every type of machine to undergo a hardware upgrade of some kind. So if the choice is to buy Foundation or a legacy product - I think the choice is pretty clear - and we’re less expensive than those products too.
Foundation is more capable, easier to install and less expensive… it gives operators complement autonomy of their data - it is just a superior product, which is why we expect to achieve such great business with Foundation.
Of those 900,000 machines in the US market - how many are compatible with Foundation?
We are compatible with any machine that’s SAS 5 or greater, which is anything within the last 15 years. Many of the pre-SAS games, such as the older stepper products, can also be brought online on a case-by-case basis. So we’re compatible with around 98 per cent of the machines on casino floors.
What are some of the operational efficiencies of Foundation?
Operators want to go cashless and they want to go mobile. Te problem is that up to this point, legacy system providers offering this solution have only contemplated their own products. If the casino wants to facilitate cashless, plus bonusing and casino credit from all the different providers, they end up with multiples of different Apps, which means that the player must use a unique App for every experience. We want to consolidate all this into the Acres Wallet.
Acres Wallet contemplates all the different funding options available to a player. We have cash, free-play, we have points and casino credit. Tis means that when we send free-play credits to a game, Foundation ensures that players can’t cash-out those credits, they can only withdraw them to the free-play category of the mobile Wallet. And so when we initiate bonusing we can make the bonus pay either to the game’s credit meter or to any value category of that Wallet. Tat’s really powerful because we can now pay players in any currency and all the offers and redemptions go straight to the Wallet. Te added bonus is this also eliminates the need to queue at the player’s club or kiosk, as everything becomes automated.
Where is Foundation currently licensed?
Due to the fact that we extract raw data from the game and change the credit meter, we have to submit to the highest level of regulation in each jurisdiction. Penn National has one of the largest state-by-state footprints in the US, operating 41 casinos in 19 states. We are either licensed or in the process of being licensed in all those jurisdictions. We are already live with Penn in both Pennsylvania and Ohio and have certified Foundation with GLI. We have already submitted to the highest level of regulation and don’t foresee any problems in any other states. Te only limiting factor is the time it takes to process our applications.
Is Foundation omni-channel?
Omni-channel is where everything works via one interface, which is exactly what Foundation delivers. If you look at Penn National’s
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implementation; walk into any casino in their portfolio, approach any slot, terminal or table, you’ll connect to those games via one App. Penn also wanted the ability to allow players to make a sports bet over their phone, play igaming where legal and receive marketing messages via the same App. We are the perfect solution to achieve that. We are an open interface. Operators can attach our data to anything that they want.
Legacy providers want to control everything. Yes, you can have omni-channel as long as all the channels come from the same provider. Foundation allows the operator to talk to every provider in the same app, without seeking to collect a fee from those parties. We’re not seeking to control the channels, instead we provide the tools casinos need, to go do it themselves.
Can Foundation be used as a tool in safeguarding players from the harms of problem gambling?
Yes, and it again comes back to the data. Allowing operators to collect data to know their players better. Models can be built to react in real-time to trigger events tailored to the players. We can initiate an intervention, be that an alert or a human response level to advise and
fast. Te regulatory environment was also a major hurdle and regulators were not especially interested in cashless at that time. Covid changed everything and the push is now coming from the regulator for casinos to move to cashless, which is a boon for us as it has accelerated the timeline of operators seeking to implement Foundation.
Beyond cashless, I think that operators understand the importance of data. Tey know that they want cashless in the immediate future, but in the long-term they want the data. Tey want to know everything about their players. Netflix and Facebook know it’s all about the data. Combining the two - cashless and data - is the holy grail. Monitoring players in real-time, knowing everything about them, means that operators can intervene in their gaming experience with the right reward, incentive, cooling off period - whatever is most appropriate to that individual.
Could slot games evolve with Foundation - not to just reward with bonuses and inventive, but influence the creation of games that adapt to play style, configuration and even themes?
Yes. Foundation will usher in a new generation of games that will adapt to the player in real- time. Acres is working on this next generation of
“Operators understand the importance of data. They know that they want cashless in the immediate future, but in the long-term they want the data. They want to know everything about their players. Netflix and Facebook know it’s all about the data. Combining the two - cashless and data - is the holy grail. Monitoring players in
real-time, knowing everything about them, means that operators can intervene in their experience with the right reward, incentive,
cooling off period - whatever is most appropriate to that individual.” Noah Acres
prompt appropriately. Using analytics to help players in real-time means we can become a lot more successful at protecting consumers.
Online operators have always had the advantage of data gathering in real-time. Does this level the field for land-based?
If you’re a land-based operator, then Candy Crush is a competitor. Angry Birds is your competitor. Tese games are not just collecting all the player’s in-game data, they are consuming other metrics too. Land-based operators are simply not doing this right now. Foundation gives them that ability.
How integral is the deployment of cashless as part of Foundation? How do the synergies play together and is one less effective without the other?
Foundation is undoubtedly effective without cashless, but they go hand-in-hand. When we started creating Foundation before Covid, we knew that cashless was a functionality that casinos wanted, but we weren’t really contemplating the roll-out of cashless to be so
games. I don’t think anyone else is contemplating this right now, but as Foundation grows its casino footprint, I think more and more developers will evolve their games to become adaptive. In the near-term, I think there will be a lot of external ancillary content that’s designed to be played on the phone while players are playing the base game, with the base gaming adapting to their player profile.
John Acres is the inventor of slot progressives and player loyalty systems. How does Foundation compare to these inventions?
We are 20-30 years on from those technologies, but I believe Foundation will have the same impact for a new generation.
When my father moved to Las Vegas in 1972 and first started work in casinos, he said that one of the promotions running in the casino was for a free long-distance phone call for playing the slots. Back then you had three channels on the TV, there was no satellite or cable television, and so the standards of what it took to entertain the public were different back then. Te progressive jackpot was really exciting for that generation,
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