SERVER-BASED GAMING He adds, though, that “there are pockets of
success. Because the Holy Grail strategy is clearly not going to arrive, suppliers have changed the focus of server-based technology and there are products which represent facets of what the industry thought the technology might be, which are not the whole package. There’s good product out there now where the server is tied to the player management system, for example, to offer different rewards and bonusing events based on the player’s worth to the casino. That’s an element of server- based gaming that is alive and kicking and doing very well for operators.”
It’s an approach that has been welcome at Aria, the
casino in the new Las Vegas CityCenter development, where from day one half the floor, or around 900 games, was server-based, mostly using slots from International Game Technology (IGT) along with a percentage from WMS Gaming.
Observes Mike Volkert, VP of Slot Marketing and Operations at Aria: “Server-based gaming will provide us with great marketing opportunities. In the near future we will be communicating with players directly through the Service Window, a communication portal [a small LCD screen built in to the slot machine] to the customer which allows us to offer marketing messages and
different sorts of bonuses to customers based on that customer’s demographics or the information we have. For example, if they’re gaming with us and use their loyalty card we know if they’re also staying with us, so we can communicate with them differently.
“Like all casinos, our problem was that most
marketing comes after their trip has ended and they’ve gone home. But with server-based gaming we can talk to them in real time and with greater relevance: ‘Oh, you’re gambling with me but not staying with me, so maybe I’ll offer a buffet comp if you come back tomorrow.’ It’s about the right message at the right time.”
Certainly, then, the technology is there today for
server-based gaming to provide bottom-line benefits to casino operators. And there’s reason to believe that it will gain more support, because it brings the slot floor into line with broader technology trends – there is no reason why the casino industry should be immune from them.
Whether full server-based gaming’s moment has come is a tougher question. But with the benefits becoming widely understood, it may well be that when healthy economic growth returns we’ll see a lot more floors being managed the Aria way.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56