G2E 2014
they are just with price. Our trade-in program is popular with our tribal customers,” he said. Standardization has become important as
more multi-unit properties want to maintain consistency. Gasser said operators find uniformity difficult when dealing with multiple vendors. By using one company, chairs may be easily maintained and interchanged. “Operators want reputable vendors and are looking closely at the type of operation and its people. There is a difference between actually manufacturing a chair and just running an assembly plant. Gasser is always a vertical organization. We bring in almost all raw materials so we can control the quality, customization, engineering and design. “We are a quality brand that partners with its
customers. Although we have a brief relationship with respect to the buying and delivery process, the future alliance we maintain is key,” said Gasser. Gasser launched its Quantum chair series,
now available in three different models, at the G2E. They feature an ergonomically molded seat, a solid extruded aluminum base, an elliptical protective edge, a compound curve back with lumbar support, a four-leg solid oval aluminum base with mega glides, an eco- friendly powder coat finish, self-return swivels and steel tube footrests. Available options include the Gasser Quick Change Seat for seat heights from poker to table games-introduced in the 1980s-plus a narrower width to maximize chair count at gaming tables.
TransAct TransAct had a novel idea for proving the
value of their Epicentral product on their booth – one of their key European customers, London’s Hippodrome Casino, sent an envoy to evangelise its value. John Strydom, Electronic Games Manager, Hippodrome Casino, was on hand to greet visitors with his Epicentral experience. Epicentral makes a lot of sense as a
promotional couponing system for a larger casino, so its success in London’s Hippodrome is a surprise – but John says it works well regardless of the casino size. “The reason I got it is because we are in a very competitive situation, with four casinos around us within 500 metres and we wanted to offer something different to our players – which is where Epicentral stepped in. I can offer rewards, lucky draws, other casinos in London cannot do that. That’s what gives me an edge regarding building revenue and maintaining the customer base. “At the moment we are only using it on
carded players, and we use it as a messaging service for non-carded players but not to reward them. We are looking at expanding it into our hospitality side, where we will give rewards to
50 OCTOBER 2014
people on the tables, in bars, restaurants and in the theatre; when they use their loyalty cards, they will get extra recognition.” So what kind of promotions work? “We give
away free drinks and free meals, that’s redeemable within a 12-hour period, and we give away discounted meals, ie come back Sunday for a 2-for-1 roast dinner kind of thing. So some redeem on the day, and some promote return visits. When it comes to cash rewards, we have a very high redemption rate – which is what we expect – but we also have a very high turnover. When it’s return visits the redemption rate is less high, but we still learn from that. Every promotion, whether it has a high redemption rate or a low one, is in some form a success because we can evaluate what we have done right and wrong and go from there.” TransAct’s Tracey Chernay elaborated: “When
you have a customer that is willing to utilise the system fully, like John, the results they can get, the knowledge they gain, is amazing. Each customer is using the system differently, depending on their property and their unique needs they can tailor it to what they want to achieve. That flexibility is so important; the ability to have complete flexibility in terms of the promotion you offer gives you that ability to do a happy hour or target your particular players. “As we learn from our customers, and get new
ideas from them, our product can evolve and that’s what our user conference was really all about. Get that input from the users, they know better than any of us how they would like to use the tool, and so it’s continuous innovation with Epicentral.”
WMS This is a company on its way back to the top
table. WMS has rediscovered its creativity, and the mathematical dynamism its games need to compete. The highlight of the stand for us at G2E was certainly Gremlins, based on the two classic Joe Dante movies. Steve Rosen explained a little about the products: “Gremlins is a brand new license for us and we have discovered that even some licenses that might be considered darker or scarier, like Beetlejuice which is out now, can perform well. Gremlins is our first participation game on our Blade cabinet, we really believe in the license. One of the really excellent things about this game in particular is you can either play it in Gremlin mode or Gizmo mode. Gremlin mode has a higher max bet and you can see the progressives on top; Gizmo mode has a lower volatility and you go from progressives, to credit amounts you can win. It’s the same basic concept but it gives the player choice. And even though it may seem a little dark, the movies at their core were light and fun.” It’s another example – following last year’s pitch-perfect Beetlejuice, and Ferris
Bueller slots – of a well-executed and attractive slot offering that has the potential to cross many demographics. Also of note was Mad Men, based on the
extremely popular TV show. The cabinet looks great, certainly. The company is very confident in the maths of the machine, too. Steve said: “Mad Men is another new license on a cabinet with a 42” curved LCD which allows us to show the perspective of spin. We have all the characters, we have the show’s music. We believe in the mechanics of this game so much that we cloned it and used it on the new Lord of the Rings game too. Mad Men is different in that any time you bet you can trigger bonuses up to five times your bet, and that’s what triggers the wheel spin.”
GCA Among all of the summer’s big spending, one
that flew under the radar for many was GCA’s acquisition of NEWave. G2E was really their first chance to show off NEWave to a global audience, alongside their ever-evolving suite of products. Of note on the GCA booth were CashClub,
the next generation of GCA’s QCP portfolio and built on a stronger and more stable technology platform to reduce transaction time and overhead costs. Using an intuitive interface, CashClub facilitates common cash access tasks such as PIN debit cash advance, credit card cash advance, and more. Through feature enhancements to receipt printing and electronic storage of customer signatures and receipts, CashClub reduces the records retention burden on casino staff. Also on show were Xchange Kiosks, GCA’s
multi-functional suite of full service kiosks, provide best-in-class cash handling technology, cash access, back office reporting tools and marketing services. The CXC 4.0, with a new, sleek, and modern design, combined with powerful marketing peripherals and high capacity components, delivers maximum velocity and unparalleled uptime. The CXC 2.0 Lite offers the same key services as the CXC 4.0 at a smaller footprint and attractive price point without sacrificing quality. Among the new products the company can
now offer is the NEWave Anti-Money Laundering software – the gold standard for the gaming industry. New at G2E, NEWave will be discussing innovative modules including Business Intelligence, Source of Funds and Walk with Chips log. The business intelligence module supports more than 20 new and flexible queries empowering casinos to mine for data to detect suspicious activities and possible fraud. The queries will also allow casinos to better and further research customers’ source of funds. Also new to NEWave AML software is
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 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70