KEY TAKEAWAYS
AGE REVIEW
The AGE received 10,000 visitors in 2018
AS THE AUSTRALASIAN GAMING EXPO WRAPS IN SYDNEY FOR ANOTHER YEAR, WE SHARE THE HIGHLIGHTS AND OBSERVABLE TRENDS LIKELY TO MOST IMPACT YOUR BUSINESS.
T
he AGE closed for another year after a soldout floor at the harbourside International Convention Centre in Sydney. The threeday event hosted not just the core gaming technologies, products and services, but many other aspects of pub operations. Three key themes we witnessed and most relevant to hoteliers were: global advances in technology, the suggestion the pubs property market may have peaked and the rise of scenting and coffee service. The expo hosted over 10,000 attendees, with just shy of 3,000 attending on day one, including the 77 regulators set to have a crucial impact on the industry in both Australia and New Zealand. Many of them heard Gaming Technologies Association CEO Ross Ferrar’s opening speech. Key to his comments was a report compiled by the Centre For International Economics showing an $8.32bn contribution to the national economy in value added by gaming. The report, Gaming Machine Industry in Australia, was conducted in the 2016-17 fiscal year.
ADVANCING TECHNOLOGIES Meanwhile Justin Baird, Managing Director of R&D, Technology & Innovation at Accenture highlighted the vast leaps in Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies globally. Baird pointed to the driverless cars already a reality on some of Sydney’s roads as trials continue until October this year, the imminent launch of e-wallets such as Ora-Saifu, cryto-currencies such as Bitcoin and new ‘spread-ledger’ security afforded by blockchain technology, citing Commonwealth Bank’s tie-up with the World Bank to launch the world’s first bond backed by blockchain.
10 | SEPTEMBER 2018 AUSTRALIAN HOTELIER
Ross Ferrar, Gaming Technologies Australia CEO Baird also noted the impact of e-gaming and VR-gaming encouraging customers to spend more while separately highlighting that 47% of jobs are at risk of being automated. The impact of these new technologies will be felt across security systems, customer retention programmes, gaming technologies and payment transactions as well as customers’ increased understanding of these advances. On the floor, Cognitec showcased facial-recognition techonology. The company’s FaceVACS-VideoScan highlights security issues or self-identified problem gamblers and VIPs, using built-in face-detection and tracking technology.
