Global Gaming Business, October 2019

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GGB Global Gaming Business Magazine

ELECTRONIC TABLE GAMES AGA’s BILL MILLER SPORTS BETTING REGS

October 2019 • Vol. 18 • No. 10 • $10

THE FUTURE IS NOW

Does IGT have an advantage in transaction technology?

Oklahoma Showdown

Why the standoff between the tribes and the governor has implications beyond state borders

Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers

Unintended Consequences How gambling budgets shrink as house edge rises

GLOBAL GAMES 2019

The hottest slot games from the diversity of slot makers

AGS-G2E-Ad-201910-GGB.indd 1

9/4/19 9:52 AM

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CONTENTS

Vol. 18 • No. 10

october

Global Gaming Business Magazine

COLUMNS

32 COVER STORY

Slot-Floor Evolution

AGA 14 NFL Kickoff

IGT will present its normal mind-boggling array of new games and hardware at this year’s Global Gaming Expo, but just as important is the evolution of its IGT Advantage casino management system with new tools that will affect the way players fund, play and earn rewards for their loyalty to a given casino, bringing slot play firmly into the 21st century.

Dave Forman

By Frank Legato On the cover (L-R): Nick Khin, IGT chief commercial officer, gaming; Ryan Reddy, vice president and chief systems product officer; and Sean Sauter, vice president, system sales, North America

Fantini’s Finance 16 Nothing to Fear Frank Fantini

NIGC 22 Indian Gaming’s GGR Calculation Kathryn Isom-Clause and E. Sequoyah Simermeyer

Making My Point 30 A Business Fable Roger Snow

DEPARTMENTS FEATURES 24 The Danger of High Hold

120 Not OK in Oklahoma

Studies showing that players cannot tell the difference between low and high hold percentages in a given session miss the point—it’s the longterm result of rising hold percentages that can harm operators.

Operators in the consistently successful tribal gaming market of Oklahoma face some uncertainty as tribal-state compacts come up for renewal.

By Jeff Hwang

36 Regulating Sportsbooks The gaming industry is developing the most effective ways to regulate and protect the nascent sports betting business in the U.S.

By Gene Johnson

128 21st Century Rewards Player perks given as rewards for loyalty in slot clubs are evolving to include a variety of high-end gifts, often delivered to a player’s home.

By Dave Bontempo

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The Agenda

8

By the Numbers

10 5 Questions 20 AGEM 126 Frankly Speaking 132 Cutting Edge 134 Goods & Services 137 People

By David Waddell, Robert Russell and J.J. Burchman

138 Casino Communications

116 ETGs in the U.S.

With Bill Miller, President & CEO, American Gaming Association

Operators in the U.S. are discovering what those in Asia have known for years—electronic table games are an effective bridge between the slot floor and the pit.

By The Innovation Group

OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com

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CONTENTS Global Gaming Business Magazine

Global Games 2019 Page 42 Persistent features, hold-and-spin mechanics and homegrown brands and themes distinguish this year’s lineup of new games, hardware and system products from the world’s top slot manufacturers. Our annual snapshot of the slot sector reflects innovation in research and development that shows no sign of slowing down.

By Frank Legato, Marjorie Preston and William Sokolic

44 50 54 60 66 72 74 76 80 86 92 98 100 106 112 114

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AGS Ainsworth Game Technology Aristocrat Aruze Gaming America Everi Gamblit Gaming GameCo Gaming Arts IGT Incredible Technologies Konami Gaming Merkur Gaming Novomatic Americas Scientific Games Synergy Blue Zitro

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

Vol. 18 • No. 10

october

Player-Driven Innovation Put the power of efficiency on your casino floor with IGT ADVANTAGE® and its mobile solutions designed to revolutionize the player experience.

This suite of innovative solutions includes award-winning Cardless Connect® technology, Resort Wallet, and Intelligent Offers, and enables patrons to seamlessly interact with gaming devices through their mobile phones for an unparalleled casino experience.

Stop by the IGT booth #3659 and take full ADVANTAGE at G2E 2019. © 2019 IGT. Except where ownership is otherwise identified, the trademarks used herein are owned by IGT or its affiliates, may not be used without permission, and where indicated with a ®, are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Artwork, descriptions, game play, photographs, videos, and other product details depicted herein are subject to change. IGT is committed to socially responsible gaming. Our business solutions empower customers to choose parameters and practices that become the foundation of their Responsible Gaming programs.

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THE AGENDA

Never Forget

By Roger Gros, Publisher

M

y father was a veteran of World War II but I know precious little about his experience during that conflict—because I didn’t think to ask.

What I do know is pretty heady stuff. He spent parts of the war in England and eventually was swept into the preparations for D-Day. I know he stormed the beaches at Normandy, and I believe it was in the second wave. Most of the first wave had perished, and it wasn’t much easier for the second wave, but he mounted the bluffs only to struggle through the hedgerows.

Later, he took part in the liberation of Paris.

He actually was driving a tank down the Champs d’Elyses in the parade of Allied armies rushing into the city after the Nazis had fled.

He lived in Paris for several months attached to an officer’s staff as a clerk. He was a whiz with shorthand (does anyone do that anymore?) and could type like the wind.

Then I’m assuming he itched for a return to the front lines, and ended up in the Battle of Bulge under General George Patton driving a tank. Later he was very hard of hearing in his older age because of the noise inside that tank. I have the same affliction today, but it’s because of the loud amplifiers of the rock bands I played in for more than 20 years.

I know these things not because he told me but because other people told me, like my mother and his siblings. Like many of the Greatest Generation, he didn’t like to talk about the war.

So I let it be and never asked him.

In 1962, we went to see the movie The Longest Day, all about D-Day with some of the biggest movie stars of the day. I was thoroughly enjoying the movie until I looked over to see my father crying. In all my 11 years, I had never seen him cry. But still he didn’t talk.

Today, that’s one of my great regrets in life.

Why didn’t I prod him a little more to find out exactly what he went through—what he experienced in that global conflict that shaped the world we’re living in almost 100 years later? If he had known I was interested, I’m sure he would have opened up. After all, it was just the way his generation operated—don’t talk about your exploits.

Maybe it was a way to handle post-traumatic stress syndrome—ignore it and maybe it won’t happen.

6

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

And to top if off, I have tried to get my father’s official records from the Department of Defense, but was told that they were destroyed along with millions of other records in a warehouse fire in Missouri in the 1970s. If you knew my father and how often he moved his family in the 1960s, this wouldn’t surprise you. So now I’ll never know.

This is one of the reasons I’ve tried in recent years to connect with some of the old-timers in gaming (before I become one myself). Now to be clear, I’m not comparing stories of the early days in the gaming industry with a World War II experience, but there is value to talking to those who lived through those years.

Too often these days, there is a disregard for the early days of gaming because of the mob influence, the lack of analytics, the sometimes predatory nature of casino gaming at the time, and the overall lack of formal education by those industry pioneers.

But those were the years when casino gaming found its chops. Slot machines were just amenities for the wives of the high rollers at the tables. There were no player’s clubs. All relationships with your good players were one-on-one. Casinos recognized the importance of giving the players a fighting chance to win.

No, there’s lots of wisdom and experience tied up in those old-timers, which could be used to reveal solutions to problems we’re facing today. But if you don’t ask, how will you know?

Every company and organization has someone who knows where the bodies are buried, understands the backstory, can offer guidance when you hit a rough patch. They might already be retired.

How did they connect with the players in the days before data analytics? What kind of treatment did they expect and how was it delivered?

I constantly hear from people that Vegas was better when the mob was in control. I don’t buy that one because the mob also broke someone’s kneecaps when they couldn’t pay up. But even those stories offer guidelines of how to conduct security training and collection techniques in a civilized (and legal!) manner.

So don’t let those stories and recollections go to waste. Talk to those old-timers and I think you’ll find out that they want to share their experiences.

You’ll never know if you don’t ask.

Vol. 18 • No. 10 • OCTOBER 2019 Roger Gros, Publisher | rgros@ggbmagazine.com twitter: @GlobalGamingBiz Frank Legato, Editor | flegato@ggbmagazine.com twitter: @FranklySpeakn Marjorie Preston, Managing Editor mpreston@ggbmagazine.com Monica Cooley, Art Director | mcooley@ggbmagazine.com Terri Brady, Sales & Marketing Director tbrady@ggbmagazine.com Floyd Sembler, Business Development Manager fsembler@ggbmagazine.com Becky Kingman-Gros, Chief Operating Officer bkingros@ggbmagazine.com Lisa Johnson, Communications Advisor lisa@lisajohnsoncommunications.com twitter: @LisaJohnsonPR Columnists Frank Fantini | Dave Forman | Kathryn Isom-Claus E. Sequoyah Simermeyer | Roger Snow Contributing Editors Dave Bontempo twitter: @bontempomedia J.J. Burchman | Jeff Hwang | Gene Johnson Robert Russell | William Sokolic | David Waddell __________________

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Rino Armeni, President, Armeni Enterprises

•

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

• Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs, President, Lifescapes International

• Nicholas Casiello Jr., Shareholder, Fox Rothschild

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

• Dean Macomber, President, Macomber International, Inc.

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

• Jim Rafferty, President, Rafferty & Associates

• Thomas Reilly, Vice President Systems Sales, Scientific Games

• Michael Soll, President, The Innovation Group

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

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

• Roy Student, President, Applied Management Strategies

• David D. Waddell, Partner Regulatory Management Counselors PC Casino Connection International LLC. 901 American Pacific Drive, Suite 180 • Henderson, Nevada 89014 702-248-1565 • 702-248-1567 (fax) www.ggbmagazine.com The views and opinions expressed by the writers and columnists of GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS are not necessarily the views of the publisher or editor.

Copyright 2019 Global Gaming Business LLC. Henderson, Nevada 89014 GLOBAL GAMING BUSINESS is published monthly by Casino Connection International, LLC. Printed in Nevada, USA. Postmaster: Send Change of Address forms to: 901 American Pacific Dr, Suite 180, Henderson, NV 89014

Official Publication

CONTENT / TECHNOLOGY / SOLUTIONS

At Scientific Games, we are

REIMAGINING PLAY. Through artistry and science, we are committed to innovating and creating unique gaming experiences for our players and partners, who are at the heart of everything we do.

VISIT US AT G2E 2019!

ScientificGames.com The look and feel of the games and their individual components and displays are trade dress of Scientific Games Corp. and its Subsidiaries. TM and Š 2019 Scientific Games Corp. and its Subsidiaries. All rights reserved.

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BY THE

NUMBERS

SPorTS BeTTing BASicS n

ow that sports betting is legal in 20 states and active in about half of them, data is starting to flow regarding how and why players bet on sports.

A new 58-page survey issued by Eilers & Krejcik Gaming, titled “Why Americans Do (And Don’t) Bet On Sports,” dives deep into the psyche of the U.S. sports bettor.

The report breaks down the types of bettors, the kinds of sports they prefer to bet (pro and college football), and even the advent of esports betting in the U.S. The chart at right shows the types of bets preferred by American bettors, including moneyline, point spreads, parlays and more.

Interestingly, in-game betting only accounts for 15 percent of bets, demonstrating a real opportunity for new sportsbooks. To purchase a copy of the survey, contact DJ Leary at dleary@ekgamingllc.com.

reasons For Play

A

new report from Synergy Blue, a developer of skill and arcade-style slot games, reveals some interesting facts about gamblers, potential gamblers and non-gamblers.

The report, “The Rise of the Gaming Gambler: How Arcade, Video and Mobile Games Are Influencing a New Generation of Gamblers,” outlines the motivations and fears of people who grew up with video and arcade games. It concludes they want some control over their games of choice and want to have a real chance to win. Regular slots just won’t cut it for them, but the right table game would be attractive.

The graphic at right shows what inspires a customer to play or not play a new game. The report can be downloaded at this website: synergyblue.us/the-rise-of-the-gaming-gambler.

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Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

Mainstream Bettors: What Are Their Preferred Bet Types?

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?

L E T U S L I G H T T H E WAY | G 2 E 2 0 1 9

#GLOBALPERSPECTIVE

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NUTSHELL

“They

5QuestioNs

Matt Doherty

Executive Director, New Jersey Casino Reinvestment Development Authority

N

ew Jersey’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA) was developed in the early 1980s to help redevelop Atlantic City and other parts of the state. The CRDA is funded by a 1.25 percent tax on casino revenues. Matt Doherty, a former mayor of Belmar, New Jersey, was appointed to lead the agency 18 months ago. He explains how he is doing his job at a time when the state has taken over the Atlantic City government. He spoke with GGB Publisher Roger Gros at the CRDA offices in Atlantic City in August. To hear a full version of this interview, visit GGBMagazine.com or subscribe to GGB Podcasts on iTunes or Spotify.

1 2 3 4 5

GGB: The CRDA has been an important tool in the development of Atlantic City. How are you helping to direct the CRDA funds to the places where they do the most good?

Doherty: We work with the mayor, city council, along with Leutenant Governor Sheila Oliver, who is also

the commissioner on the Department of Community Affairs, on what the priorities are. And those were laid out pretty broadly in the Jim Johnson report (authored by a former Treasury under-secretary and the leader of the state takeover of Atlantic City government) that was issued in 2018. We use that as a guideline for how we should appropriately allocate CRDA funds within the four corners of Atlantic City.

Over the years there have been degrees of dissatisfaction with the CRDA from the casino perspective. What have you done to shore up the agency’s relationship with the casino industry?

Said It”

“The first year can be the most difficult, because you’re really trying to figure out not only how the market is going to respond to the product, your promotions, but what the competition is going to do to hold onto those customers.”

—Michael Mathis, president, MGM Springfield, on the casino’s failure to meet first-year expectations for revenues

CALENDAR October 2-3: ICE Africa, Sandton Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa. Produced by Clarion Gaming. For more information, visit ICEAfrica.za.com.

October 14-18: Global Gaming Expo (G2E) 2019, Sands Expo Center, Las Vegas. Produced by the American Gaming Association and Reed Exhibitions. For more information, visit GlobalGamingExpo.com.

October 28-31: Advanced Management of Slot Operations, University of Nevada, Reno Gaming Management Program. For more information, visit bit.ly/AdvancedSlots19.

We have 17 members of our board of directors and two of them are casino executives appointed by the governor. They have adequate representation on the board.

I’ve had meetings with the top casino executives around town. Overall, it’s been a positive response to recent CRDA activities.

October 30: Gaming & Hospitality Education Series— Customer Service & HR: The People Factor. Stan Fulton Building, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Produced by GGB Magazine and the UNLV William F. Harrah College of Hospitality. For more information, visit UNLVGHES.com.

The Tourism District was established about 10 years ago. How do you work with the city in the CRDA oversight of this area?

November 4-6: Sports Betting USA Investment and Regulation Forum, New York City. Produced by Clarion Gaming. For more information, visit sportsbettingusaconference.com.

When the CRDA was given authority over the Tourism District, I thought it was very odd. When I was mayor of Belmar, myself, the council along with the planning and zoning boards controlled land use.

About 45 percent of the land is Atlantic City is controlled by the CRDA. I’m very cognizant that this is a city that has a mayor and a council, and has a planning board and a zoning board. So we take special care to inform them on what we plan to do and get their feedback on whether they think it will be a positive or negative step. If it’s not seen as a positive, we re-evaluate it.

The CRDA is also responsible for public safety in the Tourism District. How do you work with the Atlantic City Police Department in that regard?

We’re now up to $3 million in grants to the police on an annual basis. That’s for Class 2 officers, who are not full-time police officers, and for NCOs, neighborhood coordination officers. These are officers who are out of the car, who walk door-to-door, who talk to residents and businesses to address quality-of-life issues.

We also interact with land-use, planning and development, code enforcement and others. Any projects that come to us, we take it to the city and vice versa. We also have responsibility for the Special Improvement District (SID), which does a lot of public works-type of functions in the Tourism District.

Some casinos have criticized the CRDA’s efforts to bring entertainment to the city. They believe it’s the casinos’ responsibility.

Well, Hard Rock has really changed that dynamic. They’re extremely aggressive in bringing high-class entertainment to town. I don’t see CRDA’s role as competing with the private sector. Having private-sector dollars bringing in entertainment is a good thing.

Where we do run into a challenge is the operations of Boardwalk Hall. This has a capacity far exceeding any other venue in Atlantic City. Because we own and operate Boardwalk Hall, we have to generate as much money as possible to defray the costs. So there’s a delicate balance there between not interfering with the private sector and at the same time recognizing that we do need to operate Boardwalk Hall as a business to generate revenues to decrease the costs there.

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Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

November 6-7: GSA Technology Summit: Focus Artificial Intelligence, Hyatt Regency, San Diego. Produced by the Gaming Standards Association. For more information, visit GamingStandards.com.

November 8: European Gaming Summit, Milan, Italy.

Produced by European Gaming Media and Events.

For more information, visit EuropeanGamingCongress.com.

November 20-21: Balkan Entertainment & Gaming Expo (BEGE), Sofia, Bulgaria. Produced by BEGE. For more information, visit BalkanGamingExpo.com.

November 27-29: SIGMA Europe, Fairs and Conventions Centre, Ta’ Qali, Malta. Produced by SIGMA. For more information, visit SIGMA.com.mt.

December 3-4: G2E Asia @ Philippines, Manila Marriott Hotel at the Resorts World Manila. Produced by Reed Exhibitions China and the American Gaming Association.

For more information, visit G2EAsia.com.

December 9-11: University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program (RTIP) Symposium, Tucson, Arizona.

Produced by the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program. For more information, visit ua-rtip.org/symposium.

December 9-12: Certificate in Gaming Leadership, Oklahoma State University. Produced by OSU Center for Executive & Professional Development, Hard Rock Casino Tulsa, and Gaming Management, University of Nevada, Reno. For more information, visit business.okstate.edu/cepd.

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G2E 2019

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THE FUTURE OF PLAy The next generation of innovative technology and exceptional performance is here.

Konami Gaming, Inc. creates the gaming floor of tomorrow with great content, groundbreaking tech, and the talent to bring it all together. Look to our bold new cabinet for proof—a sleek, streamlined construction that fits virtually any space on your floor, with amazing games like All Aboard™, a battle-tested favorite from Australia, and Silent Hill™, based on the massively popular video game franchise.

Visit us at Booth #1256 at G2E to see what the future holds. www.gaming.konami.com

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AMERICAN GAMING ASSOCIATION

NFL Kickoff 1.2 million reasons why legal sports betting is good for the NFL

W

hen states across the country began to authorize legal sports betting this year at a rapid pace, one question came up repeatedly: Will new legal markets be ready in time for football season?

As the National Football League’s 100th season kicked off, we had our answer. At that time, 13 states offered legal, regulated sports betting—more than double the number of legal, operational markets at the start of last season.

This momentum comes as 38 million American adults plan to bet on an NFL game this season, according to a survey from the American Gaming Association and Morning Consult.

Consumers want legal sports betting options—no surprise, as it offers protections from the dangerous illegal market.

As a result, 1.2 million more Americans are expected to place a bet on the NFL this season compared to last year. For legal operators, this represents 1.2 million extra opportunities to show consumers what responsible gaming looks like: unlike illegal operators, we comply with rigorous regulations, work to prevent underage gaming, are committed to the integrity of games and provide education and assistance to promote responsible consumer choices.

Leagues are also benefitting from the shift towards legal wagering. Our survey found there are heightened levels of fan engagement with NFL games when bets are placed. Seventy-five percent of bettors say they are more likely to watch a game they have bet on, and many are more likely to buy tickets to a game.

There’s even a correlation between where the highest percentage of expected bettors live—Massachusetts—and the team most adults we surveyed choose to win Super Bowl

14

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

By Dave Forman

LIV—the New England Patriots.

This cycle and loop effect between enthusiasm for betting and sports has helped to spur more than 45 new partnerships between leagues, teams and gaming companies since the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA), the failed

federal ban on sports betting, was overturned in May 2018.

With five more states and the District of Columbia poised to open legal markets in the coming months, nearly one in three adult Americans could potentially place legal bets in their home states in time for Super Bowl LIV. The casino gaming industry, our regulatory partners and the NFL are off to a strong start, but we can’t sit content on the sidelines and run out the clock. Let’s keep the progress going.

Dave Forman is senior director of research for the American Gaming Association.

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FANTINI’S FINANCE

Nothing to Fear A looming recession or a buying opportunity?

E

ven though there is fear of recession and uncertainty on how Macau will work out given tense U.S.-China relations and numerous political and economic issues, gaming stocks might be attractive.

Recently, two Wall Street analysts have issued research notes that give some context to those who think gaming stocks can rise from here.

Thomas Allen of Morgan Stanley surveyed institutional investors and found that they have been adding gaming stocks, and it is generally considered that institutional investors move the market.

Carlo Santarelli of Deutsche Bank found that gaming stocks are selling at valuations below their historical norms, with several stocks offering big upside if they return to their long-term averages.

Allen noted the second quarter was the third straight of growing institutional investment, including into Boyd Gaming, Gaming & Leisure Properties, MGM Resorts and Wynn Resorts.

What is interesting from our perspective is that these stocks individually and as a group have the look of being defensive plays as investors think about where to park money in a slowing, and perhaps receding, economy.

Consider: • Stability. There are some immediate uncertainties in Macau, but the market long-term promises to grow for years to come. Meanwhile, their Las Vegas Strip properties enjoy the likelihood of long-term growth. That should provide support for Las Vegas Sands, Wynn and MGM. Boyd operates in regional markets that aren’t going anywhere. In fact, in a recession, people putting off a multi-thousand-dollar vacation will still seek entertainment, and the local casino can be an affordable Friday night out. So, as a consumer discretionary business, casinos will see a slowdown, but it might not be as severe as the Great Recession, when wealth simply disappeared for millions of Americans.

Boyd also benefits from the growing Las Vegas population in its locals business, which raises the possibility of growing volumes even in a slow economy.

16

By Frank Fantini

Finally, the gaming real estate investment trusts are landlords. They will collect rents even in a slowdown.

• Low debt ratio. Allen pointed to Las Vegas Sands’ 1.5-to-1 leverage ratio and suggested some of the movement into the stock might be a flight to quality, especially considering its dividend and its growth projects in Singapore and Macau, where LVS targets 20 percent returns on investment.

• Dividends. All the stocks attracting institutional investors pay dividends. Wynn at a 3.5 percent yield, Las Vegas Sands at 5.6 percent and Gaming & Leisure Properties at 7.2 percent are especially appealing.

Of course, these stocks are not the whole story.

The Morgan Stanley survey shows institutional investors reduced their stakes slightly in Boyd peer Penn National and GLPI peer MGM Growth Properties. And the report, as Allen noted, is dated, as the data is for the period ended June 30. Plus, investments do fluctuate, and there are lots of reasons for institutions to buy and sell stocks in the near term or to react to likely nonrecurring events. Indeed, the continued weakness of gaming stocks through early September might indicate some reversal of the buying trend.

In his note, Santarelli found many gaming stocks are trading well below their historical valuations based on enterprise value-to-EBITDA and EBITDAR. Four of his buy-rated stocks, in order—Boyd, Eldorado, IGT and Golden Entertainment—were more than 35 percent below their average valuations since 2016 despite having sound businesses, favorable risk/reward dynamics and healthy outlooks, when Santarelli issued his research note on September 5.

In addition, Wynn and Las Vegas Sands appear oversold, Santarelli said.

On the other side, gaming REITs were selling slightly above their historical price-to-adjusted funds from operations ratios, Santarelli noted. An exception among casino operators is Caesars, which is being bought by Eldorado at a premium to its historical valuation.

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

The steepest discount to historical valuation is AGS, whose stocked cratered after what Santarelli called one of the most significant negative reactions to lowered guidance that he has seen in some time.

The recent sell-off in gaming stocks is unnerving, but has created opportunities to buy on value, SantarellI said.

Below are upsides to stocks if they regain their average valuations since 2016 or, in the case of AGS, its IPO. This was as of September 4, so the percentages have changed somewhat: AGS Scientific Games IGT Eldorado Boyd Golden Las Vegas Sands Wynn Red Rock MGM Penn National

136.6 percent 88.6 66.8 46.8 44.6 35.4 20.2 11.5 8.7 1.5 0.3

Caesars stock is 17.5 percent above its historical average.

REIT valuations compared to historical average and AFFO (adjusted funds from operations): VICI 11.5 times 10.9 times Gaming & Leisure Properties 16 14.3 MGM Growth Properties 13.4 13.2

One of the interesting recent trends is Eldorado, which intends to take out costs and build revenues by $500 million in its pending merger with Caesars.

Observers who have seen Eldorado’s previous acquisitions think it will achieve that goal and probably surpass it.

Joe Greff of MP Morgan thinks the combined Eldorado-Caesars will generate free cash flow of $1.592 billion in 2023.

If so, the stock could be close to a double from its September 5 price around $39.

Frank Fantini is the editor and publisher of Fantini’s Gaming Report. For a free 30-day trial subscription email subscriptions@fantiniresearch.com.

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AGEMupdate AGEM MEMBER PROFILE

TraffGen is the market leader in Macau player

development and in-property marketing systems.

The TraffGen system is 100 percent customizable to the needs of any casino. Casinos can differentiate and move forward without having to settle for the same aging tools used by their competitors.

TraffGen is a proven success in some of the largest and most profitable casinos in the world such as Wynn Macau, Wynn Palace, City of Dreams, Studio City, NagaWorld and Altira.

TraffGen has delivered a way for casinos to innovate at light speed, beyond the restrictions of their existing CMS or paging systems.

TraffGen delivers optimized promotions into the hands of hosts, speeds surveillance teams’ response times, and raises visitation rates and development of new segments like premium-mass for massive revenue growth. More than that, TraffGen is an innovation platform that delivers real-time marketing, security, technology and player development tools all from one flexible system.

In the U.S., TraffGen is bringing its player development tools to casinos that need to move fast to get ahead of competitors. Utilizing gaming-specific artificial intelligence, TraffGen transforms player development and marketing teams without time-consuming integrations or increases in headcount. In short, casinos become smarter and more responsive and increase revenue within weeks of deployment.

For more information, visit the TraffGen website at trafficgenerationltd.com or email info@traffgen.com.

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

AGEM Board of Directors Actions – September 2019 • AGEM members had an in-person presentation by Bill Miller, president and CEO of the American Gaming Association, at its September board of directors meeting. It was the first time Miller addressed the membership since taking up his position early in the year.

He shared some of his focus points, highlighting the positive impact the industry brings to communities in the United States. The AGA’s Get To Know Gaming initiative is a powerful vehicle, introducing politicians and the community to the benefits and economic impact that gaming achieves. The AGA is also working with new business partners, such as the sports betting sector, to share knowledge and best practices that a controlled industry like gaming brings.

He also emphasized the importance of modernization to ensure the industry is streamlined and can operate in today’s world, including the responsible introduction of cashless gaming. He further endorsed the close working relationship that the AGA and AGEM continue to enjoy. • Korbi Carrison, Reed event director for G2E, gave AGEM members a preview update. She shared that tracking on general registration is 8 percent ahead of the same time last year, and an impressive 44 percent ahead on key buyer registrations, particularly from Latin America.

There has been a major focus on improving the conference content that has resulted in the education program tracking 18 percent ahead of the same time last year. Importantly, this growth is not being driven by existing exhibitors, but by new exhibitors and sectors entering the show. • AGEM attempted to garner a deadline extension regarding Apple’s guideline changes for gaming apps; that directive mandated that all new gaming apps be native to iOS by September 3. AGEM’s efforts appeared to have gone cold, as the deadline passed with no direct updates from Apple. However, Apple subsequently announced that a new deadline has been set for March 3, 2020. It’s positive news for all involved and should now give suppliers more time to conform. • Earlier this year, AGEM agreed to be a joint sponsor of the European Casino Association (ECA) Exec Scholarship.

award was launched utive Development Program (EDP) Gender Diversity This important

last year and sees the ECA partnering with AGEM, Clarion Gaming and the EDP to award one aspir

ing female gaming employee a full-ride scholarship to the EDP—the prestigious global gaming leadership course that will take place November 9-17 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. This year’s winner has been named as Dolly Sananes Bascou, head of marketing and communications and gaming operations at Monte-Carlo SociÊtÊ des Bains de Mer. • AGEM welcomed a new Associate Member in September. AmericanChecked, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is a nationally accredited consumer reporting agency providing background screening checks for the industry with a particular focus on tribal gaming.

UPCOMING EVENTS • G2E 2019 will be held October 15-17 at the Sands Convention Center, Las Vegas. AGEM will once again have a booth at the show located just inside the main show floor entrance.

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Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

The AGEM Index decreased in August 2019 by 21.6 points to 473.36 points, a 4.4 percent drop from July 2019. The decline was driven largely by a 2.9 percent decrease in the stock price of Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. which declined from AU$30.65 to AU$29.75. The stock was responsible for 9.62 points of the (ASX: ALL), AGEM Index’s monthly decrease.

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Connecting. Listening. Partnering.

S

BOEE US #4 O AT G 03 TH 2E 9

WE HELPED YOU CONNECT WITH YOUR PLAYERS. We listened to you about your business wants and needs. And we are honored to partner with so many of you across the gaming industry. As we bring the connected casino of the future to the market through FUZIONÂŽ, we will continue to listen to you, innovate for you, and bring you new solutions to make your operations more efficient and more profitable than ever.

p. 22 NIGC:Layout 1 9/18/19 2:44 PM Page 22

NATIONAL INDIAN GAMING COMMISSION

Indian Gaming’s GGR Calculation

A sound investment in compliance and collaboration

C

ollaboration enables the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) to effectively meet its mission. The process leading up to the release of Indian gaming’s annual gross gaming revenue (GGR) is one example of how collaboration can help the NIGC to meet its mission and at the same time support the work of tribal governments and the Indian gaming industry’s record growth.

The NIGC’s release of the GGR for Indian gaming operations is an endeavor that brings together tribal governments, gaming facilities and Indian gaming’s federal regulatory body. It is a proven partnership that results in an annual measure upon which tribal governments, the regulatory community and the public at large can rely for an accurate accounting. It is also a resource that informs the assessment of the industry’s unprecedented health and profitability during recent years.

The fiscal year 2018 GGR is the total amount of money wagered less amounts paid out as prizes at 501 gaming facilities regulated by 241 tribes in 29 states across eight NIGC-created administrative regions in operation during tribes’ 2018 fiscal years. We recently reported the GGR for FY 2018 was $33.7 billion—the highest GGR in Indian gaming’s history. This is a 4.1 percent increase over FY 2017. And, unlike in FY 2017, all eight of the NIGC’s regions showed positive growth in revenue during FY 2018.

The NIGC’s Portland Region (which includes operations in Alaska, Washington, Oregon and Idaho) showed the highest growth with an 8.2 percent increase, followed by the NIGC’s Oklahoma City Region (which includes operations in parts of Western Oklahoma and Texas) with a 7.3 percent increase.

Calculating the annual GGR requires tribes and the NIGC to make an investment of time and resources. Pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act as interpreted by the NIGC’s regulations, tribes prepare comparative financial statements covering all financial activities for each Class II and Class III gaming operation at the close of each tribe’s fiscal year. Each gaming

22

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

By Kathryn Isom-Clause and E. Sequoyah Simermeyer

operation’s financial statement must be audited and certified by an independent certified public accountant. Independent auditing practices help to ensure the financial statements conform to generally accepted accounting principles. Each tribe then submits to the NIGC the audited financial statements within 120 days after the end of a tribe’s fiscal year.

Once received by the NIGC team, the commission’s subject matter experts review every submission to ensure compliance and accuracy. The NIGC audit team consists of certified public accountants and certified fraud examiners who spend approximately 3,200 hours annually reviewing and analyzing financial statements and the agreed-upon procedures that each independent audit submission outlines.

Both tribes and the NIGC benefit from their investment in calculating the GGR. Tribal governments are responsible for community-wide planning and the expenditure of revenue from Indian gaming operations, and can point to the GGR calculation process as a recurring and widely accepted practice that helps tribes meet this responsibility.

In addition, the NIGC uses the information generated when calculating the GGR, such as independent audit reports, to help anticipate where it might prepare for and make the most of the commission’s impact through enforcement, training and technical assistance efforts. Analyzing information from each tribe’s annual financial submissions in order to plan for future NIGC compliance activity is especially important in light of the Indian gaming industry’s ever-evolving environment.

The NIGC audit team’s more than 3,200 hours of financial reviews are integrated into the NIGC’s local and national level assessments. This coordination tailors how the NIGC conducts its site-specific assistance, revises and updates the NIGC education efforts, and helps identify tribes who would benefit from an internal control assessment by the NIGC or other NIGC compliance work.

In addition, the audit team’s insights provide an opportunity for the NIGC to dialogue with tribal regulatory bodies and the private accounting community about the impact of auditing practices

and federal regulatory requirements across Indian gaming’s diverse landscape.

Informed, efficient and flexible annual submission requirements encourage compliance, which in turn increases the value of the GGR calculation and analysis processes for both tribes and the NIGC. To ensure robust tribal reporting and participation continue every year, the NIGC staff is engaging tribes though training and technical assistance to promote best practices around maximizing independent auditor engagements. In addition, an examination of a tribe’s internal audit procedures is part of the annual site visits performed by NIGC staff at each Indian gaming operation. And where applicable, the commission also considers reducing certain audit requirements when such a reduction will not undermine the accuracy of a tribe’s submission and can reduce the financial burden on smaller operations.

While the GGR’s annual reporting continues to tell a positive story about Indian gaming’s economic success and ongoing contribution to a strong economy, it also tells the story of how collaboration among the governmental and regulatory communities has built a strong reputation for reliability and integrity. That reputation has been a catalyst for economic enterprise to create a foundation for employment and business development that extends to vendors, the entertainment sector, retailers and beyond. It is a foundation that provides unparalleled economic opportunities in some of the most underserved areas in the United States.

During the coming year, we will continue to look for opportunities to promote NIGC’s collaboration with tribes—whether in the calculation of the GGR or in other areas of responsibility—as a means to increase the NIGC’s contribution to a well-regulated industry. And we will remain grateful for the work of our many partners and NIGC experts who collect and analyze important industry trends like Indian gaming’s annual GGR.

Kathryn Isom-Clause (Taos Pueblo) is the vice chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission. E. Sequoyah Simermeyer (Coharie) is the associate commissioner of the National Indian Gaming Commission.

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p. 24 houseedge:Layout 1 9/18/19 2:45 PM Page 24

The rising house advantage is stunting wagering volumes, while the academic studies that claim that the gambler cannot tell the difference, in fact, show just the opposite

House Edge

By Jeff Hwang

When the

Bites Back

With regard to the effect of PAR on wagering volume, the results of the reviewed literature would suggest a negative relationship (Lucas & Roehl, 2002; Lucas, Dunn & Singh, in press). Aside from the reel slot sample analyzed by Lucas et al. (2004), PAR variables have produced significant and negative effects on gaming volume variables, in three different analyses… Wagering volume would be expected to decline, with an increase in PAR, even in a sample of reel slots.

1. The fact that the rising house advantage is impacting slot volume—and ultimately slot revenue—is black and white; and, 2. Quite ironically, on closer inspection, the set of academic studies claiming that the gambler “cannot tell the difference” in house advantage in fact shows quite the opposite, and in fact, supports the opposite—in virtually every single study, an increase in the house advantage was accompanied by a decrease in wagering volume.

—Lucas and Brandmeir (2005)

H

ere’s reality: The gambler doesn’t have to know what the house advantage is in order to be affected by it.

Last spring, I took a class on statistics and advanced research methods in the hotel college at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where I had done my graduate studies nearly a decade ago. For the final project, I examined slot gaming data for the state of Iowa— where the slot hold percentage had climbed for 20 years in a row—for the purpose of establishing the relationship between the rising house advantage and its impact on (a) slot volume and (b) slot revenue.

In the process, I realized, first of all, that the particular techniques discussed in class (multiple regression, MANOVA, multi-dimensional scaling, SEM, etc.) were inappropriate for this particular exercise, and that there were many more lessons to be learned. I also realized that advanced statistical techniques were completely unnecessary, because: 24

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

To be clear, the literal translation of a drop in wagering volume is that the gambler is betting less.

Let’s look at Iowa. Iowa is a relatively mature market with a long track record, having opened the first riverboat casinos in the country in 1991.

It’s had relatively few distortions from gaming expansions in neighboring states. As such, the data would be relatively clean. Moreover, I took the whole state rather than individual properties in order to negate the effects of competition within individual markets. Meanwhile, the trends in the Iowa data are mostly reflective of the broader gaming industry in the U.S. You’ll notice a few things from the table, covering Iowa data from 1991 to 2018 (income data for 2018 was not yet available); this is the data set I used for the class. For starters, we expected both slot volume and slot revenue to climb with the rise in population and per-capita personal income levels; we also expected both slot volume and slot revenue to increase with the number of casinos in operation.

All of this is Casino Market Analysis 101.

p. 24 houseedge:Layout 1 9/19/19 9:11 AM Page 25

Iowa Data: 1991-2018 Slot Revenue

Slot Hold Population % Personal

Max Per Capita Casinos in Income Operation

Year

Slot Volume

1991

$515.9 million $54.3 million 10.52% 2,791,227 —

5

1992

$628.6 million $59.9 million 9.52%

2,806,923 —

5

1993

$462.2 million $38.7 million 8.36%

2,820,525 —

4

1994

$964.3 million $79.6 million 8.26%

2,829,422 —

7

1995

$4.37 billion

$321.3 million 7.35%

2,840,860 —

8

1996

$8.74 billion

$555.4 million 6.36%

2,848,476 —

12

1997

$10.29 billion

$600.5 million 5.83%

2,854,396 —

12

1998

$11.63 billion

$666.7 million 5.73%

2,861,025 $25,346 12

1999

$12.39 billion

$735.3 million 5.94%

2,869,413 $25,866 12

2000

$13.12 billion

$794.9 million 6.06%

2,926,324 $27,535 13

2001

$13.18 billion

$836.7 million 6.35%

2,929,424 $28,289 13

2002

$13.66 billion

$890.4 million 6.52%

2,929,264 $28,944 13

2003

$13.94 billion

$940.9 million 6.75%

2,932,799 $29,458 13

2004

$13.87 billion

$978.1 million 7.05%

2,941,358 $31,680 13

2005

$13.43 billion

$1.00 billion

7.47%

2,949,450 $32,510 13

2006

$14.39 billion

$1.13 billion

7.86%

2,964,391 $34,348 15

2007

$14.86 billion

$1.24 billion

8.31%

2,978,719 $36,645 17

2008

$14.84 billion

$1.29 billion

8.69%

2,993,987 $38,576 17

2009

$14.11 billion

$1.26 billion

8.93%

3,007,856 $37,202 17

2010

$13.88 billion

$1.25 billion

9.01%

3,046,355 $38,146 17

2011

$14.21 billion

$1.30 billion

9.14%

3,074,386 $42,930 18

2012

$14.55 billion

$1.33 billion

9.17%

3,076,386 $42,930 18

2013

$13.89 billion

$1.28 billion

9.24%

3,089,876 $43,496 18

2014

$13.43 billion

$1.26 billion

9.37%

3,105,563 $44,806 18

2015

$13.67 billion

$1.28 billion

9.38%

3,118,473 $46,235 19

2016

$13.72 billion

$1.30 billion

9.47%

3,130,869 $46,363 19

2017

$13.64 billion

$1.31 billion

9.61%

3,145,711 $47,062 19

2018

$13.61 billion

$1.31 billion

9.63%

3,156,145 NA

19

Sources: Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission; State Data Center of Iowa; Data.Iowa.gov; U.S. Census Bureau; Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis

p. 24 houseedge:Layout 1 9/19/19 9:13 AM Page 26

For any given game, we know that gambling volume can be expected to drop as the house advantage rises.

Iowa Data: 1991-2018 Except this is not at all what happened.

Instead, we see slot volume hitting a wall in the early 2000s, such that slot volume of $13.6 billion in 2018 was below 2002 levels. Similarly, we see slot revenue rise along with income and the rise in slot hold percentage, until it doesn’t—slot revenue peaked in 2012, and has not seemed to benefit much from the post-recession economic boom.

The simple explanation for the stunting of slot volume and slot revenue growth is, once again—as we have argued for four years now—simple economics. The rise in the house advantage (the price of gambling, all else being equal) caused lower gaming demand in the form of weaker-than-expected slot volume, in turn ultimately resulting in stunted slot revenue figures.

The Law of Demand: When the price increases, the quantity demanded decreases.

That much is black and white. And yet, there’s a faction within the industry that continues to implicitly argue that economics do not apply to gaming. This faction says the player cannot tell the difference between lower- and higher-edge games, and thus a path to increased profitably lies in simply continuing to raise the house advantage unto perpetuity.

The Case Against Economics The most prominent voice in the anti-econ camp belongs to my former professor Dr. Anthony Lucas of UNLV, who—along with various co-authors— has conducted a number of published studies dating back to 2005 purporting to demonstrate that “the gambler cannot tell the difference” between lower- and higher-edge slot machines.

Well, for starters, whether the gambler can “perceive” the difference turns out to be mostly irrelevant; what ultimately matters is whether or not the gambler’s gambling behavior is impacted by the difference in house edge.

And though Dr. Lucas has argued that “the gambler cannot tell the difference,” this is a matter of poor interpretation—even the results of his own tests quite plainly demonstrate that the gambler’s behavior is impacted by the difference in house edge.

Lucas and Brandmeir (2005) The first study, Lucas and Brandmeir (2005), compared the year-over-year performance of a set of 40 slot units (games). These games had a 5 percent PAR (the programmed house advantage; originally an acronym for “paytable and reel strips”) in a period during fall/winter 2002; the identical games (same games, same machines, same location) then featured a 7.5 percent PAR—representing a 50 percent increase in house edge—over the identical

26

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

period in fall/winter 2003.

Lucas and Brandmeir found that theoretical win per unit (TWPU, calculated as the coin-in times the PAR) was higher during the fall/winter 2003 period. In other words, the higher-edge games produced a higher theoretical win than the lower-edge games, leading the authors to conclude that “the results support the theory that players cannot perceive the considerable difference between a 5 percent game and a 7.5 percent game.”

Except that’s not at all what their results showed. The authors explicitly avoided examining the change in coin-in, acknowledging in the literature review that “wagering volume would be expected to decline, with an increase in PAR, even in a sample of reel slots.” And though the authors did not present the slot coin-in in this study, coin-in can be calculated from the results—while the mean theoretical win per unit for the 38 clean units in the sample rose, slot volume per unit dropped 26.6 percent.

5.0% PAR(2002) n = 38

7.5% PAR(2003) n = 38

Mean TWPU

$528.97

$582.47

Mean Slot Coin-In

$10,579.40

$7,766.27

In other words, in this sample, a 50 percent increase in the house advantage caused a 26.6 percent drop in wagering volume. And again, the literal translation of a drop in wagering volume is that the gambler bet less.

Lucas and Singh (2011) In a follow-up study, Lucas and Singh (2011) ran a computer simulation of 10,000 virtual slot players (not AI bots capable of perception, mind you) and concluded that virtual gamblers can’t tell the difference in house advantage, either. That whole study is suspect.

Lucas and Spilde (2018a and 2018b) Lucas and Spilde (2018a) ran five sets of two-game pairings at three casinos in three different markets. The pairings consisted of identical-looking games with identical paytables, but with different house advantages achieved by differing hit frequencies. The authors determined that the higher-edge versions of the same games “outperformed” the lower-edge games on the basis of t-win (theoretical win, again a function of coin-in times PAR), and again concluded that “the findings did not support the ability of players to detect even egregious increases in PARs.” Except the players were impacted by the difference in house advantage—slot coin-in (volume) was lower on the higher-edge versions in four out of the five sets of two-game pairings.

p. 24 houseedge:Layout 1 9/19/19 9:13 AM Page 27

Lucas and Spilde (2018b) expanded the study of two-game pairings to three casinos in international markets. They again found that higheredge games “outperformed” their lower-edge counterparts on the basis of t-win, repeating their conclusion that “players could not detect egregious differences in the PARs of otherwise identical games.”

Except again, slot coin-in was lower in the higher-edge games in five out of six cases.

AGEM (2015): The Impact of the Rising House Advantage on Slot Volumes Back in 2015, the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers (AGEM)—a trade association representing suppliers such as IGT, Scientific Games and Everi Holdings—commissioned a study by the research group Applied Analysis to show the impact of the rising slot hold percentage on slot volumes across the industry. The first graph shows the change in slot hold percentages covering 16 states (effectively representing the commercial gaming industry plus two Indian casinos in Connecticut) from 1990 to 2014; in these 16 jurisdictions, the aggregate slot hold percentage increased steadily from a bottom of 5.96 percent in 1996 to a peak of 7.7 percent at the end of the period of study in 2014.

The second graph pits the rise in personal income against the aggregate slot handle (volume). Again, we expect slot volume to rise with personal income, which it does until it doesn’t—instead of rising along with the rise in personal income following the Great Recession, slot volume hit a wall. This is the big-picture view of the industry.

(Source: Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers.)

p. 24 houseedge:Layout 1 9/19/19 9:14 AM Page 28

At this stage, there’s little question about the impact of the rising house advantage on wagering volumes; the rising house advantage certainly isn’t causing people to spend more on gambling.

The Optimal House Advantage I suspect that for any given game, there is an optimal profit-maximizing house advantage, which may vary based on factors such as: 1. Game type 2. Game speed 3. The stakes 4. Skill-level requirements 5. The market 6. The target customer 7. Labor costs For example, higher-denomination slots generally feature higher payback rates and thus lower hold percentages (lower house advantage) than lower-denomination slots of the same type. Blackjack features both fast game speed and a high skill level in order to be played optimally, and thus demands a low house edge; this is in large part why blackjack has historically been the game of choice for non-idiot gamblers.

On the other hand, pai gow poker is among the slowest games and mostly plays itself, and as a time-on-device play gets away with the highest house advantage per unit wagered among casino card games.

Video poker features both lightning-fast game speed and an exceptionally 28

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

high skill requirement to be played optimally; and without the labor requirements of a live table game like blackjack, this enables even lower stakes and an even lower house edge.

Meanwhile, locals who tend to gamble more frequently demand better gambling value, which explains why video poker is far more prominent in locals casinos, and why the lowest-edge (and sometimes 100 percent-plus payback) video machines tend to be found in locals casinos rather than in destination markets such as the Las Vegas Strip.

That said, for any given game, we know that gambling volume can be expected to drop as the house advantage rises. What we can predict is this: When the house advantage is too low, increasing the house advantage will cause wagering volume to drop but gaming spend (revenue) to increase; but when the house advantage is higher than the optimal rate, increasing the house advantage further will impact both wagering volume and gaming spend (revenue).

This, I believe, is the proper context in which to think about the house advantage. And generally speaking, my opinion is that after two decades of constant increases in the house advantage, we are in the part of the curve where the house advantage is already higher than optimal, and where continued increases in the house advantage are destructive.

The State of the Industry What Lucas has attempted to do is to simultaneously acknowledge (or dismiss) the impact of increases in the house advantage on wagering volumes, while arguing that gaming spend will rise with increases in the house advantage, apparently unto perpetuity.

Well, at this stage, there’s little question about the impact of the rising house advantage on wagering volumes; meanwhile, the rising house advantage certainly isn’t causing people to spend more on gambling.

When I first started writing about gaming industry stocks back in

p. 24 houseedge:Layout 1 9/19/19 9:14 AM Page 29

2003, it was a very different time. Back then, the gaming industry was still one of upside and untapped potential. Dockside gaming was still relatively new; most of the riverboat casinos were still dingy and smoky, and the concept of replacing them with barges with 130,000-squarefoot casino floors was still a new thing.

Missouri hadn’t yet repealed its $500-per-two-hour loss limit (actually a buy-in limit), and poker players in St. Louis were still trading $500 chips in the restroom so the fish could put enough money on the table to play PLO (pot-limit Omaha).

You could still drive around Mississippi and find classic 3:2 singledeck blackjack games at all levels of stakes; ditto for Downtown Las Vegas, where Binion’s Horseshoe and the Las Vegas Club had farms of them. And you could still walk down to the Western (if you were brave enough, likely during the day) and play $2 single-deck blackjack.

Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio hadn’t yet legalized casino gaming, and Macau hadn’t yet vaulted past the Las Vegas Strip in the gaming revenue column.

The gaming industry of 2019 is not that industry. The market is mature, and the casino-building game is largely solved. Most every casino offers about exactly the same games, and every new casino that gets built is generically nice—even all the Wynn casinos look about the same.

This is not a growth industry. This is an industry that’s resorted to financial engineering (see REITs) and cost-cutting initiatives (see MGM 2020). This is an industry that has tried to blame millennials for all its problems, some self-inflicted (e.g., the rising house advantage), others unavoidable (e.g., a mature industry).

House of Cards?

I’ve beaten to death the subject of the rising house advantage. We’ve talked multiple times about blackjack’s death spiral, and the impact that 6:5 blackjack, CSMs (continuous shuffling machines), and the outright replacement of blackjack tables with higher-edge games has had on decimating the market for blackjack.

I’ve written many times now about poker’s skill gap problem, and the impact that a game only getting tougher over time (in effect an increasing house advantage) has had on the health of the poker economy.

We can probably predict the impact of triple-zero roulette.

I’ve written many times about the impact of the increasing lack of low-end hotel supply and the generally rising prices of being on the Las Vegas Strip has had on Las Vegas visitor numbers; I’ve also written many times about the analytics-driven nickel-and-diming.

The idea that the gambler can’t perceive the difference in the house advantage—or won’t notice the many methods of nickel-and-diming— is the single most destructive line of reasoning going, at a time the industry desperately needs to start thinking both differently and accurately.

Jeff Hwang is a game developer and president of High Variance Games LLC, and the best-selling author of Pot-Limit Omaha Poker: The Big Play Strategy, the three-volume Advanced PLO series, and The Modern Baseball Card Investor. Follow Hwang on Twitter, @RivalSchoolX.

p. 30 mypoint:Layout 1 9/18/19 2:48 PM Page 30

MAKING MY POINT

A Business Fable The perfect time may never come if you procrastinate

O

nce upon a time . . .

There was a meadow of marshlands and wildflowers that stretched as far as a thousand eyes could see, from the horizon on the east, across and between streams, down and around valleys, up and over mountains, all the way to the horizon on the west.

And right in the middle of everything was a honeysuckle vine.

Trumpet honeysuckle, to be exact. It was teeming with flowers that looked like orange and red party favors blown (hence the name “trumpet”) at the same time by the same breath of air. And inside each of those flowered favors was nectar, the sugar of the gods, and it was dripping down the vine the way butter does when a man eats corn on the cob at a picnic.

Not too far away, a hummingbird perched himself on the branch of a tree. He stared a thousand yards into the meadow, his eyes fixed not on the tulips or the roses or the dandelions or the garlands.

But. On. That. Honeysuckle.

His mouth watered with anticipation of tapping that, of feeling his tongue dart in and out of the flower, of tasting its sweetness. He 30

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

By Roger Snow

flapped his wings and levitated off the branch, like one of those Air Force jets that takes off vertically, and made a beeline past the tree line.

Within a minute he was at the honeysuckle, ready to savor its delights.

But then he stopped.

“Wait,” he said, squinting his eyes to get a closer look. “Some of these flowers have not fully bloomed yet. And the fruiting branches are at least a day away from being their most delicious. No, no, no, this will not do. I must come back tomorrow.”

Morning came and the hummingbird woke with a hunger, a big hunger, in his small belly. The wind was blowing from the meadow and towards the trees, so the waft from that flower filled his tiny nostrils. Once again, he indulged in the fantasy of those sweet juices on his tongue and launched himself into the sky, passing over flora, fauna and furry friends alike. He lowered himself from on high, like an angel would, and hovered directly in front of the honeysuckle.

Then he stopped.

“Hold on,” he said, flitting around to the backside of the vine. “The coloration here is all wrong. The green has twinges of brown in it. If I wait just a bit longer, it will be perfect. No, no, no, this will not do. I must come back tomorrow.”

The hummingbird returned to his tree, cobbled together a makeshift nest of twigs and pine needles, and fell asleep. As the night darkened, he dreamed of nothing but honeysuckle nectar, the smell, the taste, the texture on his tongue. He tossed and turned until the wee hours, hearing the familiar sounds of the meadow and feeling the familiar wisps of breeze through the forest.

This time, however, the breeze was different.

It was stronger.

Harsher.

Colder.

The hummingbird awoke early—before the

sun did—to an altogether different sound and an altogether different feel. He looked down from his nest and saw woodchucks and beavers and chipmunks and snakes and frogs marching out of the meadow and into the shelter of the forest.

He then looked up and saw a reflection in the sky of what he was seeing on the ground: Everyone was evacuating. He saw owls and eagles and robins and bats heading in the same direction.

South.

Ahead of the weather.

Which had turned severe overnight.

As the mass exodus unfolded below and above him, the hummingbird had only one thought: the honeysuckle. He pulled himself out of the nest and leaped from a branch on the tree. He forgot to flap his wings at first, so he yo-yo’d down before yo-yo’ing back up, and then started flying the opposite direction of every other living thing around him.

He could feel the cold hitting his face. The stinging in his eyes was so painful, like shards of glass, that he shut them into slits. He could barely see where he was going.

By sheer will and dumb luck, he found himself back in front of the honeysuckle and peered inside. The flowers had frosted over.

The fruit was stillborn. The vines had cracked from the frost and were now being blanketed by the snowfall. There was nothing left to eat, nothing left to wait for, nothing left to do.

And that’s when the hummingbird realized his foolishness.

Be it with birds or with business, beware the rapidly shutting window of opportunity.

It’s better to have something you want, even if it’s not everything you want, than to procrastinate and wind up empty-handed… or emptybeaked, as the case may be.

Roger Snow is a senior vice president with Scientific Games. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of Scientific Games Corporation or its affiliates.

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21st Century

Gaming IGT uses advances in systems technology to bring casino transactions into the modern world

By Frank Legato

W

ith the annual approach of the Global Gaming Expo, the industry’s focus turns once again to the slot sector. Most of the attention, as usual, will fall on the “new model year” of games and the ever-advancing hardware on which they are presented.

Slot supplier IGT will, as always, show a dizzying array of new games this year, along with new cabinets that accommodate the modern player with elements such as ergonomic seating, 4K graphics and USB charging ports for cellphones. But the leading slot manufacturer is taking the modernization of gaming one step farther.

The vehicle for this modernization is the IGT Advantage casino management system, an electronic ecosystem for the slot floor that was itself conceived to modernize and simplify player rewards. Its predecessor was the Acres Advantage system invented by John Acres, the industry legend credited with pioneering electronic, system-based bonusing to replace the old bounce-back coin coupons that had been ubiquitous in the snail-mail boxes of player’s club members.

IGT inherited Acres’ computerized bonusing when it bought Acres Gaming in 2003, and has consistently improved upon the IGT Advantage system since then. Most recently, the focus has been on bringing the slot play experience into the 21st century, with slot club logins, cash access and funding of slot play all possible the same way millions of consumers—particularly, pretty much anyone born after the mid 1960s—are already accustomed to making purchases, payments and other transactions in the world outside the walls of casinos—via the smartphones that have all but become a human appendage.

For IGT, the solution lies in two additions to the IGT Advantage system, Cardless Connect and Resort Wallet. Cardless Connect allows players to dispense with plastic mag-stripe player club cards, activating

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Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

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carded play with a touch of the smartphone near the card reader. Resort Wallet is a mobile wallet for funding gaming activity, from depositing and withdrawing funds in a casino account to transferring funds to that account from outside sources.

“With Resort Wallet, you as a player are able to use that mobile wallet not only to transfer your funds to a gaming machine,” explains Nick Khin, chief commercial officer, gaming for IGT, “but let’s say you were at the bar.

You’d be able to settle that bill with the funds that you’ve got in your mobile wallet. Resort Wallet also allows you to fund the wallet different ways.

You could go to the cage and fund the wallet, if that’s what you want to do.

And where regulations permit, you would be able to fund the wallet through external sources as well.”

IGT, of course, led the last major revolution in funding slot play, when its EZ Pay ticket system replaced coins on the floor. Cashless, says Khin, is the next step.

“I really believe that it’s not a question of if; it’s a question of when,” Khin says. “And we’ve already seen, in other industries outside of gaming, consumers have embraced this technology, and they’re using this technology.”

IGT has produced a video for its customers that demonstrates the advantages of Cardless Connect and Resort Wallet in a story featuring two potential versions of a player—“Bob Yesterday” and “Bob Today.” Both characters start their day at a coffee place, and both pay with their smartphones. Then, both head to the casino, where Bob Yesterday can’t find his player’s club card and has to stand in line to get a new one, then stand in another line at the ATM, while Bob Today simply goes to his favorite slot machine and starts playing, and moving on with his mobile wallet to a new machine by the time Bob Yesterday even sits down.

Bob Today hits a bonus while Bob Yesterday waits for an attendant to refill the tickets. The “Intelligent Offers” feature of IGT Advantage notifies Bob Today via his phone that he has free play on the Fortune Link bank of games, while Bob Yesterday just walks by the games. Bob Yesterday digs in his wallet to pay the bar tab; Bob Today pays at the bar with Resort Wallet and goes to use his free play.

The video goes on to demonstrate other perks available through the mobile phone. Both “Bobs” have an offer from the steakhouse. Bob Today gets a ping on his cellphone telling him of the offer, and goes to eat around the time Bob Yesterday walks right by the restaurant and leaves to go home.

“In the video, before he went to the casino, Bob went to his favorite coffee shop and paid for his coffee using his mobile phone,” says Khin.

“We are seeing this more and more. When you take an Uber, when you take a Lyft, you’re not dealing with cash anymore. You’re paying for those services via your mobile device. So, consumers are becoming very, very familiar with using this technology, and it’s just a matter of time before they expect to be able to use this technology in a casino.”

Khin says IGT executives realize there won’t be any wholesale replacement of cash in casinos—at least not like it happened with coins and EZ Pay. “We here at IGT are very realistic,” he says. “It is going to take some

“It is going to take some time to get player adoption.

But we have designed this solution and this technology so players have a choice.”

—Nick Khin, Chief Commercial Officer, Gaming, IGT

time to get player adoption. But we have designed this solution and this technology so players have a choice. For example, if you want to card into a machine with your plastic card, you can. But if you are interested in and comfortable with using the technology and carding in with your mobile phone, you can do that too.

“When you go to cash out, if you are more comfortable with a ticket, you can get a ticket. But if you are comfortable with transferring the funds from the machine into your mobile wallet, you have that option. It’s about giving players the option, not forcing them to adopt it.”

Bonusing, Service and M5 In addition to giving the players the option to use their smartphones for any manner of transaction, the IGT Advantage system streamlines customer service for the operator. The inherent bonusing in the system, as well as player rewards, comp offers and other communications, are streamed to the players’ phones, and offers can be customized in real time, thanks to a content management tool known as M5.

The name is derived from the system’s use of HTML5 programming language. What it means for casinos is the ability to update and renew marketing campaigns directly, instead of older Flash technology provided by a third party.

“M5 allows casino operators to customize their marketing campaigns, and the information that they want to display to players,” Khin explains.

“They can push the content down to the service window or player display unit.”

Marketing offers can be relayed to loyal players through Intelligent Bonusing, a suite of bonuses that are customized according to key player information already housed in the Advantage CMS. “It allows the casino operator to create bonuses based on key information the casino already has and tracks in their system,” says Khin.

“The information could be around the demographics of the player, it could be around where the player lives, in terms of ZIP code, the player’s preferences for games, the play level. You’re able to slice and dice all the information that sits in the system, to create bonuses that are going to be relevant for a particular player.”

“The key to the Intelligent Bonusing is that it’s real time,” adds Rachelle Rabago, IGT’s director of global product management. “It’s delivered to that player in real time, which is something that earlier versions of the bonusing OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com

33

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“The key to the Intelligent Bonusing is that it’s real time. Now, as a player cards in, as a player walks by, as a player increments their point values, they’re delivered that specialty bonus right then and there.”

21st Century Tools

—Rachelle Rabago, Director of Global Product Management, IGT

system were not known for, because of the technology that was available during that time.

“Now, as a player cards in, as a player walks by, as a player increments their point values, they’re delivered that specialty bonus right then and there. In the past, a player had to card out and then card back in to be able to get delivered a specific bonus—and it was a basic horse game, or it was a basic car game. Now, the delivery can be specified to the player who is carded in.”

Khin says customers are only beginning to discover the possibilities inherent in the Advantage ecosystem. “Operator adoption is still in its infancy right now, in all honesty,” he says. “We would like more of our customers to adopt these tools, so we’re in the process of making sure that our customer base is fully aware of the availability of these applications and features, and how to use them—and how they can derive value out of them.”

These customized bonuses are accompanied by a complete menu of services available to players without leaving their game, including a Beverage On Demand application that allows the player to order a drink, and links to outside services to make a restaurant reservation, get a room at the hotel or other services, right at the slot machine.

The restaurant app connects to the OpenTable online reservation service. “So, if you’re at your favorite casino and you want to make a reservation at one of its restaurants, you don’t have to get your mobile out of your pocket, or call them or go into an app,” Khin says. “You can do it right there on the gaming machine. I think the one thing it shows is how powerful Advantage is in terms of being able to connect to a lot of these third-party applications.”

According to Rabago, so far, over 50 customers worldwide have adopted the M5 product, including around 30 in the U.S. Station Casinos has adopted the Cardless Connect and M5 products enterprise-wide in 19 properties. The new Encore Boston utilizes M5 as well.

Khin is confident that these are only the beginning of what he calls “revolutionizing the player experience.”

34

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

New tools in the IGT Advantage casino management system are designed to bring player’s clubs, access to funds and player rewards up to date with the technology familiar to millions outside the casino: • Cardless Connect

Players can download an app that allows them to enact carded slot play with a tap of the smartphone, as an option to plastic player’s club cards.

• Resort Wallet

Players can use a mobile wallet for funding gaming activity, from depositing and withdrawing funds in a casino account to transferring funds to that account from outside sources, allowing game play as well as payment at bars, restaurants, spas and other onproperty retail outlets via the smartphone.

• Intelligent Bonusing

Operators can tailor bonuses and rewards to the needs and preferences of each specific player, based on player data already in the Advantage system.

• M5

M5 allows casino marketers to update and customize bonuses and player rewards, and communicate them to the player in real time.

Beaconing technology can trigger rewards at venues as the player passes them by.

• Real-Time Services

Players can order a drink, make restaurant reservations or access other services without leaving the slot machine. Links to external services such as OpenTable allow for reservations to be made directly using the slot machine’s service window.

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Sports Betting OVERSIGHT The developing state and tribal regulatory approaches to sports wagering

By David Waddell, Robert Russell and J.J. Burchman

T

he question of how to best regulate and oversee sports wagering is a key topic that state and tribal gaming regulators are dealing with as sports wagering becomes more prevalent across the United States.

In 2018, the United States Supreme Court found that the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) was unconstitutional. Since then, numerous states have taken legislative action to authorize the activity on an intrastate basis. Over the years, as casino gaming proliferated in the U.S., new jurisdictions generally had many different regulatory models to look at in developing their approaches.

With sports wagering, however, most of the new states are looking to Nevada for guidance, as it’s the only domestic jurisdiction with experience in the area.

As states offer sports wagering, there are numerous common regulatory policy issues that need to be addressed, either through legislation or by the adoption of regulations, including: 1. How regulators will approach integrity issues 2. Who will operate sportsbooks 3. Licensing of service providers 4. Whether mobile or online wagering will be offered and if so, whether accounts will be allowed to be set up online 5. Whether cash reserve requirements will be put in place 6. Whether collegiate sports wagers will be permitted, and if so, whether local colleges will be excluded

Most jurisdictions that have allowed sports wagering have established minimum internal control standards for operators to follow and have re-

36

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

quired publication by the operators of detailed house rules. This article will describe the approach of jurisdictions that currently have permitted sports wagering regarding these topics, focusing on overall concepts and licensing requirements applicable both to sportsbook operators and service providers.

Integrity Uniformly, gaming regulators require operators to monitor and report any suspicious activities, and to provide notice to the regulators in the event any action is to be taken. It’s also common to require that any suspicious information is forwarded to all other sports wagering operators. This is not illogical, as the operators have the most access to unusual betting activity, as well as a vested interest in ensuring that games are not unduly influenced.

Coalitions such as the Sports Wagering Integrity Monitoring Association (SWIMA) have moved to the forefront, providing operators with a collaborative entity among operators intended to identify and notify sportsbooks of illegal or suspicious betting activities before the games are played, thereby allowing operators to remove certain games or wagers from being bet upon. SWIMA has emerged as the industry leader. Its members include the majority of the major sports betting operators in the industry, and members fully fund its operations.

SWIMA is modeled after the ESSA (Sports Betting Integrity), a European sports integrity monitoring association that has successfully operated in betting markets across Europe for many years. SWIMA members must pledge to report any unusual betting activity into the proprietary platform. It then must send out an alert that a member has reported suspicious activity, with members also pledging to respond to the alert within two hours, notifying SWIMA if the operator offers that event and if it, too, experienced unusual activity.

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States have differed in their regulations relating to setting up accounts for mobile or online wagering.

One approach is to require customers to physically visit casinos to prove their identity and age before being allowed to place mobile wagers.

SWIMA then determines whether regulators should be notified. If so, it contacts all sports wagering regulators in the U.S., informing them of the unusual activity so they can decide what action, if any, to take.

George Rover, chief integrity officer for SWIMA, notes, “I do think that regulators welcome having SWIMA screen out what is worth hearing about and are comfortable with SWIMA sorting it out.”

Who Will Operate the Sportsbook?

A key question any state needs to resolve is who will operate the sportsbook. Some states have existing casinos offering such wagers (retail and sometimes mobile). Some run sports wagering through state lotteries (retail and sometimes mobile). Others have authorized both existing casinos and other providers to offer sports wagering.

Many jurisdictions with online wagering have allowed operators to have multiple “skins” that allow the operator to utilize different brands in making the offerings to customers, and many operators work with service providers to manage the sportsbook through such skins. Yet others rely on service providers to provide key data and operational advice while keeping the operational management in-house.

Licensing of Service Providers Potential service providers to the casino industry may be somewhat surprised by the differences between jurisdictions when it comes to licensing matters. As those with experience in supplying the casino gaming industry in North America can attest, although there are some common focuses of gaming regulatory bodies when it comes to licensing, each jurisdiction tends to take its own specific approach.

Brian Ohorilko, administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, notes, “Licensing is somewhat complicated, and it really depends on the specific relationship between the company and the casino property.”

Service providers may also be surprised to discover that some jurisdictions may require a greater level of information disclosure and may also require individual employee licensure. Such providers will want to develop a plan to meet the unique regulatory requirements in an organized and efficient matter that will allow them to get to market quickly.

Jurisdictional Rules or Regulations Many of the states that have legalized sports wagering have chosen the model of Nevada’s experienced regulatory system. Nevada has a separate and distinct chapter in its rules governing sports wagering. Some of the states that have authorized sports wagering have either copied completely or copied in substance the Nevada regulations governing sports wagers

(e.g., Arkansas and Mississippi).

Other states have chosen to adopt their own unique regulations. Examples include New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and states such as Delaware and Rhode Island that run and/or regulate sports wagering through their lottery agencies.

Mobile Wagering For the purposes of this article, mobile wagering is considered wagering anywhere within a state, as opposed to wagering that may be permitted only on casino premises. As of September 13, there’s an even mix of states that accept mobile wagering versus requiring patrons to physically visit casinos to place sports wagers. Indiana, Iowa, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and West Virginia all permit (or will permit) mobile sports wagering. Arkansas, Delaware, Mississippi, New York and Washington, D.C. do not currently have live mobile sports wagering.

In all states permitting mobile wagering, geofencing technology is required to verify that customers are located within the boundaries of each state when placing their wagers. In most states, geofencing service providers will need to submit to licensing.

Lindsay Sladen, vice president of regulatory affairs for GeoComply, the leading geofencing provider in the U.S. iGaming market, notes, “You need to have a very robust, technology-driven solution for geofencing, utilizing technology that has been rigorously tested and vetted, by a government or third-party testing laboratory.”

New Jersey stands poised to be the biggest player in the mobile wagering marketplace, due in part to the limited number of competing states, but perhaps more so due to the fact that New Jersey’s population is among the largest of those states that have authorized sports wagering—and is also located conveniently located near both New York and Pennsylvania.

In fact, New Jersey’s monthly handle for both May and July of this year exceeded Nevada’s, despite New Jersey’s sports wagering industry only being a little more than one year old. New Jersey also has a large proportion of its wagers placed via mobile betting, with roughly 80 percent of wagers being online for year-to-date through July 2019.

Account Setup States have differed in their regulations relating to setting up accounts for mobile or online wagering. One approach is to require customers to physically visit casinos to prove their identity and age before being allowed to place mobile wagers. States that have such requirements include Iowa. In contrast, Indiana, New Jersey, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and West Virginia do not require customers to set up accounts in person.

OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com

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Most jurisdictions prohibit participants in athletic events from placing wagers. In most instances, operators are prohibited from accepting wagers from players or coaches that they know or reasonably should know are participants.

Cash Reserves Different states have established a wide variety of minimum reserve requirements. In Indiana, operators must have a minimum $500,000 reserve. Both New Jersey and West Virginia also require a $500,000 reserve, or the amount necessary to cover the outstanding sports pool and online sports pool liability, whichever is greater.

In Arkansas, Nevada and Washington, D.C., operators have a complicated reserve formula, requiring operators to have a minimum reserve no less than the greater of $25,000 or the sum of all amounts held for patron accounts, amounts accepted as wagers on contingencies whose outcomes have not been determined, and amounts owed but unpaid on winning wagers. Mississippi has the same requirements, except it set the fixed amount at $50,000 instead of $25,000.

Iowa and New York require a reserve in the amount necessary to cover the outstanding sports wagering liability. In contrast, neither Delaware, Pennsylvania nor Rhode Island has promulgated a required minimum reserve amount.

Collegiate Sports and Home Teams One interesting aspect of the varying regulations relates to bets on collegiate sports within the respective states.

Many states have chosen to prohibit wagers on “hometown” college sports teams or to impose additional restrictions on wagers on those teams. For example, in Arkansas, a customer must physically place a wager on Arkansas collegiate teams at the casino; mobile wagers on Arkansas collegiate teams are forbidden.

In Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C., customers cannot wager at all on any college sports involving the home state (or district), collegiate teams or on collegiate games taking place in their respective states (or district). New Jersey has a similar prohibition, although it is waived in instances of multi-state collegiate tournaments as long as at least one site is outside the state of New Jersey.

By contrast, states such as Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Nevada, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have no restrictions on collegiate wagering.

They do recognize certain issues inherent in college sports, however.

Alan Godfrey, executive director of the Mississippi Gaming Commission, notes, “We have met with the athletic directors and institutes of higher learner and have listened to their concerns. We have accommodated them as best we could. One of the things they were concerned about were prop bets that individual players could affect. Accordingly, I wrote a letter to the casinos prohibiting them from offering prop bets.”

In addition, most jurisdictions prohibit participants in athletic 38

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

events from placing wagers. In most instances, operators are prohibited from accepting wagers from players or coaches that they know or reasonably should know are participants. The operators are required to take reasonable steps to prevent the circumvention of the requirement. New Jersey goes further, requiring the registration of any employees of sports governing bodies or its member teams prior to allowing such employee to place any sports wagers.

Minimum Internal Controls For internal controls, states have taken four different approaches: 1. Imposing detailed specific requirements for minimum internal controls (“MICS”) that must be approved 2. Requiring operators to develop and submit internal controls for approval but only provide broad categories of issues that must be addressed 3. Requiring operators to develop and submit internal controls for approval without requiring any specific categories to be addressed 4. Not requiring any specific sports wagering internal controls

Nevada has promulgated specific MICS relating to racing and sports wagering. The MICS are very detailed in their requirements, and outline required compliance for virtually all aspects of a sports wagering operation, with the MICS rules running nearly 20 pages. States across the U.S. have either adopted the Nevada approach directly or a hybrid of the approach, all with the goal of ensuring integrity.

House Rules The predominant practice has been to allow each operator to develop its own house rules. The regulations governing house rules typically require that they address the amounts to be paid on winning wagers, the effect of schedule changes, the redemption period for winning tickets and the method of noticing odds or line changes to patrons, and state that wagers may be accepted at other than the currently posted terms if that applies.

Typically, the house rules must be submitted to the regulator for approval before adoption or amendment.

New Jersey’s rules add requirements that the rules contain the method of contacting the operator for questions and complaints, a description of prohibited sports pool participants, a statement regarding the policy for limiting the maximum amount that a patron can win on any particular

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Mobile

Arkansas

Account Set-up

In-person

Delaware

Cash Reserve

College Sports RestricLicensing tions

$25,000

https://www.dfa.arkansas.gov/racing-commission

In-person

None

Indiana

✓

Online

$500,000

https://www.in.gov/igc/

Iowa

✓

In-person

Cover Wagers

https://irgc.iowa.gov/

In-person

$50,000

http://www.msgamingcommission.com/

Mississippi

✓

https://www.delottery.com/Sports-Lottery

Nevada

✓

Online

$25,000

New Jersey

✓

Online

$500,000

✓

https://www.nj.gov/oag/ge/index.html

New York

In-person

Cover Wagers

✓

https://www.gaming.ny.gov/

Pennsylvania ✓

Online

None

Rhode Island

In-person

None

West Virginia ✓

Online

$500,000

https://gaming.nv.gov/

https://gamingcontrolboard.pa.gov/ ✓

http://www.dbr.ri.gov/divisions/gaming/ https://wvlottery.com/forms/

wager, and the method of funding a sports wager.

As both Delaware and Rhode Island run their sports wagering through the lottery, the house rules regulation takes a different approach. Instead of granting authority to its operators to create house rules, the lottery has promulgated house rules that each casino must post and follow.

The absence of specific requirements in regulations doesn’t mean regulators take a passive role in reviewing and denying any inappropriate house rules, however. Some states, such as Iowa, have chosen to streamline the process, to get sports wagering up and running quickly. Ohorilko, administrator of the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission, notes, “In order to launch fairly quickly, some things were ‘tabled’ to be addressed alter. Specifically, many wager offerings were not permitted upon launch and will be reviewed when everything settles.”

State regulators take compliance seriously. In Mississippi, for example, the gaming commission recently issued a disciplinary complaint and fine against a vendor who permitted wagering on a type of event that had not been approved by the commissioners.

“It requires the operators to think about how they are going to meet the control objective, which is different from saying this is what they say they want, so we’re going to write it into our regs—now they’re having to think about how we meet this obligation or standard,” she says.

Sports wagering is a new activity throughout much of the country. The state of Nevada offers an ideal model for jurisdictions to follow to assure a comprehensive regulatory approach to the activity, with New Jersey being a good model for mobile wagering. One area where there are likely to be significant jurisdictional differences will be in the area of the licensing of service providers to the operators. Service providers and operators looking to start offering sportsbooks in new jurisdictions should seek to become aware of the licensing and regulatory framework and structure that is likely to be applied to their business.

In places where sports wagering has been newly authorized, there is typically heavy pressure to allow wagering as quickly as possible. Service providers that are prepared to quickly go through the individual state’s licensing and/or registration process will definitely have a leg up on the competition.

Tribal Sports Wagering Considerations

David Waddell is an attorney and president of RMC Legal. Waddell’s areas of practice include gaming law, Title 31 compliance, business, tax and municipal law. He also sits on the editorial board for Global Gaming Business and has been listed in Best Lawyers in America for gaming. Reach him at 517-507-3859, waddell@rmclegal.com, or at rmclegal.com.

Like commercial casinos, tribal casinos are also moving forward with sports wagering plans. The first consideration in tribal casinos offering sports wagering are the terms of existing tribal-state compacts and whether amendments are necessary to permit the tribal casino to offer sports wagering.

From the federal level, as sports wagering is a Class III game, NIGC oversight is limited, but approval may be necessary for potential management agreements with third-party vendors.

Depending on the terms of a compact, the local regulator may be the state gaming commission, a tribal gaming commission or both. In either case, education of the regulator regarding internal controls relating to gaming and sports wagering may be necessary. RSM US, LLP is an independent audit, tax and consulting firm that has worked with multiple tribal councils and gaming commissions on developing internal controls relating to gaming and sports wagering. Theresa Merlino, office managing partner and consulting principal of the Las Vegas office of RSM US, notes that changing technology and customer demands require a different operator approach to internal controls.

40

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

Robert Russell is a governmental and business consultant whose practice primarily focuses on the casino gaming industry. Russell’s expertise includes casino supplier licensing, licensing transfers, non-compliance appeals, internet trademark licensing agreements, issue management, association management, legislative monitoring, and lobbying. Reach him at 517-507-3858, russell@rmclegal.com, or online at rmclegal.com.

J.J. Burchman is an attorney with RMC Legal. Burchman’s areas of practice include gaming law, licensing, compliance, regulatory and legal needs affecting the gaming industry at large, as well as trademark law. Reach him at 517-999-5414, burchman@rmclegal.com, or online at rmclegal.com.

Gabrielle Davis, J.D. Candidate 2020, Michigan State University College of Law, contributed to this article.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 Our annual spotlight of the slot sector

By Frank Legato

L

ike everything else in the casino industry, the slot sector is changing. Slot manufacturers are branching out to serve rapidly growing sectors of the industry in sports betting and online gaming. Systems and software are being adapted to allow wagering on these activities on mobile phones and, increasingly, right at the slot machine.

The slot machines themselves are changing as well. In this, the 18th edition of Global Games—our annual sneak-peek at the slot games coming to the industry in the coming year—you will see these trends amplified.

Some of the trends amid a sea of innovation pouring from the slot suppliers of the world have to do with technology—the technology that allows those games to offer experiences not possible in the past. Most prominent, perhaps, is the proliferation of 4D Ultra High Definition video technology.

This year’s video slots feature 4D UHD monitors of all shapes and sizes. The portrait-style monitor is becoming ubiquitous—those suppliers that hadn’t offered them previously continue to introduce new cabinets and new ways to position those typically vertical monitors—including positioning them horizontally in what’s become known as the “landscape” monitor.

The flat-screen 4K monitors are becoming larger—everyone has a giant cabinet these days—and the curved monitors are becoming curvier, from “J” shapes to “S” shapes to... well, the details are on the following pages.

Other trends in this “new model year” of slot machines relate to the game-play styles of the machines. Perhaps the largest is the

so-called “persistent state” game. Another new piece of jargon in the slot-machine lexicon, persistent-play or persistent-state games feature a chase by the player for credits, multipliers, progressives or other rewards within a finite time. The player sees his or her own progress toward a goal, and just has to stay at the game at least until it plays itself out.

Perhaps the most popular of these is the hold-and-spin, sometimes called lock-and-spin. A wild symbol or paying symbol will land and stay in place for a number of consecutive spins, or until a particular goal is reached.

It’s a hot new game-play mechanic, and it’s still spreading.

The other guarantee as one peruses the product libraries of the top slotmakers is the progressive. Or more specifically, the multiple progressive.

Good luck finding a slot supplier that doesn’t have a complete and growing lineup of all types of progressives—those 4K top boxes typically hosting four meters, the bottom ones often fixed awards but the top ones stand-alone, near-area or wide-area progressives.

High-denomination games, new ways to present the classic mechanicalreel format, and the future of the slot floor in terms of cardless, cashless and mobile play are all on tap for this year’s Global Gaming Expo. Use this annual feature as your guide to the very best the slot supply sector is rolling out for 2020 and beyond.

All articles written by Frank Legato unless otherwise indicated.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

AGS All Formats, On All Cylinders AGS arrives at G2E with an unprecedented diversity of product, thanks to rapid expansion of its R&D studio system

W

hen one considers the rapid rise of gaming supplier AGS, 2019 is shaping up to be a pivotal year. In January, the company opened its second game development studio in Sydney, Australia. In February, the company increased its footprint in Oklahoma by around 2,500 games with the acquisition of Oklahoma route operator Integrity Gaming Corp.

March saw the first AGS real-money online gaming title, Golden Wins, go live. In July, the company opened a new R&D studio in Reno. In August came the launch of the new Orion Upright cabinet.

But for the growth of the AGS product library— and subsequently, the largest-ever G2E display for the company—arguably the biggest development was the expansion of the company’s game development to five studios. The increased R&D capacity has added diversity to the AGS product lineup it has never had before.

AGS will feature 70 games and more than 30 unique game titles for Class II and Class III markets at G2E, and, including the new Orion Upright, will display three new cabinets.

“This year will be our biggest show, with the largest amount of titles and products we’ve ever shown,” says Mark DeDeaux, AGS senior director of slot products. “Our roadmap looks better than ever.

As you know, we’ve added a lot more studios, so we’re going to see a lot more product diversity.

“We’re excited about not just the expansion, but about the new look and feel to some of the games, while staying in line with our focus and discipline around math.”

“This is not an exaggeration—I honestly think this is our most exciting G2E since I’ve been at the company, in terms of number of new products we’re going to be showing,” says Andrew Burke, senior vice president of slot products. “For us to show three brand-new products at the show is really something I’ve always dreamed of, from seeing our humble beginnings to how far we’ve come today. And it’s the evolution of a lot of our investments over the last three or four years. We’re really seeing the fruits of all that labor.”

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Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

Filling the Forms The starting point for the new content pouring out of the expanded AGS studio system is the hardware. The company will show exclusive games for the new Orion Upright, the second dual-screen cabinet in the Orion series. First previewed at G2E 2018, the cabinet features dual 27-inch HD displays, an ergonomic LCD button deck, dual high-bright spin buttons, an integrated charging port, and the signature AGS starwall lighting display.

The two new G2E hardware launches for the Orion family are the larger-format Orion Rise and the first curved-monitor portrait game in the family, the Orion 49C. The Orion Rise is what AGS calls a “ceiling-grazer,” an 8-foot-high

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“This year will be our biggest show, with the largest amount of titles and products we’ve ever shown.

Our roadmap looks better than ever.”

—Mark DeDeaux, Senior Director of Slot Products, AGS

dual-screen cabinet featuring a dramatic 55-inch 4K Ultra HD LCD portrait monitor over a main lower 24-inch HD LCD touchscreen monitor for game play. It features an ergonomic 10.1inch multi-touch button deck, engineered with Gorilla Glass for superior damage resistance and durability.

The Orion Rise has all the standard Orion attractions, like the signature U-shaped starwall design, which surrounds the reel arrays with 420 gamecontrolled LED lights that change color based on game events, music and sounds.

But between the slots in banks of this game are signage panels that give a unique look with 8-foot-high HD LED “totem-style” displays. The unique part is that events in the games themselves trigger synchronized lighting and

motion graphics on the totems between the games, with game-specific attract features.

“These are LED panels that have game-specific content, to add another layer of display,” says DeDeaux. “We think the Orion Rise is really going to be attention-grabbing, and the totems having that extra height and extra brightness for the game animations will attract players.”

The Orion 49C, AGS’ first curved platform, features a 49-inch 4K Ultra HD curved LCD display, digital topper, and premium LCD multitouch button deck integrated with low-profile dual-play bash-buttons surrounded by Halo lighting.

“This is the most new hardware we’ve featured at a gaming show,” DeDeaux says. “Early numbers and performance on the Upright are great.

We initially launched the Orion family with the Orion Portrait, which was great because a lot of the market is heavy in that single-screen, vertical kind of discipline. Then, we launched the Orion Slant, which is typically a little more niche-like in where it goes on the floor. We have some great success stories with that product.

“Now, we have the dual-screen Upright, and we will launch our 49C and the Rise. We now have a more full, complete product offering. At AGS, we’ve had good success with a narrow product offering. Now, we’re going to expand that product offering to become a complete, full supplier.

We’re hitting all the different areas of the product market, and all product segments.”

In addition to the new cabinets, AGS will use G2E to launch one more ancillary product that company officials say will change the way casinos look.

“It’s a new merchandising package that we’ve targeted for the premium product space, and it is a game-changer,” DeDeaux says. “It is truly innovative in how we packaged it with our games, and in its design.”

OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 “One of the products we’re going to show is literally going to be show-stopping. It is going to be stunning.”

—Andrew Burke, Senior Vice President of Slot Products, AGS

Games for All With a complete lineup of cabinet styles, AGS has used its expanded R&D studio teams to tailor games to each form factor. The 30 unique new game titles the company will have at G2E will include exclusive launch titles for each new cabinet, as well as a wealth of new titles for the original Orion Portrait and Orion Slant.

Shannon Leyden, AGS junior product manager, says the new titles reflect the benefits of the expanded R&D network. “We’ve been really focused on research and development,” Leyden says. “Over the past couple of years, we’ve grown our R&D headcount by 51 percent, and have expanded our total number of studios from two to five. This is an investment that will be clearly visible as you walk through our booth at G2E this year.”

“Our robust roadmap has over 100 games that we’re planning to launch into early next year,” says DeDeaux.

DeDeaux adds that games from each studio have their own character.

“Our Atlanta studio games have a certain look, and they do very well,” he says.

“As we expand to new studios, you’re going to see different graphics, different animation, different math, and a lot of different game mechanics. I think we’re going to get some really exciting stuff out of the combination of this diversity added by the new studios.”

Inaugural games for the new Orion Rise to be shown at G2E include Wheel Surge and Dragon’s Jackpots. Wheel Surge is a compelling video slot with a wheel bonus and five-level progressive in stunning graphics that fill up the oversized top monitor. The wheels are displayed as horizontal stacks, with spots on the wheels yielding credit awards or one of the progressives.

Dragon’s Jackpots applies an Asian theme to a ladder-style bonus displayed on the top monitor, and Blazing Wheels uses dual wheels in a traditional wheel-spin configuration.

“These are games that focus on working your way to better wins, and really using that 55-inch top monitor to its full potential,” says Leyden. “For these first-run titles we felt it was important to create a compelling and entertaining experience for the player, truly exploiting the cabinet’s form factor. In the future development of the Rise we’re focused on bringing on additional features and functionality that will keep players coming back for more.”

The Orion 49C, the first AGS offering in the curved portrait monitor segment, will offer titles for lease and for sale, with some cabinet-exclusive titles.

“It offers 4K resolution, and will feature 3D animated characters, 3D animated symbols, and fresh new game mechanics,” says DeDeaux. “The portrait 46

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

cabinets are all the rage, and our launch themes on the Orion Portrait are still doing extremely well, with great numbers across the country. We feel confident that the 49C is going to follow in its footsteps.”

One of the highlighted games on the 49C is Royal Phoenix, which fills the curved monitor with beautiful artwork depicting a rising phoenix behind the reel set. “This one is just beautiful,” says Leyden. “Everything is in 3D animation; it’s just eye-catching. It offers a well-rounded gaming experience using not just the software, but the hardware as an integral part as well.”

The games launching on the new formats will be accompanied by a wealth of new content for the Orion Portrait and Orion Slant. One highlighted game series from the new Australian studio is Lucky Stacks, a series of games built around a four-level progressive that will be available on both the Orion Upright and Slant, as well as AGS’ legacy ICON cabinet.

The games in the series feature a unique mechanic involving stacked symbols with golden backgrounds—the progressives are won by stacking entire reels of the golden symbols. On spins where no stacked gold reels

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

land, a special symbol randomly “nudges” a gold to fill the entire reel. A special “Lucky Stack” symbol causes all golden symbols on the screen to stack.

One unique aspect of this game is that all progressive jackpots scale with the bet, “to make all progressive jackpots, even the mini, meaningful,” says Leyden.

Another new game family featured on both the Orion Upright and Orion Slant is Money Charge Jackpots, in which the progressives are won through a hold-and-spin free games feature.

The hold-and-spin feature also appears on Hearts & Horns, a new game on the Orion Portrait that brings together the hold-and-spin feature and a progressive bonus event. On this progressive, the bottom three jackpots scale with the bet, and are awarded through a unique take on the hold-and-spin mechanic.

DeDeaux says AGS now has a complete offering in portrait-style games.

“Our portraits have done so well,” he says. “There’s a lot of value in what

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Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

we’ve invested in evolving the portrait. We want to keep that brand consistency.”

DeDeaux says the totem lighting included in the bank package on the new Orion Rise will evolve slot-bank presentation. “Something like this can accent areas within a casino floor, because it’s fully animated,” he says. “The technology is evolving for us to be able to have everything that’s displayed on the sign actually interact with the game.

“What we can do from an interactive standpoint in animation and graphics is just very unique in our industry. We see these taking an area of a casino floor and adding a lot more energy around it.”

Burke says all the new games have a variety of inventive new game mechanics. “We’re really starting to see this variety of products come to life. G2E’s going to be a great place to see that—it’s not just one flavor of AGS game; there are five flavors of AGS games, and five flavors of mechanics. That’s the most exciting thing to me.”

Burke says AGS is always looking to expand the portfolio with new game styles, such as working high-denomination offerings into the mix.

“In the past we’ve looked at it; we’re looking for ways to use our current portfolio to address needs in that market,” he says. “I think there’s more need for a high-denom product than there ever has been.

“We started as a very niche company with a narrow focus, and every year we expand that focus a little bit broader. So, that allows us to start thinking of different categories we’ve never been in and say, ‘Hey, is there something we’re good at?’ Because you’ve got to be good at whatever you go after.”

Burke says this year’s G2E will define the company as a more complete supplier, and will carry some surprises. “One of the products we’re going to show is literally going to be show-stopping,” he says. “It is going to be stunning.”

DeDeaux says G2E 2019 launches AGS into its next stage of growth, thanks to the work of the expanded R&D team. “Now you can see how we’ve really filled out our product portfolio,” he says. “You’ll see the Rise, which we are targeting for launch at the end of this quarter. And the 49C, which is another portrait-style game with a curved monitor.

“The big story here, and what we’ve communicated to our customers, is that we are really evolving into a full-service, full-suite product supplier.

And we can really hit all segments of the market—for-sale, premium—and we have this new, innovative design that is uniquely AGS. We’ve filled out this product portfolio, we’ve built up studios that will be available to support all these new hardware configurations, and we’ve really developed the discipline to help manage the R&D part of the business, so we can continue to create great games.”

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

AINSWORTH GAME TECHNOLOGY Evolving the Wheel Ainsworth takes more spins based on the success of the QuickSpin brand and its high-denomination hits

T

he success of the popular QuickSpin game brand stems from Australian slot manufacturer Ainsworth Game Technology’s creation of a combined R&D force in 2016.

That year, the company’s original Sydney game design studio was augmented by the addition of two studios in the U.S.—one opened with the new U.S. headquarters in Las Vegas, and a Class II studio in South Carolina, inherited with the acquisition of Nova Technologies.

Ainsworth has put out several QuickSpin titles since then—the company’s biggest hits playing on high-hit-frequency wheel play mechanics. According to Mike Trask, director of marketing and product management for Ainsworth, QuickSpin has been the company’s most successful brand in 2018.

“Every single QuickSpin game available in the library is a for-sale product that casino operators can own outright,” notes Trask. “So when you look at numbers on for-sale games that are one-and-a-half, two times house average, those are home runs. This is core content that a casino operator can purchase, place on their floor, and we’re showing that 18 months down the line it’s still going to be doing well for them.”

The QuickSpin series started in late 2017 with the release of Super Hot 7s and Super Charged 7s. Today, Ainsworth has sev50

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

eral different games in the QuickSpin family on casino floors, including the follow-up titles Super Lantern 8s and Super Crystal 7s.

In August, the company launched MultiPlay Super Charged 7s, a QuickSpin version enabling casino visitors to play up to four reel sets.

And in September, Ainsworth launched Super Sonic 7s, the first QuickSpin game available on the dual-screen EVO, A600 and Slant Top cabinets. Both will be highlighted at the company’s Global Gaming Expo booth.

Each QuickSpin title—whether on single or dual screen—offers familiar game play with a focus on frequent wheel bonuses (about one in every 60 spins on the majority of titles) and an entertainment-based, low-volatility base game.

“With Super Charged 7s, the original game, we really focused on the hit rate of the wheel, how frequently that happens,” explains Cody Herrick, director of game design. “It’s low volatility, so there are a lot of mixed pays that happen during the base game. But we kept a lot of the wins in that wheel, so when the player does get the wheel it’s very lucrative for them.”

At this year’s Global Gaming Expo, Ainsworth will showcase at least 10 different QuickSpin brand games in Class III, plus two exclusive Class II versions.

Eilers & Krejcik performance surveys reveal that every one of them is currently earning above house average wherever it is placed. The QuickSpin brand was nominated for Best Video Slot of 2018 in the Eilers Awards, a first for Ainsworth. “It really put us on the map in that 1-cent market, and it continues to grow for us,” says Trask.

“When you look at the reason these are successful, our belief is that it’s the volatility level.

Compared to a lot of products, it’s a much

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“The player is still getting the frequent wheel spins, now almost four times as often, and the wheels are going to pay more than the original as well.We’re really excited about getting this out.”

—Cody Herrick, Director of Game Design, Ainsworth

more entertainment-based, low-volatility game. And everybody loves a wheel. That was actually our tagline for the first iteration of QuickSpin. Everybody loves a wheel, and it holds true. Each wheel game continues to perform very well.”

According to the Eilers & Krejcik reports, Super Charged 7s, the first QuickSpin game, is earning 1.42 times house average in the field, 18 months after its introduction. Even the clones of that game, Super Crystal 7s and Super Lantern 8s, are turning in similar numbers in pennies after half a year in the field. The mid-denomination versions—5 cents and 10 cents—are doing even better. “The nickel game has been awesome for us,” Trask says.

At G2E, Ainsworth will double down on all that success with compelling new games for the series. Multiplay Super Charged 7s, released recently on the A640 portrait cabinet, puts the original game in a four-play format—the exact math and game mechanics, on up to four reel sets simultaneously. (The player can play two or four sets.)

According to Trask, the new game has been performing at nearly two times house average across a dozen games on test banks at California and Oklahoma casinos.

“With Multiplay Super Charged 7s, you can trigger multiple free games on the different reel sets, so instead of getting your eight games on one screen, you’re able to trigger that four times across the reels,” says Herrick. “Same thing with the wheel spins. You can trigger multiple wheel spins on a single spin, across the four reel sets. It comes with a little bit higher bet, but with that the prizes on the wheel increase accordingly.

“So, the player is still getting the frequent wheel spins, now almost four times as often, and the wheels are going to pay more than the original as well. We’re really excited about getting this out.”

Trask adds that four reel sets also jacks up the bonus frequency.

“On (the single-array versions), the wheel’s going to spin once every 56 spins. When you do the math on the four-play, every 13 spins playing all four reel sets, you’re going to get significant action.”

“The scatter to trigger the wheel is a six-symbol starting scatter, so generally, that symbol comes across a lot,” says Herrick, whose Las Vegas studio has produced all the QuickSpin games. “There is a lot of audio that goes along with it, so it is an easy chase to find, an easy symbol to find as it’s coming across the reels. You’re going to get that symbol a lot.”

On top of that, says Herrick, when you land more than six of the

scatter symbols, multipliers are applied to the wheel values, up to a maximum of 5X. “When you get up to 3X, 4X, 5X territory, that’s going to be a big coin shower; that’s going to be a huge win,” he says.

In late summer, Ainsworth released the first QuickSpin game on the dual-screen EVO cabinet, called Super Sonic 7s.

Other versions of QuickSpin on display at G2E will include Turbo Charged 7s, a linked progressive version on the A640 cabinet that increases the possible wheel multipliers up to a maximum 25X during free spins. Super Wheel 7s is also available, which uses similar art and game play on a non-progressive version of the game.

But the highlights of the Ainsworth display might be Super Lit Vegas and Super Charged 7s Classic.

Super Lit Vegas is a QuickSpin variation that incorporates a persistent state kind of game. Players spin through seven game cycles. Throughout the cycle players collect symbols that become wild on the seventh spin. But if a player collects eight or more they also get a wheel spin.

Super Charged 7s Classic offers a five- or nine-line game built to provide a stepper-style game experience. Super Charged 7s Classic combines the strength of the QuickSpin brand with the other game style that has brought the company much success—high-denomination video slots.

“High-denom is in our DNA,” says Trask. “This absolutely is our strong suit as a company.”

Super Charged 7s Classic will be available in quarter and higher denominations.

“Generally, our focus here, and the focus of Cody’s team, has been first and foremost to absolutely to capitalize on QuickSpin,” says Trask. “We are taking the wheel brand forward with persistent-play, three-reel options, link options—we’re essentially taking everything we can and adding it to QuickSpin. This is the brand that can drive us forward, particularly in the 1-cent market.”

OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com

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“High-denom is in our DNA. This absolutely is our strong suit as a company.”

—Mike Trask, Director of Marketing and Product Management, Ainsworth

High-Denom Strength Trask lists several of Ainsworth’s high-denomination offerings that are consistently performing at more than two times the house average. Part of the company’s strategy moving forward is to provide this content across all platforms.

“Dollar Action, Dollar Chief, Grand Dragon and Mustang Money 2 are four of Ainsworth’s best performing games, ever,” he says. “They remain four of the top-performing high-denom games from any manufacturer, anywhere in the world. So we are taking those four titles to our single-screen format.

We’ve already done that with Thunder Cash, Eagle Bucks and other iconic high-denom games. We are moving more and more content to the single-screen A640 format.”

Other high-denom standouts include Kanga Riches, Ainsworth’s first high-denom progressive link in many years.

In the penny and multi-denom libraries, Ainsworth continues to expand its offerings.

Mad Millions, a linked progressive product, includes a stand-alone “Win Before” secondary progressive. It displays the level before which the progressive must hit.

The penny offerings will be accompanied by another new game series for the A640 portrait cabinet, Reel Force. The two inaugural games in the series, Arrows of Love and Thunder of Asgard, feature a cascading reel feature. Typically, two or three line wins on a spin will cause the winning symbols to disappear, and other symbols cascade into their spots, continuing until no wins are on the screen.

A free-spin feature expands the reels to a maximum eight rows, for more paylines and more cascades. In the free spins, every symbol that disappears in a cascade is accumulated for a bonus award at the end of the feature.

Also featured at G2E will be a complete lineup of games that are available either on the single-screen A640 or the dual-screen EVO. Highlights include Ultimate Upgrade, a persistent-state game that has players collecting symbols toward several different features, including multipliers, extra pay lines and 52

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

wild symbols; and Electric Cash Link, a linked product with a hold-andrespin bonus. Each has a pair of inaugural games on tap for G2E launch, with more in the pipeline.

“Persistent-state games are having their moment,” Trask says, “and many of the persistent-play games currently in the field will feature one play mechanic, where the player is chasing that play mechanic in a 10-spin cycle.

On Ultimate Upgrade, there are five different features within it, so throughout a cycle of spins, a player can collect extra lines, multipliers, wilds, expanding wilds and some other play mechanics. They are chasing multiple options for how they are going to capitalize on their 10th spin. It’s going to have legs for us on both of our platforms.”

Ainsworth also arrives at G2E with a lineup of new third-party games, which the company is using to expand its library. One highlight in this group is Vault of Riches, which features cash-style reel symbols and special symbols that feed into a vault, which randomly opens to pay a bonus.

The third-party games complement what Trask says has been a “massive influx of talent” to the U.S. development studio, where Herrick has added four game developers in the past year.

This year’s G2E will show the results of all that talent—and its implications for the future of Ainsworth’s still-growing R&D power.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

ARISTOCRAT TECHNOLOGIES Talent and Treasures Aristocrat Technologies once again turns to an expanded R&D studio system to create new brands and renew current brands

I

t’s no secret why Aristocrat has consistently remained at or near the top of the slot market in game performance over the past five years.

The company has maintained a surge in game popularity by employing the top talent and game designers in the business.

That fact has certainly not been lost on those in charge of game design for the supplier, which has moved to add even more creative firepower to its arsenal with the addition of new game studios.

The fruits of all that talent will once again be on display at Global Gaming Expo, in the form of new game content across the breadth of Aristocrat’s portfolio.

“This year, what we’re really talking about is the future,” comments Nathan Drane, vice president of commercial strategy, game sales and Class II for Aristocrat. “We’re talking about what’s next. The way we’re encapsulating that is through our people. We believe we have the best talent in the industry on board, and we’re really excited about that.”

The R&D talent may have an extra edge this year, thanks to the opening last December of the company’s $45 million U.S. headquarters and technology campus in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin.

“The energy and excitement around this building, and the way it encourages collaboration has definitely led people to come up with better ideas, innovate more, and continue down the road of industry-leading games,” comments Ryan Scott, senior director, product and portfolio strat-

“The energy and excitement around this building, and the way it encourages collaboration has definitely led people to come up with better ideas, innovate more, and continue down the road of industry-leading games.”

—Ryan Scott, Senior Director, Product and Portfolio Strategy, Gaming Operations, Aristocrat

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Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 The MarsX cabinet has dual 27-inch 4K displays and a new platform that drives performance and allows for exciting, fast-paced game play.

egy, gaming operations.

Scott says one of the benefits of this environment is how close the product management and strategy executives are to the game design studios. “We are able to walk across the breezeway and chat with the studio people,” he says. “It’s much closer. The fun, open environment we have allows for a lot of creativity.”

Creative collaborations don’t end with the game designers centered in Las Vegas, either. Zoom Rooms are located around the facility, where game designers can instantly connect via video conference to colleagues in Austin, Sydney or any other office locations. At any point in the day, you’re likely to see conference rooms with groups of people communicating over video chat regardless of their location as a streamlined way to stay connected.

The Payoff The results of that collaboration, of course, will be in Aristocrat’s G2E booth this year.

“Our G2E exhibit this year is a vibrant mix of product that will be ready and commercializing this year, and product that will be out on floors within the first half of next year,” says Jon Hanlin, Aristocrat’s vice president of commercial strategy, gaming operations. “Over and above this G2E, we’re strongly focused on innovation and what the next three years look like. So, we believe we have the right balance between the now and the future, so that we are well positioned to help our customers succeed over the long term.”

As in previous years, the first highlight of Aristocrat’s G2E display will be a new premium cabinet, although details—including the name—were pending at press time. No matter, though—this product follows up on another major new cabinet launch only two months ago, when the company unveiled the MarsX. The MarsX cabinet has dual 27-inch 4K displays and a new platform that drives performance and allows for exciting, fast-paced game play. Inside, a premium virtual button deck is the latest in wireless charging technology, allowing players to charge their phone by simply placing it onto the 56

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deck.

The perfect storm has arrived on the MarsX with the all-new Dollar Storm title. From the makers of the legendary Lightning Link and Dragon Link titles, the cabinet will host both lease or for-sale games.

“The serviceability of the MarsX is the best we’ve had from any of our cabinets,” comments Drane. “We’ve taken a lot of customer feedback and built that into our cabinet specifications, and we’re very encouraged by the reception it’s received as a result.”

At G2E, Aristocrat will launch more new content for the MarsX, including Buffalo Gold Revolution, which Drane calls the “next evolution of Buffalo Gold,” along with a full lineup of core video products including Dragon Tower Jackpots on the MarsX Tower.

Drane notes that Aristocrat is assuring customers the introduction of a new cabinet does not mean any reduction of support for legacy cabinets like the Helix XT, itself only 18 months old. “We’ve created an architecture in which we can take games from MarsX back to the Helix and the Helix XT,” he explains. “So, your Helix cabinet that you’ve invested in will continue to perform. We’re building a great base with our customers, and we’re committed to supporting that.”

One reason customers love the MarsX cabinet, says Drane, is a sleek construction that opens up sightlines across the casino floor. “That was very deliberate,” he says. “We had a lot of feedback around the size of cabinets.

They’re getting very blocky and getting very tall. What we were able to do with this design was to slim-line the cabinet, the technology and the package as well. It’s easier to service, and it opens up the casino floor in a really exciting way.”

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“This was a huge opportunity for us to give slot players a seat at the bar, and really allowing that Buffalo brand to get into places we know players want to play it.”

—Nathan Drane, Vice President of Commercial Strategy, Game Sales and Class II, Aristocrat

New Cabinets, New Games While coy about the details, Hanlin says the new cabinet to be launched at G2E follows the same symmetry and shape as Aristocrat’s Arc Double “but delivers a whole new player experience.”

Hanlin notes that the new cabinet doubles down on the iconic vision created by the Arc Double—the giant display using two portrait monitors that has taken off across the industry. “How do we deliver that visage but also really ramp up the technology, player experience, lighting and take it to the next level?” he says. “We’re really excited to launch this cabinet. We think it’s going to be the next evolution of the premium video cabinet, and we can’t wait to share it with customers.”

On the Edge X cabinet, launched at last year’s G2E, Aristocrat will feature a new title in the Game of Thrones franchise, Winter Is Here. It’s based on Season 7 of the smash hit fantasy series, which recently wrapped up its eighth and final season.

Also featured on the Edge X will be Star Trek: The Next Generation, based on the 1990s version of the sci-fi classic starring Patrick Stewart as Enterprise Captain Jean-Luc Picard.

Hanlin says there also will be a new game in The Walking Dead series displayed on the Edge X, which debuted last year with FarmVille and Madonna. “We wanted to get away from the dark themes to do something light with the launch of that cabinet,” Hanlin says. “That’s why we chose FarmVille, which is doing three times house average, according to the July 2019 Eilers-Fantini report.”

Aristocrat’s radical curve cabinet the flame55—launched last year with Big Bang Theory— will also feature new content at G2E. Zorro Wild Ride, a new title from Studio 54, “takes Zorro and brings it into a modern cabinet,” says Hanlin. “We’re really excited about that game and can’t wait to share it with customers.”

Other high-profile gaming operations products at G2E will include Madonna 2 in the video portfolio and Buffalo Rush on the RELM XL step-

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per cabinet. The latter, a five-reel penny game, “has a lot of legs, and has incredible pedigree with the Buffalo brand,” says Hanlin.

More Innovation In the for-sale portfolio, Aristocrat will launch new games in the Gold Stacks 88 series for the RELM stepper cabinet. Drane says the technology allows steppers and videos to share a progressive link. “We continue to focus on opportunities where we can link stepper cabinets to Helix XT cabinets and create a strong jackpot zone,” he says. “We will also be offering a new variety of highdenom product, including some hold-and-spin titles, which have been very successful for us on the RELM cabinet.”

Hanlin comments that the hold-and spin feature, first introduced with the mega-hit Lightning Link, is already a popular mechanic in the market, “but we’re adding that to the high-denom stepper portfolio, which we’re really excited about.”

Finally, Aristocrat will be displaying its Winner’s World multi-game bartop product, which was launched this summer and, according to Drane, is off to a fantastic start. He says players are welcoming the opportunity to play games from the Buffalo franchise on a bartop, as well as the familiar poker and keno choices. “This was a huge opportunity for us to give slot players a seat at the bar, and really allowing that Buffalo brand to get into places we know players want to play it,” Drane says.

Hanlin says for Aristocrat, this year’s G2E show is all about providing the operator “confidence in the pipeline and confidence in placement. We want operators to know they’re going to get great value from their partnership with Aristocrat, and great value for their investment with us.

“We’re thinking broadly and long-term, and are continuing to explore how we can leverage our expanding capabilities to offer new and innovative experiences for our casino partners and their players. We are working to really understand what the evolution of the player experience is at a casino. This G2E is a real jumping off point for us in that regard.”

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ARUZE GAMING AMERICA Beyond Convention Aruze strengthens its growing product library with innovations that go beyond the typical slot machine

A

ruze Gaming has consistently distinguished itself for out-ofthe-box thinking, not only in its growing slot library but in the hardware on which it resides.

The company has doubled down on unique products in the past like Paradise Fishing, with its community-style fishing bonus that has players using a clever joystick to physically “reel in” credit awards; electronic table games like Shoot To Win Craps (and now, Roll To Win Craps); and hits like the Ultra Stack series of video slots.

Last year, hardware took center stage as Aruze won the Gold Medal for Best Slot Product in the GGB Gaming & Technology Awards for its Muso Triple-27 cabinet, with its industry-first wireless mobile charging port and 360-degree LED backlighting.

This year, Aruze once again forges ahead with more pioneering on all fronts. On the hardware side, the company will use G2E to introduce the new Muso Triple-27 Hybrid to complement the recently introduced Muso Curve-43 Hybrid. These cabinets combine the designs of the Muso Triple-27 and the Muso Curve-43 cabinet, which was launched at ICE in February.

The Muso Curve-43 features a 43-inch curved vertical monitor, designed in a “J” shape. It features LED backlighting and a large ergonomic glass-table button deck with a 13.3-inch LCD touch-screen interface. The new Hybrid version features an integrated base that includes a comfortable foot rest, and includes the LED web lighting of the Muso Triple27, extending the full length of the cabinet.

Aruze will showcase a unique pod design called the Muso Curve-43 Hybrid Reflection package. According to Aruze Product Manager Laura Sims, “The reflection pod fillers create an upscale package that can draw attention from any angle.

“Because the Muso cabinet has such amazing LED lighting on the back of the cabinet—no one else really has that—we have some packaging options no one else can offer,” Sims says.

According to Sims, the attraction of the cabinet lies in its lighting package. Between machines in a bank are mirrored “reflection pod-fillers,” which are mirror-finish metal that shine and reflect the colorful lighting from the back of the cabinet. “It makes a huge difference,” she

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 “Because the Muso cabinet has such amazing LED lighting on the back of the cabinet— no one else really has that— we have some packaging options no one else can offer.”

—Laura Sims, Product Manager, Aruze

says. “It creates a ton of attention and creates a real superior feel on a core cabinet.”

The integrated foot rest continues the style and unique lighting all the way to the floor. “It keeps that cohesive look,” says Sims.

Away from Tradition The cabinet is being launched with a new game series called Dream Cash.

The inaugural games are the neon-tinged Dream Cash Fabulous Vegas and the disco-themed Dream Cash Dancing All Night. “It’s important this game be banked a little differently and stand out, because it is a non-traditional slot,” Sims notes. “In fact, it has no spinning reels.”

Dream Cash uses the 43-inch portrait monitor to display a scene of colorful floating bills and balloons. The idea is to use the touch screen to grab as much of the falling cash as you can, in what Sims calls a “play-asfast-as-you-like game.”

The bills trigger any number of other events, from credit prizes associated with bills of different colors to extra free picks, or tickets that trigger separate bonus features like a prize wheel or a “pull to win” bonus game.

One of the tickets reveals an instant trigger to a Fortune Jackpot Bonus picking game to win one of four progressive jackpots. Five tickets each re62

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veal a “Lasso the Money” interactive bonus game or a wheel spin for a credit prize.

The player can select from three volatility models or press the spin button to make a random selection. The player chooses a color of a bill, according to a volatility scale at the bottom of the screen.

“The player can opt for lots of little wins or fewer bigger wins,” Sims explains.

Dream Cash debuted at spring’s Indian Gaming Tradeshow, but Sims predicts it will be fully launched and approved by G2E. “Dream Cash has no spinning reels, so it’s basically bonus play, all the time,” she says. “It was inspired by the success some of our competitors have had with that style of game play, but we think there’s a bit more ‘game’ in our game, in that there are multiple bonus features.”

Dream Cash heads an Aruze G2E game lineup presented under the tagline “Ignite Fun.” It also is part of the “Activ-Play” series, which showcases the company’s strategy of providing non-traditional slot games.

“All Activ-Play games contain a non-spinning reel aspect to one of the core game features,” Sims explains. “Something core about how that game plays is not spinning reels.”

The granddaddy of the Activ-Play series is Paradise Fishing, but its latest addition is Hawaiian Fishing, which takes the signature community fishing bonus to the shores of Oahu. For the community fishing bonus, players use a controller improved with the last sequel, Amazon Fishing, which includes a crank that gives the sensation of reeling fish in, with the same tension on the line featured in previous iterations.

“For Hawaiian Fishing, we’ve added some new features, but at its core, it’s the game that players know and love,” says Sims. “There are still a lot of units of the original version out in the field—the age of that game and the size of the installations really say something.”

The next in the style of wall-banked community games—the portrait cabinets on each of the slots link together into one huge screen for the community bonus—is a game previewed last year called Mad Mountain Riches.

On this game, the scene formed on the giant monitor wall is a talking volcano, which periodically erupts to send lava that transforms into wild symbols on players’ screens.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 Aruze will feature Roll To Win Craps, previewed last year, an ETG configured as a live table but utilizing a back display facing players that is formed from a series of LED panels.

Stacks and Coins While Activ-Play concentrates on offering unique play options, Aruze brings the same creativity to all of its core groups of slots, many of which improve upon time-tested game mechanics.

One of the highlights is a new version of the Ultra Stack series of games featuring stacking symbols and wilds. Ultra Stack Instant Trigger offers a “buy-a-feature” option in which the player can increase the awards by betting up. The basic game is played for a minimum of 50 credits per spin, but a 75-credit wager unlocks “Super Feature” free games, which adds anywhere from 100 to 250 of a key symbol to the reels.

Betting up again activates the Instant Trigger, which guarantees a random number of free spins.

The first two games in the series are Dancing Panda Festival and Dancing Panda Fortune. “These games have a great mix of added wild features, with a symbol/mystery bonus,” says Sims. “Every time the symbol appears, you get a chance at triggering the progressives. They’re cute games, but they’ve got a great amount of gambler-style play.”

Another standout release this year is the “Change of Seasons” series, with Japan and China versions. In this game, the volatility changes with the season, with subtle changes to the elegant artwork depicted on the screen. “This is different from any other kind of game,” Sims says.

“The volatility ratings for the symbols and pays are going to change depending on the season. There will be a background effect, and the game will shift from spring to summer and give you a different gaming experience. It will be subtle, but something players will notice.”

New titles scheduled for launch at G2E include games with persistentstyle bonus features. In Bonanza Town, it’s a chase feature for the bonuses.

In Coin Collector, it’s a hold-and-respin style of game with a “what you see is what you get” payoff.

Great Spirit and Great Tiki include a feature in which the player is chasing a progressive free-games award as opposed to a progressive credit award.

Asian themes are highlighted by Fu Cai Tong, based on the math of the hit game Fu Lai Cai Lai; Big Fireworks, with wild symbols that trigger a bonus and a four-level progressive; and, on the premium Muso Limited cabinet, Dragon King and Fortune Gateway, which feature colorful concentric wheels awarding credits and multipliers.

Wheel games, in fact, figure prominently in Aruze’s G2E lineup. Two more titles will be introduced in the mega-hit Wheel of Prosperity series of multi-level progressive wheel games on the Muso Curve-43 cabinet. The new entries are Wheel of Prosperity Serpent and Tiger. “On Serpent, the wheel will spin and give you wilds for each of your free games,” explains 64

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Sims. “Tiger offers the option to expand reels to four rows or five rows.”

Reel expansions in the ways-to-win game take the game from 243 ways to win up to 3,125 ways for a random number of free spins.

This year, the game designer who created Wheel of Prosperity offers Wealth of Coins. “This game includes a lot of wild features,” says Sims, “one of which triggers other features.”

Also on the Muso Curve-43 is Rainbow Wheel, a curved version of the popular Rainbow Cash series.

Finally, several new releases are being launched on the extra-tall Cube-X Vertical 80 cabinet, including the Triple Burning Wheel series, with its stacked bonus wheels; the Wild Explosion series, with reels that expand up to nine rows on the 80-inch monitor; and the Ultimate Stack series, with a unique scrolling set of reels.

Meanwhile, on the electronic table game side, Aruze will feature Roll To Win Craps, previewed last year, an ETG configured as a live table but utilizing a back display facing players that is formed from a series of LED panels, which can be programmed to display each point, proposition bets, hardways, etc., or even as a medium for advertising, along with electronic play stations for digital wagering.

The craps ETG recently completed its first install at Harrah’s Cherokee in North Carolina. According to Brandon Knowles, executive director of interactive business and table gaming, the Harrah’s property has placed the unit right next to the regular craps table.

Also on the table side is an extension to the Lucky Roulette unit that allows remote machines. “This year at G2E, Lucky Roulette breaks from its standard eight-station configuration with an unusual layout that allows remote viewing and showcases the product’s full capabilities,” Knowles says.

“The 12-station installation shows the potential of the 50-station capability of this product.”

G2E also will see the official launch of Big Wheel, the seven-seat electronic Big Six game previewed last year. In addition to the traditional game, the product includes bonusing and side bets that make things more interesting for players and raise the house edge for the operator.

“We focus on creating the best gaming experience for our players,” says Sims, “by delivering premium-quality products and outstanding service to our casino customers.”

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EVERI HOLDINGS Ramping it Up Everi continues ramping up productivity with more new cabinets— and lots of games

T

he former Multimedia Games was known for the creativity that poured out of its Austin headquarters, from unique, funny video slots to its highly regarded mechanical stepper line.

That is still true for that particular Austin location, now an R&D headquarters for Everi Holdings. But ever since Multimedia was acquired by the former Global Cash Access to create the public company that is Everi Holdings, Austin has been known as the hub of a rapidly growing game and hardware development staff.

Everi’s output has soared over the past two years, thanks to a growing network that now counts three game development studios in Austin, one in Reno, one in Chicago and the newest in Las Vegas.

“We’re putting out over 80 games a year,” says Dean Ehrlich, executive vice president and games business leader for Everi. “We continue to focus on enhanc—Dean Ehrlich, Executive Vice President and Games Business Leader, Everi ing our standard video content. Our standard mechanical product line is on a great run; there’s no reason to stop continuing to perpetuate that. Premium factor featuring dual curved 43-inch landscape-style LCD monitors. Also video, if you’re looking year over year, has knocked the cover off the ball. introduced last year was the Empire Arena, a banked product that features And our premium mechanical is steady and we continue to innovate here Everi’s E5527 cabinet, referring to its huge 55-inch top monitor and 27as well.” inch main game screen.

The cabinets on which the games reside are as varied and innovative as “We believe our results speak for themselves for a company our size the games themselves. “We’re committed to releasing one new cabinet per when we have a new form factor introduced once a year,” says Ehrlich. year,” says Ehrlich. “This year, we’ve got Empire DCX coming out and we “We have had good cadence over the last couple of years with definitely are excited to share our plans for 2020 at the show. ” more to come.”

The Empire DCX, introduced at last year’s G2E, is a premium form Ehrlich says what distinguishes Everi’s G2E display this year is that all those games are fully developed and slated for approval and release shortly

“We’re committed to releasing one new cabinet per year.

This year, we’ve got Empire DCX coming out and we are excited to share our plans for 2020 at the show. ”

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after the show.

“The reason we are excited about this G2E versus years past is that everything is relatively current,” he says. “There is very little we’re showing that will be released after summer. Typically, at a G2E, companies demonstrate products that are much further out in the future.”

Ehrlich says the past year has seen the fruits of the company’s R&D expansion. “We couldn’t be more pleased with the efforts and results this company continues to make,” he says. “It’s a whole new ballgame from years past. I’ll be the latest person to quote an Eilers report; if you take a look at the number of times our products are mentioned today compared to a year ago, it’s significant. We believe the industry’s starting to recognize our level of success.”

That of course, is in addition to “doing extremely well” in premium video.

“We believe we can attain our set goal of a 10 percent ship share with a couple of product deployments going our direction,” he says.

“If we look at the last few years of this growth story,” adds Loren Rosenberg, vice president, product and market strategy, “and Everi’s emergence into a big Class III player since Dean got here, we are all focused on our approach in attaining that 10 percent goal.

“In 2018, we had good content and good mechanics, but it wasn’t buttoned up to be cohesive. In 2019, you start seeing us implement these ideas into a more consistent plan, roadmapping how we’re going to do the second iterations, and keep taking swings. Our Nitro technology came out in 2018, but in 2019, you see Shark Week utilizing that seamless integration.

“We believe 2020 is about the optimization of all these things— focusing on our back-end technologies,” he says, “and to have a plan that’s scalable so we can take advantage of our successes and be nimble enough to respond to where the market is.”

Games and More Games While Everi’s hardware continues to evolve, in the end, it’s about the games.

“The mantra walking in here every day,” says Ehrlich, “first and foremost, is that you’ve got to make great games, and offer ease of customer acquisition.

And lastly, deliver with excellence. Get product approved when we say we’re going to do it, and get it to the customer the way they expect to receive it. If we do these things, we will hit our targets.”

He adds that originality is paramount. “We average over 70 percent original content—defined as new math and/or new play mechanics,” he says.

According to Allison Pope, senior vice president of game development at Everi, a big trend in all video categories this year is the so-called persistent-state game mechanic—slots that give players incentives to stay in the game by chasing or collecting bonuses, multipliers or other awards.

“We see persistent-state games as so popular in the industry right now,” Pope says. “Fu Stacks is going to be our first in the market.”

The game series, with inaugural games Fu Stacks Crimson and Fu Stacks Jade, centers on a feature in which the player collects gold boxes on each spin, with full stacks awarding a coin above the reel. “After you collect three coins, that reel will turn into a stacked symbol for the next three spins,” Pope explains.

“So if you can get multiple reels that are going to be the stacked symbols, it can build for some pretty large wins.”

Gift of the Nile and Dragon Flame, on the Empire MPX cabinet, feature a persistent wild-symbol feature. “The eye and the flame out of the dragon’s mouth come down and mysteriously pop up these 3D wilds, and then every spin, they forward-progress one spot,” says Pope, “so the player’s not going to want to get out of their seat if they see these wilds inching forward, coming down onto the reels in front of them.”

Also on the Empire MPX are launch themes to one of last year’s most unique entries, Crush. That’s the game with no spinning reels, but a sculpted Aztec head that the player sends flying down to crush boulders that roll underneath. Each crush yields a credit score.

This year, the company will debut Crush Conquest and Crush Dynasty. The new versions include a “Rampage Feature,” a mystery event which sends the stone icon crushing multiple borders that roll down chutes on either side of the scene for large bonus awards.

OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 This year, the company will debut Crush Conquest and Crush Dynasty. The new versions include a “Rampage Feature,” a mystery event which sends the stone icon crushing multiple borders that roll down chutes on either side of the scene for large bonus awards.

Also in the for-sale video category is a wealth of new content for the Core HDX dualscreen cabinet. Games like Jackpot Alert Series feature quick-hitting progressives on three base themes: China, Vegas and Anubis.

Pope says Everi also has had a lot of success bringing popular high-denomination games from its mechanical series over to the Core HDX dual-screen video format. Games like Triple Jackpot Gems and Triple Wild Dragon bring a volatile three-reel, nine-line program with classic symbols and multiplying wilds over to the dual-screen video.

Heading up Everi’s premium video lineup are licensed titles including The Karate Kid and The Mask. Both are launch titles for the new Empire DCX premium cabinet. Both feature multiple interactive bonuses, based on the iconic karate movie and the quirky 1994 comedy featuring Jim Carrey’s hilarious zootsuited character. Previewed at last year’s G2E, the DCX cabinet uses dual landscape-oriented curved monitors to create a wrap-around effect.

On the Empire Arena, introduced with the hit game Shark Week, will be a new interactive game called The Vault. The upper 55-inch monitor on this game is the scene of a colorful 4K chamber of gold coins. Features include Vault Respins, a lock-andrespin feature; free-spin and picking bonuses; and Diamond Heist, a community-style event in which all players on the bank compete for diamonds to add to their vaults. Each player gets a chance to “steal” diamonds from other players on the bank, creating a competitive environment.

Other branded games in the premium video space are games based on Smokin’ Hot Stuff Jackpots but with a new “mini-reel” mechanic; Snoop Dog Presents The Joker’s Wild; and Press Your Luck, all on the Renegade 3600.

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Finally, a teaser from Ehrlich, who says there will be a new licensed game revealed at the show—no other details until then, he says.

Mechanical Reels No discussion of Everi can leave out the mechanical stepper products, both for-sale and premium. “We are proud of the fact our highdenom mechanical games have been on top of the industry charts,” says Rosenberg, “and we’re going to continue to do our bread and butter—the five-line and nine-line mechanics, as well as taking swings with different innovative mechanics, like you saw with Cash Machine.”

Cash Machine, one of the highlights of last year’s show, is a simple three-reel stepper on Everi’s Player Classic 26 cabinet with all reel symbols as cash-style numbers. Some are double numbers. What you see on the reels is what you get.

“On mechanical, we’re going to continue our math-first focus,” Rosenberg says. “We believe that’s a differentiator, and part of our special sauce. At the same time, we’re concentrating on mechanical successes, link extensions, and extensions of some of our hit games you see on industry charts.”

Two of those extensions recently certified

by Gaming Laboratories International are Liberty Jackpots and Double Wild Gems.

Both are based on the math of the hit game Patriot, which is typically around the top of industry surveys. “It is a five-line, five-coin game, mostly at $1 in the field,” says Pope. “It features classic art, a classic-looking feel and play that is easy to understand.”

Other new steppers add popular play mechanics to the traditionalstyle game. Diamond Lock Ruby and Diamond Lock Sapphire both feature a lock-and-respin feature triggered on the reels and then played on the top screen. It’s one of the first play-until-you-lose features included on a

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

stepper slot.

Both games have player-selectable denominations that scale the lower two jackpots on the five-level progressive. The top three are linked jackpots and all jackpots can be won at any bet level.

New on the tall Skyline stepper cabinet is Tut’s Reign, a nine-line, nine-coin game using a popular bet structure. “This game is striking because of the way our game studio utilized the already-existing LED frame around the top monitor to emulate a pharaoh’s head,” comments Pope.

TournEvent Matures Everi is using G2E to launch new games and new capabilities for its groundbreaking TournEvent tournament system, the footprint for which keeps growing across North America.

Casinos that use TournEvent, of course, participate in Everi’s annual TournEvent of Champions, with satellite tournaments at their properties qualifying players for the finals at Wynn Las Vegas during G2E week.

“We’ve got 5,000 server-based EGMs out in the field, at 400 casinos and counting,” says Everi Creative Director Michael Conway, who emcees the $1 million TournEvent of Champions final event every year. “A lot of competitors are following us now in this area, and 70

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In 2016, TournEvent achieved a Guinness World Record of 3,173 players in a contest at Muckleshoot in northern Washington. spending a lot of time on it. One of our advantages is that we’ve been doing it a long time, since 2006, but also because we have the TournEvent of Champions, which has put us in the field with the promotions groups and with the slot operators, every May through October.

“We understand who our players are in this. We know the simplicity, the functionality, and how to bring the party to the game. People who work on these games are actually in the field watching the players run through.

We learn what’s going on, we come back, we work on it. We’re not just doing things in a vacuum.”

In 2016, TournEvent achieved a Guinness World Record of 3,173 players in a contest at Muckleshoot in northern Washington.

“TournEvent’s always been a party, but this is going to take it to the next level,” says Conway.

This year, Everi will release its TournEvent Now sit-and-go feature, an upgrade for existing Core HDX TournEvent banks, as part of the next iteration of the TournEvent system. TournEvent 6.0 features two new exclusive in-revenue banked games that build off the company’s successful Super Jackpot Series with quick-hitting progressives as well as an exciting new

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bank dedicated to championship-round play called the Winner’s Circle.

We now have 30 of those games in a playable mode.”

This brings TournEvent to the Empire MPX portrait cabinet for the It’s all in a day’s work for Everi. “Our commitments going forfirst time, incorporating a multimedia show that uses the company’s Nitro ward to our customers are No. 1,” says Ehrlich, “increasing performtechnology to sync lighting, sound and screen graphics across the bank. The ance in every swim lane.” new out-of-revenue game for the Winner’s Circle is called Star Struck. It features pumping background music from C+C Music Factory’s disco hit “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).”

Everi’s G2E booth also will feature the latest from the company’s Interactive Division, headed by David Lucchese, executive vice president, digital and interactive business leader. Everi has two major interactive businesses, a B2C division with two social sites—Super Jackpot Slots and High Rollin’ Vegas Slots—and a real-money division with a proprietary remote game server that ports Everi titles to real-money sites—including New Jersey, and soon, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

On the B2B side, Everi is in the gaming ops business. “We’re taking our land-based content and leveraging that,” Lucchese says.

“We developed our own remote game . server, launched it in September 2018, and placed the first games for real money in Success in the gaming industry requires maintaining the upper hand. Businesses cannot take full advantage of opportunities without effectively managing legal and regulatory matters.

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You can trust RMC. We work with integrity and always strive to meet your needs efficiently, helping According to Marshall Adair, vice presiyou stay ahead of the game. dent and executive producer, digital and interactive, the social sites often serve as test Our expertise is comprehensive and includes: grounds for new land-based games, in an t .VMUJKVSJTEJDUJPOBM TVQQMJFS MJDFOTJOH t #BOLSVQUDZ BOE SFTUSVDUVSJOH t (BNJOH DPNQMJBODF QMBOT t 'JOBODJBM BOBMZTJT BOE DPOTVMUBUJPO environment where they can be placed t $PSQPSBUF QMBOOJOH t *OUFSOFU HBNJOH DPNQMJBODF quickly to get player feedback during the t (PWFSONFOUBM BOE SFHVMBUPSZ NPOJUPSJOH TFSWJDFT t $SFEJUPS SJHIUT BOE DPMMFDUJPO development process—as well as quick t /FX HBNJOH UFDIOPMPHZ MBCPSBUPSZ t 'FEFSBM SFHVMBUPSZ DPNQMJBODF TVCNJTTJPO QSPDFEVSFT (e.g., Johnson Act/Title 31/FACTA) cross-promotion for Everi games in casinos. t (BNJOH SVMF BOE SFHVMBUJPO ESBGUJOH t .BSLFUJOH BOE BEWFSUJTJOH DPNQMJBODF “We can port very quickly into that space,” t $PNNFSDJBM BOE /BUJWF "NFSJDBO PQFSBUJPOT t -PDBM HPWFSONFOU BEWJTJOH Adair says, “so, as soon as we see or sniff out a hit such as Cash Machine, we bring it R EGU L ATORY M A NAG E M E N T COU N SE LOR S , P.C . over to the social space.”

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OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

GAMBLIT GAMING Is Gaming Ready to Gamblit?

According to Gamblit Gaming CEO Eric Meyerhofer, more casino operators are coming around to the inevitability of new gaming forms

By Marjorie Preston

In times of rapid change, experience could be your worst enemy.

E

ric Meyerhofer, co-founder and CEO of Gamblit Gaming, would likely agree with the above, attributed to billionaire industrialist J. Paul Getty.

When skill-based casino games first debuted a few years back, says Meyerhofer, “you could divide operators into three buckets. One camp— about 30 percent to 40 percent—believed they didn’t need to concern themselves with a shifting age demographic, because (younger) people would eventually change and adopt traditional gaming.”

The second camp “knew they could be facing challenges in the digital age, were willing to do some experimenting, but were still cautious”—the kind who would rather follow than lead.

The third bucket, he says, included “the coalition of willing operators who wanted to experiment and really learn what their clients want next.

Those are our active customers today.”

A Glendale, California developer and publisher of skill games and associated products and technologies, Gamblit has positioned itself squarely in the space where interactive meets gambling. With content that engages, compels, entertains but also challenges, the company was founded on the belief that skill-based games may be the sweet spot where youthful gamers evolve into loyal gamblers.

With a caveat. Meyerhofer says the “skill-based” moniker is “kind of unfortunate in retrospect, because it implies if you’re not skillful, you’re never going to win. Many of our games are 100 percent chance-based, though there may be player decision points along the way. I like to say this is more about player agency—the player gets involved in making a choice or taking some action that directly impacts their ability to win versus pressing a spin button on a slot machine that’s 100 percent luck.”

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Its titles are “very heavily skewed to arcade and casual-mobile games, as well as certain card games and games of dice—it’s a whole range of products,” says Meyerhofer, adding that even dedicated skill players sometimes want a break from the competition. “We’ve found that some people can only do it for so long before they get fatigued. Then they’re going to want a more relaxed experience.”

Here’s a sample of what Gamblit is talking about at G2E: • Its single-game position TriStation cabinet with larger LCD screens and more vibrant graphics • A bartop cabinet with games that Meyerhofer says will give bartop video poker a run for its money • A new slate of games for the Gamblit Model G and TriStation cabinets including a second poker-style game under the Deal or No Deal brand • A new line of progressives Games on offer in the Gamblit portfolio include PacMan Battle Casino, Jetpack Joyride, Catapult King, Lucky Words, Match 3volution, Smoothie Blast, BrewCaps and more.

The trade show also will mark the global debut of Cookie Jam Blast, one of the most successful match-3 games ever with more than 100 million downloads to date. The “puzzle adventure” features 100-plus levels to keep players engaged, and multiple ways to win cash while swapping, matching, and blasting cookies.

While many operators are willing to try their luck on skill games, holdouts remain, says Meyerhofer. “No other industry has been unaffected by the digital age, and most industries have been pretty dramatically reworked. But for some operators, as long as they see a big monthly return, they’ll wait and see, and let the next guy deal with it.”

Gamblit has said it caters to “Generation Game:” the digital natives and mobile-centric gamers who aren’t satisfied with a ho-hum or passive casino experience. Meyerhofer points out that that the demographic of 20- and 30somethings is being joined by mature patrons with bigger wallets.

“If you go back to 2010, 2011, the running debate was about how long it would take people in their 60s to get smartphones. The estimates were on the low side, and they were completely wrong; these things are pervasive,” he says.

“We’re almost here to try to move the age curve, which we know we can do.”

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

GAMECO For the Foreseeable Future Blaine Graboyes, founder and CEO of New York-based GameCo, says the company’s skill-based games aren’t just kid stuff, but can and do appeal to players of all ages

By Marjorie Preston

I

n 2016, when he first pitched video-game gambling to casino operators, Blaine Graboyes had nothing to share but an idea and a storyboard. Even so, the veteran game designer, with clients including DreamWorks, Disney, Sony and Mattel, was invited in, and introduced the first round of skill-based video-game gambling machines (VGMs) in Atlantic City and Connecticut the following year.

While the concept has yet to revolutionize the industry and at least one Atlantic City operator pulled GameCo games from its floor after six months, Graboyes is convinced that day will come, for one simple but compelling reason. By now, several generations of young players are likely to yawn at traditional slots, and even the tried-and-true slot demographic is becoming more demanding in terms of the gaming experience, due to their experience playing online social games.

“Over the last year or two, I’ve seen a really important change in the industry, a recognition that video-game gambling and skill-based games are 74

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truly a different category and shouldn’t be held to a strict evaluation of win-per-unit when an operator is looking at their floor average,” he says. “If our games attract new gamers, don’t cannibalize slot revenue and provide incremental revenue to the casino operator, that’s incredibly important.” It may, in fact, be the wave of the future.

“These games absolutely can and do compete around floor average metrics, but even if a GameCo game were doing two times house, which we’ve experienced, it’s still not the right way to evaluate the success of an entirely new category of product which ultimately is designed to appeal to a new audience.”

In conversations with wary operators, he puts it this way: “Which is more finite, your floor space or the market for slot players?”

The answer is always the same.

“Most operators are rightly looking to optimize quarterly earnings,” observes Graboyes, “but they also need to be thinking about three-, fiveand 10-year horizons. We’re in an industry where innovation has its own pace. It’s not the same pace as apps or video games or other digital technology, and the work we’re doing now will need a certain gestation period to have the effect that we know it will. So having that support and partnership

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“We’re in an industry where innovation has its own pace. It’s not the same pace as apps or video games or other digital technology, and the work we’re doing now will need a certain gestation period to have the effect that we know it will. So having that support and partnership is critical to companies like GameCo.” —Blaine Graboyes, CEO, GameCo

is critical to companies like GameCo.” The company’s suite of games includes those based on the popular match-3 and puzzle formats that appeal to players across the spectrum, including today’s slot enthusiasts, he says.

“We’re also making games that appeal to the new generation of casino gamers—sports games, racing games, action games, fighting games. We like to say we give operators the ability to merchandise and program their floor for the customer they have today and the customer they want to have tomorrow.”

At G2E, GameCo will present the newest iterations of high-performance match-3 games: the Egyptian-themed Mystery of the Secret Temple, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Pop Fish, an “underwater adventure” game.

“What’s great about these games is that they leverage one of the most popular genres in the mobile gaming industry, like Candy Crush and Bejeweled. They’re easy to play, they have a very broad audience, and they feel a lot like a slot machine but are more interactive, giving the player greater agency in the game, as well as a sense of progress and completion, which is very important to gamers.”

The company will also be showcasing updated, higher-velocity versions of Terminator 2 and Steve Aoki’s Neon Dreams.

GameCo’s second booth at G2E will present its new bartop cabinet and a versatile multi-player arena product, which offers two different game-play modes: competition mode, in which up to eight players can participate in a single contest, but single players also can play on their own; and tournament mode, which allows for bracketed tournaments in esports competitions directly on the casino floor.

“One of the questions we’re always asked is, ‘Who’s playing your games?’ and my answer is, ‘Which game?’” says Graboyes. “Someone who plays Mystery of the Secret Temple will probably be over 45 years old on average and probably skew a little female in gender. A game like Soulcalibur, which we’ll be launching as one of the first multi-player arena games, is definitely a younger audience skewing male.

“I love dispelling these generational stereotypes. We are absolutely looking to reach all players.”

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S GLOBA2L0 1GAME 9

GAMING ARTS Sophomore Sensations Leading bingo and keno supplier Gaming Arts enters its second year in the video slot business with new game groups, new game mechanics and an eye to the future

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ast year, they were the startup that wasn’t a startup. Las Vegasbased Gaming Arts, LLC, a leading supplier of systems and supplies for casino keno and bingo, rolled out its first-ever lineup of video slots for preview at last year’s G2E show.

But a second glance at the company, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, reveals that there’s nothing “startup” about this group. Inventor David Colvin, who founded Gaming Arts in 2009, decided two years ago to enter the casino video slot market. Early last year, Colvin turned to Mike Dreitzer, a 20-year gaming supply veteran who most recently had been North America president for Ainsworth Game Technology, to take on the task of building a slot division from scratch.

Dreitzer wasted no time, filling a newly expanded technology campus with some of the top names in the slot development business. He had a head start—Keith Kruczynski, a 15-year veteran slot developer formerly with Bally Technologies, had just been named director of game development when Dreitzer arrived. He then brought in Jean Venneman, a longtime slot development executive with IGT Bally Technologies and Scientific Games, as chief commercial officer. Jason Babler, another former longtime Ainsworth executive, was named product marketing manager.

This core of executives would build a staff of experienced game designers for the task at hand—which was to create a video slot library from scratch.

They not only were successful at doing so; they did it in remarkable time.

Kruczynski, who joined Gaming Arts in January 2018, formed a studio known as the K9 Group (there originally were nine engineers), and by G2E last year, had three game groups ready to launch—Pop’N Pays, a series of fun games with inventive mechanics and high-volatility math; the Da Fa Ba Series of Asian-style games; and the Dice Seeker group of games that use rolling dice as bonus game mechanics.

Earlier this year, the first Pop’N Pays games, Piñatas Ole! and Big Top, got their first live installs in California, at Valley View Casino. By late July, an installation at Pala marked Gaming Arts’ 100th market install, which coincided with securing its 100th license as a slot supplier.

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cial arrival in the video slot sector. “Last year’s G2E was our first foray into displaying video slots,” says Dreitzer. “It was about what’s coming; it was a preview. At that time, the K9 Group, of which Keith is the head, had been working with the company since January 2018. So, at G2E, it had only been nine months, and people remarked across the board how far we had come in such a short period of time.”

“Last year at G2E, we displayed 12 brand-new slot titles,” says Kruczynski. “We started on January 3, 2018, so having 12 new titles as of October 8 was nothing short of miraculous. The vast majority of games we showed last year are on track to get approved by G2E 2019.”

Dreitzer says the feedback from that show was “very, very strong,” and as the original game groups continue to roll out—Da Fa Ba Series rolled out

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in August, to be followed shortly by Dice Seekers—Kruczynski’s group was preparing to arrive at this year’s trade show not only with new titles for the original groups, but with several new game groups with totally new game mechanics.

“Last year, we were really just showing what our capabilities were,” Dreitzer says. “The theme this year is ‘Play Now.’ That is, the games that we showed, and the promise of the games and their ability, has now come full circle and come to life... so play now. We’re ready.”

The initial rollout of Gaming Arts video slots is being accomplished over a wide swath of markets. “Our rollout strategy was designed to be across different regions because we wanted to test the games in different markets,” Dreitzer says. “We understand that each market, and each property, can be different. At present, we have over 100 units in the field and growing every week, and the games have been accepted very well by players in multiple markets.

“We wanted to understand those regionalities and differences, so we have a very good, diverse set of data across multiple markets. And Pop’N Pays has performed very well. We’re very happy with that. We really have transitioned from ‘here’s what we’re going to do’ to ‘here’s what we’re doing.’ And of course, as part of G2E, the K9 Group and our other creative teams put together some very compelling new games— content that will fill our library as we move forward.”

Building the Library This year at G2E, Gaming Arts will double down on the success of its inaugural game suite with new entries in each series, and will launch a total of five new game groups. “What we showed last year is ready, and our pipeline keeps getting broader and broader,” says Kruczynski.

For the Pop’N Pays series, the company is launching Sweet Spin, a candy-themed video slot that fits the lighthearted mood of all the games

in the series. In the Da Fa Ba series, it’s a new game called Fa Cai Ba. The company will also launch high-denomination games in the Da Fa Ba and Dice Seeker groups, and will display machines in its multi-game Casino Wizard suite.

In the Dice Seekers series, the company will launch a game called Flappers & Dappers. “If you remember, last year in the Dice Seekers series, we showed Viking Invasion and Heroes and Villains—in both cases not your typical slot art. They really caught everyone’s attention,” says Kruczynski. “For Flappers & Dappers, we wanted to bring it back toward our target demographic, and soften it up a a little bit. We anthropomorphized bars and 7s—we gave them a face, and put a cutesy side to the game.

We’re excited about that one; we think these are great companion products to the games we already showed.”

Gaming Arts will combine the new entries to its original game suite with several totally new product groups, starting with a group called the Wu Series.

“Wu means dancing in Chinese,” says Kruczynski. “The Asian style is really great, and dragons are cool, but most games have the serious ones that are flying around and breathing fire. We wanted to stay true to our model, which is fun for the gambler—let’s make them fun, happy, cute.”

The inaugural game, Wu Xi Shi, which means “Dancing Happy Lion,” is a 243-ways-to-win scatter game incorporating a special lion symbol that jumps on to background symbols to award credits. Sometimes, the character will backtrack to jump on an award again, doubling the prize. “You are still doing a 243-ways game, so the pays are significant,” says Kruczynski. “There also is a free game model where you’ll have that interaction a lot more frequently than in the base game.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 Wheels and Hamsters or $40 wagered—that’s fun for the gambler.”

In another mystery event, an animal character appears and jumps from symbol to symbol for bonus awards. “It is a really cool, frequent mechanic of a happy lion or toad jumping around,” Kruczynski says.

Another new game group is called the Fortune Finder Series. “Here, we’ve created two different factions helping the player out,” explains Kruczynski. “We created this family of pirates for the first Fortune Finder game. Male pirates and female pirates constantly affect game play.” While the reels are spinning, one of the pirates will come out randomly to enhance the spin, doing things like throwing a bomb at the screen to create multiple wild symbols on the grid. “In a 243-ways game, that’s powerful,” Kruczynski says.

“These games are feature-rich, but still designed for the gambler.

They’re still about the money.”

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Gaming Arts will use G2E to launch an entirely new product group known as the GA Wheel series. It consists of three game brands—Inferno Wheel, Hamster Libre and Kai Yun Jin Bin. The group features new ways to present the traditional bonus wheel, as well as some totally new game mechanics.

Inferno Wheel, with two inaugural games, features a persistent wheel feature.

Wild symbols either trigger a wheel spin or increase the value on one of the wheel wedges, which change color as they rise in value—gold to orange to white, keeping the player engaged and chasing higher bonuses. “A persistent wheel game is something the market has not yet seen,” says Kruczynski.

Inferno Wheel also includes a free-spin feature that lets the player pick the feature’s volatility—fewer spins with higher wins or more spins with smaller wins.

A second brand in the GA Wheel series, Hamster Libre, offers a clever new take on bonus wheels. “What uses a wheel? Hamsters!” says Kruczynski. “This is an extremely feature-rich version of the GA Wheel. The hamster’s up there trying to enhance wins—it runs to spin the bonus wheel for credits and multipliers.”

Kai Yun Jin Bi offers a new spin on multipliers. In a mystery event, a coin flips for one of two multipliers, which pair with special symbols for big wins.

During a free-spin feature, all game symbols are replaced with the special symbol.

In all, Gaming Arts arrives at G2E with 19 new game themes. “It helps to support our message to customers that we intend to fully support them with a

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consistent library for the Gaming Arts machines they’ve invested in,” says Venneman. “Customers don’t buy a specific game; they buy a library. That takes time to build, but we’re getting there.”

Meanwhile, Gaming Arts’ core keno and bingo businesses continue to be strong. The Super Bingo suite is currently on field trial in Nevada, which benefits the video slot side, since the slot platform is based on the bingo platform—approval of the platform will allow the company to immediately sell slot games in the state.

“That was one advantage for us,” says Kruczynski. “We already had the stable platform. It can block and tackle. Maybe it can’t go on a deep route, but the fundamentals were there. That was a huge, huge head start for us that companies starting from scratch wouldn’t normally have.”

On the slot side, the R&D staff continues to grow. The K9 studio team has nearly doubled since last year. “We’re now K16!” laughs Kruczynski. “That is a huge indication of the importance of R&D to Gaming Arts.”

“Importantly, too,” adds Dreitzer, “on the development and engineering side, we acquired a lot of talent in the last 12 months—folks who have had experience with this platform, who are now in-house. Previously, we used resources in a third-party way, and you really can’t control third-party resources the way you want to, because they work on other things. We basically took a lot of that knowledge base in-house. We were able to focus more, which enabled us to accelerate our rollout.”

The growth of the content library will be augmented further by third-party

developers. According to Kruczynski, the company has prepared a developer kit for third-party designers. “It is fully functional; it is a solid SDK,” he says. “It allows for rapid development to increase our library. It’s important for our customers to know that yes, we do have breadth.”

He says the kit has been sent to multiple third-party developers, and so far, has generated “glowing reviews” from all of them.

In the end, G2E will constitute a coming-out party for Gaming Arts’ enhanced library. “Keith’s team has put together a phenomenal sequel to what he did last year,” says Dreitzer. “There’s going to be a lot of fun, a lot of excitement.

We’re making the case to our customers and their players that Gaming Arts is here, Gaming Arts is here to stay, Gaming Arts has a full pipeline—not only the successful game we have in the field, but a whole list of games behind that.”

Next for Gaming Arts is to further expand its footprint—in North America and elsewhere. Currently in Native American markets such as California, Florida and Connecticut, Dreitzer says Gaming Arts is actively pursuing licenses way beyond the recent milestone.

“We’ve planted seeds in various international markets—Canada, Latin America and Europe—and we do anticipate that beginning to bear fruit into the next year,” Dreitzer says. “We have 100 licenses and growing, but it’s still going to be an ongoing process for several years to come.

“The customers like our story. They’re rooting for us. They’re taking our product.”

Says Kruczynski, “Last year we showed up—‘we’re here.’ This year we’re serious. This is us.”

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

IGT Driving the Player Experience IGT continues to use research to develop games that augment a diverse game library that is the envy of the industry

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lot manufacturers typically arrive at Global Gaming Expo with a theme for the year’s exhibit of new games, cabinets and systems products. For leading supplier IGT, this year’s theme is “PlayerDriven Performance.”

The theme refers to the fact that every single new IGT game is perfected through player focus-group research, and in the case of its core portfolio, a rigorous test-bank field trial process that gauges actual game performance in a real casino environment. These processes help ensure that IGT only brings proven games to the big trade show and to its customers.

And the trade show is always big for IGT. “IGT will have the biggest presence at G2E of any manufacturer,” says Dallas Orchard, IGT’s senior vice president and chief product officer, gaming.

“We take pride in that, and not just because of the quantity of units, but because of the diversity of the different product verticals.” This year, that diversity will take the form of more than 300 machines in IGT’s 24,000-square-foot booth, with 200-plus unique titles.

Typically in the past, the first thing IGT would herald from the rooftops for a given G2E is its lineup of high-profile licensed games, or new, high-profile cabinets that invariably will house those branded titles. This year, from press announcements to the opinion of the chief product officer, an important highlight of the company’s G2E 2019 lineup lies in an area the supplier has dominated since its founder developed the game genre back in the 1970s—video poker.

For the second year in a row, IGT arrives at the big show with a lineup of inventive specialized video poker games. These games use multipliers, bonuses for special hands achieved and other features, but unlike previous attempts by other manufacturers to create specialty video poker games, IGT’s new video poker will draw no ire from diehard video poker enthusiasts, or even pros, because the extra fea80

Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

tures are, by and large, funded by an extra wager.

For six or 10 credits per hand instead of five to activate a bonus feature, operators already prone to do so can still offer the highest-returning pay tables on the games. It’s one reason IGT is making specialized video poker into its own new cottage industry.

The other reason is one never historically a concern for IGT when it came to video poker—competition. “We’re being more innovative in the

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“Our poker business couldn’t be in a healthier situation. We’re going to have a huge poker presence at G2E.” —Dallas Orchard, Senior Vice President and Chief Product Officer, Gaming, IGT

poker space than ever before, with regards to trying new things,” says Orchard, “and that’s partially because we’re the market leader; we have responsibility to do so. But also, we are aware of the fact that there is competition, and we want to stay well ahead of that competition.”

Orchard says meeting new competition in video poker will ensure IGT remains the dominant player in that segment. “Our poker sales, and our poker recurring revenue install base, are as healthy as they’ve ever been, and they put up Q2 results this year that were records,” he says.

“So, we understand the importance of our poker business... We know that competition in poker has stepped up, and is arriving, if not having already arrived. That being said, our poker business couldn’t be in a healthier situation. We’re going to have a huge poker presence at G2E.” One thing IGT is doing to maintain its video poker dominance is utilizing new and improved hardware. Station Casinos, for instance, increased its footprint of IGT video poker when the supplier released its iconic poker games on the premium CrystalSlant cabinet, formerly only a slot cabinet. According to Orchard, Station did not take out its current Game King video poker games to make way for those on CrystalSlant—it is an incremental increase in the video poker footprint of the longstanding IGT customer.

CrystalSlant video poker “is just producing amazing results for us,” Orchard says. “Bringing poker out on the CrystalSlant has been tremendously successful.”

CrystalSlant is not the only hardware improvement IGT has made for video poker. At G2E, the company will reveal its new bartop cabinet, PeakBarTop. Complete with a 23-inch curved display and a series of technological advances including USB charging ports, enhanced lighting and audio and more, the PeakBarTop is available for the full IGT video poker content portfolio.

The PeakBarTop is the result of some of the most intensive research and development efforts the company has ever put into the genre.

“The story behind that is fascinating,” Orchard says. “You know that we’re very research-driven, and focus-test driven, so we’ve gone through three or four iterations of that bartop cabinet. We’ve had customers heav-

ily involved, and then when we came up with our go-to-market model, one of our customers said, ‘Have you actually spoken to any bartenders?’ I thought that was a really unique sample, because it’s a bartop.”

The R&D team went back to the field with the product and asked bartenders to review it. One improvement from that research is an indicator light on the bar side of the cabinet that allows a bartender to easily see if a patron is wagering the required amount to get free drinks. (A green light gives the bartender the go-ahead for free drinks without having to look at credit meters.)

Slated for 2020 release, the PeakBarTop will contain evolutions of proven games such as Game King, Super Star Poker and Ultimate X Poker, as well as all the usual mainstays.

Those mainstays are growing in number, with a lineup of new video poker games for launch at G2E. Among the highlights are Deal ‘Em Up poker, which features rising pay-table values when Aces and face cards appear on the deal; and Super Times Pay Wheel Poker, which features bonus spins on a wheel that includes $1,000, $2,000, $3,000 and $4,000 slices.

Wheel Poker Progressive, which now has a Ten Play option, features a two-level progressive won through a wheel spin. For a one-coin ante, any natural four-of-a-kind triggers the wheel spin. On Stack ‘Em High Poker—on another new cabinet, called the Cobalt—a five-credit side bet enables a bonus triggered by two or more Aces. The Aces “stick” for a subsequent free hand.

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Tried-and-True Brands While video poker development has been a big priority for IGT, as usual, the company brings a complete lineup of premium and core video products to G2E. On the premium side, unlike many years in the past, there are not as many brand-new, blockbuster licensed brands in the lineup. The company has concentrated on the blockbuster licenses it already owns.

Licenses such as Jeopardy!, which has not seen a major new release in years, at least for landbased casinos. Jeopardy! is one of several game-show themes IGT released as slots in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and it is one of several the manufacturer is bringing to G2E in two modern versions.

Residing on the CrystalDual+ Stepper and the MegaTower Universal cabinets, the new Jeopardy! is designed for mid- to high-denomination play, and includes several innovative new play mechanics. Using Triple Double Diamond as a base game, the new Jeopardy! slot is packed with primary-game mystery features and bonus events.

Some features encourage higher bets. For instance, the number of paylines on the base Triple Double Diamond video slot rises as the wager rises.

Values in the bonus events and the progressive jackpots rise with the bet as well. A mystery “Random Daily Double” doubles values for five free spins.

The bonuses include a gambler-friendly “accept or reject” event. The player is given three offers for picks from the familiar Jeopardy! game board, the first two of which can be accepted or rejected.

Carrying on in the game-show mode, IGT will show its three games from The Price Is Right game family. A stepper version of the game was released recently on the MegaTower Universal cabinet. At G2E, IGT will demonstrate The Price is Right games on the CrystalDual+ Stepper and CrystalCurve Ultra cabinets. “By the end of next year, you’ll have all three various hardware components in the marketplace with the Price is Right 82

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franchise,” says Orchard.

The company also is bringing back $25,000 Pyramid in its premium video portfolio. This game, designed for high-denomination play, features a frequent bonus event based on the legendary game show.

“We believe game shows are among the best licenses,” comments Orchard. “There’s been a big move in the industry away from licensed brands for proprietary products. Multi-level progressives have grown, but most of those have been proprietary. So, we’re being very selective in regards to how much money we invest in licenses, and how much we invest in our proprietary products. And the licenses that we have invested in suit themselves to gaming very, very well.”

That also goes for IGT’s most successful game-show license, the venerable Wheel of Fortune, which will get several refreshes at G2E. On the video side is Wheel of Fortune 4D More Money, a new version of the game using IGT’s groundbreaking 4D technology, which combines glasses-free 3D and gesture recognition technologies.

The new Wheel of Fortune 4D slot has the player grasping objects in a persistent multiplier feature, wild symbols that increase jackpot values, and jackpot odds that grow more favorable at higher bets. A highlight of IGT’s portfolio will be Wheel of Fortune Cash Link Deluxe, a continuation of the well-known Cash Link family.

Wheel of Fortune is one of several new games being shown in the TRUE 4D format at G2E. Ocean Magic 4D is an example of an internal brand that’s being brought from the core group to the premium group. “We’re taking our best core game mechanics and bringing them, not just by name, but also by game play and game style, into premium,” Orchard says. “And so, you’ll see Ocean Magic 4D, and you’ll see extensions of more of our greatest internal brands into the premium world.” Jumanji 4D is another wild TRUE 4D game that will make its global debut in IGT’s G2E booth.

IGT will present plenty of “homegrown” premium games as well, among them Takes the Cake 2 and Candy Bars 2. Candy Bars 2 is a colorful linked multi-level progressive slot with a persistent feature that leads to “blackout pays.” Along those same sweet lines is Takes the Cake 2, a linked progressive that brings back another classic brand.

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Core Strength In the core video category, IGT brings a wealth of new titles as well as revivals of classic brands. On the Crystal series hardware, new titles like Lucky Buddha feature repeating multipliers, a wheel bonus, and a persistent feature that has players chasing multipliers within a set number of spins.

A new version of the classic brand Wolf Run Gold is one of IGT’s top brands that are being brought back in new versions.

Available on and CrystalCurve cabinet, the new Wolf Run Gold features a hold-andrespin feature with sticky wilds and a freespin feature in which wild symbols in the triggering spin “stick” for the entire feature.

A reimagined version of another classic, Hexbreaker 3, features horseshoe symbols that expand the reels for more ways to win.

This game also features an open-ended freespin feature that continues indefinitely, until a skull-and-crossbones symbol ends it.

The video lineup is augmented with a revival of another classic, this time as a new game in IGT’s TournXtreme tournament portfolio. Cleopatra TournXtreme will be IGT’s first tournament theme on a portrait cabinet, the CrystalCurve. It features four seasonal themes, such as Halloween and Fourth of July, and according to Orchard, it is the first of several classic brands IGT will port into the TournXtreme system.

Stepper Strength Orchard notes that the company’s R&D staff has worked to meet increasing competition in the mechanical reel segment.

“Over the last 12 months, we’ve worked extremely hard on mechanical reel slots,” he says, “to make sure that we optimize all of our configurations, and show our customers why we are the market leader in mechanical reels. We’ve really worked hard with our customer base to make sure the games are configured correctly, to meet each casino’s needs.

And that’s been the first step.

“The second one has been going back to a more retro look and feel with some of our games. Games that have just been released and are about to be released really look, feel and sound, more importantly, like the S2000 experience, and players have been asking for that.”

S2000, of course, was the company’s stepper workhorse format for decades, but for the past few years, those games have been steadily replaced by the new S3000 line. Since that line was first introduced, IGT 84

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The company also is bringing back $25,000 Pyramid in its premium video portfolio. This game, designed for highdenomination play, features a frequent bonus event based on the legendary game show. has worked to give the steppers the classic feel traditional players love.

IGT’s stepper lineup places a focus on high denomination and high limit. “Some of it’s already rolling out, and we’re encouraged by the performance that we’re seeing, particularly with some of the new openings and expansions in the last few months,” Orchard says. “We’re seeing great performance in mechanical reel.”

Among the highlights on the mechanical reel side this year is Red Hot Tamales Jackpots!, a three-reel, 27-line S3000 progressive with a wheel bonus. A bonus symbol on the third reel triggers the wheel, which contains slices for all four progressive jackpots. On the LCD monitor above the reels are the jumping bean characters from previous iterations of the game. The characters anticipate wheel spins by giggling, jumping and wiggling right before the bonus symbol lands.

Another standout on the S3000 is Dragon of Fortune, another multiple-progressive. On this game, the three progressive jackpot levels rise as the bet level rises.

Double Chili Mania features 10 progressive levels, with a blackout feature every 75 spins that leads to one of the progressives. Loot Booster is another entertaining game on the S3000. A “Loot Booster” feature randomly increases the values on the bonus wheel. Both features are very frequent—the Loot Booster lands every 11 spins on average; and the wheel spin, around every 40 games.

“We have a focus on linked progressives like never before,” Orchard says.

“The largest allocation of our R&D budget in 2019 and 2020 and beyond is going to linked progressives, and that’s across all of our various product verticals. We’re linking games in Class II, we’re linking games in Class III, on core video, on stepper, and also on games we will have for sale at G2E.” The company also will have a complete lineup of Class II games at G2E, as well as games for the Washington and New York central-determinant video lottery markets.

“We’re having tremendous success with VLTs,” says Orchard. “We have some huge shipments in the fourth quarter of this year, and we’re continuing

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to invest aggressively in the VLT segment. We have a significant Canadian replacement cycle that starts next year, and we think we’re positioned very well to get the majority of that business and maintain our No. 1 market share, across not just the domestic markets, but the international markets.”

He adds that the Class II division no longer simply converts Class III games to Class II. “We’re taking the success of the Class III library and we’re driving that content, specifically designed for Class II markets, in video and mechanical reel,” he says, “so you’re starting to see performance and yield from our Class II business that we’ve never realized before. It’s a huge upside for us.”

On the central-determinant side, the company has revived what was the hot game around seven years ago in Washington state, Triple Fortune Dragon.

“That game took the market by storm,” he says. “People lined up to play it.

So, we decided this year to go back and redevelop new versions of the game.”

Orchard says there are three new versions of Triple Fortune Dragon on the market now, all of which are “knocking it out of the park” in Washington.

“People are lining up to play these games. This and other central-determi-

nant games will be part of IGT’s show display.”

IGT’s display this year will include new multi-player electronic table games as well. The company has completely revamped and augmented its line of ETGs. The games have been improved with new, slimmer cabinetry, but the big additions are a wealth of side-bet options added to the games. “For a long time, we were limited in regard to the side bets that we offered versus the competition,” Orchard says. “The new games are in the market now, and performing very well.

We will demonstrate additional side bets at G2E.” Finally, IGT’s booth will include a dedicated area for digital and sports betting products and services from its PlayDigital division, and system products such as the company’s lineup of cardless and cashless solutions. (See cover story, page 32.)

“We really believe that this year, end to end, every product vertical that’s going be displayed at G2E is as strong as it’s ever been, and that’s what we’re most excited about,” says Orchard.

“The strength of the business end-to-end is really what we’re displaying at G2E this year.”

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INCREDIBLE TECHNOLOGIES Moving On Up Incredible Technologies continues its rise in the slot market, thanks to a high bar for slot performance

J

ust over a decade ago, Incredible Technologies, a successful amusement game supplier based in the Chicago suburbs, decided to make room in its plant for the development of casino slot machines. Much of that plant was dedicated to production of Golden Tee Golf, the legendary tavern and arcade golf game that had been its bread and butter since the 1980s.

This year, Golden Tee production is being moved out of the Mount Vernon, Illinois plant. Slot production has taken over, and there’s simply not enough room for the engineers to park.

Golden Tee, of course, is not going anywhere—IT is creating a dedicated plant for the game, which is still ubiquitous on the bar scene and has found new life as an esports game, with worldchampionship events held the past two years at the Orleans in Las Vegas.

But IT’s slot business is quite a story nevertheless. Only 11 years after the launch of its first slot game at G2E 2008, the company’s games are showing up regularly in industry surveys of the highest-performing slot games in the business.

“Our footprint is growing consistently,” says Caitlin Harte, director of product marketing for Incredible Technologies. “Our sales goals are really lofty. We’ve had yearover-year growth since 2015, which is crazy. We’re still high on the Eilers reports—we still feel like we’re the little guys, so it’s fun to see how the industry is responding to us.”

The industry is responding because players are responding. Harte credits that to the game introduction regimen instituted by Elaine Hodgson, the company’s co-founder, president and CEO. “Elaine does not let us bring content to the G2E show that isn’t out in the field and proven, and performing well,” Harte says. “We pride ourselves that we bring a lot of new content, but it’s also available at the show, for sale, with earnings to back it up.”

This year, IT’s booth at G2E will feature around 50 cabinets, with dozens of new titles, and for the most part, ready to ship right after the show. But the hardware on which those games reside will be a major emphasis. Since launching the Infinity V55 core cabinet at G2E two years ago, the company has been developing new ways to present it—all de86

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signed to capitalize on the best features of that cabinet, which features a 55-inch, flatscreen 4K vertical full-touch monitor, the largest screen on a core cabinet in the industry.

At spring’s Indian Gaming Tradeshow, it was the Pinwheel.

The Infinity V55 Edge Pinwheel is is IT’s unconventional answer to a standard carousel configuration. Game cabinets are separated by IT’s unique Edge monitors, 4K LED displays of customizable high-definition

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“It eliminates the ‘middle game syndrome,’ that we found can hurt games’ performance; it’s kind of like the middle airplane seat that no one wants to sit in.This cabinet creates a little more elbow room—a much more comfortable experience, and completely immersive.”

—Caitlin Harte, Director of Product Marketing, Incredible Technologies

graphics, each angled in what the company calls a “Sawtooth” configuration to create a unique configuration that offers players privacy and service employees easy access.

At G2E, IT will launch more hardware in the form of new versions of the V55, dubbed the Infinity Pilot and Infinity Summit.

The Pilot is a premium cabinet, for lease only—the company’s first lease-only product. It is designed to give the player an immersive experience by flanking the main 55-inch vertical monitor with two 29-inch displays—“58-inch monitors that have been cut in half,” Harte says.

The effect is cinematic, creating what is almost a private chamber for the player.

“It creates an individual gaming space—like a stall, almost—where a player would feel really comfortable,” Harte explains. “It eliminates the ‘middle game syndrome,’ that we found can hurt games’ performance; it’s kind of like the middle airplane seat that no one wants to sit in. This cabinet creates a little more elbow room—a much more comfortable experience, and completely immersive.”

The Infinity Summit is designed as a new core cabinet, although Harte describes it as “premium core.” This form factor places a 4K highdefinition monitor on top of the main 55-inch display, angled down toward the player.

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“Where the Pilot is more horizontal, taking up a wider space, the Summit is capitalizing on the overhead space over Infinity V55,” says Harte. “We’ve become known for releasing great core cabinets, and then building on them using innovative, unique structures to add monitors, to create new form factors out of that.

We did it with U23 cabinet, where we built upon that and made the Skybox. Now we have the V55, which is our core cabinet, and we added an overhead monitor to create the Summit.”

As with the Pinwheel configuration, IT is presenting innovative ways to group the two new cabinets, with configurations the company calls the “Dogbone” and the “Gear.”

The Dogbone configuration uses the Edge monitors in back-to-back banks of games. In a six-pack setup, the Edge monitors flanking the end-cap games create the shape of a dog bone for the entire bank. The Gear setup creates a carousel bank with space in the middle.

“Dogbone is our answer to back-to-back setups, and the Gear is like a gigantic carousel for someone who wants a centerpiece on their floor,” Harte says. “It is designed to really get attention. We’ve seen a lot of places that have started to have feature sections in their casino, either right when you walk in or smack-dab in the center, where they have all their leased product. We think this will be a good option for that section.” It will serve as the centerpiece of IT’s booth at G2E. IT will launch inaugural games for each of the new cabinets. On the Pilot will be Crazy Money Double Deluxe, a new version of Crazy Money Deluxe, a hit game in what IT calls the “money family.”

The original Crazy Money established itself as the company’s flagship brand. As is IT’s practice, it has repeated the main game mechanics of the original in sequels. All of the “money” games have the familiar game interface of various bill denominations as reel symbols. They also all offer the central feature of the theme, the “Money Catch Bonus,” in which players touch the screen to “grab” flying dollar bills, revealing credit values behind each bill.

IT launched its tall Infinity Skybox cabinet in 2015 with the second game in the series, Crazy Money Deluxe. That was followed closely by the Infinity Super Sky Wheel, which used the adjacent 55-inch flatscreen monitors in a bank to form a giant common display for a wheel bonus. The Pilot’s featured game, Crazy Money Double Deluxe, builds

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on all those features.

“Our strategy often is to use the in-house brands to launch new form factors, and Crazy Money has been our bread and butter for a lot of years,” Harte says. “Crazy Money Double Deluxe uses all of the game play mechanics that players liked in Crazy Money Deluxe. The original is our most popular and highest-performing Skybox title. This uses a similar math model; we took all of the game play features players like with the wheel-spinning, and added a second wheel.

“Because what’s better than one wheel? Two wheels.”

The two wheels are displayed on the outside flanking monitors.

“Where the Skybox cabinet had that huge wheel overhead, with the Pilot we’re bringing those wheel features down, right in the player’s line of sight, and they’re constantly turning,” says Harte. “It really makes use of the 4K gaming space.”

Enhancing the experience is the frequency of the wheel-spin bonus, which occurs around once every 45 spins. “That really keeps the player engaged, especially with this form factor,” Harte says.

The Summit cabinet is being used to launch a new game family called Roller Wheels. The main game mechanic is based on the hit IT game Money Roll, with the reels presented as a scrolling sheet of currency.

“That was one of the most popular titles we’ve ever had,” says Harte.

“We decided to upgrade it. We took the elements that players liked about it, and then added a wheel, and added a progressive.” As with the Crazy Money title, the bonus wheel spins with great frequency, an average of every 45 spins.

In keeping with the supplier’s M.O., both cabinets and the launch games were already out on field trial at press time. According to Harte, after 45 days, Crazy Money Double Deluxe on the Pilot was averaging around 2.8 times house average in revenue at four locations.

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erage in five locations, Harte says. “All the initial earnings we have coming back on these two form factors are really encouraging,” she says. “By the time we go into the show, we’ll have more titles out on test.

“It’s different than some of our competitors who bring cabinets you won’t have on your floor for another year. We really pride ourselves on the fact we’re able to get these new products out and tested, and will be at G2E for sale, ready to go, ready to ship right after the show.”

Ramping Up the Library Aside from the two big cabinet/game launches, IT is using the big show to launch titles that will add to the product pipeline of the company’s other form factors. That includes new game families for the Skybox and the original Infinity V55.

On the Skybox, the company will highlight its new “SkyTower” game family with Flamingo Fire, which takes advantage of the tall vertical top monitor with the ability to “unlock” up to four additional reel sets, each spinning toward one of four progressive jackpots.

Scatter symbols trigger a progressive bonus in which the bottom reel set is cleared of all symbols except blanks, progressive symbols and keys, which must be collected to unlock each progressive level in the SkyTower.

Once a level is unlocked, the progressive pieces can accumulate to collect multiple progressive awards in a single event.

A second launch title, Lady of the Tower, features a similar progressive bonus event.

“We’ve kind of taken a back seat on Skybox for about a year, because the current titles have been performing so well,” says Harte. “Now, as competition is increasing in that product segment with the big overhead monitor, we decided that this was the year to refresh it.”

On the Infinity V55 is Spirit Link, IT’s first game family featuring a hold-and-spin bonus event. On these games, scatter symbols trigger the

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spin of a wheel to determine a number of “Spirit Link Spins.” The main screen clears to reveal a reel set of only blanks and Lady scatters. Players then collect scatters for credit awards and keep their eyes peeled for scatters that land next to each other. When that happens, the player can touch them on the screen, after which the symbols grow in size and credit awards.

If the player fills the screen with scatters, it triggers a progressive wheel bonus. (The progressive bonus also is awarded randomly as a mystery event.)

All progressives are available at any bet level.

Launch titles include Dance of the Dead, inspired by the Mexican Day of the Dead holiday; and the Asian-themed City of the East.

“Spirit Link is our first swipe at a hold-and-spin game, a feature we now put in the same category as a wheel,” Harte says. “It’s a feature players know and recognize. Spirit Link takes the familiarity of hold-and-spin and adds beautiful art that really pops on the 4K monitors.”

As with the new cabinets, IT is making Spirit Link available in the unique bank configurations like Sawtooth and Pinwheel.

Meanwhile, IT continues on its growth path, with game development in four Chicago-area studios, plus two in Las Vegas, each with its own team of

engineers and game designers. The company recently promoted Dan Whelan, one of its lead game designers, to the position of vice president of development. “He’s really taken on the task of keeping everyone communicating and open, and sharing ideas,” Harte says.

“The year has been really exciting. We have more employees than we ever had, close to 250. Our Las Vegas office is up and running, and those studios are creating their own game content. We’ve expanded into Canada.

The product is performing really high; our bank configurations and Edge content are getting us a lot of attention, which is getting us better bank placement.”

The small size of the company, she adds, gives designers an advantage.

“Because we’re so small, we can be really nimble when we come out with new product,” she says. “We can respond to feedback immediately and design something for a particular market.”

Harte says company officials appreciate the opportunity for growth that has been afforded by the operators. “We’re obviously very happy that our operators are still in support of little guys,” she says.

“Although, perhaps we aren’t so little anymore.”

OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com

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KONAMI GAMING New Frontiers Konami Gaming uses its new cabinets to roll out creative game content and new game mechanics

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t last year’s Global Gaming Expo, Konami Gaming rolled out the KX43, a state-of-the-art form factor with a 43-inch, Ultra High Definition 4K display. Available for both lease and for-sale games, KX43 features dual spin buttons, a built-in USB charger, a high-powered sound system, and an LED button deck with a “touch-dash” button panel.

The KX43 was introduced at G2E just as another new cabinet, the giant Concerto Opus—featuring a massive 65-inch flat-screen monitor—was released to the market.

This year, Konami arrives at G2E with a load of content for both new cabinets, as well as its Concerto Crescent curved cabinet and Concerto Stack upright portrait cabinet.

And a lot of that content departs from the supplier’s comfort zone to explore new game styles and inventive game mechanics.

“We’re presenting our largest and newest lineup at G2E as long as I’ve been here,” says Steve Walther, senior director of marketing and product management for Konami Gaming (and with the company since 2013). “It’s exciting to see the amount of diversity that’s on our floor, with the cabinets we’re displaying as well as the content we’re displaying.

“Plus, we’re harkening back to some classical game elements, and giving you a new twist on some of what we consider our best game mechanics.”

One of those new twists arrives on the Concerto Opus in the form of Treasure Lounge, a departure in style for Konami in that there are no spinning reels. Instead, the 4K screen shows a Tiki lounge.

When the player hits the spin button, various Tiki symbols slide onto the screen in five columns of random height. Any columns which are tall enough to reach the blue credit prize symbols displayed in the upper part of the screen claim those rewards.

“We did a significant amount of research into the Tiki lounge atmosphere,” says Walther. “There are a number of Tiki lounges here in Las Vegas that our staff frequented, just to get the right vibe.”

The base game consists of hitting the button and getting the Tikis to a pay zone. “It’s a really unique experience,” Walther says. “Rather than having reels spinning, have Tiki heads that come out of the ground, and then where they stop is what you’re awarded. So, if they go high enough to get to the credit prizes, you win that credit prize, and whatever it passes through. If they don’t, you just spin again, and 92

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have this nice music playing at the same time.

“It has relaxing, island background music. A continuous music track is something we haven’t done in the past, so you’ll get to hear nice Tiki lounge music playing, you see the Tikis moving up and down, you see the amounts changing, and you have wheels that you’re targeting to get extra prizes.”

If a bonus reel appears in the upper half of the screen, players win either the Tiki Drop Feature, Tiki Rise Feature, or both combined. In the Tiki Drop feature, additional Tiki symbols are randomly dropped across the reel frame, and in the Tiki Rise Feature, stacks of Tiki symbols nudge to the height of the tallest Tiki for added win potential.

“This game features a lot of action, a lot of entertainment,” says Walther.

“It’s fun. That’s where we get back to what makes Konami, Konami—that ‘born from fun’ element, what you had for the Advantage Revolution with the spinning reels rotating back and forth, what you had for the Titan 360 with the big ball. Treasure Lounge captures that fun aspect of Konami by presenting the outcome in a different way.”

On the Opus and the KX43 cabinets is Hao Yun Lai, which combines the popular Strike Zone feature with the “Fade Away Feature,” popularized by the hit game Chili Chili Fire.

When any wild symbol lands within the player’s selected Strike Zone, it triggers the Fade Away Feature, which eliminates all lower-value card symbols and leaves only higher-value picture symbols for big win combinations.

For more information, stop by booth 6229.

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“We’re presenting our largest and newest lineup at G2E as long as I’ve been here. It’s exciting to see the amount of diversity that’s on our floor.”

—Steve Walther, Senior Director of Marketing and Product Management, Konami Gaming

Hao Yun Lai also includes a symbol-driven integrated progressive delivered through a new “Pop n’ Drop Feature” that involves stacked fireworks that hang in the upper area of the screen.

Whenever six or more wild symbols land on the reels, a new 1x3 reel set appears with only blank spaces and painted lanterns.

Markings on the lanterns determine which stacked firecrackers pop and drop instant credit prizes.

“When you get the Pop & Drop feature, the reels change, and then you’ve got the ‘Up’ arrow or the question mark,” explains Walther. “If you get the Up arrow, you get what’s directly on top. If you get the question mark, it randomizes through the fireworks what you get, and you might win one of the progressive jackpots.”

When you’ve won an award, it disappears and the entire stack goes down. “So, your top awards keep coming closer and closer to the player as you play the game,” Walther says. “Again, it’s a little bit of that twist on some of those famous Konami mechanics.”

Also on the KX43 is a new game series called Fortune Mint, which features coin symbols that transform to random multipliers and jackpot symbols when appearing in a highlighted section of the reel frame.

The Fortune Mint series has two available launch titles: Fu Gui You Yu and Fu Xing Gao Zhao. Both are five-reel scatter-pay games with a spectrum of bonus opportunities based on the player’s selected bet level.

Another game on the Opus cabinet is Diamondizer, first previewed at last year’s show but completely retooled and improved upon.

Platform Diversity Konami also is launching several games that are available on multiple platforms. One highlight is Deluxe Spin-der, available on KX43, Concerto Crescent and Concerto Stack.

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“The Deluxe Spin-der product has a bet similar to our Strike Zone bet, where the more you bet, the more zones you get, and the more zones you buy, the more opportunities you have to gain extra pieces of the pie,” Walther says. “And the pie builds a bonus wheel.”

Above the main reel array in the base game are three extra reels—each displayed in a single box over one of the three middle reels. The player activates the extra reels by making three extra bets. The bonus reels contain wild symbols, wilds with multipliers and wheel symbols.

When a Wild, Wild 2X or Wild 3X symbol lands in one of the active extra-reel boxes, it will drop to replace all positions in the corresponding main reel.

If six wheel symbols land on the reel array and extra reels, it triggers a wheel feature. The large wheel above the reels displays credit prizes and the

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four fixed bonus prizes.

“You’re actually in your base game spinning, so you can get six or more pieces of the pie,” Walther explains. “And once you get the six pieces of the pie, you go up and spin the wheel—and this happens very frequently. It’s a fun game, because you know you’re just around the corner from spinning that wheel one more time.”

In addition to wild symbols, when the player raises the bet, it buys extra spaces above the reels to build the pie. “It has very interactive game mechanics, so people can invest in the value they’re comfortable betting,” Walther says. “If they want to bet low on the button panel, they don’t get the extra spaces. They move up, they get the extra spaces. For a little bit more risk, they get a little bit more reward.”

A release available on Concerto Crescent or Concerto Stack is Vegas Wild Jackpots, featuring a three-level standalone progressive jackpot and a tall “Multiple Lines 7-8-8-8-7” reel format.

Vegas Wild Jackpots features a symbol-trigger progressive jackpot chance, giving players a higher jackpot chance at higher extra bet levels. Throughout game play, gold wild symbols randomly transform to red or blue. The Maxi progressive is awarded for red wild symbols on three reels; the Major is awarded for blue wild symbols on three reels; and a mix of red and blue on three reels awards the Mini.

Premiums and the Derby Walther says Konami will present an entirely new lineup of premium games at G2E. One standout is Silent Hill, based on the Konami horror video game released in 1999. (In 2006, the game was adapted into the film Silent Hill, about subterranean supernatural creatures under an abandoned town.)

“Silent Hill has some of the popular video game mechanics built within it, and has a nice wild bonus where you’re actually being chased by one of the characters within Silent Hill,” explains Walther. “In our game, you are under attack by various supernatural characters that invade the town of Silent Hill.

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There are bonuses where the characters attack you, and you have to defend yourself from being attacked, and if you do, you win credit prizes.

“And it has a really unique set of graphics taken directly from the game. It shows great on the 4K monitor that’s built into our cabinet. People will really see the full packaging around Silent Hill at the show, and people are going to say, ‘Oh, that’s something new for Konami,’ even though it’s a classic Konami license.”

Other new premium games are being kept under wraps until show time.

Finally, Konami is pumping new life into its iconic horse-racing game, Fortune Cup. That game is a combination digital and electro-mechanical multi-player, arcade-style horse race on a miniature track. It is similar to the legendary Sigma Derby popular in the 1980s, one of the last units of which sits right next to Fortune Cup at the D in Downtown Las Vegas.

At G2E, the company unveils Fortune Cup Derby Deluxe, a streamlined, improved version of the horse-race game. “It has a different betting structure associated with it,” says Walther. “It reduces the number of horses from eight to six. That also allows us to speed up the games a little bit, so we’ll be able to do 50 more games per day with the new Fortune Cup Derby Deluxe.

“It also has a side jackpot wager that randomizes what order the six horses can come in. If you get the exact match based upon your side bet, you win the top progressive level. If you get four or five, there are other prizes associated with that.”

Along with the all the new games will be yet another new cabinet, with an integrated merchandising package, which Walther says will be something completely different for Konami. No other details on that—or one or two other surprises—will be revealed before the show.

Not surprising are new elements for the award-winning Konami Synkros casino management system. Highlighted this year is SYNKVision, the facial recognition technology built directly into Synkros.

But the big news for Konami this year is diversity—and offerings that are distinctly out-of-the-box.

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S GLOBA2L0 1GAME 9

MERKUR GAMING AMERICA Cracking the U.S. Market Merkur Gaming America continues U.S.-based R&D as it seeks to expand its footprint in North America

By William Sokolic

M

ike Halvorson knows a thing or two about slot trends. He is the chief design officer at Sunshine Games, the Las Vegas game design studio formed in 2017 as part of Merkur Gaming Americas. Halvorson says the biggest trend into 2020 is to feature bonus games with a wide array of jackpot levels.

“The days of stand-alone release products are behind us,” he says.

Take Treasure Link, expected to be one of the highlights of Merkur Gaming’s booth at the Global Gaming Expo. A progressive system, Treasure Link will be linked to five new games, and each of these games has its own bonus features that also provide the player with an opportunity to win prizes from the Treasure Link progressive jackpot.

The five games are African Glory, a dramatic adventure with stunning graphics that plays out under the burning Serengeti sun; Dragon Marbles and Golden Silk, which both have elegant Asian themes; Joker Buffalo, actually two game concepts in one; and Temple of the Nile, which captures the mystique and mystery of ancient Egypt.

“The five are not themselves progressive, except insofar as they provide, depending on results, an entry point into the Treasure Link jackpot,” says David Orrick, director of industry relations for Merkur.

Each one of these games presents a free games bonus feature called Cash Games that, while a bonus game in its own right, also has its own special features that are the player’s entry to search for Treasure Link’s high-value Mini, Midi, Maxi and Mega progressive jackpots, he says.

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Visitors to Merkur Gaming’s Booth 3353 also will find a range of new games that all have the added attraction of bonus features, part of more than 140 games expected to be displayed, compared to 120 a year ago.

Rapid Thunder, a new game concept that features an in-game high-attraction bonus, will make its first appearance at G2E. The brand new title Runnin’ Wild will feature strongly, as will another newcomer, Jewels of the Nile.

“Two familiar titles, Striking Fortunes and Big Deal Wheel, have also been given additional new bonus features and will undoubtedly prove to be a strong attraction to visitors,” Orrick says.

For Merkur, G2E is one of the two “global” events of each year (the other being ICE in London) that always marks a highlight, Orrick says. “The show requires a large investment from exhibitors but also presents widespread commercial opportunities. This is the ‘buyer meets seller’ scenario, one that fires our expectations each year.”

Merkur Gaming has more than 40 years experience in the industry. The company stepped up its presence in the U.S. with the formation of Merkur Gaming Americas in 2015. Since the launch of Sunshine Games, Merkur has touted its American connection with the in-house mantra “Designed in America, by Americans, for Americans.”

“That addresses, head on, the sometimes-heard objection to new, foreign-owned vendors that want to come to the U.S. gaming landscape,

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namely, NIH—not invented here,” Orrick says.

Merkur Gaming is part of Germany’s Gauselmann Group, which after more than 62 years, employs some 13,500 people in more than 40 countries worldwide. The company’s success, knowledge and experience are major assets in the constant research and development process that accompanies the creation of new products such as those that will be seen at G2E. “No matter what your language or culture, at Merkur Gaming, ‘We Speak Gaming,’” the company said in a previous release.

A market leader in Europe, and a well-established and successful supplier across Latin America and the Caribbean, Merkur Gaming will also expand its presence in Africa and new market entries across Asia. “Mexico is a vibrant market at present, and many of our recent game releases have been widely installed there, and also in Peru,” Orrick says.

The first phase of a carefully planned entree into U.S. markets is now taking place. “Our initial test phase will be in South Florida and, based on positive results, will lead us into new markets as we work to become a significant vendor company throughout the U.S., in both tribal government gaming and commercial land-based operations,” Orrick says.

Merkur’s games are just now starting to roll out into the market, Halvorson says. “We have experienced very little pushback from casinos on our products, and we lean on operators as a resource as we fine-tune our products to perform to the ultimate for the casinos and also give players the maximum in their gaming entertainment.”

Before they crack the U.S. market, Merkur Gaming products are subject to extensive technical and quality control testing prior to being released to casino operators. Games are sent out for trials and then, based on the trial results, accepted by the operator and placed on the gaming floor, Orrick says.

“We are working daily with GLI in Las Vegas to successfully get games here through the testing process.”

Says Halvorson, “Our core focus is to make impactful products with a lot of new innovative concepts, but still keeping the focus on the players’ experience.”

The company has received six new game certifications in just a few short months. “By the time of G2E 2019, we plan on having a total of 18 games approved by GLI and even more placements in casinos in the coming months,” he says.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

NOVOMATIC AMERICAS Forging Ahead Novomatic Americas beefs up its R&D talent to grow its U.S. footprint on several fronts

I

t’s been four years since Novomatic Americas, the North American subsidiary of Austrian slot leader Novomatic AG, hired Matt Ward as vice president of product development. It was one of a series of smart moves that would allow Novomatic Americas to quickly mature as a supplier to U.S. casinos.

Ward, who had spent 15 years in game design at WMS Gaming, has built up Novomatic’s U.S. game design studio in the Chicago suburbs, its staff—now at 20—providing the U.S.-centered game design that would be vital to Novomatic’s growing North American footprint.

Ward joined other veteran executives at Novomatic Americas, including President and CEO Rick Meitzler, a 40-year supply veteran who spent 33 years with Bally; and Vice President of Marketing and Product Management Kathleen McLaughlin, a 29-year gaming executive and former corporate VP of product development for Caesars Entertainment.

The company further strengthened its executive staff this year, promoting longtime Financial Controller Len Busche to senior vice president of finance and promoting Technical Services Manager Jeffrey Rios to director of technical services.

The strengthened team at Novomatic Americas has moved the company forward on several fronts, from major hit casino games to a growing dominance in the Illinois VGT market.

Novomatic Americas has increased its output of premium and core slots, as well as hardware and systems for VGT markets in Illinois, Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

On the slot side, Novomatic’s superior hardware has given Ward a lot to work with, from several iterations of the V.I.P. Lounge to the Panthera 1.43 Curve, the V.I.P. Lounge Curve 1.43, and the immersive Novostar V.I.P. Royal 3.65 cabinet with Python Chair.

Progressive Progression On the content side, it’s been all about premium progressives like the mega-hit Thunder Cash, a four-level progressive with two popular bonus 100 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

events, including a “Coin Respin” lock-and-spin feature.

“We have almost 200 units in the market, and a high demand for this product. They’re doing well everywhere they are placed,” says McLaughlin.

“They continue to trend upward in almost every single location we have them.”

This year, Novomatic Americas arrives at Global Gaming Expo with premium progressive links in several different game styles. “These are not IP titles,” says Ward, “but high-end progressive links that have a lot of focus on

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 Another new progressive entry is an addition to the Pay Day link, which features a ladderstyle lineup of eight progressive jackpots won by landing scattered Pay Day symbols— ranging from a fixed prize of $30 for five symbols to the top progressive jackpot resetting at $12,000 for 10 symbols. The first two games in the series, Prize Panda and Prize of the Nile, feature up to 20 free spins with all non-progressive jackpots tripled.

strong Asian titles. We’re also looking at bringing some classic fruit-style games to the progressive market, going after that core player and giving them the excitement of a lock-and-spin bonus on a linked progressive.”

At the top of that list is Money Party, with launch games Fruity Fruity and Juicy Juicy. The games are both five-reel, 50-line four-level progressive slots on the Panthera 1.43 Curve cabinet (available also on the V.I.P Lounge Curve 1.43), and both base games are loaded with fruit symbols.

“Our owner (Novomatic Group founder Johann Graf) is really passionate about fruit-style games,” McLaughlin says. “The link has two different varieties of games, and a fun, expanding wild mystery bonus-style game.” In the mystery feature, wild symbols randomly expand to become wild reels.

The main Money Party Feature is a lock-and-spin feature in which coins labeled with prizes hold in place for three spins, and reset back to three spins with any additional coin symbols. Filling the entire screen with coin symbols returns double the accumulated coin value.

There are two symbol-based progressives, resetting at $500 and $15,000, plus two fixed jackpots.

“There’s definitely a player base that is underserved by the fruit games,” says Ward. “Giving them an updated version of the fruit-style game with the lock-and-spin bonus added on will make them really appealing.”

Another new progressive entry is an addition to the Pay Day link, which features a ladder-style lineup of eight progressive jackpots won by landing scattered Pay Day symbols—ranging from a fixed prize of $30 for five symbols to the top progressive jackpot resetting at $12,000 for 10 symbols. The first two games in the series, Prize Panda and Prize of the Nile, feature up to 20 free spins with all non-progressive jackpots tripled.

The new entry in the series, called Pay Day Plus, improves on that feature. “Pay Day Plus takes it a step beyond,” says Ward. “Instead of 3X in the free spins, it awards 2X, 3X or 5X, creating a chance for some very significant prizes. Also, we lowered the line count from 30 to 20; we’re looking at this as a high-denomination version of the Pay Day game.

102 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

“This is a North American-designed game,” says McLaughlin, “different than our European style of game from the art to the math. We’ve had a lot of interest from operators in Prize Panda and Prize of the Nile, the first games have gone into Grand Casino Hinkley, and operators will be superinterested in Pay Day Plus to follow up in the series.”

Another standout progressive link is Samurai Beauty, also a four-level progressive with a lock-and-spin feature, this one on the V.I.P. Lounge 1.43 Curve cabinet. Like Pay Day, the game also features a free-spin bonus and mystery expanding wilds.

“The artwork on this game is fantastic,” says McLaughlin. “It centers on the main character, a beautiful Samurai warrior. She’s an expanding wild symbol on an any-ways five-by-three array. Six coins trigger the lock-andspin bonus.”

She says there will be real-life Samurai beauties at Novomatic’s G2E booth to guide attendees to the game. (Naturally.)

“Progressives are definitely hot and getting hotter in all regions and subcategories,” says Ward. “Our progressives also span the range in the level of the top progressive. Some casinos and players are looking for the $25,000 high end, while other casinos want to limit their liability to a lower $5,000 grand progressive. We’re trying to meet those demands.”

“Novomatic has not been progressive-focused in the European part of their business,” says McLaughlin. “The demand in the U.S. markets have dragged them forward into that genre. We’ve worked on that product category the last two years, and we have now gone all-in, becoming a competitive progressive product line provider.”

Progressive Core That extends to Novomatic Americas’ core video slots as well as the premium games. One of the big standouts there is Dragon Hits, in the Novo Line on three different cabinets—Panthera 1.43, V.I.P. Lounge Curve and V.I.P. Royal.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 In April, the company launched the ACTIONBOOK sportsbook kiosk, an integrated kiosk that presents betting options and wager features in an easy-tolearn style. Dual interactive touch screens allow players to place individual bets, parlays and a variety of new bet options while providing familiarity and intuitive control.

“This is just something I haven’t seen before,” says McLaughlin. “The way you proceed through the progressives is unique.”

Dragon Hits features a threelevel, must-hit-by progressive.

The Fire Dragon, Gold Dragon and Jade Dragon are each freegame trigger symbols, leading to anywhere from five to 25 free games, depending on the symbol and how many of them land. But each symbol also corresponds to one of the progressives, which are mystery must-hit-by prizes that are awarded at random during the free-game events corresponding to the jackpots.

“When you’re in those spins, you’re eligible for that mystery must-hit progressive,” says Ward. “In those free spins, every spin will have a certain number of random scattered wilds on the reels.”

In this and other core game entries, Ward’s team is working to produce superior math models. “We’re taking some of the established math models and really amping up the excitement level,” he says, “trying to focus on what the real core thing is that players are looking for with this math model, and making that the main focus of the game.”

Among the more intriguing among Novomatic’s new core games is Riches Ahoy. “This was huge in the U.K. route market,” Ward says, “and we brought it over to the Illinois route market, where it quickly became one of our top performers. And now, we’re bringing it to the casino market. It’s a very different style game, called a ‘bar-X-O game’ in the route market world.”

That means it features a very limited symbol set of bars, 7s, Xs, Os and a wild symbol. “The O symbol is a blocker,” Ward explains. “By itself, it does not pay, but the bonus trigger symbol can occasionally drop down over it. And if you get five bonus symbols, you get free spins or a picking game for a progressive.

“This is very much a player’s game, a very clean game that offers a really different, fast-playing experience.”

VGTs and Kiosks According to McLaughlin, while Novomatic Americas is still growing in the casino slot market, most of the company’s growth over the past few years has been in the VGT market in Illinois. “We have become the No. 1 and No. 2 performers in those gaming cafes,” she says. “And with the expansion in Illinois to the sixth game (per venue), we’ve been the preferred provider of that sixth game.

“Based upon performance and upon how we’ve started to impact in those different locations, we’re getting replacement orders and new orders for the expansion. And in Pennsylvania, because of our work in Illinois and 104 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

our success there, it has been more of a pull than a push with customers in that market.”

Along with the recent growth in game sales has come a new push to provide peripherals for the VGT market in the form of a player reward system and player kiosks.

“We’re producing a VGT player reward system specific to the Illinois market, where you can’t use player tracking,” McLaughlin says. “We’ve developed a custom system, and we’ve had great response to it. We’re now going to start installing with three different very large operators in the Illinois market, and we’re expanding that into Pennsylvania.”

Ward’s team also has designed three new player reward kiosks specifically for VGT markets in Illinois and Pennsylvania. “They’re beautiful, and I think they’re really inviting for players,” says McLaughlin. “They’re VGTspecific designed, so they’ll fit in smaller gaming cafes, truck stops and other locations.”

It will be the second home run this year in the kiosk business for Novomatic Americas. In April, the company launched the Novamatic ACTIONBOOK sports betting kiosk, an integrated self-service kiosk that presents betting options and wager features in an easy-to-learn style. Dual interactive touch screens allow players to place individual bets, parlays and a variety of new bet options while providing familiarity and intuitive control.

“We have a great relationship with Kambi, who are the major distributor for Penn National Gaming, and we are their kiosk provider, which is huge for us,” McLaughlin says. “And we continue to get those types of conversations and deals with major companies in the sports betting segment.”

Also on the hardware side is a video wall the company rolled out at ICE London that combines seven 4K video panels that run integrated animation behind games, synchronized with game events, running attract animation when the games are idle.

It all demonstrates the diversity of the product library being built by Novomatic Americas, which recently expanded into the Puerto Rico market and continues to grow in Native American markets like Oklahoma.

Novomatic may be the king of Europe, but the company is rapidly becoming a force on the other side of the Atlantic as well.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

SCIENTIFIC GAMES Reimagining Play Scientific Games masters delivery of multi-channel offerings with SG Game Service while launching new content in all game groups

S

cientific Games Corporation is the very definition of an end-to-end supplier, its three main legacy companies having combined into a one-stop shop for slot machines, specialty table games, table utility products, casino management systems, sports betting technology and a complete suite of interactive services.

It’s only natural, then, that the company would devise a system by which all those games and services could be delivered seamlessly across all land-based and digital channels. That’s exactly what one of the company’s headline products for Global Gaming Expo does.

Scientific Games’ G2E exhibit will be presented under the new brand campaign “Reimagine Play.” The slogan certainly fits the company’s lineup of new slot games and cabinets, which provide new looks for stepper slots, video slot games and even bartop video poker.

But one of SG’s trade-show highlights this year is something that ties all those games together and makes them more accessible than ever. It’s called the SG Game Service.

“Reimagine Play is really about player focus,” says Cathryn Lai, senior vice president of products and marketing for Scientific Games, “and not just on the slot side, but also how we can create a unified player experience across all the different channels we offer products on.”

Lai calls SG Game Service “one of the big unifying stories” for this year’s G2E show. Previewed last year in the “Casino of the Future” section of the SG booth, it is a server-based ecosystem that gives players a unified playing experience across slots, table games and sports betting.

“SG Game Service incorporates a lot of elements that tie all of the business units and products we have together,” Lai says. “It starts with an onpremise, server-based product, where the games and services reside on the game server.”

The local server feeds content to bartop terminals and tablets. It includes a multitude of games from the SG library, and supports the cashless initiative, SG Unified Wallet, being offered by the company’s systems division. It also incorporates SG Vision, Scientific Games’ facial recognition technology.

“Our goal is to create a gaming ecosystem that enables a multi-faceted playing experience,” Lai says. “Not only do you have slot, poker and keno content, the SG Game Service will also be ready for sports betting applications as well as integration with electronic table games.”

106 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 In the premium space, Scientific Games’ G2E display will combine proven internal brands with licensed titles that augment current proven franchises such as James Bond and Monopoly.

In the SG Game Service, gaming devices link to the server as a client. Unlike the first attempts at server-based gaming a decade ago, it accomplishes all transactions and game play on the server in real time. “When you look at serverbased gaming 10 years ago, it was completely different,” says Lai. “The infrastructure and technology wasn’t as evolved as it is today. Initial server-based gaming allowed for download of content or configurations from a server to the EGM. In our SG Game Service, the content and game play reside on the server. Because of that, the value to the operator and player is actually much more seamless.”

Lai says the system is scalable to as many games as the operator likes, up to floor-wide. However, Scientific Games has been working with regulators and Gaming Laboratories International to see if one server can serve multiple locations in the case of multi-property operators.

But what about all that new innovative hardware and merchandising packages the company puts out with its slot games?

They’ll stay, says Lai, who notes this is nothing more than an extra tool for the operator’s toolbox. “This augments our portfolio,” she says. “It’s not meant to replace anything we’re doing. The way to look at it is, there are two segments of products. You have premium-type games for which people want to come to the casino—a ‘can’t-get-at-home’ experience. For that, you’re going to need the bandwidth and the horsepower of high-powered CPUs and video cards to drive the big displays and attract elements for those type of experiences. SG will continue down this path.

“But SG Game Service gives operators an opportunity to expand their floor. We’re talking about gaming tablets that are still regulated and on premise, so potentially they can open it up to lounges, to bars, to even the pool.”

The fact that bartop units will be one of the first devices to use the SG Game Service means Scientific Games has created a complete suite of video poker and keno, which will be accessible in bars along with video slots from the company’s vast library.

108 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

Land Ho! Meanwhile, Scientific Games will bring its normal mind-boggling collection of games and systems for the traditional land-based side of the business in addition to the new bartop, tablet and server-based capabilities.

New form factors, now almost a requirement due to rapidly advancing technology, will once again be part of the show. At spring’s Indian Gaming Tradeshow, the company launched the TwinStar Wave XL cabinet. Billed as the successor to the pioneering Pro Wave cabinet—the industry’s first curved-monitor form factor—the Wave XL features a 49-inch 4K Ultra High Definition display, a large iDeck panel and an advanced lighting and sound package.

Additionally, while the Pro Wave only supported Bally content, the Wave XL supports content from all three SG legacy companies—Bally, WMS and Shuffle Master.

“What you’ll see at G2E is that we’ve augmented the library with a lot more content to support the launch,” Lai says. One of the highlighted games for the Wave XL will be the Drop & Lock series, which features a hold-and-spin mechanic combined with a cascading reels feature. In the bonus free games, matching icons return credit awards and then drop off the screen, with new symbols dropping down to replace them.

Also on the Wave XL is a new family of products called Super Colossal Reels, launching with two new themes—Lil’Red and Spartacus. These feature a new take on the highly successful Colossal Reels mechanic, with a multiplier on the last reel and a new four-level progressive.

Lai says these games will be joined on the new cabinet with an expanded portfolio including proven, blockbuster titles such as Dragon Spin-Age of Fire and Cash Wizard World. All games will be presented with enhanced top boxes and digital signage in various arrangements.

Another new cabinet will be launched on the stepper side. The TwinStar 5-Reel Mechanical (5RM) will launch with a mechanical-reel version of the video hit Dancing Drums, the multiple-progressive ways-to-win game that is typically near the top of industry performance surveys.

According to Lai, the company also is launching several classic stepper hits that have previously done well in the five-reel space, including Lock It Link and the Quick Hit series.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019 One of the highlighted games for the Wave XL will be the Drop & Lock series, which features a hold-andspin mechanic combined with a cascading reels feature. In the bonus free games, matching icons return credit awards and then drop off the screen, with new symbols dropping down to replace them.

Premium Brands In the premium space, Scientific Games’ G2E display will combine proven internal brands with licensed titles that augment current proven franchises such as James Bond and Monopoly.

Heading the additions to internal franchises is Ultra Hot Mega Link, the next generation of Ultimate Fire Link. The games in this series are multiple progressives featuring free-spin bonuses and the Fire Link Feature, a lock-and-spin feature that has players accumulating fireballs on the reels for a cumulative award. “Ultimate Fire Link has been a very strong franchise for us,” says Lai. “We released the original on the Wave; this new one is going to be available on the TwinStar J43 and Wave XL.” SG also is refreshing other strong internal brands, including Ultimate Cash Spin, which reimagines the company’s popular U-Spin bonus by allowing the player to physically turn the wheel on the new TwinStar J43 Motion Wheel cabinet.

SG will continue to drive some of its top licenses on the Gamefield 2.0 cabinet, which incorporates a J-curved monitor connected to largeformat curved landscape monitor to create an expanded “game field.”

Munchkinland, the latest in the long-running series of games based on The Wizard of Oz, is one of the games launched on the format this year that is an unqualified mega-hit, one of SG’s top-performing games.

At this year’s G2E, the Gamefield 2.0 will host new games in The Lord of the Rings and Willy Wonka game groups—The Hobbit in the former and Willy Wonka-Everlasting Gobstopper in the latter.

Yet another new cabinet is the Wave XL Horizon, another form factor utilizing a 49-inch portrait curved display with 4K UHD graphics, integrating a massive 65-inch overhead monitor for a more breathtaking gaming experience.

Scientific Games will launch it with James Bond: Die Another Day and a new Monopoly Money Grab game.

110 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

“Games on the Wave XL Horizon are going to be the ‘wow’ factor for the show,” says Lai. Another new form factor launching at the show will be the Twinstar Ballistic cabinet, taking a new gaming spin on an amusement-style product. Launching with the popular Gold Fish Frenzy character, players watch as the cabinet releases balls from the top that physically drop through a pachinko-style peg board with the goal of landing the balls into fish bowls. “The Ballistic shows SG’s drive for innovation while reimagining game play with a skill-based element,” Lai says.

Other new game refreshes are on tap for previously released form factors. On the giant TwinStar V75 cabinet will be a new Wizard of Oz theme, Emerald City. Also on that cabinet will be a new version of Bier Haus, Oktoberfest, with entertaining effects surrounding giant beer mugs and the main Bavarian barmaid character.

And on the TwinStar 3RM stepper cabinet will be two new Monopoly games, plus a new version of Monte Carlo, the legendary Bally game that actually incorporated the industry’s first wheel bonus back in the 1970s.

The wheel on top is designed like the original wheel, which used a rotating ball on a stick as the indicator. “We’re making it retro, but modern as well,” Lai says. “We’re going to use the brighter reels we have on all TwinStar 3RM games, but with the original Monte Carlo wheel. People are really excited about that one.”

In fact, people are going to be excited about all of SG’s products—not only slots, but ETGs, table utility products, table games, systems developments, and sports betting. There will be a sportsbook set up in SG’s massive booth, which will once again be walled off from other exhibits for more private product demonstrations.

In other words, SG is ready—across all channels.

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GLOBAL GAMES 2019

SYNERGY BLUE Betting the Odds Young would-be gamblers want a product that looks, feels and sounds like the arcade games they grew up with—Synergy Blue is working to fill the bill, and then some

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F

or a look at the future of skill-based casino games, talk to Georg Washington, founder and CEO of Synergy Blue.

The California-based provider of skill-based games, platforms and applications, which recently relocated to Las Vegas, undertook a study to learn what operators will be looking for over the next few, literally game-changing years. Based on a survey of executives from more than 100 casinos, “The State of Skill-Based Games in a New Era of Gambling” shows that, despite lingering resistance to shaking up the slot floor, more operators realize that new modes of play could unlock a new generation of patrons.

From Washington’s standpoint, re-creating an arcade-style experience with what he calls “skill-influenced” games is one way to attract younger players; in this case, familiarity breeds success.

“Someone may try a game more readily if they’re walking through a casino and think, ‘Oh, that looks like something I played on my mobile phone, on Xbox or at the arcade.’” Not to say Synergy Blue doesn’t also court the traditional player base, he adds. “We don’t want to replace slot machines. We want to provide a different flavor and feel.”

Skill games have not exactly set the world on fire—yet—and surprisingly, that’s fine by Washington.

“We have a bit of a different philosophy,” he says. “We like to take things slow, look at the games, adjust them and develop products with some depth and flexibility. We’re only coming up to that point now, where we have the depth of library, multiple math models per game, and second-generation games that have been adapted, modified and improved. While some people are still hesitant—they don’t know how these games are going to play in the casinos— the acceptance is better.”

The game lineup features lots of elements that strike a chord with younger players; there are driving games, shooting games, and even games played with joysticks. And despite the term “skill-based,” Washington says it’s easy for most people to pick up the games, from “Gen X, who play those types of (arcade) games, all the way down to millennials and people who play Candy Crush or Panda Pop. You don’t have to teach them to play the game, you just have to educate them on the mechanics.”

Importantly, games like Safari Match, Cocktail Crush, Zombies and Candy Cash “don’t really penalize somebody who comes in with very little skill, though of course, the better you play, the better the odds.”

Synergy Blue now has a presence in venues in California and central Europe, and its product line is also in the midst of trials in Nevada. Additional 112 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

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“We have a bit of a different philosophy. We like to take things slow, look at the games, adjust them and develop products with some depth and flexibility.”

—Georg Washington, Founder and CEO, Synergy Blue

markets and distributors are in the offing, says Washington. “We have a huge pipeline ahead of us in the next year. We’re really excited, waiting for a time we can talk about it.”

To win over established and emerging players—all of whom are likely to also play free social games—the company is committed to providing top-ofthe-line graphics, animation and sound effects, intuitive play that also poses a challenge, and an emotional (if not financial) payoff.

According to the company survey, 50 percent of casino operators said Gen Xers, who are more financially established, will be their target growth demographic over the next five years. Seventy percent said they “have, plan to, or are considering adopting skill-based games, games with skill components, or games with arcade-style play.”

“Because skill-based gaming is still in its early days, and without comprehensive analysis of metrics, it’s difficult for some to give it valuable floor space,” Washington has said. He calls the report “a first step in understanding what the forward path for adoption looks like and the learning that can be culled from early adopters.

“A landscape that’s growing more crowded all the time will continue to require casinos to provide new experiences for gamblers, and the emergence of skill-based games offers exactly that,” Washington says. “The newness of skill-based games brings exciting opportunity as well as daunting challenges.”

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S GLOBA2L0 1GAME 9

ZITRO Conquering Reels A world leader in bingo technology turns its attention to the video slot market in the U.S.

By William Sokolic

L

ink.

Remember that word. It’s a keyword for Zitro’s slot products.

As in Link King, Link Me and Link Shock. The link speaks to a connection with a bank of machines and bonuses.

“Link King, Link Me and Link Shock are consolidating as the most profitable video slots banks in the global market,” says Johnny Ortiz, the founder of the Luxembourg-based gaming company. Find Zitro at booth 4447 at the Global Gaming Expo.

114 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

Zitro will go to the big show this year more loaded than ever, with many more new games for its Bryke video slots product line, as well as new video bingo games and an updated game library for online operators.

“In terms of games, we have combined the two biggest trends in the current video slot market into one single product: the multi-way game mechanics and an exciting link bonus, based on players’ favorite Link King games, alongside a lot of other games for different kinds of players,” Ortiz says.

In addition, not one, but two brand new cabinets are being launched at the event: Illusion and Allure.

Illusion includes a massive 43-inch Ultra HD curved monitor and a 21.5-inch LCD topper, along with an improved version of a touch screen technology known as SmartDeck.

The cabinet also contains an extremely powerful Triton processor and a cutting-edge digital sound system with subwoofers that allow a perfect presentation of the impressive graphics and sounds. On Illusion, Zitro will launch the new multi-game Bashiba, with spectacular graphics, Ortiz says, noting that for the first time, a game combines proven multi-way, multi-line mechanics with a dazzling link bonus.

Allure features an ultra-sleek cabinet with three-by-27-inch HD LCDs. The cabinet also features SynchroScreens, in which the upper screens sync up on a bank level, creating a visual spectacle that is comparable to the aesthetics and functionality of cost-intensive overhead signage.

Allure also incorporates the Triton processor. This cabinet serves as home to new multigames 88 Link Wild Duels, 88 Link Lucky Charm and 88 Link Shock. All games combine multi-way mechanics with stunning link bonuses, promising to keep players fascinated, Ortiz says.

Because they are very slim, Illusion and Allure occupy less space on a casino floor than any other machine on the market, he says.

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“Link King, Link Me and Link Shock are consolidating as the most profitable video slots banks in the global market.”

—Johnny Ortiz, Founder, Zitro

In terms of hardware, both cabinets provide great comfort for the player, thanks to the ergonomic design, allowing plenty of leg space, as well as the immersive screen and sound system.

Comfort is an aspect which is crucial for a long-term play, and still often left behind, Ortiz adds.

Ortiz founded Zitro in 2007. He made a name for himself as the leading operator of bingo halls in Brazil. He succeeded again as a leader in video bingo, developing a system designed for individual use. “This allows the player to play at his own rhythm, and it also allows the option to incorporate bonus rounds and other features. We still create the feeling of social play with the promotional systems that interconnect all video bingo games in one or several venues,” he says.

The company created BET—electronic bingo—which gives the player the chance to win not only the individual hall prizes but also those from all the interconnected halls, providing greater excitement and bigger and better prizes, Ortiz says.

In 2016, Zitro built on the success of video bingo and introduced Bryke

Multi Slots, entering the video slot market. Video bingo may have a similar look to a video slot game from a distance, but the game mechanics and experience are completely different, he says.

“It is true that in some video bingo games we have incorporated certain video slot features, like a reel-spinning bonus, for example,” Ortiz says.

“It’s the same way we incorporate features that work in our video bingo games into our slot games. Being the world leader allows us to choose the best of each world.

“This is, for certain, one of the main reasons why Zitro is different from the rest and make our games have this special ‘magic of Zitro,’ as we like to call it.”

Ortiz says Zitro stands out from the competition due to its ability to modernize with the use of cutting-edge technology.

“We were created with the mission to provide the most extraordinary experiences for the players and with the vision to become a global leader in the gaming industry,” Ortiz says.

“Zitro has conquered the global video bingo market, establishing itself as world leader in the segment, and is now on the way with its video slot brand Bryke, having already launched three of the most popular games, Link King, Link Me and Link Shock, and tons of other games.

“Exciting times are ahead of us as Zitro, with a group of incredibly talented individuals, keeps growing and expanding to become a global leader.”

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The U.S. Trajectory of

Electronic Table Games Casinos from Macau to the U.S. rely on electronic table games to address unmet demand for table gaming

by The Innovation Group Staff

T

able games have always been at the foundation of the gaming industry. But with the rising costs of labor, and in some jurisdictions an overwhelming latent demand, manufacturers have developed versions of table games that incorporate the technology behind present-day gaming machines.

Electronic table games (ETGs) present gaming patrons with a digital incarnation of traditional games such as roulette, blackjack and craps. Besides reducing labor—ETGs often have a digital dealer, or one live dealer serving dozens of terminals—ETGs also serve as a complete alternative to tables for markets that do not permit table games but do permit other forms of electronic gaming, allowing them to capitalize on existing demand.

ETGs have seen tremendous success in Asian markets, but adoption in the United States has been considerably slower.

that players are not being taken advantage of by software.

Despite increased regulation, Macau’s new laws still allowed up to 55 ETG seats to count as equivalent to one live table, which on average has just six seats. Unsurprisingly, Macau operators used this to increase their ability to spread table games. By 2017, the average Asian casino had a robust ETG business, dedicating approximately 5 percent-10 percent of casino floor space to their operation.

In 2018, Galaxy Entertainment Group, which operates four of the largest casinos in Macau, released a total ETG revenue of more than $300 million (USD), a 14.6 percent increase from 2017. This growth suggests a winning combination of consumer preferences and operators taking an aggressive approach to ETG supply. However, the narrative changes greatly when we begin to look at ETGs and their performance in the United States.

The Rise of ETGs

Impacts on ETG Growth in the U.S.

ETGs first became available to casinos in early 2000 and were quickly adopted by casino operators in east Asia. In Macau, where the demand for table games is so high that casinos can yield their games to price out much of the market, ETGs offered a low-cost way to service this latent demand.

Regulation changes driven by lawmakers in Macau who favored live-dealer ETGs, or “stadium-style” play, re-categorized ETGs as similar to tables and restricted their numbers. The addition of live dealers, however, did bolster consumer confidence—seeing someone turn physical cards seemed to provide a sense of security

Gaming facilities in the United States have not seen the same ETG adoption rates as their Asian counterparts. The performance has been “lackluster,” as one gaming operator so eloquently put it. But, why? One possible reason is demand differences.

States classify ETGs in many different ways. In New York, they are treated similar to slot machines (hence, they are permitted). And since commercial casinos in New York are not permitted to have table games, ETGs enabled New Yorkers to have access to a version of table games without driving to Atlantic City or Pennsylvania. This effect mirrors the Macau phenomenon, where there was a large volume of unmet demand.

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Wind Creek Casino (formerly Sands), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has had one of the largest rollouts of ETGs in the country, with around 150 machines in a stadium-style setting.

In 2017, Interblock installed North America’s largest ETG footprint, over 1,000 units, at Resorts World New York City. Likewise, Empire City Casino in Yonkers, New York has more than 520 ETGs integrated across the gaming floor. Here, the table game limitations, ETG positions and market demographics are much more in line with what is found in Macau.

These conditions have provided reason for expansion into a larger ETG position—the casino has increased the number of machines by nearly 188 percent since first adopting them in 2013. The perception of ETGs from gamblers in the Empire City market was that ETGs offered an acceptable substitute to traditional table games, which were absent due to the local gaming laws in place. ETGs can work in the right places under the right demand scenarios.

Empire City presents its ETGs in a creative way, via Interblock’s Pulse Arena, which includes a variety of music, visual effects and user-friendly stadium-style setups that create an inviting experience for younger players.

The Pulse Arena has a DJ booth, video wall, chat functionality and other effects. The success behind the Interblock layout comes from their blending of event-style displays and gaming in a way that is more inviting to patrons who participate in tech-oriented social settings already but would not typically get involved with traditional casino play.

In other jurisdictions—for example, Washington state—live tables are allowed, but there is a cap on the number of tables that each facility can operate. As in Macau, ETGs would alleviate some of the excess demand, making them a strong candidate jurisdiction for the product and operations like Pulse Arena.

Additionally, casinos in Pennsylvania have a split tax rate—approximately 55 percent on slots and 16 percent on tables—and ETGs are taxed at the table tax rate. A former Pennsylvania operator shares, “Even if they aren’t performing at house average, ETGs are still great from a tax perspective. Plus, most casinos just have too many slots on their floor, and ETGs speak to a different demographic.”

Wind Creek Casino (formerly Sands), in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, has had one of the largest rollouts of ETGs in the country. With around 150 machines in a stadium-style setting, Wind Creek is the exception, not the rule, though.

Another possible reason for ETGs’ “lackluster” performance stateside may be that operators are simply getting rid of them too quickly. One operator we spoke with lamented that he’s seen teams pull ETGs off the floor after 118 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

just six months. Why? Because they weren’t performing to the level of the slots.

However, this operator argued that slots cannibalize slots, while ETGs generally do not. In other words, the money that the ETG makes—even if it’s less than the slot floor average—is new money, money from a different demographic, younger and more male, whereas the revenue from a new slot machine would largely steal from the rest of the slot floor.

Similarly, a tribal operator opines that sometimes we aren’t evaluating success correctly: “You also have to make sure your analytics are measuring the right thing. Did you bring your ETGs on the floor so you could close your pit overnight and save the labor? Then you need to look at performance overnight and not during the day.” He also says that while he doesn’t see ETGs in the U.S. ever getting to the level of Macau, he believes that there’s a place for ETGs in nearly every casino.

Robert Rippee, director of the Hospitality Lab and the Esports Lab at the International Gaming Institute at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, thinks demand plays a role, but that it also might just be cultural. “There are cultural differences between the markets. There’s less concern about the social aspect (in Macau). It’s, ‘How do I get to participate in the gambling fastest?’ And when live tables are five (players) deep, ETGs present an opportunity.”

Future Prospects for the U.S. ETG Market ETGs carry a much lower labor cost than live tables. This is especially relevant as we see substantial minimum wage increases taking effect across the country. ETGs also offer a greater level of efficiency than live tables in a number of areas—no waiting for dealer fills, no waiting for a supervisor when a player buys in or coloring up when cashing out, accurate records of bets, accurate payouts, and accurate player ratings. So, where do we go from here?

Given that ETGs have the ability to cater to markets that have limited table game supply and younger gamer populations, as well as the labor efficiency and potential tax advantage as more states establish a split tax rate, we will likely see growth in the ETG landscape.

Will the U.S. get to Macau levels? Hardly. But we agree that ETGs are a useful tool in a casino’s toolbox to produce more accurate player ratings, attract a different demographic, conserve labor, and improve yield.

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By Gene Johnson

What’s behind the effort to force state tribes to renegotiate already settled compacts?

Oklahoma, OK? L ike the lyrics from the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, tribal government gaming in Oklahoma is doing fine.

The future of this vibrant industry has become more uncertain, however. The state’s tribal gaming compacts are up for renewal next January, and Governor Kevin Stitt recently called for complete renegotiation of the agreements.

On July 8, in an opinion piece in the Tulsa World, Stitt acknowledged the successful partnership between the state and tribal governments and the achievements of Indian gaming. But he made it clear that the partnership needs to work more broadly for the interests of all Oklahomans. The oped came as something of a shock to Indian gaming interests since it was delivered prior to the governor’s formal letter inviting the Oklahoma Governor tribes to renegotiate.

Kevin Stitt Moreover, the editorial raised multiple points of contention for tribal governments.

One issue was Stitt’s assertion that the existing compacts will expire on January 1, 2020. Another was his push for sharp increases in exclusivity fees for gaming operations. Tribal leaders quickly spoke out and presented a united front in opposition to the governor’s position. The stage has been set for a dramatic showdown.

Adding to the shock is the fact that Stitt is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation and chose to put this issue into the press prior to government-to-government negotiations. His office followed up with a warmer, more conciliatory letter to the tribes in August, but his administration’s position remains unchanged.

Okie Natives Indian gaming started in Oklahoma more than 50 years ago with paper bingo cards and pull-tabs. After passage of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) of 1988, several tribes began operating bingo halls featuring electronic Class II machines. In the early 1990s, the first compacts were signed with the state allowing tribal facilities to simulcast parimutuel horse racing, which has been legal in Oklahoma since 1983.

While it was interested in preserving the horse-racing industry, the state government opposed expanded gaming, and successive governors refused to negotiate compacts for Class III gaming. Tribal governments and gaming manufacturers meanwhile collaborated to develop the full potential in Class II technology, and as the appeal of those machines increased, tribal casino operations continued to expand.

Successful innovation of Class II technology by Oklahoma tribes eventually brought the state back to the bargaining table, and in 2004 a proposed compact was put to voters in a referendum as State Question 712.

Voters approved the referendum, which passed with nearly 60 percent of the vote in November 2004, and the legislature was able to offer a new

The most recent report places Oklahoma second in the nation— after California and ahead of Florida—producing 14 percent of the $31.5 billion generated by Indian gaming operations nationwide in 2016.

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“

Can you imagine any other industry where your partner wanted to tear up the existing agreement in public prior to negotiating the new contract?

”

—Matthew Morgan, Director, Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA)

WinStar World Casino has the world’s largest slot floor

model Class III compact to Oklahoma’s federally recognized tribes. The referendum also permitted electronic games at three of Oklahoma’s racetracks.

Under the terms of the model compact, the state of Oklahoma would receive an annual share of gaming revenues generated by the compacting tribes from authorized Class III games. The state’s share of adjusted gross gaming revenues (GGR) from electronic games begins at 4 percent and rises to 6 percent once a tribe’s revenue exceeds $20 million. For table games and for ball and dice games that were authorized in a separate compact in 2018, the fee is 10 percent. The state directs the initial $250,000 of their fee to the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services for gambling education and treatment, after which the remaining revenues are allocated 88 percent to the 1017 Education Reform Fund, which can be appropriated only to the Department of Common Education, and 12 percent to the General Revenue Fund.

When these compacts were signed in 2005, they inaugurated an era of massive expansion, as Oklahoma became one of the fastest growing Indian gaming jurisdictions. More than 13 percent of the state’s population is Native American, second only to California in native population, and 38 federally recognized tribes call Oklahoma home. Of that total, 35 tribal nations now have compacted gaming operations catering to local and out-of-state customers.

Today, Oklahoma is home to 135 tribal casinos—including WinStar, the world’s largest casino by gaming machine count—and tribal gaming is listed as the state’s eighth largest industry.

Community Benefits By any measure, tribal gaming has been a tremendous success in Oklahoma.

According to the 2018 Indian Gaming Industry Report, produced by Alan Meister of Meister Economics, Oklahoma tribal government gaming generated a total of $4.3 billion in GGR during calendar 2016, a 5 percent increase over

the previous year.

The most recent report places Oklahoma second in the nation— after California and ahead of Florida—producing 14 percent of the $31.5 billion generated by Indian gaming operations nationwide in 2016.

Casino gaming revenue has undoubtedly grown since then, as the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC) reported GGR of $32.4 billion in fiscal year 2017, an increase of 4 percent year over year. While the latest NIGC revenue figures are not broken out on a state-by-state basis as in the Meister report, for the Tulsa region, which includes the major casinos in eastern Oklahoma, Indian GGR increased by a slightly larger proportion (4.2 percent) in 2017.

Tribal governments had a total monetary impact of nearly $13 billion in 2017, according to an economic impact study conducted by Kyle D. Dean, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Native American and Urban Studies with the Meinders School of Business at Oklahoma City University. This study, which can be found at UnitedforOklahoma.com, reports that Oklahoma tribes generated the following in calendar 2017: • $12.9 billion in total economic impact • $1.5 billion in total exclusivity fees • $138.5 million in exclusivity fees in FY2018 • 96,177 jobs for tribal and non-tribal employees • $4.6 billion in wages and benefits • $213 million in Medicaid expenditures (a savings of $88 million in state matching funds) • $1.3 billion in exclusivity fees for education paid since 2006 • $198 million in in exclusivity and educational support in 2017 • $61 million in community support via donations and sponsorships • $200 million invested in roads and bridges supporting 27,000 miles of roads

Defending the Fort A successful industry like this one with a multitude of social and economic interconnections naturally has engendered strong defenders, chief among them the Oklahoma Indian Gaming Association (OIGA).

OIGA Director Matthew Morgan says the governor’s op-ed came as a complete surprise to the Indian gaming community. While the tribes had exOCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com 121

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Almost 40 tribes call Oklahoma home

pected the state might bargain for more revenue in the compact renewals, they did not anticipate the governor coming out with a bid to renegotiate all the compacts.

Morgan says, “That put everyone in a precarious position that will make it difficult to negotiate with the state. Can you imagine any other industry where your partner wanted to tear up the existing agreement in public prior to negotiating the new contract?”

Tribal leaders were quick to respond to the op-ed. On July 23, OIGA published a joint letter from 29 tribal nations laying out three simple points: first, that the compacts will automatically renew; second, that current exclusivity fee rates should not change; and third, that the governor should send each tribe a formal proposal for consideration by tribal leadership bodies.

From the Oklahoma tribal gaming industry’s perspective, there were multiple inaccuracies and points of contention in the governor’s op-ed. For example, the governor claimed that “15 years ago, the tribal gaming industry in Oklahoma did not exist,” when in fact tribal Class II and bingo gaming operations have existed for more than twice that long.

The most obvious disagreement involves Stitt’s opinion that the existing compacts will expire on January 1, 2020. The tribes believe the compacts automatically renew, and there is support for their interpretation. According to the Oklahoma Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, “Compacts expire January 1, 2020 and will automatically renew for successive additional 15year terms, provided that, within 180 days of the compact’s expiration either the tribe or the state may request to renegotiate specified portions of the compact’s terms.” Even Scott Meacham, the man who negotiated the origi-

Maximum Revenue Sharing Payment in 276 Tribal-State Compacts Approved or Deemed Approved as of October 2014

122 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

nal compacts 15 years ago when he was Oklahoma’s secretary of finance and revenue, admits that the compacts renew automatically. But he also points out that if lawmakers were to repeal other gaming laws such as horse racing, then the compacts could expire.

Then there’s the controversy over the rates for exclusivity fees which governor Stitt misleadingly described as “the lowest in the nation.” He called for mutual efforts to “bring these 15-year-old compacts to an agreement that reflects market conditions for the gaming industry seen around the nation today” and he opined that “most state-tribal compacts around the country provide for exclusivity fees to the state of 20 percent to 25 percent.”

The evidence for these assertions argues otherwise. An article appearing in KGOU on July 29 by Caroline Halter provided a Government Accounting Office analysis of 276 gaming compacts as of 2014 that graphically demonstrated the inaccuracy of the governor’s comments by documenting the vast majority of the 276 compacts analyzed (92 percent) are less than 15 percent and fully 39 percent of those compacts involve no exclusivity fees at all.

Moreover, the governor cited the expansion of gaming into neighboring Arkansas, where Oklahoma tribes are bidding for opportunities.

The fees will “start at 13 percent and max out at 20 percent.” This statement ignores the fact that the Oklahoma tribes would be moving off their sovereign reservations to bid on commercial gaming opportunities taxed by the state gaming authorities.

OIGA contends that the success of tribal gaming in Oklahoma has far exceeded the expectations of the original compacts and over delivered exclusivity fee revenues during the past 15 years, paying out to the state at the highest rates over the period.

“We provided $148 million in exclusivity fees collectively in 2018,” says Morgan. “$71 million was the minimum expectation. We have exceeded the state’s expectations with competitive market-driven rates. I don’t think we see it as a dispute. The trigger has been met.”

Perhaps the most challenging question is what motivated the governor’s unilateral opinion. Of course, it’s normal to expect any state government to desire increased tax revenues from gaming, and it’s become more common for U.S. states, particularly those with large budget

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“

Indian gaming should not be looked upon as a source of funding to balance state budgets. IGRA established gaming as an attribute of tribal sovereignty empowering tribes to engage in economic development activities on their sovereign lands.

ance state budgets,” he says. “IGRA established gaming as deficits, to turn to casino gaming as a stealth tax. an attribute of tribal sovereignty empowering tribes to enHowever, Oklahoma’s economy is performing gage in economic development activities on their sovereign relatively well and there is no apparent financial crilands. States have no entitlement to gaming fees and IGRA sis to justify the governor’s aggressive stance on the actually prohibits state taxes on gaming revenues. Fees are compacts. Additionally, as is the case in almost only granted to the state government if something of equal every gaming market across the country, competivalue is granted to the tribal government.” tion is increasing and future growth prospects are Kevin Washburn, former U.S. assistant secretary for Indimming as casino-style gaming becomes more dian affairs and currently dean of the University of Iowa widespread. Oklahoma Indian gaming faces brand College of Law, says, “This is not a new trend. In the U.S., new competition in Arkansas and increased casino this dynamic has existed since time immemorial. Tribes have competition in nearby states. resources; others covet them. As for states, state governThe governor’s office did not respond to a rements have always sought to tax Indian resources and the quest for comment in time for this article. Donelle federal case reporters are littered with court decisions adHarder, a spokeswoman for Stitt, said on July 29, dressing such matters, usually finding them illegal. The In“The governor is meeting with and reaching out to dian Gaming Regulatory Act explicitly prohibits taxation, so our tribal partners. Conversations are ongoing, and revenue sharing justified as a quid pro quo has developed. the governor is confident we can come to an agreeBut the amount that tribes pay must equate to the value ment that enhances opportunity for the tribes, as that tribes receive.” sovereign nations and partners, and continues to Washburn was even more direct in an article for Tulsa move Oklahoma forward to the benefit of all 4 milWorld that said, “Stitt’s 20 percent to 25 percent is outside lion residents.” the norm—and it is an unsustainable, job-killing tax that vi—Jonodev Chaudhuri, Another Stitt representative, Baylee Lakey, said olates federal law.” former NIGC chairman on August 29 that the governor would refer detailed Until the administration puts forth a proposal, it apquestions about the compacts to Attorney General pears that the tribes are standing their ground on the terms Mike Hunter, who will represent the state in negotiaof the original compacts. OIGA wants the governor to actions. knowledge that the compacts automatically renew instead of Whatever the motivation, and despite the govexpiring. ernor’s efforts to kickstart negotiations, his op-ed As Morgan explains, “the issue is about compact renewal. Acknowledge that has cast a pall over negotiations to renew the compacts. the compacts do not expire, that they renew, and make a proposal on what the “He has put a dark cloud over our industry,” says Morgan. “These are tribal state would like to see then invite tribes to sit down in a government-to-governgovernments. They have to have to have enough income to provide for their citment discussion.” izens… now that certainty has been removed.”

The governor appears to also be holding firm to his hard negotiating stance, The op-ed has also caused tribal leaders to solidify their initially unyielding and the immediate situation could be described as a stalemate. And unless the positions on compact renewal. The incoming principal chief of the Cherokee compact issue is resolved there is little chance that any new legislation on gamNation, Chuck Hoskin, Jr., in comments to the Tulsa World board on August bling expansion for sports betting or iGaming will be introduced.

7, cited the “solidarity among tribes” on the compact renewals as well as the Tribal government gaming has been so successful in Oklahoma that neither state’s responsibility for its past financial decisions. side wants to injure the industry, so eventually a mutually acceptable agreement Hoskin summarized by saying, “So we don’t need to change the formula, I will be worked out. Attorney General Hunter’s office released a statement saying think the state just needs to change its philosophy in line with how the tribes he and the governor “look forward to a mutually constructive and beneficial diaview the role of our governments.” logue with tribal leadership.”

Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma Chief Gary Batton says, “We’re going to In the final accounting, the tremendous success of tribal government gaming stand firm” during his State of the Nation address at the Choctaw Nation Capiin Oklahoma, its widespread footprint and the close interweaving of social and tol in Tuskahoma on September 2. economic relationships developed over time provide a crucial impetus for in any Jonodev Chaudhuri, former NIGC chairman who is now in private legal negotiation. practice, points out that IGRA was never intended to help fill state coffers but As Morgan insightfully points out, “We touch every individual in this state rather to foster economic development in Indian Country that would make through investment, providing jobs, payroll taxes, infrastructure… all those tribes less dependent upon federal and state resources. things. And most of that is away from the major cities. We make a difference in “Indian gaming should not be looked upon as a source of funding to balrural Oklahoma because that’s where we reside.”

”

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FRANKLY SPEAKING

by Frank Legato

Flying Nudes and Sandwiches

in midair.

I love when that happens.

No, it actually did happen, like a lot of things happen these days, in South Dakota. Police were called to the Rushmore Casino after a man was reported missing in the area. The officers saw a man who fit the description going into a restroom and called out to him, but got no response. The guy locked himself in the restroom.

Sensing something fishy, the officers got management to unlock the door. When they went in, the guy had disappeared, only to reappear when he crashed through the panels of the ceiling and hung in midair, suspended on wiring from the ceiling.

While this particular rascal was taken off to jail and charged with disorderly conduct, I include an account of the incident here only because the casinos and slot manufacturers are always looking for new ideas to make the games interesting—particularly during this, the season of new slot games.

What could be more interesting on a lonely casino floor at 1:30 a.m.—which is when this happened—than the ceiling opening up and a guy flying down on wires? I envision it as a mystery bonus payment, in which he will fly down and hand money to some lucky player. He should be dressed like a fairy, with a tutu and a wand and everything, and hand a random player a pile of cash.

Yes, it could also be a woman, but I’d rather see it as a pudgy middle-aged bald guy with a couple day’s worth of whisker stubble. Maybe chomping on a cigar, too.

Hey, a floor show should be funny, right?

This wasn’t the only unexpected casino floor show that made the news last month. Clark County authorities indicted a man for making terroristic threats against Las Vegas casinos. He was threatening to avenge getting thrown out of the World Series of Poker last summer for pulling his pants down, mooning the table and then throwing a shoe at the dealer.

He claimed he did it because he had “lost a bet,” but the man clearly had other issues—and not just because he had gone all-in blind on the first hand of the $10,000 buy-in event. He got the terroristic-threat charge because he tweeted that “all casinos that have me banned will be destroyed effective immediately.”

Apparently, there are a lot of those. It later came out that the Pitts-

126 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

burgh native had a history of exposing himself at Las Vegas casinos. (It couldn’t have helped that he also looks exactly like Lex Luthor.)

Wow, he’s from my hometown.

Just to let you know, this isn’t a Pittsburgh thing. To my knowledge, there is no problem at the Rivers Casino Pittsburgh with people running around the gaming floor in the buff, or even mooning the other players at a poker table.

OK, everyone throws shoes at each other in Pittsburgh. Especially after the Steelers lose. I expect a lot of shoes to be thrown this year.

What’s a bit disturbing is that this is, like, the third story this year involving someone taking their clothes off in a casino. If this becomes a trend, I’m going to open up a nudist casino. I’m already brainstorming the name: Garden of Eden Casino Hotel.

Flesh in the Pan Casino Hotel.

Casino in the Raw. Boobery Coast.

Hooters Casino. (Wait, there’s already one of those.)

Naturally, there will be an age limit. And there should probably a weight limit, too. After all, there are some things that you just can’t un-see, no matter how hard you try.

Maybe I’ll locate the new casino in Henderson, so it’s close to our office, and, of course, to Popeye’s, so everyone can go there for sandwiches.

If you’re up on Henderson news, you already know the Henderson Popeye’s had to close one Sunday last month because owners of surrounding businesses were complaining about the traffic. Dozens of cars lined up to try a recently introduced chicken sandwich that had been making waves on social media. TV news was calling it a bona fide “Sandwich Craze.”

I wasn’t in town at the time, so I didn’t get caught up in the Sandwich Craze. I heard it wasn’t as bad as the Schnitzel Craze of ’78, but was definitely on par with the Fried Bologna Craze of ’62.

But hey, at least everyone kept their clothes on.

VIC TOR RINAL DO

Y

ou know, there’s nothing that jazzes up a dull slot-machine game like something unexpected.

Like a guy falling out of the ceiling and hanging there

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It’s Better to Give For some patrons, a free room or drinks on the house just aren’t enough. Today’s technologies, including enhanced modes of delivery, let resorts thank their best players in prompt, personalized ways Bling Is King

By Dave Bontempo

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layer gifting has entered a significant age.

Enhanced service methods blend gratitude with gaming. Players can pick the gifts themselves and choose how to obtain them.

This is quite an intersection. Operators juggle mass production and the personal touch. It’s a tricky mix. How casinos handle these factors will form some separation in this sector. There are the roles of hosts, and their public-relations impact on players, to consider. There are big parties and gifting events that strengthen the casino-patron bond by underscoring the individual’s importance.

And there is the potential reduction in play, albeit temporary, these efforts will produce.

All factors have their merits. There’s a powerful emotional connection to “free,” and most people who receive promotional products or offers do additional business with that company. Will a short-term distraction of a line or a party provide more benefits later from a happy patron? That’s where the decision-making comes in.

128 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

Pine Brook, New Jersey-based Rymax, which formed a gaming division 10 years ago, conservatively estimates it has reached 50 million players with gifts that denote panache.

On the web, via onsite loyalty programs or in bulk giveaways, “If you got a great product from the casino it almost certainly came from Rymax,” says Paul Gordon, the company’s senior vice president of sales.

Operators have long used gifts—watches, handbags, jewelry, etc.—to express appreciation beyond points or a comp. They can be worn, displayed and enjoyed long after a player leaves the resort, maintaining a tie between patron and property. Names like Amazon (Alexa), Google, Cambridge and Ring convey significance to a player. The nuggets of luxury provide a key psychological component, labeling the individual as an executive player.

Rymax rolls out 40 to 50 new brands a year. Casinos buy the high-end products at a sizable discount, enabling them to engage the patron in an economical way. The company also produces player-loyalty shopping sprees, experiential events and bulk-product giveaways that create loyalty and drive frequency of play.

“We created a new dynamic when we brought high aspirational brands into the offerings,” Gordon asserts. “We don’t do the logo items or knockoff products. Rymax offers brands that people want to buy and will redeem with comp dollars driving play and frequency.

“The idea of a free meal and going to see a show has no trophy value to it,” he adds. “The trophy value is what gives that same dollar spent longer

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“The idea of a free meal and going to see a show has no trophy value to it. The watch on a person’s wrist can still be there many years later, and when they look at the watch, they think of where they played.”

—Paul Gordon, Senior Vice President of Sales, Rymax

legs. The watch on a person’s wrist can still be there many years later and when they look at the watch, they think of where they played.”

A reward isn’t always be a comp, voucher, or even an overnight stay. Trophy value provides its own form of advertisement when someone asks, “Where did you get it?”

Gifting also works internally, as operators embrace new methods of rewarding team members.

“Employee recognition, peer-to-peer recognition and (acknowledging) years of service are vital for all companies,” Gordon says. “Right now, with unemployment at 4 percent, the need to retain and recruit good employees is paramount.

We work with our clients to deploy these programs, and when the employee receives the product, the trophy value and residual value are long-lasting.

“Give employees $200 and ask them what they did with it a year from now.

Then give them a watch or handbag or speaker system, and as long as they wear it or use it, they have a positive reaction to their company.”

Sports-wagering gifts and programs figure to grow in the next couple of years, Gordon believes.

“Sports betting loyalty will be something you see more of in 2020 as the economics and the incorporation of the current loyalty program are ironed out,” Gordon predicts. “The percentage of profit to reward solely against sports betting is not there, but if included in everything from dining and traditional games, it works very well.”

The products could range from Alexa (“What time does the Eagles game start?”) to golf clubs, outdoor grills, sunglasses and more.

“The industry needs to never forget what it really is—the entertainment business,” says Gordon. “Players want to feel special; they want to be part of the property’s culture. Player loyalty programs and player redemption events such as shopping sprees deliver that, if the property spends the time to plan and deliver excitement and fun. Make the rewards experience interactive. Theme the rewards.

And always give the players a choice.”

Recently, Rymax has helped gaming properties streamline loyalty rewards programs across different states. Last year, it rolled out an upgraded version of its proprietary online rewards platform, MaxSite, giving it a sophisticated new look, faster capabilities, a scalable build-out and new ways to redeem for rewards. The company’s newly enhanced rewards redemptions app, MaxMobile, provides rewards participants on handhelds with a convenient, user-friendly experience, where they can be rewarded in real time.

Prize Patrol What a time to unveil a gift.

At G2E, Scientific Games will introduce its innovative Player Boutique, a marketing and gift-fulfillment program featuring full integration to Scientific Games CMS systems and powerful visual delivery via the iVIEW 4 display directly at the slot game.

Player Boutique is set to debut at the Del Lago casino in upstate New York during the fourth quarter, according to Bill Bachman, the company’s senior manager of consulting and gift services. Several installations will follow early in 2020.

But G2E will be the industry’s first look at a vision realized by Bachman, who sees the “wacky idea I put on a bar napkin a couple years ago” evolving into a strong market product.

“You put this directly on the slots,” he says. “I’m a player, I just earned 500 credits. The screen says ‘Congratulations, you have just won a toaster.’ I click on the machine for the toaster (thus claiming it) and two days later it shows up at my house. There are 1.8 million gifts available on Amazon.” The gifts are delivered utilizing proprietary capabilities developed by Scientific Games and Initial Rewards Technology, fulfilled by Amazon.

“If you’re the player, do you want to wait in that line and then carry around the toaster you just won? That’s no fun at all.”

—Bill Bachman, Senior Manager of Consulting and Gift Services, Scientific Games

Player Boutique delivers strong, tangible benefits to operators and patrons. Gamblers can essentially cash in without cashing out, staying at a hot machine without stopping to collect a prize. An approach like this one can alleviate the unintended consequence of a high-profile gift program. A selection may be out of stock, disappointing the customer and robbing casinos of time on device.

“There’s a strong response rate on days when a casino is giving something away—everybody wants a gift and the lines are huge,” Bachman says.

“But if you’re the player, do you want to wait in that line and then carry around the toaster you just won or the waffle iron all throughout the property? That’s no fun at all.”

The product can help operators keep players engaged, retain valued time on device and unclog a tedious labor process.

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Player Boutique by Scientific Games allows patrons to earn and redeem rewards points right at the gaming machine via iVIEW or iVIEW DM

“There are logistic nightmares to the way gifts are often distributed,” Bachman says. “They’re dropped off in trailers. People stand around and there is a line to unpack it. If it’s the wrong quantity or the wrong item, it has to be packed back up and shipped.”

Player Boutique allows patrons to earn and redeem rewards points right at the gaming machine via iVIEW DM. It gives operators the ability to allow players to select from a variety of gifts and to determine the point-earning qualification for those gifts.

Qualified players can see their progress towards gifts via a progress bar, which displays during the promotional period directly at the iVIEW 4.

Player Boutique gives casinos the flexibility of offering gifts at any time with no constraints on inventory or product selection. Promotions are designed via the Elite Bonusing Suite and can be pushed to the casino floor in seconds via Scientific Games’ Web Content Manager and iVIEW solutions.

Make Your Best Offer NRT Chief Marketing Officer Aron Ezra has taken his relationship-building philosophy to another level. His OfferCraft company gained industry acclaim by turning incentives into games, whether the recipient was a patron or employee.

When NRT Technology acquired OfferCraft last year, Ezra maintained a pivotal role in the new company format.

OfferCraft is not only a successful standalone product, it adds important new functionality to NRT’s existing hardware and software solutions, Ezra says.

“The platform includes a broad range of additional tools that have absolutely nothing to do with games, like mobile offer distribution, interactive ads, player portals, unique offer codes, marketing functionality for kiosks, dynamic surveys, interactive newsletters and much more. Each component is geared toward presenting information in a better way.”

OfferCraft enhances communications with target audiences and creates effective incentives. That’s powerful when coupled with NRT’s other products, Ezra contends.

“When you think about rewards, they take endless forms, from clothing and coffee mugs to free trips, free meals or free play. What casinos give has typically been quite diverse, since a broad range of rewards helps to attract a broad range of people. I think the area where we’ve seen the most changes recently is in how casinos distribute, measure and manage these rewards.

“Many companies, ours included, have worked hard to trailblaze exciting new ways to help casinos motivate their target audiences. As an example, by using NRT’s OfferCraft software, casinos can distribute rewards and incentives digitally by text, email, social media, mobile app, or kiosk—and patrons 130 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

“Using NRT’s OfferCraft software, casinos can distribute rewards and incentives digitally by text, email, social media, mobile app, or kiosk—and patrons can actually interact with those incentives in some pretty remarkable ways.”

—Aron Ezra, Chief Marketing Officer, NRT

can actually interact with those incentives in some pretty remarkable ways.”

Ezra says this format enables patrons to give feedback about their rewards, swap rewards, or view them easily right from their mobile devices. This allows them to more easily redeem their incentives across multiple points on the casino floor. After the rewards are distributed, marketing teams can create profiles of anticipated future patron behavior based on exactly how they interact with an incentive.

Gifting, like all forms of enterprise, is not one-size-fits all. And the psychology behind it hasn’t changed.

“Casino patrons visit casinos to have fun,” says Ezra. “They enjoy the excitement, the possibility of winning big, the shows, and the feeling of being special and appreciated. Gifts, whether physical or digital, enhance guest engagement between visits and keep people thinking about the brand. We often take this a step further by giving out gifts and rewards in the form of games, to make the process of getting the reward as fun and memorable as possible.”

Ezra says more casinos are extending the incentive concept to employees.

He predicts increased inner-company competitions, rewards and gifts as a way to recognize employee contributions. Some of the programs include games to make training and orientation materials more fun via randomized pulse surveys and trivia-based assessments.

Throughout the highly competitive industry, repeat business has never been more important. Technology provides a new avenue to thank customers, along with a challenge. Between personal contact on one side and revenues on the other, casinos look for the sweet spot.

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CUTTING EDGE

by Frank Legato

Self-Service Solution Product: Apex Series with QSR Application Manufacturer: KIOSK Information Systems; Hathway (joint venture)

onsumer demand for faster and more convenient ordering options is driving restaurants of all sizes in the gaming industry to incorporate self-service kiosks into their units. To better understand consumer attitudes and behaviors towards self-service kiosks in the market today, restaurant digital consultancy Hathway and leading kiosk manufacturer KIOSK Information Systems partnered on an industry research study. Results show that kiosks can deliver massive results for restaurants as part of a broader digital ecosystem and consumer experience strategy if the right factors are considered.

• 60 percent of consumers under age 45 prefer the self-service experience vs. ordering from a cashier.

• 45 percent of those under age 45 believe it is easier to customize an order through a kiosk than a cashier.

• When consumers order from a self-service kiosk, they tend to spend 20 percent to 30 percent more.

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The Apex Series, in particular, is ideal for food service settings in gaming venues. Its modular design provides a wide variety of configurations from countertops to freestanding, as well as horizontal or vertical displays in 19 inches or 21.5. inches.

This series features a brilliant projective capacitive touch display paired with a flush-mounted PC, providing all-in-one space efficiency. It also can include a side-mounted payment device (multiple), a receipt printer, and a barcode scanner.

With self service becoming more pervasive in the food market, consumers are learning new behaviors and adopting kiosks as a preferred ordering option. For these reasons, it is no mystery why a growing number of restaurant brands in the gaming industry are exploring how kiosks fit into their digital ecosystem and guest experience.

For the full study results or to learn how Hathway and KIOSK Information Systems can help with your self-service kiosk solution, email HathwayKIS@kiosk.com.

DFS Made Easy Product: Fantasy Sports Manufacturer: BetConstruct

he Fantasy Sports software suite from BetConstruct has grown greatly in popularity over the past year. For the U.S. market, BetConstruct developed the Fantasy Sports product with its dedicated tools, plus a high-level in-house CMS and CRM. For easy operation management, Fantasy Sports features fully specified requirements for the U.S. daily fantasy sports market, with software covering all U.S.-based leagues. BetConstruct’s latest Fantasy Sports software release includes all the minor and major features of daily fantasy sports. Major updates are related to the lineup, creation flow and contest types. In addition, several sections of exploring fantasy statistics have been added.

New contest types include: 1. Express classic • Salary cap: 50,000 • No captain for any sports.

• In case the number of positions for particular sport is below five, the user can select two players of any position, and one player of the rest of the positions. If the number of positions for particular sports is above five, the user can select one player of each position.

• In case the number of matches in the contest is two or more, the user can select a maximum of two players from each team. If there is one match in the contest, the user can select a maximum of three players from each team.

T

132 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

2. Express pick ‘em • The user should select one player from each tier.

• Number of tiers: 5 3. Fantasy heroes • No restrictions at all; the user should select three players that he roots the most for.

Experts in the fantasy sports industry announced the results of survey in the FSGA 2019 that one in five Americans participate in fantasy sports.

BetConstruct’s offering is a fully functional package for the operators to start their online fantasy sports business from every continent. The company updates all fantasy software to have a worldwide scalability to deliver faster operator websites and higher quality regardless of the region.

For the U.S. market, BetConstruct has two more upcoming games, March Madness and Predictor. Both are games of chance created specifically for football lovers.

For more information, visit betconstruct.com.

LEADING OUR INDUSTRY TO THE FUTURE The Emerging Leaders of Gaming™ (ELG) program supports today’s young executives on their path to becoming tomorrow’s industry leaders through education, networking, and other career development opportunities.

Best wishes to our Class of 2018-19 in their future endeavors.

The ELG 40 Under 40 is presented by:

To learn more about Emerging Leaders of Gaming, visit:

www.theinnovationgroup.com

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GOODS&SERVICES GRAND TRAVERSE, FULL HOUSE SELECT KONAMI SYNKROS

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onami Gaming, Inc. announced that its awardwinning Synkros casino management system has been selected by Grand Traverse Resort & Casinos to power casino enterprise management across Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel and Leelanau Sands Casino & Lodge, as well as Full House Resorts Inc. to deliver award-winning tools and technology at Bronco Billy’s Casino and Hotel in Cripple Creek, Colorado, and Rising Star Casino Resort in Rising Sun, Indiana.

Located on opposite sides of Grand Traverse Bay outside Traverse City, Michigan, Turtle Creek and Leelanau Sands will launch a leading array of technology, including Synkros Offers Management, Synkros Dashboards, and the latest Synk Box in-machine hardware. Both casino destinations will share a single card solution, allowing players to enjoy seamless loyalty rewards at either location. In addition, guests can experience systemdelivered bonusing events such as SuperSeries and True-Time Tournaments, as well as the new SynkConnect Mobile cardless player loyalty app.

At Full House Resorts, each unique destination is set to leverage Synkros’ industry-leading marketing suite, open integrations, advanced architecture, and single integrated database for exceptional guest experiences and enterprise management. Among the company’s largest venues, Silver Slipper Casino in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi has been running Synkros since 2006. Additional Full House properties in Nevada will be evaluated for systems in the future.

“Konami has been an excellent business partner,” said Daniel R. Lee, president and chief executive officer of Full House Resorts. “We were an early adopter of the Konami system at the Silver Slipper, and it has worked very well for us for more than 10 years. Konami has proven to deliver great reliability, along with an expansive marketing tool kit that will allow us to compete more effectively in our regional markets. We are excited to bring a new level of excitement to our Colorado and Indiana players this fall.”

134 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

AGS ACQUIRES TABLE SUPPLIER IN BET GAMING

FOXWOODS ADDS THIRD INTERBLOCK STADIUM

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aming supplier AGS announced last month that it has acquired all assets and operations of New Jersey-based In Bet Gaming, a leading developer of proprietary table games and tablegame side bets.

AGS also announced that In Bet founder, President Ronald LaDuca and Chief Executive Officer Ronald LaDuca will join AGS’ executive team as vice president of table products sales.

“We have had a strong partnership with the In Bet team for a number of years,” said John Hemberger, AGS senior vice president of table products, “and in 2017 we bolstered our relationship by acquiring five of their dynamic table progressives that continue to drive business for us today.

Now, in addition to investing in the remainder of their innovative game assets, we are thrilled to welcome In Bet Founder President, and CEO Ron LaDuca to our sales team in a leadership role.”

LaDuca, a gaming industry veteran of 30 years, brings more than a decade of executive experience to AGS. He founded In Bet Gaming in 2009, leveraging his years of table games experience in casino operations to develop new concepts for games that add excitement to the casino pit while providing players with the opportunities for a more rewarding experience.

Before founding In Bet Gaming, LaDuca served in numerous table-game operations roles, helping to open the Showboat Atlantic City, Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, and West Virginia’s Mardi Gras Casino & Resort and the Greenbrier.

Under this agreement, AGS acquired four proprietary games from In Bet Gaming: • 3 Card Blitz—an exciting, fast-paced flushbased game in which the player and dealer compete to get the higher-valued hand.

• Dragon Poker—a four-card poker game in which players build traditional poker hands with a special deck of 53 Asian-themed cards.

• Double Down Blackjack—a quick-paying blackjack-style game in which players vie for the higher point total against the dealer.

• Straight to the Flush—a new poker game in which players build their largest straight or flush and go heads-up against the dealer.

lectronic table game (ETG) market leader Interblock announced an expansion of the company’s footprint at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut. The most recent addition to the casino is a Diamond dealer-assist stadium to the Rainmaker Casino.

The expansion takes the product portfolio of Interblock to 85 seats at the property.

“The executive management team at Foxwoods Resort Casino has always strived to be first when it comes to innovation,” said John Connelly, CEO of Interblock. “The introduction of a third stadium within the same casino is an indication of the financial benefits Foxwoods has realized.”

Foxwoods Resort Casino was one of the first properties in North America to install the company’s award-winning Pulse Arena in 2016, which was branded as PLAY Arena. PLAY Arena is a technological experience that delivers a hybrid of entertainment, gambling and social interaction.

The stadiums consist of 30 and 24 seats respectively, and feature live Multi-hand Blackjack, Dual-shoe Baccarat and roulette.

Interblock Stadium solutions allow operators to easily transform a dealer-assisted stadium into a fully automated stadium, ensuring that the section of the casino floor is always active and able to generate constant revenue even when live dealers are not present.

SAN MANUEL LAUNCHES IGT ADAM LEVINE SLOT

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alifornia’s San Manuel Casino announced it is the first casino in California to welcome IGT’s Adam Levine video slot to its slot machine offering. The game allows players to

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Adam Levine

take the stage alongside rock star and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, featuring 40 play lines and a high-definition three-by-five interface.

“At San Manuel, our top priority is to provide a best-in-class entertainment and gaming experience for our guests,” said Kenji Hall, the casino’s chief operating officer. “Fun, new games like the Adam Levine video slot allow us to keep upping the ante and give our guests the best slots experience in Southern California.”

The game features a jukebox, where players can select one of Levine’s top hits, and three exclusive game editions—Rockin’ Records Feature, Adam Guitar Solo Bonus and Adam’s Show Stopper Free Games. The game features 40 play lines, a 75-credit cost to cover, six entertaining levels, and with a $3.75 max bet, players have the chance to win up to $2,000.

To celebrate the exclusivity of Adam Levine’s slot machine, San Manuel Casino hosted a free slot pull on September 23. Club Serrano members played the new game and received swag from San Manuel Casino team members.

MINNESOTA CASINO INSTALLS JCM LED WALL

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rairie’s Edge Casino Resort in Granite Fall, Minnesota has installed a 15-by-eight-foot “Direct VIEW” LED wall display from JCM Global Digital Signage Solutions, creating an atmosphere for guests to enjoy all the action of their favorite sports.

The all-new Prairie Tap House is a part of the recent major expansion of the main floor of the casino, and the new Direct View LED wall has become the major attraction for this area.

For more information or to subscribe to the database or monthly report contact Ashley Diem at ADiem@FantiniResearch.com or call +1-302-730-3793 - www.FantiniResearch.com OCTOBER 2019 www.ggbmagazine.com 135

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Tribal and commercial casinos from coast to coast are utilizing various configurations of JCM Global Digital Signage Solutions to deliver highquality content that communicates directly with customers throughout the property in new and impactful ways.

“JCM continues to experience tremendous success with our JCM Global Digital Signage Solutions from both tribal and commercial casino customers,” said Dave Kubajak, senior vice president of sales, marketing and operations for JCM Global.

SYNERGY BLUE ESTABLISHES VEGAS HQ

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ynergy Blue, a supplier of arcade-style casino games and platforms featuring an element of skill, has announced the relocation of its headquarters from California to Las Vegas. The move came shortly after the Nevada Gaming Commission approved the company’s manufacturing and distribu-

tion license.

The company brings a positive economic footprint to the community, while team members look forward to immersing themselves in the industry and harnessing the momentum around skill-influenced games.

“This is a big step for Synergy Blue,” said Georg Washington, CEO of Synergy Blue. “As the industry evolves, and skill-influenced games continue to gain traction, we found it necessary to be closer to our clients and the industry. We are very excited to be in Vegas with our Nevada license. We look forward to building strong relationships with our neighbors and becoming a beneficial part of the community.”

After outgrowing its headquarters in Palm Desert, California, Synergy Blue renovated a new home office in Las Vegas. The company plans to expand its team locally to support the growing momentum surrounding skill-influenced games, as

MANILA SITE FOR DUELING TRADE SHOWS

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he two largest gaming trade Manila, Philippines, which is set to show companies, Reed Exhibitake place June 8-9, 2020. tions and Clarion Gaming, have set The B2B event will cater to both their sights on Manila as the importhe land-based gaming sector and the tance of gaming in the Philippines iGaming sector, with online suppliand Asia continues to grow. ers, operators, affiliates, regulators G2E Asia, owned by Reed and and blockchain businesses all being the American Gaming Association, housed under one roof at the SMX Andrea Domingo, has confirmed it will expand its ofConvention Center situated in the chairwoman of the ferings outside Macau for the first heart of Manila, as well as the adjaPhilippine Amusement time this year with the inaugural cent Conrad Conference facility. and Gaming Corp.

G2E Asia @ the Philippines to be As Asia tempts leading brands from held at the Marriott Manila December 3-4. the global gambling sector to expand business An offshoot of the original G2E Asia, which opportunities in the region, it’s fast becoming celebrated its 13th edition at the Venetian Macao clear that Asia is the new frontier for both landin May, G2E Asia @ the Philippines is expected based and iGaming industries. Recent figures to attract around 3,500 visitors representing gamfrom Global Gambling Statistics 2019 reveal ing platforms, software and systems, land-based that seven of the top 10 locations for gambling and online casino/gaming operators, sports betrevenue based on visitors are in Asia (including ting, integrated resorts and hotels, gaming affiliAustralia). In Macau alone, revenue could reach ates and regulators, according to organizers. as high as $53 billion by 2022.

Blockchain, cybersecurity and fintech solutions Kate Chambers, managing director of Clarwill also be addressed. ion Gaming, said, “The opportunities for “It is an honor for the Philippines to host this growth in Asia are increasing exponentially year globally renowned event, as it reflects the region’s on year, and the time is right to cement new and exciting and upward growth in gaming and enexisting relationships between the gambling intertainment, while supporting our work to predustries both East and West. To combine the exserve the integrity of the industry,” said Andrea pertise of Clarion courtesy of the world famous Domingo, chairwoman of the Philippine AmuseICE brand and SiGMA ensures both the landment and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), the govbased and iGaming sectors will find synergy in ernment-run gaming regulator.

Manila in 2020. This is an exciting time as we Meanwhile, SiGMA Group and Clarion extend the reach of the ICE brand following the Gaming have jointly announced they will partner launch of ICE Africa in 2018 and ICE North on ICE Asia, the 2020 gaming trade show in America in May 2019.”

136 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

well as the progression of the company’s products through certification with the Nevada Gaming Commission.

In the past year, Synergy Blue has strengthened its technology development, grown its game library, secured strategic partnerships, increased game placements, and secured its Nevada gaming license. The company also conducted and published research on the emerging skill-based gambling industry, which shows how critical innovation and new solutions are for casinos.

THIRD KONAMI FORTUNE CUP LIVE IN MACAU

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GM Cotai in Macau has installed that market’s third Fortune Cup, the arcade-style electronic and electro-mechanical horse race game from Konami Gaming.

Konami distributor Asia Pioneer Entertainment (APE) announced that it has completed installation of the Fortune Cup 10-player racing game at MGM Cotai. The game was already live at Wynn Macau and Wynn Palace.

Fortune Cup is a modern version of the style of game initiated in the legendary 1980s Sigma Derby, in that it uses miniature horses around an arcadestyle track. Fortune Cup adds electronics into the mix, simulating the race in high-definition animation on a big screen. The game offers bet options of win, place and quinella.

APE’s press release quoted Hideo Goto, international sales manager for Konami Australia, in noting that the company plans “several more installations” before the end of the year.

AGS LAUNCHES ORION UPRIGHT CABINET

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aming supplier AGS announced the launch of its new Orion Upright slot platform, the latest addition to its Orion family of game cabinets. The company pre-launched the cabinet earlier this year; it’s currently live at Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun Casino & Resort in Connecticut, in Southern California at the Pechanga Resort Casino and San Manuel Casino, and in Oklahoma at WinStar World Resort & Casino, among others.

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PEOPLE BLACKHURST JOINS CAESARS BOARD OF DIRECTORS

telligence software based in the United States. Hudson was previously an attorney with Bancroft PLLC, and had also served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts.

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GAMING TECH WIZ LYLE BELL DIES

aesars Entertainment last month announced that Jan Jones Blackhurst has Jan Jones been appointed to the comBlackhurst pany’s board of directors.

Blackhurst, who has been a senior executive at Caesars since 1999, continued in the role of executive vice president, public policy and corporate responsibility until October 1. She replaced Richard Schifter, who resigned as a director.

During her 20 years at Caesars, Blackhurst helped develop and grow the industry’s first responsible gaming practices to include an ambassador model for the industry and the first industry code of commitment. Under her leadership, Caesars Entertainment has earned a perfect score in the Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index for 10 consecutive years. Most recently, she led the company’s gender equity initiative.

“Jan has had a groundbreaking career in the gaming industry, and I am happy she will remain with us as a board member and trusted adviser,” said Tony Rodio, CEO of Caesars Entertainment.

Blackhurst commented, “I am delighted and honored to be joining the board of Caesars. I have tremendous respect for Jim, Tony and the other board members, and I look forward to working with them. I will continue to advocate that Caesars takes a leading role as a responsible corporate citizen. I am proud of the course we have charted and committed to continuing it.”

JACOBS TO LEAVE LVS

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he Las Vegas Sands Corp. said Lawrence Jacobs stepped down last month from his position as the operator’s executive vice Lawrence Jacobs president, global general counsel and secretary.

Jacobs had been responsible for the leadership and oversight of the operator’s legal affairs around the world since 2016, when he was named to the posts. His departure was disclosed in a filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The position of executive vice president, global general counsel and secretary will be assumed by D. Zachary Hudson, who is currently the general counsel of Afiniti Inc., a developer of artificial in-

L

yle Bell, one of the industry’s most committed gaming technology executives, passed away in August at the age of 69. Bell was Lyle Bell noted for introducing the first mag-stripe card cashless gaming system with electronic fund transfer to and from games.

A Stanford graduate, Bell joined Caesars Palace in 1984 as vice president of information systems, where he helped develop the players card system that would follow the player from game to game. He worked at Caesars Palace for 10 years. He later joined IGT for five years as vice president of gaming systems, and was responsible for all casino management systems produced by IGT. In 2002, he was named CIO responsible for six casinos including two Hard Rock properties. During that time, Bell introduced a new generation of Class II games that looked and played like Class III. He developed floor communications that were completely TCP/IP network-based with no proprietary communication controllers.

Bell became chairman of the board of the Gaming Standards Association in 2006, where he navigated through the delicate process of establishing industry standards for communications between slot machines and systems. He spent six years leading GSA.

GAUSELMANN JOINS SUPERVISORY BOARD

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third-generation member of the founding Gauselmann family has been named to the supervisory board of Gauselmann AG. In an appointment that was effective July 1, Janika Gauselmann succeeded Max Walberer, who died last spring after serving on the board for 28 years.

The corporate group currently employs 13,500 people worldwide and generated sales in excess of €3.6 billion (US$4 bil- Janika Gauselmann lion) in the 2018 financial year.

Paul Gauselmann, founder and chairman of the company’s management board, said, “I’m proud that my granddaughter Janika is reinforcing our supervisory board.”

GGB

October 2019 Index of Advertisers

AGEM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Atlantic Computer Group/GSL . . . . . . . . . .79 AGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Aristocrat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Aruze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 BetConstruct (IT Technology) . . . . . . . . . .101 Casino Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107 Casino Trac . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 Cintas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139 Dickinson Wright . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61 Duetto . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Eclipse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73 Emerging Leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133 Empire Technological Group . . . . . . . . . . 109 Everi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25,27,29, 31 Everi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gatefold FC Fabicash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135 Fantini . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Fifth Third Bank . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35 Fox Rothchild . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57 G2E . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119 Gaming Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75 Gaming Arts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Gaming Partners International . . . . . . . . . 23 Global Payments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 GGB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113, 115, 117 GLI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 HBG Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 IGT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Incredible Technologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Interblock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Innovation Group . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 J Carcamo & Associates . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131 Jani-King Franchise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 JCM Global . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Kambi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 &19 Konami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Konami . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 &13 LifeScapes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Merkur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Novomatic Americas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 PMI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 RPM Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 RMC Legal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Scientific Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Scientific Games . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Smartbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 Subway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Synergy Blue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55 TCSJohnHuxley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 TBE Architects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Transact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 UNLV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123 VizExplorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59 Wipfli/Joseph Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85 World Game Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103 Zitro . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95

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CASINO COMMUNICATIONS

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&A

Bill Miller President & CEO, American Gaming Association

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ill Miller became the third leader of the American Gaming Association in early 2019. A former executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business organizations, Miller hit the ground running at the AGA—he had to, as the U.S. Department of Justice struck down a previous DOJ memo that said the Wire Act applied only to sports betting, not online casinos or lotteries.

Miller has accomplished much in a few months. In August, he sat down with GGB Publisher Roger Gros in his Washington, D.C. office for a GGB Podcast. To hear the full podcast, in which Miller discusses responsible gaming, emerging technologies, regulation and more, visit GGBMagazine.com or download from iTunes or Spotify.

GGB: You weren’t an unknown quantity when you were appointed to head the AGA. As a lobbyist, you worked hand-in-hand with the AGA. But there were people that you hadn’t met on the board. How did you go about introducing yourself and explaining your agenda?

Bill Miller: One of the really exciting things is

we have a diverse but reasonably limited membership. We have commercial operators, tribal operators and suppliers. We have our friends from the U.K. and Europe who have become more interested in sports betting that aren’t actual members. In total, you’re talking about 100 or so different entities.

I know how the American Gaming Association started, where it started, the importance of Las Vegas as kind of the epicenter of the gaming world. I made a couple trips to Las Vegas to meet with people both during the search process and before I started, in order to try and have them get to know a little bit about me and about my agenda.

The first two leaders of the AGA had different styles. Frank Fahrenkopf’s job was to keep an eye on Capitol Hill and make sure no bad legislation was coming out of there. Geoff Freeman

138 Global Gaming Business OCTOBER 2019

was more proactive about getting the good news about gaming out into the community.

What’s your philosophy?

I think I take some good from both. I know that both Geoff and Frank shared the same view, that our industry is so well-regulated at the state level, any kind of federal interference or federal regulation is something we should work to defeat. And that has continued to be the mission, whether it was Fahrenkopf, Freeman or Miller. We all share that view.

What happens on Capitol Hill matters a great deal to us (but) we’re not under constant assault. In fact, most members of Congress recognize that the gaming industry is an economically powerful driver. And we’re in 40plus states. What I try and bring to this job every day is the ability to tell the story to the right audiences, and many of those audiences that are most important are up on Capitol Hill.

Sports betting has been the big story in the industry over the past couple of years. Are there some hurdles we have to overcome before it’s completely accepted?

Prior to the Supreme Court’s ruling, there was one state where you could bet on sports. Now there are more than 20. We’re learning from each of those.

One of the most important reasons that the AGA was involved in the sports-betting lawsuit was we recognized how much sports wagering was being done illegally. Our contention all along was if you’re able to legalize sports betting in states, you’re going to begin to destroy the illegal offshore online market that funds other criminal and illicit activities.

People have always bet on sports. They’re going to continue to bet on sports. And it’s a better dynamic when they bet on sports in a legal and transparent manner. That’s a worthwhile goal for all of us, including the Department of Justice.

Geoff Freeman forged a great relationship with Ernie Stevens at the National Indian Gaming Association; I think both being from Wisconsin and Packer fans helped. Are you planning to continue that relationship with Ernie as a person and NIGA as an organization?

I spoke to Chairman Stevens on my first or second day here. I believe very strongly that that the 11 tribal operators we have as members are critically important. The story of gaming in the tribal nations is an incredibly important one.

I spoke at NIGA in San Diego. I’m planning to go speak at their mid-year conference in Connecticut. I was on a panel with Chairman Stevens at ICE in London. I’m not a Packers fan, but we’re both big boxing fans, and we’ll talk about boxing. We figured out our connections, and I have great respect for him as a leader of NIGA. And I have a personal affection for him; he’s been very kind and very welcoming to me.

The new AGA State of Play campaign not only looks at commercial gaming in each state, but includes tribal gaming also. Is that because people see gaming as one industry that, whether it be tribal or commercial, still benefits the state in various ways?

Absolutely. Most people who enjoy a regional casino property don’t necessarily care that it’s commercially operated or tribally operated.

What they want is an entertaining experience, with good amenities and good restaurants, nice hotel, maybe a golf course. They want an atmosphere that’s lively and fun.

We’re proud to have Native American tribes as part of our membership, along with our commercial operators, the suppliers and manufacturers. We are one. We want the American Gaming Association to be that one source—an honest, clear and transparent source for information.

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