on that channel. I think that if five-10 per cent of that 60 million audience tunes in - we’ll have a hit show.
WCOS will be staged like an eSports event, but it will be geared towards the casino player, which is why we are calling it cSports (casinoSports). Te tournament will be interesting and exciting and we’ll feature back- stories on the contestants so that you’ll meet them, have people to root-for, and we’re banking on the fact that people will enjoy watching others playing slot machines; that they understand and appreciate the paytable, the atmosphere and the stunning animations of these games.
understands what the players are thinking - and that makes it a very interesting show. All I had to do was take the feed from the slot machine and put it smack in the middle of the show, but unlike the poker shows, where they can’t talk to the poker players mid-game - we’ll talk to the slots players, ask them what they are thinking, what they’re doing and make it really interactive.
G3 caught up with TV gameshow producer, Gary Hunt, the creator of World Championship of Slots, to ask about the show’s development and the launch phase of the programme
Gary, where did the idea for World Championship of Slots come from originally? My background is as a game show producer, which means I’m constantly looking for something interesting to turn into a game. Several years back, it occurred to me that one of my favourite things to do is play slot machines and I wondered how many other people enjoyed the same activity? When I looked, I discovered that 60 million people play slots in the US alone. I realised that if I could create a show that was geared to appeal to those people, I’d have a worthwhile concept.
While watching one of the many poker shows and I started to consider what was it that made poker an interesting TV show? Te answer was that someone figured out that if you put a camera on the hold cards, the home audience
show, Greentube signed a deal with mobile gaming company Chopsticks in a move to propel the company to the forefront of the skill-based gaming segment. Other areas of the booth were reserved for Octavian to present the ACP Casino Management System, as well as NOVOMATIC Sports Betting Solutions and NOVOMATIC Lottery Solutions, which respectively presented their omni-channel sports betting and lottery technologies.
Harald Neumann, CEO NOVOMATIC AG, said:
What’s the format of the gameshow? It’s a competition in which we start off with 30 contestants and by the end of the hour we are down to one. Every two minutes there will be a buzzer and the person with the lowest score will be eliminated. Along the way, the host will be talking with people who hit bonuses or make good or bad choices. We show the feed directly from the game, with a camera built into the slot machine so we can see the player and TV host on camera, and all contestants will be mic-ed so that we can talk to them throughout.
Like in golf, we will have a leaderboard so that the audience will know exactly where each player is at the current time. If a player hits a bonus and capitalises on that bonus they move up and down the leaderboard accordingly. So there’s a lot of action going on.
Who’s the audience for WCOS and how will you keep their attention for 60 minutes? Right now there isn’t a show on TV that taps into an audience that enjoys slot machines. I think WCOS will appeal to that 60 million audience, and honestly, to be a hit these days in the US on a cable channel, if you have 2-3 million audience, you have the top rated show
“G2E 2016 was a clear demonstration of NOVOMATIC’s progress in North America and the excellent collaboration between our teams throughout the world. We are building a very strong company in the US and our products specific to the US market on display this year further boosted NOVOMATIC in the region.”
Rick Meitzler, CEO NOVOMATIC Americas, added: “We had a fantastic G2E. Te US product portfolio spoke for itself and we now have a natural trajectory that is exciting and powerful.
How did you come to partner with Novomatic? When I met with Novomatic Americas and spoke to the CEO Rick Meitzler, the decision was instant. Novomatic committed from day one and it was their enthusiasm that drove the project forward.
What’s been the feedback from operators and the G2E crowds? We’ve had great reaction from the land-based casinos and are currently in discussion with a number of different properties, as we are going to be filming the show inside the casinos. When we visit a location, it’s the casino that supplies us with the winners of their local tournaments, after which we shoot the show using the same games. Casinos already spend vast sums on marketing and TV ads, but there’s nothing like a 60 minute show in which you can watch people playing and having fun at your casino.
We are signing-up casinos right now as we figure out the production cycle. We’ll be starting on the east coast of the United States, with the plan to be on the air in January 2017. We have our time period negotiated with our TV channel, which is one of the best cable channels in the US. Once we start in North America, our plan is to expand internationally. Any country with slot machines would be our target.
How successful could WCOS be? Any time it takes 15 minutes to explain the rules of a gameshow it doesn’t work. Plus, you have to have a built-in audience. Te key to success is to keep things simple. Poker showed people the hold cards, we are going to show the games and talk to the contestants playing the games. We have a solid concept and an untapped audience. And if you have something new on television it can be 10 times bigger than you could imagine.
It was important for us to focus on our NOVOMATIC Americas brand message: ‘Highly entertaining; content, content, content.’ It’s clear that customers see what the past year’s product focus is about. We unveiled some innovations like the World Championship of Slots, and have transformed slot tournaments into game competitions for in-home television viewing. Customer response has been great for that product. We have also had strong response to our catalog of over 40+ new games developed for the American market.”
NEWSWIRE / INTERACTIVE /
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