Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | April 2009 34 Advertise with Inside Asian Gaming For advertising enquiries, please email: ads@asgam.com or call Matt at: +852 95797383 John Connelly, Vice President, International and Gaming Operations, Bally Technologies, next to the Quick Hit Playboy Platinum Bally’s continuous desire to combine slot product innovation with delivery via a proven and stable platform is a key element in meeting and even exceeding operators’ expectations, says the company. The same principle applies to other areas of Bally’s gaming equipment offer, states Mr Connelly. “Bally is very diversified. We have a footprint of more than 50,000 units worldwide where we derive some kind of a daily fee,” he explains. All systems go “We are also the global leader in systems. Bally iVIEW as we know is proven with installations in approximately 180,000 units worldwide. With Bally Business Intelligence it’s a new product but a proven technology that we are actively marketing. We have just started to install it in a number of locations. Under the Bally brand we are now interfacing that with our systems in the U.S. initially and now getting ready to expand that internationally. It’s going to be a great tool in a downward economy to help our customers, at relatively low cost, potentially to generate increased revenue,” adds Mr Connelly. Diversification has also been achieved by strong sales outside core markets in North America he says. “Our ship share—i.e., the percentage of new orders being placed by casinos versus their floor footprint, always a good indicator—has gone up considerably over the past few years. And our international growth has gone up over the last three years at an average of over 30% per year. That in itself has helped diversification,” points out Mr Connelly. Support for the bottom line He says, however, that growth in Asia and elsewhere has been pursued with a careful eye on controlling costs and maintaining and enhancing profitability. “Where our competitors may have been in markets for years and may have been deriving large sums of revenue in many areas and built up large infrastructures, we are at something of an advantage by being a relative latecomer in some emerging markets. Our [corporate] infrastructure is very lean. “It’s enabled us to optimise available capital by for example working with our key customers in arranging finance terms for them. This will help to see us and the industry through this challenging period,” says Mr Connelly. “We will continue to build and grow based on the success of Quick Hit, Quick Hit Platinum and Hot Shot throughout Asia Pacific.” Bally