Inside Asian Gaming

June 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 49 allowed by open networks. New era “I’ve been in the gaming industry for almost three decades now and had a role in opening a number of casinos around the world, but I’ve never been involved at a time when there’s been this kind of exciting capability on the horizon,” says Mr Rowe. “Inthepast,thepatternwastoimplement slight improvements over years and years. Now we’re talking about new functionality that hasn’t existed in gaming before.” If operators are increasingly working on the same platform, what does that do for differentiation and competition in the marketplace? It actually has a positive effect, says Mr Rowe, because the differentiation comes from how operators configure the system and what levels and types of functionality they choose. “In any given jurisdiction you will find a lot of gaming companies using Bally systems, but everybody uses them differently and competes with them differently. I want to emphasise the fact we are building a lot of custom applications for our system customers,”he says. Win versus loyalty With slot management, for example, he suggests there may be circumstances where operators would be willing to accept a reduction in win per unit if the increase in functionalitystrengthenedthefundamentals of their brand. “We’re not sure, for example, whether it makes sense towatchTVwhile you’re playing a game. It may actually decrease your win per unit, but it might also increase loyalty to your facility,” explains Mr Rowe.“We don’t know those things yet, but the technology is certainly capable of doing it.” Multimedia functions via the Bally iVIEW™display—an interactive screen about three quarters the size of a seatback display in an in-flight entertainment system—will be available from the second quarter of 2008. The iVIEW display can be fitted to all slot machines produced by the major suppliers. Bally says this makes it more flexible than other companies’ technology that will only work with certain manufacturers’ machines and then only those fitted with dual LCD screens. Content matters In the case of‘slot TV’, the type of content shown would also need to be carefully researched to establish whether it had the potential to add value. “It might be advertising for an operator’s commercial partner,” says Mr Rowe, “or it might be a video clip of a show at your property.” The ‘slot TV’ example neatly sums up the opportunities and the challenges of the digital age as applied to the gaming industry. Use of IP technology and media servers allows machine/human interactions not previously imagined, but it also offers opportunities to turn consumers off or to take operators down blind alleys. Trial and error “These new transactions and experiences—we’re not exactly sure what those mean.Many of our customers have big ideas and we’re going to build those,” says Mr Rowe. “Some of those ideas will work better than others, but the idea is that this networked environment will provide data for us to experiment with on those things.” Thegoodnewsfromthecasinooperators’ viewpoint is that science can also help them reach their decisions. Model systems The Kano Model, developed by the Japanese management scientist Professor Noriako Kano in the 1980s, sets out to distinguish between ‘core’ functionality (which he refers to as ‘threshold’ or ‘basic’ attributes);‘linear’attributes(whereincreased functionality or improved execution results in improved customer satisfaction) and ‘attractive’ attributes, which can potentially excite and delight customers and take the product to a new level. Bally Systems Bally iVIEW™ so that you can do dynamic marketing and communications with your customer. “As far as game content download is concerned, we’ve already got that demonstrated, but we’re just not sure about the value yet, so we’re going to be working with operators and regulators to see if there is a value proposition for that.” Bally says it understands that every operator has different needs. Some want to build a new management system from scratch in a new property, while others want to enhance or build on existing systems. Bally says it has products that can be built either on an Internet protocol (IP) platform using IBM media servers or can be adapted to a property’s existing network needs. The aim is always to achieve as open and as flexible a network as possible,and to provide solutions that are scalable. Open networks “We have scalable solutions regardless of what kind of a casino a company is operating,” says Mr Rowe. “For years, casino systems have been purpose-built networks, which are very different from open networks. The lessons you learn from dynamic and open networks are very different from the ones you learn when you have a purpose-built system.” One important lesson, says Mr Rowe, is the pace of change and innovation Bally’s digital technology costumised to individual operator’s requirements Kano Model