Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | November 2008 Robot Baccarat Taiwan is Asia’s robot dealer game manufacturing capital for a number of reasons. The first is that Taiwan is very strong in information technology, both at the hardware manufacturing level and at the software programming level. Many slot machine manufacturers across the world say they source motherboards and sound cards from Taiwan because of the quality of its output. The second is that Taiwan provides a strong domestic market for the machines via the arcade trade. Although Taiwan is still pondering whether to legalise casinos, the reality is that the island has more than 2,500 gaming parlours of all shapes and sizes, according to Simon Lai of Jumbo. The company says it has sold more than 200 of its own multiplayer machines of all types including baccarat and sic bo machines to the domestic arcade market. They are licensed locally and provide gambling services using a business model similar to Japan’s famous pachinko arcades. Technically in Taiwan no money actually changes hands in these parlours, and players compete for prizes. Privately people will tell you that in some establishments prizes can be exchanged for cash. Arcades in poor areas tend to have mainly old-fashioned slot machines that are cheap to play. Better off areas have arcades offering bingo and baccarat. In those establishments potential prize money is greater but so is the cost of making a bet. Taiwan also has around 250 specialised bingo halls according to Mr Shen of BingoTIMES. China market AthirdandbynomeansminorreasonforTaiwanmanufacturers’ enthusiasm for gaming robots is that there’s a very big potential market in the arcade trade across the water in Mainland China. Jinda says it has sold 200 machines in the China market alone. This may come as a surprise to those readers who thought the only gambling in China was that controlled by the two state lotteries. The reality seems to be that in some areas there’s an official tolerance of arcade gaming, but the authorities draw the line at allowing live dealers, hence the demand for robot baccarat. Taiwanese manufacturers have a clear cultural advantage both in terms of configuring machines in the Chinese language for Mainland players,and in cultivating the contacts to sell equipment in that market in the first place. A fourth factor in the rise of these machines in Taiwan is that Toyota, DENSO Corporation and Mitsubishi, the Japanese companies that developed the technology used in the robot arms, have beenwilling to licence the use of the equipment toTaiwanese firms, though the robots themselves are still made in Japan. Why the Japanese have been willing to release their technology to Taiwanese companies that are selling the equipment directly to China is not clear. Some in the Taiwanese gaming equipment industry speculate the Japanese have confidence that their copyright can be protected under Taiwanese law. If the robot technology were sold direct to gamingmanufacturers inMainland China,copyright protectionmight be harder to enforce,suggested the sources.The robots were originally developed by the Japanese companies to perform repetitive manufacturing tasks in car assembly lines, but have now had new programs written for them in order to perform the function of automated entertainers. World market The potential global market for robot dealer baccarat could be significant, as gaming operators seek, either for cost or regulatory reasons, to find alternatives to live dealers. The robots can be used in a land-based establishment or in live streaming webcasts operated by online casinos. In Asia, gaming operators seeking to build a market for automated multiplayer games need a credible alternative to random number generation programs, which are widely distrusted by Asian gamblers. Compliance One of the practical challenges to global market penetration for Taiwan’s robot dealer games is whether the makers can acquire the necessary regulatory and technical compliance certificates. Currently the companies are selling to the Taiwan, Mainland China and Indo China markets without the need for such international certification, though Taiwan does require new gaming products to be tested to national standards. If Taiwan manufacturers wish to sell to Macau or other major gaming markets these products will almost certainly need to jump the necessary international regulatory hurdles. Jumbo has already had success in getting another of its multiplayer machines, based on the traditional Chinese dice game Sic-Bo, certified by Gaming Laboratories International. That machine though uses a mechanical randomiser in tandem with a mechanical dice tumbler, rather than a robotic dealer. Why Taiwan? The factors that make the island a hive of robot dealer games Peeking at a card, in Jumbo’s Robot Baccarat 32