Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | July 2009 20 T he tide of history and consumer opinion is on the side of electronic tables when it comes to player value, says David Kinsman, Chief Executive Officer of the gaming manufacturer Weike Gaming Technology. No shopper would ask his local grocer to go back to old-fashioned mechanical scales when the grocer has electronic ones giving a super precise reading down to a tiny fraction of a gram. The same principle applies in the calculation of player odds in a table game, says Mr Kinsman. “Electronic gaming has a direct benefit for players because it gives them the real, true, odds of the game,” explains Mr Kinsman. “An electronic baccarat table runs at 1.8% [house advantage]. A live baccarat table in Macau runs at up to 3%. Where’s the player better off? The players will realise that very quickly. They’re not stupid. Those [operators] who think they are will go broke,” he asserts. Win-win On the face of it, an electronic gaming system that yields on occasions an extra 1.2% house edge to the player compared to the average live dealer version, doesn’t sound like a natural winner with casino managements. Mr Kinsman stresses, however, it’s a win-win situation for player and house. “At the mass gaming end [of the market], live table utilisation might only be four to six hours a day, but operators still have to staff those live tables,” he says. “They would be better off having some electronic tables around.” Weike’s range of high-tech tables—marketed under the branding Sporting Odds Electronic tables don’t lie or make mistakes when it comes to calculating a player’s chances, says Weike Weike David Kinsman, second from right, and part of the Weike team at G2E Asia