Canada's Premier Gaming Industry Magazine
Vol. 1 No. 3
December 2006/January 2007
Electronic
Table Games Inside:
Caesars Windsor
Understanding Cultural Differences Gaming Stocks
Official Publication of the Canadian Gaming Summit
Dec. 2006/Jan. 2007
Volume 1 Number 3
Publisher
Chuck Nervick
chuckn@mediaedge.ca 416-512-8186 ext. 227
Editor
Fred Faust
ffjr@swbell.net
Advertising Sales
Amit Kumaria
Philip Soltys
contents 5
philips@mediaedge.ca
Senior Designer
Annette Carlucci
annettec@mediaedge.ca
Designer
Ian Clarke
The re-branding of Casino Windsor, and the introduction of three new features.
7
Message from CGA
amitk@mediaedge.ca
Editor’s Note
Bill Rutsey discusses the critical importance of Corporate Social Responsibility for the Canadian gaming industry.
9
Gaming News Roundup
Caesars is coming to Canada, in the first use of the brand outside the U.S.; twenty-one trends to watch for in 2007; and other gaming news.
ianc@mediaedge.ca
Production Manager
Denise Macharacek
14
Understanding Cultural Differences
denisem@mediaedge.ca
Circulation Manager
Jennifer Hustler
asino designers and operators need to be aware of variations in seating C preferences, favourite colours, food choices and even superstitions.
jenniferh@mediaedge.ca
Proudly owned and published by:
President Kevin Brown
President & CEO Bill Rutsey
kevinb@mediaedge.ca
wrutsey@canadiangaming.ca
Vice President, Strategic Development Chuck Nervick
Vice President, Public Affairs Paul Burns
chuckn@mediaedge.ca
pburns@canadiangaming.ca
Canadian Gaming Business is published six times a year as a joint venture between MediaEdge Communications and The Canadian Gaming Association
16
Public Performance
David McFadgen, an analyst at Sprott Securities, examines the performance of the stocks of Canada’s publicly traded land-based gaming companies.
20
Chef Spotlight
Jean-Pierre Curtat has been executive chef at Casino de Montréal since it opened in 1993. He supervises nine food outlets and a staff of 275.
22
New Breed of Table Games
Electronic multi-player table games offer speed, security, privacy, flexible stakes, and precise player tracking. Manufacturers hope they will finally catch on in North America.
28
Facility Focus
Casino Nova Scotia—Halifax has had a series of corporate owners since it opened in 1995. It’s now in Canadian hands, and doing very well.
For advertising information, Contact Chuck Nervick 416-512-8186 ext. 227 chuckn@mediaedge.ca
For editorial information, Contact Fred Faust 866-216-0860 ext. 271 fredf@mediaedge.ca
Copyright 2007 Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40063056 ISSN 1911-2378 Guest editorials or columns do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Canadian Gaming Business magazine's advisory board or staff. No part of this issue may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic or electronic process without written permission by the publisher. Subscription rates: Canada $44.94 per year, $80.79 two years. All rates are payable in Canadian Funds only. Postmaster send address changes to: Canadian Gaming Business Magazine 5255 Yonge Street, Suite 1000, Toronto, Ontario M2N 6P4
30
Gaming Personality
Brian Lynch, vice-president of casino gaming at British Columbia Lottery Corp., found that 26 years in the RCMP was good preparation for his second career, in the gaming industry.
33
Lottery and Gaming Corporation Highlights
The provincial lottery and gaming corporations look back at a year of marketing initiatives, facility renovations, machine upgrades, new games, new training and education programs, policy revisions and responsible gaming efforts.
Volume 1 No. 3
Canada's Premier Gaming Industry Magazine
Vol. 1 No. 3
December 2006/January 2007
Electronic Table Games Inside:
Caesars Windsor Chef Spotlight
Gaming Personality
On the Cover Electronic multi-player table games, popular in Europe, may finally catch on in North America.
Official Publication of the Canadian Gaming Summit
Official Publication of the Canadian Gaming Summit
Canadian Gaming Business |
editor'snote
Editorial Advisory Board Howard Blank, Vice President Media & Entertainment / Marketing & Promotions, Great Canadian Gaming Corporation Lynn Cassidy, Executive Director Ontario Charitable Gaming Association Robin Drummond, Senior Director Spielo, GTECH Nick Eaves, Vice-President Woodbine Entertainment Group Art Frank, President Niagara Casinos Brian Fraser, Marketing Manager IGT Canada Jordan Gnat, President & Chief Executive Officer Boardwalk Gaming Muriel Grimble, Executive Director Gaming Products & Services Alberta Gaming & Liquor Commission Lyle Hall, Managing Director HLT Advisory Inc. Zane Hansen, President & Chief Executive Officer Saskatchewan Indian Gaming Authority Brad Johnson, Vice President Marketing Aristocrat Technologies Inc. Ron Kelly, Executive Vice President Arrow Games Michael Lipton, Q.C., President, International Masters of Gaming Law and Partner, Elkind & Lipton LLP Eric Luke Eric R. Luke and Associates Alan Lyman, Senior Regional Director Scientific Games Margaret McGee, Director of Public Affairs & Communications Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation Jovica Perovic, Director Casino Product Development & Facilities British Columbia Lottery Corporation Michael Randall, Vice President Corporate Responsibility & Communications Atlantic Lottery Corporation George Sweny, Senior Vice President Lotteries OLG Monique Wilberg, Chief Operating Officer Gateway Casinos
Caesars is Coming to Canada, and We Introduce New Features We report on some exciting news in this issue, with the announcement that Casino Windsor will become Caesars Windsor. (See Gaming News Roundup on page 9.) The re-branding doesn’t take effect until early 2008, but everyone in the Canadian gaming industry will be waiting to learn whether the venerable Caesars brand, along with the $400 million renovation and expansion and the upcoming deployment of Harrah’s Total Rewards program, helps Casino Windsor fight the challenge from the three big casinos across the border. This will continue to be a struggle for players’ business that’s worthy of a case study for a university marketing class. Also in this issue, we begin three new features that we plan to include regularly. The first is “Facility Focus,” a look at a Canadian gaming venue. Our industry is widely dispersed geographically, and few of us have visited all of the sites. Each issue, we will describe a different property. Albert Warson begins this series with a story about Casino Nova Scotia—Halifax. In “Chef Spotlight,” we will write about a chef at a Canadian casino or other gaming facility. These folks put in long hours to ensure that the hundreds and even thousands of meals that are served every day are of the highest quality, and that patrons consider food and beverage another reason to visit the property. Andrew Coppolino interviews Jean-Pierre Curtat, the executive chef at Casino de Montréal.
The idea behind “Gaming Personality” is to profile some of the people who make the industry what it is. The top dogs at the lottery and gaming corporations and at many of the gaming venues are well known, because they are often quoted in the media. We want to highlight some of the leaders whose names may not be so well known, who work hard to keep their businesses running smoothly and, hopefully, growing. Anakana Schofield writes about Brian Lynch, the vice-president of casino gaming at the British Columbia Lottery Corp. If you have suggestions for subjects of these new features – a gaming venue, a chef, a gaming personality – I’d love to hear from you. Global Gaming Expo, known as G2E, is held in Las Vegas every fall. It’s always a source of inspiration for anyone involved in the industry, and two of our stories are based on sessions at G2E. Aaron Todd writes about “Understanding Cultural Differences,” and I discuss electronic multi-player table games that seem to be getting more popular in North America. Have a healthy and prosperous New Year! Fred Faust Editor fredf@mediaedge.ca 866-216-0860 ext. 271
E-mails to the Editor Policy Canadian Gaming Business welcomes e-mails to the editor. E-mails should include the name of the sender, business or professional affiliation, and city and province of the sender’s office or home. A phone number should be included for contact purposes; the phone number will not be published. We reserve the right to edit e-mails for purposes of brevity and clarity.
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You can’t win from behind By Bill Rutsey, President and CEO
The biggest public issue facing our industry in Canada today is effectively demonstrating leadership for responsible gaming, including responding to the issue of problem gaming in a fashion that communicates to the public the industry ’s commitment, concern and programs. Responsible gaming is a “red flag” issue for the industry – we own it and we cannot hope to win in the court of public opinion coming from behind. As an industry we need to collectively communicate our concern for any and all players at risk, our programs in place and our commitment to continuous improvement. The current corporate communications buzzword for all of this is an articulated and promulgated set of policies and procedures – Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Contrary to current public perception, the Canadian gaming industry’s efforts to support responsible play and minimize harm are significant, and continue to grow and evolve. Currently, more than $75 million are allocated annually from government gaming revenues in Canada to fund problem and responsible gaming program initiatives – more per-capita than any other country in the world. To this you can add the ongoing research conducted by the major gaming operators and suppliers doing business in Canada. What does it mean to be responsible? We in the industry have an obligation to provide safe and secure gaming venues for all our
customers, and we must communicate that we take our responsibilities very seriously to assist those individuals who may be playing beyond their limits. But this is not an easy or straightforward undertaking – to be able to help individuals address their own personal dependence challenges. The response to date, mostly from government, has been executed on a provinceby-province basis with uneven national dialogue. The result has produced an uneven collection of programs, some based more upon the premise of, “look – we’re doing something,” rather than well-researched, science-based approaches that actually work to produce meaningful results. Findings and recommendations of the Reno Model, a science-based framework for responsible gaming developed by world-leading responsible gaming experts Alex Blaszczynski of the University of Sydney & Westmead Hospital, Australia; Robert Ladouceur, University of Laval, Quebec; and Howard Shaffer from Harvard Medical School; include: • the majority of the adult population gambles responsibly; • only a small minority of the population develops gambling-related harm; and • any responsible gambling program rests upon two fundamental principles: • the ultimate decision to gamble resides with the individual and represents a choice; and
• to properly make this decision, individuals must have the opportunity to be informed. Within the context of civil liberties external organizations cannot remove an individual’s right to make decisions. In addition to viewing gambling as a choice, responsible gambling also rests on the principle of informed choice. Informed choice should be based on providing relevant, empirically-based information to help the players to make their decision. We all know the numbers, but we can’t win just with the numbers. We have an activity that over 75 per cent of the population participates in, and depending on which study you read, 95-99 per cent of those people engage in responsible play. In other words – the overwhelming majority of players don’t have a problem. But for those who do – it can be allconsuming and utterly destructive. Our collective response to this small minority and their problems is what the public wants to know before they are willing to look at us as just another entertainment alternative. We must come together to build a consistent and responsible national CSR message, which clearly demonstrates leadership taken on the issue. Then and only then will we receive the credit we are due for all the important economic and social benefits that gaming generates. As Will Rogers so aptly put it – “People don’t care what you know until they know that you care.” Canadian Gaming Business |
gamingnewsroundup
Left to right: Duncan Brown, CEO, OLG; Sandra Pupatello, MPP; Dwight Duncan, MPP; Kevin Laforet, President and CEO, Casino Windsor; and Tim Wilmott, chief operating officer, Harrah’s, at the announcement of the re-branding of Casino Windsor.
Render unto Caesars The OLG and officials from Casino Windsor and Harrah’s Entertainment made a blockbuster announcement Dec. 15. At a press conference that was billed as the unveiling of the property’s new two-level rotunda, they announced that the casino will be re-branded as Caesars Windsor, effective early in 2008. “Caesars Windsor will set a new standard for casinos in the Windsor-Detroit area,” said Sandra Pupatello, MPP for Windsor West and one of two ministers of the Ontario provincial cabinet that attended the press conference. “The provincial government investment in this upscale entertainment venue will create new jobs and help attract more tourists to Windsor.” Caesars has long been considered the most recognizable casino brand, worldwide. This will be the first time the name has been used on a casino located outside the U.S. OLG signed a Caesars trademark licensing agreement with Harrah’s Entertainment, which bought Caesars Entertainment in 2005. Not coincidentally, Harrah’s is also 50 percent owner, along with Hilton Hotels, of Windsor Casino Limited (WCL), which has the management contract for the property. OLG is spending $400 million on an extensive renovation and expansion of Casino Windsor. Much of that work has already been done, and Kevin Laforet, president and CEO of WCL, told Canadian Gaming Business that the completed projects were designed to
be compatible with the Caesars brand. The discussions about the re-branding had been continuing for “quite awhile,” he said. In addition to the elaborate rotunda with its six-storey dome with skylights, the gaming floor has been remodelled to create wider aisles and shorter banks of slot machines. A sports lounge opened in September, along with sports betting limits and options that are not available elsewhere in Ontario. The new name awaits completion of two other major projects: a 22-storey hotel tower and 5,000-seat theatre. The 400 new hotel rooms will complement the existing 389 rooms, which are being upgraded. The theatre will be second in seating capacity only to Casino Rama among Canadian casino venues. Casino Windsor certainly needs whatever boost the improvements and the re-branding can give it. It opened in a temporary facility in 1994 with a monopoly on the Detroit/ Windsor market. But the monopoly vanished when the first of three casinos opened in Detroit in 1999. These properties – MotorCity, MGM Grand Detroit, and Greektown -- are also expanding. And they now have a monopoly on gamblers who want to smoke. In addition to the provincial smoking ban, Casino Windsor has been hurt by disruption from construction, a stronger Canadian dollar, and the perception that border crossings are more troublesome. Up to 80 per cent of the casino’s customers come from the U.S.
Revenue at Casino Windsor for the period from April to September dropped to $168 million, from $225 million in the same period last year. The three Detroit casinos, with 2005 gaming revenue of US$1.23 billion, comprise the ninth largest U.S. gaming market, excluding Native American gaming. Laforet, who has held executive positions at Casino Windsor since it opened, is also excited about another change that will help him compete with Detroit: Casino Windsor will become part of Harrah’s Total Rewards program, pending regulatory approvals, probably in the second quarter of 2007. Harrah’s Total Rewards, which began in 1997 as Total Gold, is the largest casino loyalty program in the gaming industry, with about 40 million card holders worldwide. It’s long been admired by marketers in other industries, as well. Gamblers who use their Rewards card when playing accumulate points that they can redeem for complimentaries or for merchandise from a catalogue. The system operates in real time across all Harrah’s brands. A customer at Windsor will be able to earn or redeem points at any of the 35 U.S. casinos owned by Harrah’s, and vice versa. These include the brand names of Caesars, Harvey’s, Horseshoe, Paris, Rio and Showboat. Teresa Roncon, a spokeswoman for OLG, said the licensing agreement with Harrah’s is separate from the OLG contract with WCL to operate the casino. “Nothing has changed with that,” she said, referring to the WCL contract. She said OLG will not divulge any information about that contract, including its length or expiration date. The employees of Casino Windsor all work for WCL. OLG owns the buildings and the gaming equipment.
Poker on the prairie Casino Regina is offering poker players a chance at the big show – the annual World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. Until June 20, 2007, players at the casino’s regular Wednesday Texas Hold ’Em tournaments can compete for a seat at the World Series, which otherwise costs $10,000. The top 60 point leaders from the weekly events will play off for the seat, plus airfare and hotel. Canadian Gaming Business |
gamingnewsroundup Casino Regina also holds weekly tournaments on Mondays and Tuesdays, and a monthly Ladies Only event. Its three major annual tournaments are the Station Poker Classic in March, the Diamond Poker Classic in July and the Harvest Poker Classic in November.
What to watch for in 2007 Spectrum Gaming Group, a well-regarded consultancy based in Atlantic City and publishers of the Gaming Industry Observer, released a list in December of the 21 most important trends that will impact the casino industry worldwide in 2007. Some of these trends are well underway; others may still look new a year from now. Here is Spectrum’s list, in alphabetical order: g Acceptance of server-based gaming, and adoption of new technology in spinningreel slots to facilitate server-based gaming. g Adding table games to slots-only markets, leading to a chasing effect in which neighbouring jurisdictions are forced to expand their offerings to retain revenue that would otherwise be crossing state lines. g C ommunal gaming, in which multiple players can participate in the same electronic game. g Continued conversion of racetracks to racinos. g Continued development of luxury housing, second-homes in combination with, or adjacent to gaming properties. g Development of “hub-and-spoke” business model, with sister properties in central, feeder markets. g Evolution of gaming companies into entertainment providers. g Growing acceptance of electronic table games that meet regulatory standards in both slots-only and full-service markets. g Growing partnership between gaming, high-end retail — and the marriage between retailing and casino loyalty programs. g Growth of conventions in destination markets. g Hotel-room growth, use as marketing tool, as well as branded non-casino hotel development in non-gaming markets. g Increasing reliance by states on high-tax, 10 | December 2006/January 2007
franchise business model with protected geographic areas. g International Game Technology ’s “Guaranteed Play” for slot customers, which guarantees players a minimum amount of time on slot machines for set price. g Next generation of Las Vegas casinos, creating full-service metropolitan centers. g Opening of new Asian markets. g Outsourcing of food-and-beverage, partnership with signature restaurants. g Private equity firms entering the gaming industry. g R e a c h i n g y o u n g e r, m o r e d i v e r s e demographics. g Remote, handheld gaming. g Tribal operators pursuing management contracts with other tribal casinos and expanding into state-sanctioned gaming jurisdictions. g Widespread acceptance of RFID chip tracking and wager recognition in table games.
Michael Bublé, left, David Foster and Paul Anka at the David Foster and Friends Charity Gala 2006 at Niagara Fallsview.
Stars raise $3.3 million at OLG charity event The David Foster and Friends Charity Gala 2006 raised more than $3.3 million on Nov. 25 at the Avalon Ballroom of Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort. The money supports the David Foster Foundation, which was founded in 1986 to help pay non-medical expenses for families with children who require organ transplants. Foster is expanding his charitable work beyond his native province of British Columbia. This was his first such event in Ontario. The impressive list of friends who performed was headlined by Italian singer Andrea Bocelli
in his only Canadian concert of the year. He was joined by Michael Bublé, Paul Anka, Babyface, Katharine McPhee of American Idol, the comedian Sinbad and the 10-year-old singing star Jamia Simone Nash. Separately, on Nov. 28 Casino Windsor donated $78,900 to a total of 31 food banks and toy drives in Windsor and Essex County. The contribution was part of the “Casino Windsor Cares” program, which started in 2000.
Online gaming The Ontario legislature has passed Bill 152, an amendment to the Consumer Protection Act of 2002, that bans the advertising of or linking to Internet gaming sites that operate contrary to the Criminal Code of Canada. The advertising that is banned must originate in Ontario or be primarily intended for Ontario residents. Lobbyists for the Interactive Gaming Council, an industry trade group based in Vancouver, succeeded in getting the bill changed so that it would not affect sponsorship arrangements or dot.net ads. Dot.net ads are informational or “educational” in nature; the education may be instructions in how to play poker. But as long as such sites do not directly link to a dot.com site – where the gaming actually occurs and money changes hands – they will be legal. The new law is not expected to have much impact. According to a December research report by the London firm Dresdner Kleinwort, Canadians still enjoy gaming online at sites owned by PartyGaming. PartyGaming is the European company that runs PartyPoker, which rapidly grew to dominate the online poker market. Most of its customers were Americans. But when the U.S. outlawed online gaming on Oct. 13, PartyGaming, like most publicly traded Internet gaming operators, withdrew from the U.S. market. PartyGaming’s share price plummeted, and its revenue took a major hit. But the Dresdner Kleinwort report on Dec. 14 said that revenue had “a strong rebound in recent weeks.” It added that U.S. developments had “limited impact on Canadian customers to date.” And said that “Canadian customers remain a similar 25 per cent of the sales mix.” Meanwhile, a Toronto Star story on Nov. 6 reported that research commissioned by the
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gamingnewsroundup British government found that Kahnawake, the Mohawk reserve near Montreal, is the world’s third-largest host to online gaming sites. Britain is preparing to license and regulate online gaming.
Cantor – mobile and online Cantor Gaming, an affiliate of the large financial services company Cantor Fitzgerald, has embarked on a couple of interesting new business ventures. In November, the company signed a slot content licensing agreement with Aristocrat Technologies, to permit Cantor to offer Aristocrat games on its mobile gaming system for wireless, hand-held devices. Mobile gaming has been the Next Big Thing for several years now, slow to take hold either because of regulatory restraints, technical issues, or the basic question of whether consumers really want to play casino games on the small screens of cell phones or PDAs. Cantor helped get a law enacted in Nevada in 2005 to permit a very limited form of mobile gaming in certain areas of casino resorts. In May 2006, Nevada regulators licensed Cantor Gaming to operate its mobile system in the state. Its first test there is likely to be at the Venetian. Aristocrat is believed to be the first major slot manufacturer to license games to a mobile gaming operator. In December, the owner of the Venetian, Las Vegas Sands, said it would partner with Cantor to open an Internet casino and poker room in the second quarter of 2007. A Las Vegas Sands subsidiary has an online gaming license in Alderney, one of the British Channel Islands, where the new site will be based. Cantor Gaming is also licensed in Alderney. It launched the FHM online casino in June 2006. The Sands/Cantor site will target the United Kingdom market, and will not accept play from the U.S. The announcement said the operation will include customer age and location verification and online payment processing. MGM Mirage briefly tried an online casino that was based in the Isle of Man. It closed the site in June 2003, because the operation couldn’t make money without accepting U.S. customers.
Watch Genting grow Genting Bhd., which won a bid in December
12 | December 2006/January 2007
to build a $3.4 billion gaming resort in Singapore, says the project will make it the world’s third-largest casino operator within 10 years, Bloomberg reported. Genting is based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Las Vegas Sands is already at work on Singapore’s first casino resort, a $3 billion project. (All dollars in this item are U.S.) Genting owns two casinos in Malaysia and in 2006 the company bought control of Stanley Leisure, the largest casino operator in the United Kingdom. Bloomberg said Genting reported revenue of $1.5 billion in 2005. Harrah’s Entertainment, the world’s biggest gaming company ranked by sales, had revenue of $7.1 billion in 2005, Bloomberg said. MGM Mirage ranked second at $6.5 billion. Las Vegas Sands reported $1.7 billion in sales.
19th lottery customer. The Integrity system will provide lottery officials with real-time transaction compliance monitoring and independent calculations and balancing of critical events such as winning payout amounts. ESI Integrity is a subsidiary of ESI Entertainment Systems of Vancouver.
Staudt joins MEI Mark Staudt has joined MEI as eastern Americas sales director for casino gaming. His territory includes Canada. His predecessor, Mark Greenawalt, was promoted to director of European sales. Staudt, a native of Delaware, is new to the gaming industry. He spent more than 18 years in financial services with MBNA America Bank and MBNA Canada. MEI, based in West Chester, Pennsylvania, supplies currency acceptors to clients worldwide in the gaming, retail and transportation industries.
New contract for ESI Integrity ESI Integrity was the winning bidder for a contract with the Virginia Lottery to provide the company’s Integrity Internal Control System and related training, support and maintenance. The contract runs until September 2014, with optional extensions of up to three years. The company said the lottery will also undertake a trial of its new Integrity AntiFraud module, developed in partnership with Aprecia, Inc. of Stamford, Connecticut. The module is based on AI technology for transactional pattern analysis, and automatic rules detection and generation, offering risk reduction capability for the gaming industry. The Virginia Lottery represents the company’s 45th system license and the
No tax on luck The Globe and Mail reported Dec. 28 that two brothers won a case against the Canada Revenue Agency, which tried to tax their large winnings from sports betting at the Ontario and Quebec lotteries. Brian and Terry Leblanc, who lived in Aylmer, Que., bet recklessly large amounts on events with long odds, the paper reported. Of course they usually lost, but they had a few big hits, to the tune of $1.7 million on three occasions in 1996 and 1999. [Don’t try this at home; it usually leads to ruin.] Canada Revenue claimed their betting was a business and subject to tax. Apparently on the basis of no evidence, the government alleged that the Leblancs used a computer system and had a paid staff. But a judge on the Tax Court of Canada, according to the Globe and Mail, ruled against Canada Revenue. He said the brothers were compulsive gamblers, but they did not run a business and did not owe taxes on their winnings. “What it boiled down to was that luck is not taxable,” William Vanveen, the Leblancs’ lawyer, told the newspaper.
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Understanding Cultural Differences Knowing your customers – their preferences and even their superstitions – will pay off. By Aaron Todd
It seemed like a good idea at the time. A lion has roared at the beginning of MGM films since 1924, so when the MGM Grand opened in Las Vegas late in 1993, making a lion’s mouth the main entrance was a way to connect the casino to an established brand. The unintended result, according to Toby O’Brien of Raving Research, a Reno, Nevada, consultancy, was a noticeable lack of Asian customers. “Asian people wouldn’t cross the threshold of the casino through the mouth of a lion,” O’Brien said in an interview, citing a superstition that doing so would bring the player bad luck. In 1997, a new management team at MGM redesigned the entrance and commissioned a new lion, which was installed in early 1998. While lions still play a vital role in the casino’s branding, visitors now simply pass by a statue of one at the entrance instead of walking through its mouth. Cultural differences cause a vast array of behaviours and preferences, and gaming industry experts at the annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas in November discussed several ways casinos can cater to 14 | December 2006/January 2007
different segments of the population in a talk titled “Designing for Cultures: Understanding Your Customer.” The panel agreed that the most important factor in determining design is to know what the customer wants. Once you know that, you can create a design that results in a positive feeling about the casino. “We think that clients spend money on the outcome, not so much on the product,” said Alexander Kiss of Casinos Austria International. “They spend money on what the product does for them.” Tom O’Connor of SOSH Architects, of Atlantic City, agreed. “Good design needs to reach out to the end user, understand who that is and provide them with the ‘feel good factor’ that brings them back to a property again and again,” O’Connor said. But the importance of designing casinos goes beyond the gaming floor. It extends to the restaurants, the bars, entertainment selections and even the hotel rooms. “Ultimately, it’s not just about the gaming,” Raj Chandnani of Wimberly Allison Tong & Goo, which has offices in London and several
other cities, said. “It’s the whole environment and the amenities that are associated with it.”
Case study: Grand Casino Brussels A few years ago, Casinos Austria was granted a license to build a casino in Brussels as part of the city’s development project. In order to get the license, Casinos Austria agreed to redevelop an old building and establish a temporary casino on the property. After three years, the casino would move to a permanent location and leave the redeveloped building available for another business. The first step for Casinos Austria was to determine what the clientele of a casino in Brussels expected to see. The city is known for its art and style, and the dining experience takes on added importance for residents of the city; business meetings are routinely held in trendy restaurants. “We knew we would have to be stylish, we knew we would have to be unique, we knew we would have to make a statement,” Kiss said. “Now that we understood our customer, we had a nice conceptual meeting, and our CFO said ‘I like it a lot, it’s a wonderful concept, but
Photo Credit: MGM Mirage
it’s temporary so don’t spend money on it.’ ” Casinos Austria was able to strike a balance between design and budget by determining what the most important factors were for the Belgian clientele. They met their customers’ needs by creating several focus areas. One focal area, the restaurant, was deliberately constructed in a tight space. “People in Brussels want to sit extremely close to each other,” Kiss said. “They want to feel their neighbour, they want to see other people there. They don’t want too much space.” The bar, gaming and VIP areas were avant-garde, which was essential in order to gain credibility in the community. “It takes research to understand the local particularities,” Kiss said. “At the end of the day it’s your operation and you have to live with the design. It doesn’t help if your consultants understand the customer but the operation does not.”
Asian and Western gamblers Connecticut’s Foxwoods Resort and Casino has 40,000 customers on a daily basis, and approximately one third of those visitors are Asian. That group of gamblers has grown by 17 per cent over the last four years, in large part because of Foxwoods’ efforts to cater to an Asian population. There are several key differences between Asian gamblers and Western gamblers, O’Connor said. Asian players see gambling as entertainment in itself and often wager with family members. “Even if those family members never have any intent of gambling, they’re going to spend the day with their family member on the property,” O’Connor said, emphasizing the need to keep non-playing friends and family comfortable with additional seating, and close proximity to Asian food. Western players are less likely to have nonplaying friends and family nearby, as they will
The lion next to the main entrance of MGM Grand in Las Vegas is not the same lion that was there when the casino opened.
often avail themselves of other activities offered, such as shopping or shows. Top-rated Asian and Western players also expect to be treated differently. While both prefer an area that is separate from the rest of the casino, Asian players want to include gambling while Western players typically are looking for a short reprieve from gaming. “Some properties will actually go to the extent of designing a salon privé or a mini Asian casino that is separate and apart from being viewed by other players,” O’Connor said. “The Western player wants a place where there is no gaming but it overlooks the casino floor. It’s near the casino floor, it has food venues, and it’s a very relaxed setting.” One of the most obvious differences between Asian and Western gamblers is game preference. While the Asian gambler favours Pai Gow Poker, Sic Bo and Baccarat, Western players prefer slot machines, roulette and poker. Food choices are also a key factor. It’s important to know who your Asian customer is and offer a variety of Asian menus. And while many Western casino patrons still hit the allyou-can-eat buffet, the current trend is to offer a food court with several options. Celebrity chefs, such as Emeril Lagasse and Wolfgang Puck are also in vogue. Asian gamblers tend to be more superstitious than Western gamblers, and if a casino hopes to attract Asian players, it’s important to understand
those superstitions to avoid making blunders like the MGM Grand entrance. Some casinos, such as Foxwoods, have even made their Asian pits the number eight pits because of the perception that it’s a lucky number. The basis for these superstitions, however, should be well understood before making any final decisions on design. “If there’s a colour that’s [considered to mean] good fortune, that doesn’t mean you do the whole casino in that colour,” Chandnani said. “Maybe it’s preferred in small quantities. So I think when you’re trying to incorporate those superstitions you might need to dig a little deeper and understand the meaning behind the superstition.”
Conclusions In order to compete in an expanding gaming market, casino operators will need to understand their customers and cater to their needs. “It’s really important to understand the demographic groups and the cultural profile of your customer,” Chandnani said. “Because ultimately, it’s going to impact what they’re willing to pay for and perhaps encourage them to return for a stay.” But in order to be truly successful, operators can’t focus on just one group of people. “In the end, the properties that are most successful are going to appeal to a diverse cultural group of people,” O’Connor said. “In a market where gaming is more and more popular, you need to understand and celebrate who those people are.” Aaron Todd is a gaming industry reporter based in suburban Boston for Casino City Times, www. casinocitytimes.com. Canadian Gaming Business | 15
Public Performance By David McFadgen
Canadian Gaming Business asked David McFadgen, an analyst at Sprott Securities in Toronto, to look at how the stocks of Canada’s public land-based gaming companies fared in 2006, with a view to what investors might expect in 2007. The performance of Canada’s three publicly traded land-based gaming companies in 2006 was lackluster. Great Canadian Gaming Corp. (GCD-T) and Gamehost Income Fund (GH.un-T) underperformed the S&P TSX Index [which measures the activity of the broad Canadian market], while Gateway Casinos Income Fund (GCI.un-T) matched the index’s performance. In 2005, Great Canadian Gaming and Gateway Casinos Income Fund underperformed the S&P TSX Index, while Gamehost Income Fund handily beat the performance of the S&P TSX Index. The 2006 performance of each company is a result of unique outcomes and not an overall factor influencing the broad sector. The one industry-wide phenomenon that negatively impacted these companies was the announcement by the federal government of its intent to tax income trusts.
Great Canadian Gaming Corp. Great Canadian, with headquarters in
Richmond, British Columbia, started in 1982 as an operator of temporary charity casinos. It has casinos in B.C., Nova Scotia, and Washington State in the U.S. The company also owns five racetracks, three of which have gaming machines, in B.C. and Ontario. As of Dec 13, 2006, Great Canadian’s share price is down approximately 28 per cent yearto-date compared with the S&P TSX Index, which is up about 12 per cent. Great Canadian started 2006 with an ominous pre-release in early February of its fourth quarter 2005 earnings, announcing that it would significantly miss analyst expectations. This event caused its share price to drop from the $16 range to $12 in a matter of days. It has yet to recover, hovering now around $11.75. After the Q4/05 pre-release, several top managers exited the company, including Tony Martin, president and chief operating officer; Dale Peterson, director of financial planning and analysis; and Al Watt, vice-president of planning and development. Ross McLeod,
2006 Relative Returns Source: Bloomberg Abbreviations: GCD = Great Canadian Gaming Corp. GH.U = Gamehost Income Fund GCI.U = Gateway Casinos Income Fund
120 GCI.U
S&P TSX
105
90 GH.U GCD 75
60
16 | December 2006/January 2007
2005 Relative Returns 160 GH.U 140 S&P TSX 120
100
GCD
80 GCI.U 60
chairman and CEO, then took a more active role in the company. In late March 2006, Great Canadian announced a non-brokered private placement of $80 million of new shares issued from treasury, of which Ross McLeod, chairman and CEO, subscribed for $50 million. The private placement was done to avoid a breach of the company’s debt covenants. Great Canadian was on track to breach its debt covenants, given it had reported results that were significantly below expectations, while at the same time its capital program was significantly higher than expected. Included in the offering was a full warrant exercisable at the then current share price of $12.89. This private placement was highly controversial as institutions accused McLeod of self-dealing by not allowing other shareholders equal opportunity to purchase shares on the same basis. Also, the private placement was considered inappropriately priced, given the shares were issued with a full warrant, immediately exercisable, that was considered to be worth approximately $2.74-$4.07 per share, implying that Great Canadian issued shares substantially below market value. Throughout 2006 Great Canadian continued to underperform analyst expectations, causing analysts to continue to lower their estimates. This caused Great Canadian’s share price to hit a low of $9.94 in 2006. This was the same level as its share price in early 2004. In the fall of 2006, Great Canadian announced the arrival of Milton Woensdregt as chief financial
Throughout 2006 Great Canadian continued to underperform analyst expectations . . . officer and Vincent Trudel as chief operating officer. Woensdregt was previously interim chief financial officer with the Provincial Health Services Authority (PHSA) in Vancouver, B.C. Prior to PHSA, Woensdregt was with Terasen, a publicly traded energy and utilities services company, for six years. At Terasen, he held the positions of senior vice-president for finance, chief financial officer, and treasurer. Trudel was previously with Loto-Québec, since 2005. Prior to Loto-Québec, Trudel was with Grupo Perelada, a privately held Spanish company operating in various sectors including gaming and hospitality. The stock market is hoping that the new management can, at a minimum, cut costs. This is particularly so given that Boulevard Casino in Coquitlam, B.C., is expected to report EBITDA that is lower than that generated in 2004, prior to the facility’s expansion, while at the same time revenue is expected to be about 50 per cent higher. [EBITDA -- earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization – can also be described as operating cash flow.] Similarly, River Rock, the flagship casino in Richmond, B.C., is expected to report lower EBITDA in 2006 versus 2005, yet revenue is projected Canadian Gaming Business | 17
to be $8 million higher. Many view Great Canadian as a “show me” stock, considering that expectations have been lowered several times. If the new management delivers in 2007, Great Canadian has all the potential to be the star performer.
Gateway Casinos Income Fund Gateway Casinos Income Fund is based in Burnaby, British Columbia. It operates six casinos in the province, and the Palace Casino in Edmonton, Alta. Gateway’s year can be characterized by some controversy and positive surprises. As of Dec 13, 2006, Gateway
In April, Gateway announced that it was purchasing from Gateway Casinos Inc. (the privately held related company) the Cascades Casino and Hotel for $106 million, equating to 9.8X 2006 estimated EBITDA. Objection was raised from institutions regarding the acquisition multiple as being too high. We viewed the transaction as fair. Gateway promised to raise the monthly distribution from $0.1150 to $0.1195. By a narrow margin, shareholders voted to approve the transaction. However, Gateway announced on June 5, after the transaction closed, that there was an error in the voting
Gateway showed that it still has lots of opportunities for growth. Casinos Income Fund’s share price is up about 12 per cent year-to-date, in line with the S&P TSX Index. In March 2006, Gateway announced that it is considering the redevelopment of three of its four Lake City casinos, which are smaller properties in southern B.C., east of the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVRD). Prior to this announcement, the stock market was anticipating that growth would only come from the redeveloped casino in Burnaby and the potential purchase of the new Cascades casino. The Lake City redevelopment adds another leg of growth to Gateway’s story. Another surprise was the nonimpact of the nearby Boulevard Casino expansion on Burnaby ’s results. In fact, Burnaby ’s slot revenue grew despite the doubling of Boulevard’s slot devices and its 50 per cent growth in revenue for gaming and food and beverage. The GVRD was not saturated after all! This realization was further reinforced by the fact that the Cascades in Langley, B.C., has generated $118 million of new gaming win while not negatively impacting other gaming properties in the GVRD. 18 | December 2006/January 2007
process and that the deal had actually been voted down. The company stated that the transaction stands, because it was consummated in good faith. After the closing, Cascades reports higher than expected results and Gateway increased its monthly distribution again to $0.1250. In September, Gateway’s employees at its Palace Casino went on strike. As of this writing, the employees are still on strike, demanding higher pay. The Palace Casino’s results were significantly and negatively impacted by the strike, but despite this Gateway announced a distribution increase. On Oct. 31, the federal government announced that it will tax income trusts starting in 2011. On Nov. 1, income trusts tanked on the stock exchange. Gateway opened in the $13 range, after closing in the $18 range the day prior. Slowly, Gateway’s unit price has recovered, almost to the level it was prior to the government’s announcement. Competitor Great Canadian announced that the installation of slot machines at its Hastings Racetrack in Vancouver will likely
be delayed until 2009 or later. This is positive news for Gateway ’s nearby Burnaby Casino. Gateway showed that it still has lots of opportunities for growth.
Gamehost Income Fund Gamehost, based in Red Deer, Alberta, was formed in April 2003. Its properties – two casinos, a hotel and a retail center, are all in the province. The Boomtown Casino is in Fort McMurray and the Great Northern Casino is in Grande Prairie. Gamehost also has a 40 per cent interest in the Deerfoot Inn and Casino in Calgary. Gamehost’s continued on its incredible success story in 2006, despite the lackluster performance of its unit price. As of Dec 13, 2006, Gamehost Income Fund’s share price is flat, compared with the S&P TSX Index that is up 12 per cent. Gamehost generates industry leading EBITDA margins due to the incredible success of its two Northern Alberta casinos, which in turn have benefited from the oil boom in Alberta. The Boomtown casino benefited from a 24 per cent increase in its slots, aiding the already excellent financial performance of this casino. Gamehost finished 2005 with the opening of the Deerfoot Inn and Casino. Since the opening, table win and hotel revenue have surpassed expectations. Gamehost subsequently increased its monthly distribution from $0.12 to $0.15 per unit. The stock market is expecting a record one-time year-end distribution. Unfortunately, the announcement by the federal government negatively impacted Gamehost’s unit price, which dropped from about $38 to the $30 range. As of this writing, the unit price is about $36, near the pre-announcement level. Gamehost is expected to continue to report excellent results, and the stock market waits for an announcement regarding new potential growth opportunities.
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Canadian Gaming Business | 19
Ch e f Sp o t l i g h t Jean-Pierre Curtat, Casino de Montréal By Andrew Coppolino
Jean-Pierre Curtat, executive chef,
A
Photo Credit: Loto-Québec
Casino de Montréal
An academic background isn’t necessary for success as a chef, but Jean-Pierre Curtat has discovered a few advantages to the time he once spent as a sociology student. “Sociology is a science that studies all the other sciences related to the human being,” said Curtat, who runs the kitchens and restaurants at Casino de Montréal. That training has helped him understand those human beings (his customers), though he left academe when he had the chance to pursue culinary training in France -- “when you are working in cuisine, Paris is something you cannot miss,” Curtat noted. Born and raised in Montreal, Curtat, 46, lives in Boucherville, Quebec. He graduated in 1979 from Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec, the city’s oldest cooking school, and honed his craft at Chez Bardet in Montreal. Curtat has managed
20 | December 2006/January 2007
the kitchen at the Délégation générale du Québec in Paris, spent time at Guy Savoie restaurant, and refined his skills as a pâtissier at École Lenôtre, both in Paris. With 30 years of cooking experience, Curtat’s tenure in the gaming industry has been among his most rewarding. That part of his career began 13 years ago when he was responsible for opening the restaurants at Casino de Montréal. “When I started here in 1993, it was the first casino in Quebec and for most of the staff, it was also their first casino experience,” he said. “I had handled two [restaurant] openings previously, including the InterContinental Hotel Montréal in 1991, and that was very useful for me with opening Casino de Montréal. It was quite a big operation, so I’m glad it wasn’t the first one I’d done.” Big indeed. With nine food outlets in the casino serving 6,000 to 9,000 meals a day and supervising a staff of 275, Curtat keeps a lot of plates spinning to meet customers’ expectations -- expectations that have been met and exceeded: the flagship Nuances restaurant has garnered a Five Diamonds award from the CAA/AAA for six straight years, one of only 11 Five Diamond restaurants in Canada. “At the casino, your sense of time is different than in other restaurants,” Curtat said. “Here, the action never stops. When you come in first thing in the morning, the action has already started. When you leave at the end of the day, the action is still going on. “I won’t say I dislike that, because I don’t enjoy when everything is too well planned and one day is the same as the next. I certainly don’t have a nine-to-five shift.” Regular guests at the casino also notice
that difference as menus change often; it’s Curtat’s reaction to the special demands the industry has. Each of the casino’s restaurants, he explains, has its own formula determining how and when the menu will change. “We have a lot of local guests, so it’s important that our menu changes frequently,” he said. “They want to feel that there’s energy here with our food. That’s good for us in the kitchen, too. We won’t get rusty.” Curtat seeks market-fresh ingredients -- vegetables, meats, cheeses -- whenever possible. And he recognizes that tastes and styles evolve rapidly. “Our guests are curious about food,” Curtat explained. “Montreal is a food destination, and the culture of food is very quick to change. Our restaurants have some selections that are quite classical, and yet we have some fun and do different things. We develop our style of food but also our style of service.” This is where Curtat’s sociology background comes into play. “As a cook, it’s important to pull back from the plate at times,” he said. “I focus on the quality of the food, yes, but also on the expectations of the guest in the general concept and atmosphere at the restaurant. They want excellence in the global experience they have. “You have to anticipate people’s feelings and think through everything to ensure that the atmosphere is good enough to make people feel comfortable.” As for his future in the industry, Curtat is philosophical. He laughs: “I don’t know in life if you can have long-term plans. Right now, I enjoy this business and the people I’m working with. I’m having fun.” Andrew Coppolino, andrew@tablescraps.ca., is a freelance writer based in Kitchener, Ont.
New Breed of Table Games Ultimate Texas Hold ’Em is one of the Table Master games, which are completely electronic card games, using a random number generator.
22 | December 2006/January 2007
Novo TouchBet Roulette can be connected to a traditional wheel spun by a live dealer, or configured with an automated wheel and no live dealer.
By Fred Faust
Electronic multi-player table games have long been popular in European casinos. Will they finally become a fixture in North America? Much of the buzz at the huge gaming trade show in November, G2E in Las Vegas, was about electronic multi-player table games. These modern incarnations of venerable table games have been popular in Europe for some years. They may finally be catching on in North America, or at least manufacturers hope so. Lou White, chief executive of PokerTek, a Charlotte, North Carolina, manu f a c t u r e r o f a ut o m a t e d p o k e r machines, coined the acronym EMT to
describe this category of games. White moderated a seminar at G2E on the topic. His company ’s main product, PokerPro, has been on the market since May 2005. Most of the 70 or so installations are in the U.S. and on cruise ships. In Canada, he said, there are ongoing discussions with all of the provincial lotteries. As Charles Hiten, managing director of Novomatic/Austrian Gaming Industries, explained at the seminar, Canadian Gaming Business | 23
EMTs fall into three categories: 1) games that are connected to live events, such as a live roulette wheel with a human dealer, but where the betting is done at electronic player stations, 2) completely automated games that don’t employ a dealer, where for example a series of player stations surround an automated wheel, and 3) virtual games whose outcomes are determined by a random number generator (RNG), just the way that slot machines work. Many of the same EMT products are available in more than one of the above configurations. They all offer an advantage in security, by eliminating the problem known as past-post betting. At roulette, craps and blackjack, a player who is skilled
We’re able to offer a 50-cent ga m e o n r o u l ette , which would be unheard of on the live tables. – Charles Hiten, Novomatic/Austrian Gaming Industries at cheating can add or remove chips from his/her bet after the outcome is known, while the dealer is distracted in the settling of other players’ wagers. When bets are made electronically, that’s impossible to do. Dealer errors are also eliminated.
Speed, privacy, flexible stakes, player tracking But the biggest advantage that manufacturers cite is speed. When a human dealer is not involved in accepting or settling the bet, the game goes much faster. White said the electronic version of Texas Hold ’Em poker is 50 per cent faster than the live game. Tommy Florio, Aristocrat’s head of multistation gaming for the western hemisphere, said a live roulette game can handle a maximum of 25 to 30 decisions per hour. “You go as fast as the slowest dealer and as fast as the slowest customer,” he said. But with the Interblock roulette game, the 24 | December 2006/January 2007
casino operator can set the speed. “You’re going to get at least 35-40 per cent more decisions per hour,” he said. Kirsten Clark, vice president of worldwide marketing for Shuffle Master, which owns Rapid Roulette and an entire suite called Rapid Table Games, said in an interview, “They can get up to 65 spins per hour by automating all the wagering components [in Rapid Roulette]. As soon as the ball drops and the dealer confirms the results, all wagers are instantly resolved.” The increased speed has obvious appeal to casino operators. But manufacturers believe that the speed also appeals to players, especially younger ones who were weaned on fast-moving, electronic games. “These games appeal to cash-rich, timepoor players,” said Tracy Cohen, marketing manager for TC SJohnHuxley, which distributes Novomatic games. Another virtue of EMTs is privacy. The games still offer the communal experience of table games, which is absent from slot machines. But when players have their own private touch-screen terminals for betting, the intimidation factor that has always inhibited table game play is removed. And that’s important to the younger generation, experts say. “This generation is not as confident that way as previous generations,” Hiten said. While younger players enjoy the interactivity of table games, he said, it’s a situation of “I don’t want you to see that I actually don’t know how to play this game”! Novo TouchBet Live Roulette and its sister games, as well as Rapid Table Games and indeed most EMTs, come with help screens. Unless someone peers over the shoulder of the player, no one knows how many times an inexperienced player consults the help screen. Players can learn, and play, at their own speed. They can also bet at their own level. These games let operators offer what the industry calls “right price” stakes. “We’re able to offer a 50-cent game on roulette, for example,” Hiten said, “which would be unheard of on the live tables.” A casino that normally raises table game minimums on a busy Saturday nights doesn’t have to scare off the low rollers. And a player who wants to make 50-cent bets doesn’t feel like a jerk because everyone else in the game is wagering $10 per spin.
Because the transactions are electronic, EMTs can offer management the precise player tracking that is provided by carded play in slot machines. Management gets statistics that it could only dream of in the world of traditional table games with their manual, haphazard rating of players. Most of the speakers at the G2E seminar were confident that in due time slot-style promotions, perhaps even linked, multi-site progressives, will become part of EMT play. White said there is no reason that a staple of card rooms, the bad-beat jackpot, cannot be adapted for automated poker. The TouchBet games and some of their competing products contain software for several languages, so players can be seated at adjacent terminals and each select the language of his/her choice. Naturally, there is speculation about the audience for these games. Is it players of traditional table games, or slot players who are accustomed to electronic gaming? Cohen said this new breed of games “crosses the divide
between tables and slots.” Hiten said the games appeal to an entirely new category of player. Rather than stealing players from live table games, he said, “We are actually moulding a new segment of players.” He noted that Novomatic is in the unusual position of being both a manufacturer and an operator, with about 260 casinos of its own, mostly in Europe. “The experience within our own casinos,” Hiten said, “is that we have not suffered a loss from the live table games with the addition of the EMTs. But the crossover from the EMTs to the live tables has also not been great. The EMTs hold an extremely loyal following. Those players who enjoy it become very loyal to that product, to that style of gaming. It virtually becomes the only thing that they play.”
Strong in Europe, but an ‘emerging category’ in North America One of the great mysteries of the EMT world is why this niche is so strong in Europe and parts of Asia and Australia while seemingly slow to
catch on in North America. Cohen said every casino in the United Kingdom has TouchBet Roulette, for example. But it’s not hard to find casinos in Canada and the U.S. that have no examples of this form of gaming. Part of the reason may be that most of the original EMT games were roulette, which has always been more popular in Europe than in North America. Also, the manufacturers that pioneered these games are not based in North America. Interblock, whose products are distributed on this continent by Aristocrat, and Alfastreet have their headquarters in Slovenia. Novomatic is in Austria, and Stargames, which developed the Rapid series and was acquired by Shuffle Master early in 2006, is an Australian company. Shuffle Master ’s Clark pointed out that foreign manufacturers face a major challenge in developing a distribution and service network when they enter a large new territory like North America. And the regulatory approval process is slower in the
Canadian Gaming Business | 25
U.S. and Canada than in other parts of the world, she said. “The time to market in North America is quite different than elsewhere,” she said. “This is an emerging product category in North America.” Shuffle Master has Rapid Roulette installations in the Midwestern U.S. and all over Nevada, but is still pursuing markets in Canada. One of the great opportunities for EMTs in North America is racinos, most of which do not allow traditional table games. They do tend to permit electronic RNG versions of table games, however. Manufacturers will be pushing these products in Pennsylvania, which just licensed a half-dozen slot-only racinos and casinos. Shuffle Master recently completed a big installation at three racinos in Delaware, placing a total of 54 Table Master products. Table Master is a platform of completely electronic card games with a video dealer, rather than a live one. There are a few Table Master games in Kamloops, B.C., which are the only installations in Canada. Novo TouchBet Roulette seems to be the most successful EMT in Canada, both
26 | December 2006/January 2007
in racinos and casinos. Brad Broderick, the TCSJohnHuxley general manager for Canada, said British Columbia has 84 TouchBet terminals and Quebec has 30. The game will have a field trial at a commercial casino in Ontario in mid-January and he expects a field trial in Alberta sometime in 2007. In the Canadian market, the game is available with a traditional wheel spun by a live dealer, or with an automated wheel. Casino Windsor is in the process of installing Megastar, an electronic roulette game made by Interblock. “This is our first type of game that’s closely related to the crossover from the table game side,” said Glen Sawhill, vice-president of slot operations at Casino Windsor. “We’re very excited about it. We’re seeing more and more demand for this type of community gaming. This provides an easy learning experience, and it’s not going to break anybody’s wallet. You can play for a dollar.” Florio, of Aristocrat, anticipates that experience on Internet games will bring more players to EMTs. “There’s an average of 350 Internet players to every one live table game player,” he said at G2E. “There will be a great
crossover of players that might be intimidated by a live game.” Phil Wesel, global gaming marketing manager for MEI, a Pennsylvania company that’s a major supplier of currency acceptors for the gaming industry, also looks to the Internet for guidance in this area. “EMTs are following the same trend that online multi-player gaming has followed,” he told the G2E panel. Virtual table games that use an RNG, he said, face the same issue of gaining player trust that Internet games face. He advised manufacturers, especially those that produce RNG card games, to offer players proof that their systems are truly random. That skepticism will be hard to overcome, he said. We s e l a l s o m a d e a n i n t e r e s t i n g prediction: “I think EMTs will develop an ability to role play,” he said, perhaps alluding to the avatars that some Internet poker sites offer their players. “It’s nice to have an electronic dealer, but it also would be nice to have the ability to see yourself as a different individual when you play.”
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facilityfocus
Casino Nova Scotia—
Halifax By Albert Warson
Halifax Regional Municipality has one of the world’s largest deep-water, year-round harbours, its historic waterfront bustling with cargo vessels, cruise ships, pleasure craft, fishing boats and Canadian navy vessels. It’s also a fun place, for its small size (population about 385,000, and growing), with about 200 restaurants and bars along a threekilometre waterfront boardwalk, 60 open-air cafés during the summer and Casino Nova Scotia -- built partially over the water. The casino may not be spectacular in Las Vegas terms, but it’s quite a cash spinner as a popular draw locally, a destination for the larger Atlantic region and eastern U.S. seaboard tourists. The casino, which opened in June, 1995, has had a series of large corporate owners. The original operator was ITT Sheraton. 28 | December 2006/January 2007
The Halifax casino began as a temporary facility in the Sheraton Hotel Halifax ballroom. It was supposed to move into a permanent home on the waterfront in March 1998. But construction delays pushed the opening back to April 2000, when the new $100 million complex, including 550 spaces in an attached parkade, were completed. The casino is connected to an elevated, enclosed pedestrian walkway that links several downtown buildings, including the hotel, which is now the Halifax Marriott Harbourfront. When the permanent casino opened, it was owned by Park Place Entertainment, which later changed its name to Caesars Entertainment. In 2005, Caesars was purchased by Harrah’s Entertainment, which decided to sell its Casino Nova Scotia assets.
In October 2005, Great Canadian Gaming Corp. of Richmond, B.C., paid US$77.4 million for the Halifax casino and a much smaller sister casino in Sydney, also a Nova Scotia harbour city, but with a population less than a tenth of the Halifax population. Great Canadian spent $14.5 million renovating the Halifax casino, relaunching it in June 2006. Some of the improvements were encouraged by the provincial government, including the replacement of slot tokens with ticketin/ticket-out technology, making many of the 720 slots multi-denominational and converting surveillance from analog to digital. Great Canadian invested $3 million in a digital security system that employs facial recognition technology. Howard Blank, Great Canadian’s vice president for media and entertainment, said an eight-table poker room was added to the lineup of 40 table games in the 36,000-square-foot gaming space. Great Canadian manages the casino and owns the building and everything in it, including the gaming equipment. According to the Nova Scotia Gaming Corp., a provincial Crown corporation governed by the provincial Gaming Control Act, ownership of all the property, including the parkade, will revert to the provincial corporation in 2015, at the end of a 10-year lease. Gaming is licensed and regulated by the Alcohol and Gaming Division of the provincial Department of Environment. For the fiscal year ending March 31, 2006, Nova Scotia Gaming Corp. reported, total revenue – including gaming, food and beverage, and other sources – for Casino Nova Scotia— Halifax was $74,378,000. Of that amount, $20,186,000 was contributed to the province, a combination of $13,210,000 in win tax and $6,976,000 in net income. David McFadgen, an analyst with Sprott Securities in Toronto, an independent investment dealer, said the provincial government increased the win tax from 20 per cent to 42.75 per cent when Great Canadian took over. Another 5 per cent of the win goes into a capital recovery pool to pay for slot machines and casino renovations and improvements.
“Revenue is a bit light relative to what everybody thought,“ McFadgen said, “but profitability is coming around to everyone’s expectations.” Results reflect a much improved environment. Blank said the renovation involved “closing some restaurants and opening a 24-hour café in the front lobby
local residents and business travelers year ’round and in the off season. Nova Scotia Gaming Corp. claims the province has the “most progressive and responsible gaming industry in the world” and keeps “trying new things and providing new resources and sharing the facts”. The corporation said it spent more
“Revenue is a bit light relative to what everybody thought, but profitability is coming around to everyone’s expectati o ns . ” – D avid Mc Fadgen , Sprott Securities of the casino on the main floor.” The café, called Java Jazz, has a single counter for ordering items like pizza slices, muffins, salads and coffee, rather than full-course meals. “There are also new restaurants including the Paradise Buffet and Trapeze, an upscale casual dining restaurant on the casino floor, with a full bar,” Blank said, and Ella’s, which offers free live entertainment Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays for patrons on the casino floor. Trapeze replaces TGI Friday’s for patrons at least 19 years old, and who won’t miss smoking – it was banned in public places across the province as of Dec. 1, 2006. There is also a high-limit room overlooking the harbour, Blank said, with a private cashier and bar area and a secluded and enclosed slot room. The Players Club offers complimentary food, beverage, hotel rooms, parking and concert tickets for players who spend at least spend $50 on slots and/or table games, or $50 in the restaurants. Blank said the casino’s conference and board room facilities can handle meetings for up to 500 people. He said the Halifax casino’s market is heavy on tourists in the spring through the fall, and attracts
than $7 million on responsible gambling programs and problem gambling treatment and prevention during the last fiscal year. Blank added that casino management “takes responsible gaming seriously.” Christian Marfels, an economics professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, who likes playing video poker at the casino, said the change of ownership and management from Caesars/Harrah’s to Great Canadian hasn’t improved things for him, strictly as a player. American casino operators, he said, know how to handle complimentaries better than their Canadian counterparts. Marfels blames that on monopolistic provincial government control (across Canada), compared to the more freewheeling, competitive environment and relaxed government regulation in the United States which allows for more inventive and generous freebies. But as an economist, Marfels appreciates what the casino has done with the money it has distributed to the community and the way it has raised the level of local entertainment.
Albert Warson is a freelance writer based in Toronto. Canadian Gaming Business | 29
gamingpersonality
Brian
Lynch
Vice-president of casino gaming, BCLC By Anakana Schofield
Twenty-six years in the RCMP has served Brian Lynch very well, if he’s anything like as amicable to work with as he is to interview. Time on the beat has produced an interminably helpful man, useful characteristics in his current position as vice president of casino gaming with the British Columbia Lottery Corp. Lynch, a Métis aboriginal, is 59 and born and raised in Victoria, B.C. He relocated to Saskatchewan to join the RCMP, a long-time career goal because his family had friends in the force. He even took typing in Grade 10 because that was one of the requirements for admission. His first 18 years in the force were spent working on the street in mostly First Nations communities. He became aboriginal policing 30 | December 2006/January 2007
coordinator in Saskatchewan. Numerous promotions followed, then a transfer to Ottawa, where for four years he was inspector, officer-incharge for the Aboriginal Policing Branch. Upon retirement from the RCMP in 1993, Lynch went to work for the federal Solicitor General negotiating First Nations policing agreements. His title then was regional representative for Saskatchewan and Manitoba,
Aboriginal Policing Directorate. Lynch cites the management and decision-making experience he received during his tenure in the RCMP for developing useful and transferable skills, when he began his transition into the gaming industry. This new career commenced with being hired by the Saskatchewan Gaming Corp. as executive director of security for Casino Regina. He handled all of the security clearance and acquired gaming registrations for all employees. The casino opened in January 1996 and a few months later Lynch was promoted to vice president of operations. In January 2001 he was recruited by BCLC as vice-president of casino gaming. Lynch could not be more convinced of the benefits for young people choosing to enter the gaming field. “We are in dire need of young people in the industry in Canada and there are lots of opportunities,” he said. During his time at Casino Regina, he recalls, university students were amply employed because of the flexible hours that gaming work offered. For students, it’s a great opportunity to learn how to deal with people, he said. For gaming employers, Lynch believes in the benefits of a roundly educated workforce. Of his present job with BCLC, Lynch said, “I’m quite comfortable in my job and I’m really enjoying it. The growth in the casino industry in British Columbia has been outstanding.” He arrived to find an industry limited to casinos with a maximum of 300 slots and 32 tables, but the government has allowed the industry to expand to meet market demand. “We have taken casinos from small local communities,” he said, “that were located in smoky and dingy places to much larger facilities which offer a variety of entertainment other than just gaming, including hotels and theatres.” Six years on, his biggest personal challenge in the job remains the sheer geography of the province. “What’s always a challenge is when you are working with people that are dispersed around a wide geographic area.” he said. He deals with the senior executives in service providers in setting policies, advising initiatives to grow the business, and encouraging them to be good corporate citizens and to work with BCLC to deliver responsible gaming messages and training to all their staff. Lynch spends 25 per cent of his time in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver area, and tries to get out to every casino at least once a year, if not more. He acknowledges that he misses being on the gaming floor in Regina, where he would spend an average of an hour and a half a day talking to staff and customers. Without question, he insists, an unmitigated challenge for the industry is this balance of providing players with great entertainment and social responsibility. Social responsibility also plays into the challenge of public acceptance. In British Columbia the public wants to know where the money goes and the benefits of gaming. “Problem gaming is a key driver of negative public opinion,” Lynch said. “The public needs to know we have responsible gaming programs in place and that we recognize that 4 percent of our customers are in jeopardy and we have a duty to care for those individuals.” Lynch also cites competition with sports and theatre as a challenge. And
of course the labour market continues to test the entire service industry, especially in places with strong economies like Alberta and Saskatchewan. He believes that it’s vital to target the university population and give students a taste of the business. On a local level for the BCLC, the next five to 10 years will bring an increased focus on tourism, an emphasis on growing the entertainment facilities and the pre- and post-impact of the 2010 Winter Olympics. But he’s undeterred on the top priority: we are going to see responsible gaming centres in all of the casinos in British Columbia, likely within the next three years. This will include self-service information kiosks for access during slower times. Within two years, educational outreach will begin to teach responsible gaming to youth. “If the provincial governments are not getting public support, the industry could be in jeopardy,” Lynch said. “We have to ensure that that is protected.” Lynch wishes to stay on for another four years or so and finish building out the casinos in B.C. “That would be a nice legacy for me to have completed in my years here,” he said. Anakana Schofield is a freelance writer based in Vancouver.
Canadian Gaming Business | 31
2006 Lottery and Gaming Corporation Highlights The following summaries were submitted by the provincial lottery and gaming corporations.
British Columbia Lottery Corp. Lottery Highlights Sports Funder g In February, BCLC and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 O l y m p i c a n d Pa r a l y m p i c Wi n t e r Games announced their partnership with the unveiling of SportsFunder, a suite of lottery games that will produce an estimated $20 million for amateur sport in B.C. BCLC broke new ground with Vancouver 2010, becoming the Olympic Committee’s first partner in the Official Supporter category and its first sponsor to be headquartered in B.C. The SportsFunder suite includes Instant games, Pull Tab tickets and a province-wide 50/50 game, as well as a selection of interactive instant win-style games available on the PlayNow website. In September, BCLC presented the first instalment of $1.5 million. The cheque was delivered by BCLC employees to the Minister of Tourism, Sport and the Arts, and then presented to representatives of the amateur sport community. Funding is targeted at these areas: V KidSport™ to help low-income children
participate in sports programs; V Te a m B C t o e n h a n c e a t h l e t e development support and for team training and preparation needs; V Provincial Sport Organizations and B.C. School Sports in support of youth sport travel; and V C oaches Association of B.C. to subsidize the costs of coach certification and professional development. g In June, BCLC announced an exciting new addition to the SportsFunder suite of lottery products, the $5 SportsFunder Instant Win ticket featuring hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. T he SportsFunder Instant Win ticket features more than $2.1 million in cash and prizes, including top cash prizes of $99,000. And, for the first time ever offered on an Instant Win ticket, players could win a Great Day with Gretzky, which included an opportunity to spend a day with hockey legend Wayne Gretzky. g Five B.C. amateur athletes selected from a photo contest last summer are each featured in action on the new SportsFunder Instant Win tickets released in early November. The SportsFunder Homegrown Heroes are a hockey player, wheelchair basketball
player, triathlete, softball player and snowboarder. The $2 SportsFunder Homegrown Heroes ticket offers more than $1 million in prizes, including top prizes of $20,100. The ticket also features Share the Dream prizes where winners receive $1,000 and get to select an amateur sports organization to receive $1,000. A second photo contest is open until the end of February 2007. The Pink Ticket • BCLC’s The Pink Ticket, released in October, was designed to help raise awareness for the “Go Have One” campaign, in which women ages 35-54 are urged to have a mammogram. Casino highlights B.C. Poker Championships V In November, after three days of tournament play, David Ross White of Abbotsford became B.C.’s newest poker champion, walking away with the grand prize of $600,000 and the champion’s watch in the second B.C. Poker Championships. White outlasted 784 players after 32 hours of play in the $2 million No Limit Texas Hold ’Em event at River Rock Casino Resort. Canadian Gaming Business | 33
Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission On Dec. 13, 2006, Premier Ed Stelmach announced a new structure for the Alberta government. The AGLC will now become part of the Ministry of Solicitor General and Public Security. The Ministry of Gaming was dissolved. Norm Peterson will continue as Chief Executive Officer of the AGLC. Gaming facilities/products g The AGLC is continuing with the implementation of Ticket-In, TicketOut (or TITO) slot machines in every casino and racing entertainment centre in the province. Since August 2006, TITO has been installed at the Palace Casino, River Cree Casino, Century Casino and the Yellowhead Casino in Edmonton. To date, feedback has been positive from both patrons and operators. It’s anticipated all Edmonton casinos will have TITO by April 2007, at which point the AGLC will focus on Calgary and then, the rest of the province. g The joint six-week pilot test, with the Western Canadian Lottery Corp,, of the new lottery ticket terminals has been completed. The AGLC plans to move ahead with a rollout of the new terminals province-wide starting with preliminary site surveys of all retailers in February 2007, with actual installation beginning in September 2007. g In 2006, two new casinos opened, including Alberta’s first-ever First Nations casino, the River Cree Resort and Casino, as well as the Century Casino, both based in Edmonton. The River Cree Casino will help provide economic, social and community development for First Nation communities while the Century Casino will help alleviate casino event waitlists for charities. It’s anticipated that the following casinos, currently in various stages of construction, will open in the future: V C amrose (traditional casino) – April 2007; V Tsuu T’ina First Nation (Calgary) – July 2007; V Cold Lake First Nation – July 2007; V S t o n e y N a k o d a F i r s t N a t i o n (Kananaskis) – August 2007; and V A l e x i s N a k o t a S i o u x N a t i o n (Whitecourt) – October 2007. 34 | December 2006/January 2007
Policy g A review of the Casino Revenue Assessment Model has been requested by the Board of the AGLC. The model, often referred to as the gravity model, is used to assess capacity in the market and benefit to charities as part of the licensing processes. During the review, which is anticipated to take at least 10 months, the Board will defer considering any new casino proposals. Social responsibility g The AGLC is continuing its commitment to social responsibility, recognizing it is essential to the long-term sustainability of Alberta’s gaming industry. In the coming year, resources will be allocated to open six additional Responsible Gambling Information Centres (RGICs) prior to the completion of the two-year pilot. Preliminary results show the RGICs are an effective tool in promoting responsible gambling among casino patrons. In addition, resources will be allocated to the Minors’ Awareness Education Campaign for lottery ticket products. The goal of the campaign is to ensure lottery ticket retailers request proof of age if a person appears to be under 18.
Saskatchewan Gaming Corp. SGC celebrated a milestone in 2006 as Casino Regina reached its 10th anniversary. The occasion was marked by a gala celebration in the Casino Regina Show Lounge, where community partners, invited guests, and staff who had spent a decade with the corporation enjoyed a spectacular celebration. It was a good time to take stock of the achievements over the past decade, and the positive impacts Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw had have upon Saskatchewan. Since 1996, the SGC has: V Added $829.7 million to the provincial gross domestic product; the impact of Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw on the province is equal to hosting six Grey Cup events each year for the past 10 years. V A dded $371.3 million in new wages and salaries to the province. V Casino Regina has increased the number of people employed, on average, in the city by 1,121 each year .
V Welcomed over 16,230,830 guests to
Casino Regina – more than half the population of Canada. V Casino Moose Jaw welcomed its two millionth guest this spring. V S ince 1996, over $241 million of SGC’s profits have been delivered to the province’s General Revenue Fund, available to fund such initiatives as hospitals, education, roads, and other community enhancements. The corporation was also the recipient of a number of prestigious awards over the past year. Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw were honoured to be named “Business of the Year – Over 50 Full-Time Employees” at the Tourism Saskatchewan Awards of Excellence. Food and Beverage staff member Sandra Nicholls was also among the nominees for the prestigious “Service Excellence – Individual” award. As well, the Tourism Industry Association of Canada recognized Casinos Regina and Moose Jaw as a finalist for its Business of the Year award as part of the National Awards for Tourism Excellence, putting the two properties among the top tourism businesses of the country. SGC also received recognition for its employment practices, having been selected as one of Saskatchewan’s Top 10 Employers as part of the 2007 Canada’s Top Employers competition held by Mediacorp Canada Inc. Winners were selected on a wide scope of criteria, including the workplaces’ physical environment, work atmosphere, health benefits, financial benefits and compensation, family-friendly benefits, vacation policy, internal communications, performance management, continuing education and professional development, and community involvement. The past year has been an outstanding one for SGC, and 2007 is sure to be innovative, exciting, and “Always Entertaining.”
Manitoba Lotteries Corp. Casinos of Winnipeg g T his year marked the completion of the replacement of MLC’s older slot machines with a 100 per cent ticket-in/ ticket-out (TITO) operation, in order to keep up with industry trends. Video lottery g In 2006, MLC purchased a new Central Monitoring Computer and site validation
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terminals from GTECH. The Central Monitoring Computer allows the VLT network to operate in a Wide Area Network (WAN) and also allows for all monitoring and reporting of the VLTs in the field. Installation of the Central Monitoring Computer, along with the new GTECH validation terminals, will begin in 2007. Responsible gaming g A comprehensive Lottery Retailer Training Program and Player Information Booklet devoted to Responsible Gaming were launched this year for all retailers in the province. Partnering with the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba, this innovative training initiative provides Manitoba’s lottery retailers with practical information about Responsible Gaming, and is believed to be the first such project of its kind in Canada. Corporate g MLC is proud to have been recognized with several awards over the past year, including: V G o v e r n m e n t Fi n a n c e O f f i c e r s Association of the United States and Canada Distinguished Budget Presentation Award V M anitoba Chamber of Commerce 2006 Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Community V Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce Community Contribution Award V O utstanding Contribution to the Canadian Gaming Industry Display of Excellence Award V P rogressive Aboriginal Relations Program Silver Level Status V One of Top 10 Employers in Manitoba, by Maclean’s Magazine g MLC has created the Quality Service Initiative (QSI) to encourage excellence in our employees, and to create experiences for our customers. Some of the QSI initiatives include: Casinos of Winnipeg Customer Appreciation Days, successful celebrity poker and blackjack tournaments, website redevelopment and the Employee Rewards and Recognition Program to
encourage continued excellence in our workplace. g MLC employees reached a significant fundraising goal this year when they presented the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba with a cheque for $100,000. The presentation marked the culmination of 18 months of fundraising activities by MLC staff as part of the Employees Care by Helping Others (ECHO) program. Funds were raised through volunteerism, donations, canvassing and corporate contributions. Community support g M L C c o n t i n u e d t o r e a c h o u t t o our communities with support and sponsorship of over 460 worthwhile events, including: V t he first annual Manito Ahbee Manitoba Aboriginal Festival V 2 006 Grey Cup; the Casinos of Winnipeg hosted a Celebrity Blackjack Tournament and the Cheerleader Extravaganza V Canada Senior Games V Manitoba Marathon
OLG (Ontario Lottery and Gaming) OLG introduced a number of new initiatives during the first three quarters of fiscal year 2006/2007, including: July 2006 g New OLG identity OLG unveils its new identity under a single and consistent OLG brand image that clearly builds on brand equity across all entertainment products. Our logo retains the well-recognized red triangle. The three circles around the letters “OLG” reflect our three core values of integrity, respect and accountability. Expenditures for the re-branding extend over a two-year period and are estimated to cost just over $6 million, including the development of the new brand and logo and the implementation of new signage at lottery and gaming sites. g OLG prize centre OLG Prize Office became state-of-the-art with a new look, new location and new name. Located in the heart of downtown Toronto with a street-front location, the OLG Prize
Centre, allows for greater visibility and better accessibility than the former site located a few city blocks north. September 2006 g OLG identifies Pollard Banknote as its preferred supplier of instant tickets. A new ticket finishing plant will open in Sault Ste. Marie. g OLG appears before the Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Government Agencies to present an overview of OLG’s gaming businesses. g OLG introduces sports wagering at Casino Windsor with the opening of “Legends” sports lounge offering four sports wagering games designed for casino patrons that are variations of existing sports lottery wagering games such as Pro-Line. October 2006 g OLG launches a new website – www. OLG.ca – that is more visually pleasing and provides quick and easy access to information from OLG and its gaming sites to current and past lottery winning number information. November 2006 g OLG implements 7-Point Trust and Security Action Plan In November 2006, OLG announces its 7-Point Trust and Security Action Plan – a package of new and expanded security measures designed to maintain and reinforce the trust of every lottery player. Included in the plan is the expanded rollout of ticket checkers, devices enabling consumers to electronically check their tickets to see if they’ve won, and immediately determine the value of their prize. Ticket checkers are being installed at every lottery terminal location. Other points that will ensure a higher standard of security for the lottery player in Ontario include: V Lottery retailers will be permitted to check tickets only for those customers who have been asked to sign the back of their tickets. V V ideo screens at lottery terminal locations will tell players in larger characters if they’ve won and if they are a big winner when they have retailers check their tickets. Canadian Gaming Business | 37
V OLG will conduct a public education
campaign to assist customers to protect themselves. V OLG will probe every win of $10,000 or more by lottery retailers, compared to the previous $50,000 threshold. V O LG will implement an enhanced complaints process and investigation procedure to improve customer service and to ensure that all accusations are handled effectively and properly.
Loto-Québec Gaming centres After ratifying the agreement in November that will see the transfer of racetrack management to the private sector, the Québec Cabinet has authorized Loto-Québec to implement four gaming centres in the province. Three of these establishments will be located adjacent to the existing racetracks in Québec City, Trois-Rivières, and on the northern fringe of Montréal respectively, while the fourth will be set up in MontTremblant. Loto-Québec will thus pursue its initiative involving the reconfiguration of its video lottery terminal network aimed at reducing accessibility. Video lotteries This past October, Mr. Vincent Trudel left his post as Managing Director of the Société des loteries vidéo du Québec (SLVQ) to assume new responsibilities as president of operations for Great Canadian Gaming Corp., headquartered in British Columbia. Among his major accomplishments at the SLVQ, Mr. Trudel implemented a Responsible Marketing Code in 2006 in order to assure that the subsidiary’s clientele can enjoy a quality entertainment experience within a pleasant environment. In accordance with this Code, which is posted in clear view of players at all sites, bar owners with video lottery terminals must adhere to all of its conditions. Tobacco legislation The new tobacco legislation that came into effect on May 31, 2006, and the reduction in the number of video lottery terminals and sites has resulted in an overall revenue decline within this sector. For the six-month period between April and September, these two public health measures translated into an 11.7 per cent drop in earnings as compared 38 | December 2006/January 2007
to the same period during the previous year. The Bingo sector was also affected by the legislation, although to a somewhat lesser extent. Having posted some growth at the start of the fiscal year, revenues within this sector have since slowed down. In response to the concerns of non-profit organizations, which receive all profits generated by network bingo, Loto-Québec organized a series of exchange sessions with its partners aimed at finding solutions to help overcome the challenges of the current situation. For their part, Loto-Québec’s casinos have established a number of outdoor smoking areas within the limits prescribed by the new tobacco legislation. Ingenio, Loto-Québec’s research and development subsidiary In 2006, Ingenio concluded six business agreements, five of which were related to the use of its patents in the area of interactive multimedia lotteries with a predetermined outcome code. These five partnerships were forged with Gtech, GameLogic, Betware, SGI and Pollard. The sixth agreement, signed with Bally Technologies, involves the supply of thematic concepts for casino slot machines. Go Green Loto-Québec’s real estate holdings — including the corporation’s Montréal head office, its three gaming houses, the Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu Hotel in Charlevoix, and the Hilton Lac-Leamy Hotel in Gatineau — all received Go Green certification this past December from the Québec section of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA). This certification is granted to building owners and managers who have implemented excellent practices to assure environmental protection.
Loto-Québec Les salons de jeux Après avoir ratifié en novembre l’entente qui transfère la gestion des hippodromes au secteur privé, le Conseil des ministres a autorisé Loto-Québec à implanter quatre salons de jeux au Québec. Ces établissements seront adjacents aux hippodromes de Québec, de Trois-Rivières et de la couronne nord de la métropole. Le quatrième sera situé à Mont-Tremblant. Loto-Québec peut ainsi poursuivre la reconfiguration de son réseau
d’appareils de loterie vidéo de manière à en réduire l’accessibilité. Loteries vidéo En octobre dernier, M. Vincent Trudel a quitté la direction générale de la Société des loteries vidéo du Québec (SLVQ) pour occuper de nouvelles fonctions à titre de président des opérations de la Great Canadian Gaming Corporation dont le siège social est situé en Colombie-Britannique. Au cours de son passage à la SLVQ, il a notamment assuré en 2006 la mise en œuvre du Code de commercialisation responsable afin d’offrir à la clientèle un divertissement de qualité dans un environnement agréable. Les propriétaires de bar, détenteurs d’appareils de loterie vidéo, s’engagent par écrit à se conformer à l’ensemble des éléments du code affiché bien à la vue de la clientèle. Loi sur le tabac La nouvelle loi sur le tabac, en vigueur depuis le 31 mai 2006, jumelée à une réduction du nombre d’appareils et de sites de loterie vidéo, a engendré une baisse de revenus dans ce secteur. Pour l’ensemble du semestre (d’avril à septembre), ces deux mesures de santé publique se traduisent par une chute des revenus de 11,7 % comparativement à la même période l’an dernier. Le bingo est également touché par les effets de cette loi, mais dans une proportion moindre. Ce secteur, qui avait connu une croissance au début de l’exercice financier, a enregistré depuis un certain ralentissement. Face aux inquiétudes des organismes sans but lucratif (OSBL) qui reçoivent la totalité des profits du bingo en réseau, Loto-Québec a organisé une journée d’échanges avec ses partenaires afin de trouver des solutions pour pallier cette situation. Du côté des casinos, des fumoirs extérieurs ont été aménagés dans les limites prescrites par la loi et les exigences édictées. Ingenio, filiale de recherche et de développement de Loto-Québec En 2006, Ingenio a conclu pas moins de six ententes commerciales dont cinq sont liées à l’utilisation de ses brevets dans le domaine des loteries multimédias comprenant le concept de loterie interactive avec un code à issue prédéterminée. Ces partenaires sont Gtech, GameLogic, Betware, SGI et Pollard. La
sixième a été signée avec Bally Technologies et propose des concepts thématiques de machines à sous dans les casinos. Visez vert (Go Green) Le parc immobilier de Loto-Québec, notamment son siège social, ses trois casinos, l’hôtel Fairmont Le Manoir Richelieu, à Charlevoix, et l’hôtel Hilton Lac-Leamy, à Gatineau, a été certifié Visez vert en décembre par la section québécoise de la Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA). Cette attestation est accordée aux propriétaires et gestionnaires d’immeubles qui mettent en place des pratiques d’excellence devant assurer la protection de l’environnement.
Nova Scotia Gaming Corp. 2006 h a s b e e n h o s t t o a w h i r l w i n d of innovative business initiatives, groundbreaking research, facility upgrades, entertainment launches, and responsible gambling programs that have put Nova Scotia at the leading edge of the gambling industry. Highlights include:
Support4Sport: A community program by NSGC NSGC, with its ticket lottery operator Atlantic Lottery Corporation, launched a new program in August 2006 to enhance sport. Support4Sport is a suite of ticket lottery products where 100 per cent of profits will go to sport in Nova Scotia. It will raise at least $2 million a year, which represents a 50 per cent increase in current annual provincial sport funding. The first ticket is a Commonwealth Games-themed package of scratch tickets. The next Support4Sport products will be introduced in 2007. Making an impact on the VLT environment After a reduction in hours and the removal of 800 machines in 2005, NSGC worked further to ensure a sustainable, responsible future by reducing the speed of VLT play by 30 per cent and disabling the “stop button” feature in January 2006. These changes were made under the Nova Scotia government’s Gaming Strategy.
Building Atlantic Canada’s premier entertainment destination Working to make Casino Nova Scotia the premier entertainment destination in Atlantic Canada culminated on June 1, 2006. NSGC and its casino operator, Great Canadian Gaming Corp., celebrated the redesign and re-launch of the two casino properties, upgraded with ticket-in/ticket-out, multidenominational slots, a new poker room in Halifax, two tables in Sydney, new digital surveillance systems, new and improved food and beverage, and a live entertainment facility at the Halifax property showcasing East Coast music. Also, the Sydney Casino opened its Responsible Gambling Resource Centre (RGRC) in June, while the Halifax RGRC celebrated its one-year anniversary in October. Social responsibility: Setting the standard NSGC made waves in 2006 by showcasing its commitment to social responsibility. With a bigger and better Responsible Gambling Awareness Week, the NS Responsible Gambling Conference that hosted 300 participants and more than 20 guest speakers from around the world, and the launch of a world-first software called BetStopper that works to prevent children from gambling online – NSGC has proven itself to be a world leader. In October, NSGC also launched Nova Scotia’s first Social Responsibility Charter that formalizes the industry’s commitment to excellence in key areas: Responsible Gambling, Integrity and Security, Citizens and Communities, Corporate Governance, and Stakeholder Relationships.
Atlantic Lottery Corp. ALC game launches this year include: V Bucko, a $1 daily draw game with a $20,000 top prize, smaller prizes ($1 to $1,000), and better odds of winning (1 in 4.5) than most other draw games; V GameDay Pick’em Pool, a sports pool where the player simply chooses the Left to right: Marie Mullally, president and CEO, Nova Scotia Gaming Corp.; George Shipley, national director winners in each pool. of business development, FGI World; and Dean Gamblewest, General Manager, Casino Nova Scotia, at the V SuperStar Bingo, a linked bingo pilot opening of the Responsible Gambling Resource Centre at the Sydney Casino in June. that helps charities with their fundraising by networking bingo halls for a 15-20 minute SuperStar Bingo game. The Canadian Gaming Business | 39
April 25 – 27, 2007 Metro Toronto Convention Centre Toronto, Ontario
11th Annual Canadian Gaming Summit Don’t miss Canada’s leading annual trade show and conference for gaming professionals involved in casinos, provincial lottery and gaming corporations, race tracks with slots, First Nations gaming, charitable gaming/ bingo, internet based gaming, finance & investment, legal and regulatory aspects of the industry.
“Where the Canadian Gaming Industry Meets”
Mark your calendar today!
For information on exhibiting or sponsoring, please contact Chuck Nervick 416-512-8186 ext. 227 For conference information or speaking opportunities contact Debbie Dollar-Seldon 416-512-8186 ext. 223.
Please visit us at:
40 | December 2006/January 2007
www.canadiangamingsummit.com
2007 DELEGATE REGISTRATION FORM CANADIAN GAMING SUMMIT - April 25-27, 2007 Metro Toronto Convention Centre,Toronto, Ontario REGISTRATION OPTIONS AND PRICING Before March 23
SUMMIT - FULL DELEGATE REGISTRATION (APRIL 25 - APRIL 27)
See point #1 below
❑ $450
EXHIBITOR DELEGATE REGISTRATION (APRIL 25 - APRIL 27)
See point #1 below
❑ $295
RECEPTION & DINNER - ROYAL YORK HOTEL
❑ $75
❑ $95
ANGUS GLEN GOLF CLUB
❑ $175
❑ $195
CANADIAN GAMING INDUSTRY AWARDS THURSDAY, APRIL 26 (FROM 5:30 PM-10:00 PM)
See point #2 below
CANADIAN GAMING GOLF CLASSIC
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25 (FROM 8:00 AM-3:00 PM)
See point #3 below
CHARITY DELEGATE REGISTRATION
See point #4 below
Charitable Gaming Conference (only)
❑ $150
❑ $175
CHARITY DELEGATE (COMBINED CHARITABLE GAMING CONFERENCE
See point #1 below
❑ $450
❑ $495
OTHER CHARITY DELEGATES
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25 (FROM 8:00 AM-6:00 PM)
See point #5 below
Charitable Gaming Conference (only)
❑ $200
❑ $225
OTHER CHARITY DELEGATE (COMBINED CHARITABLE GAMING
See point #1 below
❑ $450
❑ $495
CONFERENCE AND GAMING SUMMIT FULL DELEGATE REGISTRATION)
Includes - opening reception, conference sessions, keynotes, plenaries, breakfasts, lunches, cocktail receptions and exhibition tradefloor access Includes - reception and dinner festivities (you can attend the Gala without purchasing a Summit Conference Delegate Registration) Includes - 18 holes of golf and power cart, two way transportation, breakfast, lunch, drinks and golf awards banquet Charity Delegate - a member of a charity, bingo association or non-profit organization involved with charitable gaming Other Charity Delegates - including government representatives, private sector representatives and gaming product service suppliers
$ TOTAL
❑ $495
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25 (FROM 8:00 AM-6:00 PM) AND GAMING SUMMIT FULL DELEGATE REGISTRATION)
1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
After March 23
GRAND TOTAL $
YOUR INFORMATION FULL NAME
TITLE
COMPANY ADDRESS CITY
PROV/STATE
COUNTRY
PHONE
POSTAL CODE/ZIP CODE
FAX
PAYMENT
MORE ABOUT YOU What is the primary business of your company?
Method of Payment:
What is your primary job function?
■ A
Provincial Lottery Corporation
■ 01
Senior/Executive Management
■ 13
Regulatory
■ B
Provincial Gaming &
■ 02
Principal/Owner
■ 14
Licensing/Compliance
Liquor Commission
■ 03
Partner
■ 15
General Manager
■ C
Other Government/Industry
■ 04
Operations
■ 16
Table Games
■ D
Casino
■ 05
Marketing
■ 17
Product Management
■ E
First Nations Gaming
■ 06
Sales
■ 18
Human Resources
■ F
Media
■ 07
Procurement
■ 19
Food & Beverage
■ G
Horse Racing
■ 08
Analyst
■ 20
Board of Director
■ H
Suppliers
■ 09
Security/Surveillance
■ 21
Administrative
■ I
Professionals (i.e. Legal
■ 10
Information Technology
■ 22
Engineer
Finance, Consulting, Research) ■ 11
Tribal Council Member
■ 23
Bingo Hall Manager
■ J
OTHER (complete below)
Slot Manager
■ 12
❑ VISA
❑ MASTERCARD
Credit card number:
_____________________________________________
Name on card:
___________________________ Expiry: ___________
Signature:
_____________________________________________
For additional registrations, please photocopy this form.
SubTotal $
______________________
Add 7% GST
______________________
TOTAL $
______________________
If OTHER, please specify _________________________________
Three Ways to Register: 1. Register online at: www.canadiangamingsummit.com 2. Fax this form to: 1.866.216.0860 3. Mail this form to: Canadian Gaming Summit c/o MediaEdge Communications Inc. 5255 Yonge Street, Suite 1000 Toronto, ON M2N 6P4
❑ AMERICAN EXPRESS
❑ CHEQUE PAYABLE TO MEDIAEDGE COMMUNICATIONS
GST# 810833 871 RT0001
☛ NOTE: “MediaEdge Communications” will appear on your credit card statement. CANCELLATION POLICY: A written notice is required indicating your intent to cancel or substitute your registration. Cancellations and/or substitutions are subject to a processing fee of 20% of your conference registration fee. No refunds will be issued on cancellations received after April 4th, or for conference “no-shows”. Please send all notification of cancellations or substitutions in writing to: MediaEdge Communications Inc. Canadian Gaming Business | 41 5255 Yonge Street, Suite 1000 Toronto, ON M2N 6P4
pilot generated over $1.1 million in sales, more than $550,000 in prizes to players and almost $300,000 in profit to qualifying charities. ALC sponsors bid for commonwealth games ALC is among the regional sponsors helping Atlantic Canada in its bid to be selected host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, with Halifax, N.S., as the host city. Building on a 30-year commitment to youth and sport in Atlantic Canada, ALC launched a special edition $5 Super Pack. Proceeds from its sales will go towards the bid effort. ALC brings Caught in the Game to high schools ALC sponsored the presentation of Caught in the Game, a one-hour drama about the risks of underage gambling, at 25 schools throughout New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland & Labrador. Surveys indicate the drama was very believable, informative and
raised awareness among students and educators alike. World Lotter y Association (WLA) Responsible Gaming Principles I n Fe b r u a r y, t h e 1 4 0 g o v e r n m e n t o w n e d l ottery members of the WLA adopted Responsible Gaming Principles, an initiative in which Michelle Carinci, ALC’s president and CEO, played a leading role. These seven principles complement the WLAs’ existing responsible gambling principles and practices and address areas of player protection, collaboration with other stakeholders, research, promotion, informed player choice, monitoring and reporting. Internet sales growth Sales on PlaySphere - ALC’s internet site where registered players can purchase sports wagering and draw games on line – are climbing. Sales for the week ending Nov. 4 were over $100,000 for the first time, representing an 87 per cent increase over the same week last year.
Index to Advertising Pages
ALC included in Top Marketers that Matter ALC was chosen by the editorial staff of Marketing magazine as one of the “Top Marketers that Matter in Canada” for its 30th anniversary Win-Win themed campaign. ALC included in Top 100 Employers list For the third consecutive year, ALC appears in the annual list of Canada’s Top 100 Employers, as published in Maclean’s magazine. The survey assesses: physical workplace; work atmosphere and social; health, financial and family benefits; vacations and time off; employee communications; performance management; and training skills and development. The survey also examines charitable efforts and community involvement.
Company
Web site
Aristocrat
aristocratgaming.com
27
Arrow Games
arrowgames.com
19
Battlefield Graphics
battlefieldgraphics.com
36
Bluberi
bluberi.com
IFC
Canadian Gaming Association
canadiangaming.ca
26
Champagne Showgirls
champagneshowgirls.com
31
CIBC World Markets
cibcwm.com
13
Cummins Allison
cumminsallison.ca
6
Gary Platt Manufacturing
garyplatt.com
21
Gasser Chair Company, Inc.
gassergaming.com
IBC
Giesecke & Devrient
ca.gi-de.com
11
HLT Advisory
hlta.ca
25
IGT Canada
igt.com
OBC
Loto-Quebec/Ingenio
ingenio-quebec.com
8
OLG
olg.ca
4
Progressive Gaming
progressivegaming.net
32
TCSJohnhuxley
tcsjohnhuxley.com
35
42 | December 2006/January 2007
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