INTERBLOCK AT G2E AND BEYOND
Interblock C
asino International: G2E is going to be somewhat different this year; in the past it’s been a key show for Interblock. Will you have a major presence there this year?
John Connelly: We are. We made a strategic decision that despite COVID and some of the associated challenges, we felt as a company that the indirect success we have had due to COVID warranted us continuing to invest heavily and trying to maintain the momentum we’ve seen in the past 24 months.
CI: G2E is also where you usually discreetly show customers your latest products – do you have exciting things to show at this year’s event? JC: I think I can say that Interblock, over the past 30 years, has really tried to build a culture and a perception within the industry of innovation. We hope to maintain and hopefully grow that this year at G2E. I would say there are three key areas outside of just new products that have been an emphasis for the company, and this has only grown over the past few years. That is a focus on increasing the handle on electronic table games in a user-friendly manner; increasing the hold of ETGs with the same mindset; and third, an emphasis on reducing operating expenses for our partners. This equals yielding up the square footage of ETGs across casino floors globally – and at this year’s G2E we are introducing dozens of features and functionality that touch upon one or all of those areas. That has culminated in the growth rate of ETGs that you’re seeing on a global scale. I think this growth will become very evident when people arrive in Las Vegas for G2E against 2019 – the number of ETGs as a percentage on the Las Vegas Strip and Downtown alone, we are up over 400% and climbing. Over 80% of the primary casinos on the Strip and Downtown will have a Stadium from Interblock and have multiple electronic table game product lines from our company, versus 2019. I would encourage visitors to experience the dozens of new features and functions we have
32 OCTOBER 2021
Innovation is in their DNA – but Interblock’s new approach is fuelling explosive growth in Electronic Table Games (ETGs) in Nevada and across North America. CEO John Connelly explains how and why…
added to existing products to increase performance, and the diversification of our product portfolio that is designed to attract different demographics through different distribution methods. On virtually all of our games we have enhanced the offering to create a more entertaining player experience; we are excited about this year more than any other recent year because of the breadth and depth of our offering to allow casinos to really expand a section of the floor relative to ETGs. Five years ago we might have envisioned a mechanical roulette sitting somewhere in the middle of a bunch of slot machines – now though, more and more we are seeing sections of the floor tailored for an ETG player. At Interblock we feel now that we have an offering that allows us to support that operator strategy.
CI: What are the player demographics for your ETGs? JC: We’ve actually found that the demographics of the players on ETGs is far
more diverse than we ever realised. The player in the Stadium is very different to the player on a Universal cabinet, or a standalone mechanical unit. So we’ve had to develop product segmentation both vertically and horizontally, depending on product offering and distribution method over the past five years. That’s come to a head now with the growth rates we are enjoying. We believe we have something for basically every player.
CI: 400% is a very impressive number; what’s been the main driver in such an incredible number? JC: It’s that approximately four years ago, we decided to take the incredible foundation that had been built inside the company as a luxury gaming product, and over 25 years of experience in this sector on the floor, and start to compound or complement it with a mathematical approach which would allow the product segment to yield higher revenue and profitability for the casino industry. That effort has now begun to come through a
Resorts World Stadium Halo
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