Inside Asian Gaming

IGT slots Macau into What is the world's biggest slot machine manufacturer to do when there's a drought in domestic casino openings? Seek greener pastures, ofcourse. Third quarter 2004 earnings of Reno­ based International Game Technology (IGT) fell 16 percent year-on-year due to a lull in US casino openings, which, with the exception of the opening of Wynn Las Vegas inApril 2005, is set to continue this year, with only a slight re­ bound forecast in 2006. IGT doesn't ex­ pect its US revenue growth to take off significantly until 2007. In the mean­ time, Macau will provide opportunity for growth. Several international suppliers ofslot machines, playing cards and other ca­ sino-related wares have hastily set up representative offices in Macau to sup­ ply the soaring gaming industry, which took flight after the end of the regional outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome in the second half of 2003. Progressive headcount IGT has gone further than its com­ petitors by setting up IGT-Asia, a fully- IGT-Asia is hiring IGT-Asia has placed ads in Hong Kong and Macau news­ papers for eight pos i tions rang­ ing from receptionist to tech and systems support staff . Although the Macau-based company prefers to hire, and we don ' t want to do that , " Scott Winze l er explains . "But at the same time, we do want some good people, so we will draw from Hong Kong, Singapore, wherever." Mr . W i nzeler a l so acknowl- fledged regional headquarters in Ma­ cau. The headcount of theMacau office, which currently stands at six, "will be at somewhere between ten and fifteen people at the end of this calendar year, and for fiscal '06 [which begins in Oc­ tober] we'll be at 25 people," Managing Director Scott Winzeler says. ' Macau was an obvious choice to base IGT-Asia, "because at least for the next two to three years, 70 percent of our business in Asia will be here," explains Mr. Winzeler. lGT will soon open a showroom in Macau featuring twenty machines, including IGT's Advantage TM System, which the company bills as "a total casino management toolkit de­ signed to help casinos attract and retain loyal customers, improve operations, and increase their bottom line." Mr. Winzeler elaborates: "The Ad­ vantage System covers basic slot ac­ counting, patron management (which is the player member card), bonusing, edges , "There ' s quite a disparity in the skill-set of the applicants. Applicants from Hong Kong are much more sophisticated , have better language skills , better qualifications. But the salary ex­ pectations are also different.· IGT-Asia is also helping Ma­ cau ' s Tourism and Casino Ca­ reer Center to equip students with the skills the company needs . "We've prov i ded them with machines and training," 28 Inside Asian Gaming September 2005 event management, pit and cage man­ agement. There are a lot of things they [casinos] need to keep track of, such as where money goes, and our system can do that. The Mocha [Macau's lead­ ing slot operator] people have our sys­ tem in operation. They have one server that runs all four of their properties, so any club member can go into any one of their properties and earn points, and participate in the promotional activities that they have." What's the Advantage? Mr. Winzeler explains what sort of information the Advantage System can track for casinos: "The basic is how much coin in and coin out, but it also keeps track of 'are you playing max bet, or are you just betting one or two coins?', 'are you always playing a higher denomination game, or are you playing a lower?', 'do you play video or do you play slot?' All of that can be tracked." And how can this information help casinos? "You can track trends - 'Sev­ enty percent of my players are all doing this, so I want to buy more of those.' 'Seventy percent of my players don't do says Mr. Winze l er " R i ght now they [the Casino Career Center] only provide ma­ chine technical support training. We're going to help them set up a class for systems techn i ca l support training. n "We ' re self serv i ng of course ," quips Mr. Winzeler, but adds that casinos using IGT's ma­ chines and systems " w ill need those people too ."