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AUSTRALIA


the operator’s total revenue of US$ 2.4 billion came from visitors. Sky City, the New Zealand-based company, which operates in Northern and South Australia Territories, is bouncing back and also investing heavily in the VIP market. In Darwin, the company is developing a five-star Lagoon Resort, opening July 2012. It will feature a massive heated lagoon and sandy beaches, spa and restaurant, plus four US$2000-a-night villas next to two VIP gaming pavilions. And, to facilitate occupancy, Sky City is in negotiations with the Northern Territory state government to guarantee regular direct international flights to Asian markets. In South Australia Sky City is negotiating a US$195.1 million expansion to its Adelaide property. Back home the company spent US$ 38 million refurbishing its flagship


Australasia Gaming


T


property Sky City at Auckland Tower ahead of the Rugby World Cup. The new Horizon Suite gaming lounges are very similar to what a VIP player is accustomed in Macau. And even if the 12 million in revenue reaped from the event were bellow expectations, CEO Nigel Morrison argues the investment has paid off by successfully attracting more Asian VIP players and improving the bottom line. Morrison expects a seven percent annual profit climb by the end of the year.


Pre commitment If Macau and Singapore make up for


Australia’s biggest competition for international revenue, pre-commitment is the single biggest challenge the industry now faces in the domestic front.


Ross Ferrar, GTA chief executive told Macau


Exhibition Spinning down under


he reels are spinning every other way and up for the 2012 AGE with new dates and a new image. Banking of the success of last year’s event, 80 percent of the show area


is already sold. The pre-commitment issue (read more in


main report) the Australian gambling industry faces, was a faint shadow among the 15,000 square feet of neon-lit exhibition space of the 22nd edition of AGE, hosted at the Sydney Exhibition and Convention Centre this Autumn. Visitors were spoiled for choice as the event


saw the participation of 183 exhibitors displaying the latest gaming machines, equipment and hospitality products and services for the hotel, club and casino markets. With over 700 new gaming machines and


products on show gaming executives looking for the latest in gaming products and innovations were greeted by the vast range of new products available and approved for the region’s hospitality market. AGE is organized by Australia based Gaming Technologies Association (GTA) comprising the industry’s main suppliers: Ainsworth, Aristocrat, Aruze, Bally, IGT, Konami, Shuffle Master, and WMS.


42 DECEMBER 2011


Business the event registered “strong numbers” from both the domestic and international executives from Asia, the Americas and Europe. Exhibitor space registered “a healthy eight percent growth,” Ferrar added. Visitors told organisers that new product would be a key strategic differentiator for the industry moving forward and that the AGE delivered. Banking on this year’s success the 23rd edition of the event, still months ahead in August 2012, is already a success. Ross Ferrar told Macau Business that “80 percent of the available area has already been sold.” Breaking with tradition of kicking off the


event on a Sunday, the 2012 edition of AGE will be held midweek for the first time, from August 21-23. This is to lend some extra professionalism to the show, organisers say. In a market where clubs, and community centres play as an import a role as a gaming parlour, the yearly gaming event brings in an eclectic crowd. Also


refreshed is the event’s image for 2012


featuring a new corporate identity


depicting the


all-familiar spinning slot reel. A major different between AGE and other


international gaming shows is that AGE promotes virtually every support aspect of the gaming industry and not just gaming machines and related products per se. From rug flooring options to speciality blends of gourmet coffee to be served at each different gaming venue and a barista skill competition, most everything else in the hospitality side of


In a nutshell pre-commitment is a proposed


bill by the coalition government which would have any and every patron register and set himself a spending limit before getting within playing range of a gaming machine, in any venue, at any given time. Given that the bulk of the Australian gambling market, regardless of venue, revolves around gaming machines, any change will likely have profound implications. Should mandatory pre-commitment pass into legislation every potential patron will be required to register to obtain a licence to gamble in the form of a card and his details stored on a national database for reference and cross checking. As it stands, the implementation of pre commitment is the political banner of a minority Tasmanian legislator who is holding the coalition


the gaming business was on show. Notably one


the best booth awards distributed on the first day of this year’s show went to Tai Ping Carpets from Taiwan which were looking see their product permeate some of the 5,700 gaming available venues in Australia. With Asian themes growing its influence in the market “AGE was the ideal event for them,” Ferrar argues.


Among the trendiest gaming products


featured at the show was IGT’s new Sex and the City slot. Despite having been designed to lure female players, the crowds drawn by the slot were definitely mixed. Also turning heads was Aruze’s Paradise


Fishing. Besides the typical reel play, patrons use joysticks to catch the big fish ‘swimming’ along three massive screens depicting the bottom of the ocean in a multi-player environment. Another exhibitor who stood out was Bally which operates differently to its rivals; while other major slot manufacturers use Australia as their base of operations to service Macau, the American brand is using Macau as their regional headquarters to expand into Australia, where it recently opened a game development studio and hopes to raise its profile and market share.


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