the customer a whole new world of entertainment will be accessed, easily, in-home. When the average punter can strap on a headset in their front room to indulge their gaming pastime, the industry will fall off a cliff. Just look at what happened to venue based leisure when the television became mass market in the 1950s & 60s. Cinemas nearly died out; the same could happen to casinos. This is a bold statement to make but when the industry can’t react to structural changes because to do this it needs regulatory change and there is no political will for this, then things can only end badly. As with the football pools, the customer base will dwindle to those set in their ways and whose customer life time is rapidly dwindling. So what is to be done? How do we convince government that casinos need to change when no one in the industry is that bothered about the need to change? What we can do is be radical and show the industry that we’re beyond the curve on their perceived number one issue, problem gambling. Why not argue that the one regional licence that is still on the statute books could

be utilised to conduct research into every aspect of problem gambling. It would be run as a not-for-profit and therefore fund researchers and research equipment. It would be operated by proper casino staff and would offer all the benefits of a regional licence, unlimited stakes and prizes machines and everything in between. The only thing is that its customers would be the guinea pigs. Each one being physically, mentally and neurologically screened before, during and after each visit. Their every movement, transaction, interaction with staff and devices recorded and monitored. It would be the first time that a real casino experience has gone properly under the microscope and the data it would generate by the bucket load, would provide the evidence to dictate gambling policy of the future. Such a move would show the world; government, regulators and policymakers how serious the industry was about solving its biggest bugbear. The data it would provide would enhance our understanding of problem gambling umpteen-fold and move its research into the real world rather than that of the lab and the tiny sample group. Why do this? Because after a few years of operation it will be possible to go to government and say, ‘look the problem isn’t with X as we once thought, so can we remove its restrictions?’. The research into FOBTs has already shown that problem gambling exists at all staking levels so weakening the argument for limits on stakes and prizes. With the enormous amount of data that the research casino could generate, no government could stand in the way of evidence for long and the industry can seek change so it can evolve with the times. The research would become the key to unlock the political stalemate. The whole gambling industry needs to move away from the protectionist approach that argues that any change to the regulations increases taxes and jobs if positive and reduces them if negative. The game has moved on. Politicians just don’t want to be attacked for allowing problem gambling and care little about the jobs and taxes. In the big scheme of things they are minuscule while the potential column inches are massive. By developing a research casino you solve this problem in spades and gain the plaudits of all stakeholders along the way. This is obviously a radical proposal and may be beyond the pale for many who are risk averse in this industry. But without radical change the industry’s days are numbered. You have to bet big to win big.

SPOTLIGHT – G2E LAS VEGAS

Cammegh expanding product range on show at G2E 2015 booth 3630!

ammegh, manufacturer of the world’s finest roulette wheels, are looking forward to exhibiting at this year’s G2E in Las Vegas. The show will see Cammegh’s latest roulette side bet, Spread Bet Roulette, make its debut in the US. The exciting new side bet gives operators the opportunity to offer a wider range of roulette bets with thrilling new pay-out levels. Operators with existing Cammegh Mercury 360 wheels and Billboard displays can offer the gripping new roulette-based side bet, with configurable payouts from even money up to 1,200 to 1. In addition to Cammegh’s Spread Bet Roulette, a brand new range of Billboard Displays screens will be at the show. Complimentary to the current range, the new slim-line single and double sided screens conceal a host of new features together with pin sharp, customizable HD graphics. Cammegh will also

be exhibiting the renowned Mercury 360 wheel, Slingshot 2 automated wheel and Crystal wheel. These will be partnered by the EyeCard Plus card recognition system, Multiboard and Cammegh roulette side bets; Double Shot and Lucky Symbols. The Cammegh team look forward to welcoming everyone to this year’s show held at the Sands Expo and Convention Center on September 29th, you can find Cammegh at stand 3630!

SPOTLIGHT – G2E LAS VEGAS

Exciting G2E awaits DRGT Global team sends out a warm welcome to the DRGT stand

How has the year so far treated DRGT and what have you in store for operators for the remainder? This year is again marked by strong growth – not just external with customers, but internal growth as well. We are continually investing to strengthen the team and ensure we have the right structure to match the increasing demand for our products and services. Our European and Latin American offices have been joined by an African office. Charl Geyser heads up DRGT Africa. DRGT is going from strength to strength in Africa. The growing number of African Countries includes South Africa, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, Malawi and the Seychelles. DRGT has well over 2,000 machines managed by its System across 30 sites in Africa. We are working on bolstering our geographical structure even more and will have further news soon.

What have you planned for this year’s G2E Las Vegas Show? Our global team will be at stand #2867 to welcome visitors to our stand. This is an excellent opportunity to portray the unique benefits we offer. Serverless technology and our systems can connect to all slots. Furthermore, the modular, flexible product range enables operators to opt for just what they require, knowing they can build upon this should future demand alter. This gives our customers the peace of mind that they know that we tailor our products to each operator’s needs. What can visitors to your booth this year expect to find at this year’s show? A very motivated team with the best systems solutions available! Take, for example, our

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SPOTLIGHT – G2E LAS VEGAS drScreen. The slot machines come alive through drScreen as operators can communicate with their customers directly on the slot screen. This direct communication can be used in a number of ways – such as informing players (on entertainment and culinary offers for example) and rewarding players for their loyalty. We offer flexible and modular systems so that each and every operator can choose their own individual systems solution: drAccounting, drCashless, drTicket, drJackpots, drPlayerTracking, drScreen, drBonusing, drCage, drReports and drTable are just some of the examples of how an operator can choose the right options to best fit their own requirements. The player tracking screen is another medium through which we can offer such communication – with the drScreenMini. What are amongst the most compelling reasons behind why you choose to exhibit each year at G2E Las Vegas? We are the fastest growing systems company in the industry – with a product range that is individually catered to each customer’s needs. The ongoing costs are much lower than the industry average as we implement serverless technology. All slots can be connected – even the old and often popular reel-based slots. And last but not least – we are an independent company with the focus on systems.

During July your organisation announced an impressive 9 out of 9 Belgian casinos run on DRGT systems. This is true. This means that Casino de Namur, Casino Blankenberge, Casino Ostend, Casino de Dinant, Casino Knokke, Casino Middelkerke, Casino de Spa, Casino Brussels and Casino de Chaudfontaine all have implemented DRGT systems. With the successful completion of the installation of an accounting, TITO and jackpot system in the casinos of Blankenberge and Middelkerke, all 9 Belgian casinos now operate a DRGT system. Have you 3 months on from installation any feedback as to how your system is performing at the Belgian Casinos? Belgium is our home market and our very first customers were won here. Naturally, we did not gain all 9 casinos at once. The feedback from our customers has been an important factor why further casinos purposely chose us as their systems partner. It is very exceptional to see that in a free market situation every casino comes to the same conclusion that our system is the best adapted to the market. Our customers look back from the past years of experience and this positive feedback alongside the benefits we offer led to all Belgian casinos choosing our system.

SPOTLIGHT – G2E LAS VEGAS

APEX gaming to launch iDROPe at G2E Vegas Side-mounted iDROPe joins table-mounted iDROP at stand #2867

DROP is the answer at live tables – namely how to manage ticket-in, ticket-out and ensure complete, secure, real-time accounting. The iDROP is mounted into the gaming table. Fitted with an easy-to-use touchscreen display, croupiers can accept tickets directly at the live table and exchange these for chips / jetons. Players decide themselves whether to exchange the complete amount on the ticket for chips. When a part amount is to be exchanged, the remainder is returned in ticket format. Naturally players can cash-in their chips for a ticket. This is all done by the iDROP. Operators have the further benefit of knowing the iDROP content in real-time. Thus, operators have immediate feedback on the drop. The iDROP completes the product range that include the PINNACLE gaming machines, EVO gaming platform, APEX MOBILE SLOTS mobile gaming and the APEX PLAYER STATION automated multiplayer. APEX gaming offers both the slant-top and upright cabinets – as the PINNACLE SL and the PINNACLE. The Pinnacle SL is equipped with two 27” wide-screen monitors whereby the upright version has two 24” monitors. The EVO platform ensures pin-sharp games graphics on the screens. Once chosen, the game appears instantly – the player does not have to wait for the game to be loaded (solving one of the most important challenges for multi-game content). APEX gaming offers an extensive range of games, including 3D games that come to life thanks to the EVO platform.

The APEX PLAYER STATION (APS) is the automated multiplayer from APEX gaming, equipped with eight gaming terminals, each with a 24” screen. This fully automatic player station incorporates a roulette wheel. APS also offers Sic-Bo, Baccarat, Black Jack and Quikker. Quikker is an APEX game where the player bets on the outcome of two cards – in a way this game marries the best of roulette with black jack, yet the odds are much higher. APS is extremely flexible – the slots gaming can be played on the APS – and APS games on Pinnacle gaming machines. Furthermore, the APS can be connected to up to three more roulette tables – in such a case the player can choose to play on four different roulette tables (automated or live). “We are very excited about the forthcoming G2E Las Vegas”, enthuses Mr. Max Pessnegger, CEO of APEX gaming. “We will have the most complete, most innovative array of gaming solutions ever. Now we have the iDROPe to compliment the iDROP. Our games have really come to life on the Pinnacle cabinets with our EVO platform. The APS multiplayer is very stylish and our mobile solutions give operators more choice on the gaming floor”. The APEX gaming stand number at the G2E Las Vegas is #2867. The APEX team – including Johannes Weissengruber (Chairman), Max Pessnegger (CEO) and Kubilay Özer (Global Sales Director) – is looking forward to greeting visitors to the APEX stand.

Your Winning Combination

As the leader in casino gaming and lottery, IGT is committed to shaping the future of the gaming industry for our customers globally. From the innovative hardware of IGT CrystalDual™ to award-winning titles like SPHINX™ 3D - you can count on IGT to bring the convergence of state-of-the-art platforms and player-favorite content to the next level. Join us at G2E 2015 Booth #2139 to discover your winning combination.