CASINO MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS APP-ROPOS OF SOMETHING
It’s not just player-facing applications that can benefit from the increasing sophistication of mobile handsets. Spielo International – the Lottomatica subsidiary recently formed by the blending of Atronic and Spielo
– has developed myGuest, an iPhone app for slot attendants and marketing teams on the gaming floor.
With data updated in real time, it lets them identify members of a casino’s loyalty club, examine their individual profiles, and award them comps or bonuses appropriately. The app also provides a full-colour interactive map of the gaming floor, and instant access to key performance indicators (KPIs).
It’s likely that we’ll see a lot more developments like this over the next year, using tablet computers and netbooks as well as phones.
Although security concerns (discussed in our boxed interview with IGT’s Richard Yim) are more of an issue in the casino business than in many sectors, progress in this direction is made almost inevitable by the broad IT trends toward ubiquitous wireless and device-agnostic access to data and applications – meaning that you can get at your management tools from almost any intelligent device, anywhere.
The possibilities are boundless. As well as enabling floor staff to add a human touch to the process of
rewarding players in a loyalty scheme, for example, mobile information will also allow them to identify customers who aren’t signed up but whose gaming activity suggests they should be.
Other potential applications beyond gaming itself include security and facilities management, for example by creating a “cleaning priorities” list in real time while walking around the floor.
customers, especially during this tough economic time,” said Nick Khin, President of Aristocrat Americas. “We cannot expect casinos to replace their entire slot mix, nor rebuild their entire IT infrastructure overnight, in order to take advantage of networked technologies.”
Other modules added to Oasis 360 by Aristocrat include nRich, which handles bonusing individualised to the player and based on historical play patterns and their value to the casino, rather than being prompted merely by recent actions. nVision, meanwhile, is a reporting module which provides management with a quick overview of key performance indicators (KPIs) on gaming floor business.
Like nVision, NEWave’s latest casino management
tools are also aimed at the office rather than the players. It has recently added a Web-based service to its Title 31 software, which helps US casinos comply with financial regulations; this lets casino management systems from other vendors communicate with Title 31, meaning that it can in effect become a fully participating module in a larger management suite. NEWave has also upgraded its myCompliance suite to improve reporting and paperwork handling, as well as its Check Prove software, a dedicated application that helps casinos reduce fraud in cheque cashing.
These are further examples of how a casino management system can directly impact the bottom line. Indeed, it’s such an important complement to
the right game mix that even at a time when – as Aristocrat’s Khin observes – many venues are reluctant to invest heavily in new slots or tables, there is still a business case for keeping the management system up to date.
At Eagle Mountain Casino in Porterville, California, for example, an older system will be replaced this December by Konami Gaming’s Konami Casino Management System (KCMS), providing accounting, customer tracking, targeted marketing and reporting across 1350 slots and table games. (Eagle Mountain bosses may have been in a spending mood; the location is also getting 120 new Konami slots.)
It will also be the first Californian site to roll out
Konami’s LotABucks game across the floor, a relatively minor part of the order but one that encapsulates many of the advantages of casino management systems now. LotABucks gives members of Eagle Mountain’s loyalty club a chance to win both a large progressive jackpot and smaller one-off prizes when they play on any machine, anywhere in the casino.
The consumer gets excitement, the positive feeling of being privileged and taken care of, and a tangible benefit; and the casino gets a more engaged, identifiable, trackable customer, which ultimately means a more valuable one – enabling the operator to extract maximum value from their investment not only in the management system, but in their games and their players too.
NOVEMBER 2011 33
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