TABLE GAMIING
important to players, for whom the game’s the thing. That’s where another development of table games comes into action – variations on play itself, or the addition of extra side games to the main one.
On the side
TCSJohnHuxley, for instance, last year launched its Double Action Roulette, now in casinos including Aspers Newcastle in England and Gold Reef City in South Africa, with additional bets not found in the standard game, and two winning numbers from each spin. Other vendors that have taken a similar tack include Shuffle Master – a versatile maker of both proprietary games such as Casino War and electronic table games such as Lightning Poker – whose Caribbean Stud Poker Bonus, for example, comes complete with progressive wagers and side bets.
high-contrast, true-colour pictures of cards in a range of typical casino conditions.
EPayment Solutions, the firm behind Racing Card
Add-ons like these give the casino greater flexibility, improved management capability and potential cost savings
Derby, is also active in table game security with its ICU2 card-recognition unit, which it says can be used with any table that needs automatic card recognition, and is ready for use with Baccarat or Racing Card Derby itself. At less than a quarter of the cost of some card readers, it’s said to instantly recognise any style of card from any kind of shoe. And Cammegh’s new Mercury 360 Roulette wheel likewise has security at its heart, with a
system that continually monitors rotor status, wheel level and ball characteristics, digitally providing reports to the firm’s Wheel Manager Application.
Add-ons like these give the casino greater flexibility,
improved management capability and potential cost savings, but may not in themselves be particularly
AWAY FROM THE TABLE One challenge facing the operators of table
games is how to continue involving players when they’re absent from the casino floor.
E-gaming is one obvious solution, with most of the major Internet gaming sites, whether they’re run by land-based casinos or pure-play online operators, offering fairly convincing facsimiles of Roulette, Poker, Blackjack and other popular table games.
34 MARCH 2011 And whether it’s done electronically or
conventionally, improving the experience for players while easing the workload and minimising risk for the casino is the goal of all developments in table games. They’ve come a long way since the French developed that first Roulette back in the eighteenth century, and despite the success of slots and the arrival of e- gaming, it seems table gaming can still add plenty of novelty to any casino floor.
Some additions can even work with any kind of game, such as TCSJohnHuxley’s SuperNova Table Bonus System, which adds multi-level progressive pools. Visually themed to match the design of the base game, using a wide-screen display, and operated by the dealer via a touchscreen handset, it’s another way to differentiate a table game, add excitement and increase player participation.
Mobile gaming is another, and the rapid
spread of smartphones will doubtless increase the playing of table games on the handset. The firm behind Racing Card Derby (featured in our main story) is, for example, developing an app version of the game for Apple’s iPhone, although in the broader industry there is still debate as to whether apps (which run on the phone itself) or Web-based games (which run on a server and are accessed by mobile Internet) are the better option.
One of the most ambitious solutions to this challenge, however, comes from Amaya, the Canadian specialist in peer-to-peer gaming. Rather than produce disparate applications for different devices, it’s united them all in one platform, which it calls InSync. This gives players access to multiple simultaneous games such as Roulette, Poker, Blackjack and Baccarat from a variety of access points, including gaming tables, cabinets, and bar tops.
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