Brand building

“I have input into the company from every aspect,” he says. “Together with CEO, David Kinsman, 113 East has done an enormous amount of work on Weike’s product and built up the perception of the company. When David and I joined, not many people had heard about Weike; now, there aren’t too many operators that haven’t.”

Since April 2008, 113 East has also distributed Bally Technologies products in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos—all, exciting but challenging markets.

“This year has been tough, for everybody, operators and suppliers alike, but 113 East is more than happy to take on Asia’s hardest markets for companies like Bally Technologies because we can represent them well. Bally now has product in Laos and Cambodia for the first time, and there are machines in Vietnam waiting to be installed. As things move forward I am proving 113 East is a valuable partner.”

In addition, 113 East represents Paltronics, a global systems provider for casino gaming, media infrastructure and content distribution, in South East Asia, and Orion Art, a supplier of customised gaming signs, throughout Asia. J8, a developer of Internet, mobile and SMS sports betting, and gaming products, is another key partner throughout Asia. These five companies are currently the company’s core focus.

New games

Another area Mr Rogers believes has a lot of potential is table games and table design. He has exclusive distribution rights for Fortune 8, a new game that is awaiting approval by Macau’s gaming regulator, the DICJ. The game will go live into Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s Venetian Macao and Sands Macao properties, and SJM’s Grand Lisboa. There are also plans to install it in Singapore at LVS’s Marina Bay Sands property subject to approval by the regulatory body there. A total of 16 Fortune 8 tables will be installed across the four properties.

113 East’s technological reach also goes beyond table games and into the structure of the table itself. The company produces the Gaming Protection Series (GPS) of products; tables that can be sold as standalone units.

The design, which is the brainchild of surveillance and gaming industry veteran Wayne Stevens, claims a higher level of electronic security than standard mass gaming tables, provides more leg room for players, hides electronics and messy cables, and is fully customisable: “We can even include things like phone chargers in high-end VIP models,” announces Mr Rogers.

Innovative table

“Every table operator in Macau looked at the table and provided feedback about how we could customise the product for their operation,” he adds.

“The tables have the potential to reduce the number of supervisors required per pit, enable casinos to promote higher edge games, and increase games per hour for some games, so they basically pay for themselves,” he claims.

The company says the GPS table can also improve suppliers’ sales propositions. “Table game and table equipment suppliers could pitch proprietary games and sell more games and equipment with our table,” Mr Rogers contends. “Things like shufflers can be built in, and there are fewer supervisors involved. That gives casinos more reasons to buy new games and suppliers could ‘up-sell’ their peripheral equipment.”

The concept is a simple and the company believes effective one, but Mr Rogers and Mr Stevens admit it will take time to convince table operators to change entrenched attitudes about how tables should look.