Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | September 2009 50 COD Brave New World CityCenter is about to take the next big step into the future of server-based gaming W hen the $8 billion CityCenter opens on the Las Vegas Strip later this year, the world-class architecture and ultra-chic shops will capture the lion’s share of attention. But for many casino operators, manufacturers and technology watchers the real show will be on the slot floor, where MGM Mirage and IGT will roll out the first-ever casino-wide installation of a server-based gaming network. The unveiling at CityCenter’s ARIA Resort & Casino will mark the culmination of close to 20 months of planning between MGM Mirage and the Reno, Nev.-based slot giant, which is installing the SBG network and its related systems. For financial analyst Bill Lerner of Union Gaming Group it marks “an extremely important first data point for full-blown server-based gaming.” “The casino industry,” he says, “is going to be watching the early results out of CityCenter very closely.” For Javier Saenz, IGT’s vice president of network systems product management and marketing, an SBG installation across 2,000 gaming machines represents a paradigm shift for the industry. “It’s brand- new technology across the entire floor. This is where people can go to see what that looks like.” Michael Volkert, vice president of slot marketing and operations at ARIA, says MGM Mirage started formulating the strategies and concepts about two years ago. Their work led them to IGT, which had a system, was committed to the open protocols of the Gaming Standards Association and was working on further development. Conceptually, with SBG, casinos will be able to manage their slot floors with much more flexibility than ever before. They can changeandreconfiguregamesinstantly,with no machine down time, increasing flexibility and decreasing costs. What’s more, they can deliver tailored bonusing, marketing and multimedia content directly to their players, expanding the opportunities for meaningful interaction and generating loyalty. The nexus of all this from IGT’s standpoint is its Service Window technology, through which players will be able to access their point balances, comp balances, account information, restaurant information, show information and more, right at the game. “The physical machines will look the same,” explains Saenz. “The big difference will be how the individual player interacts with the individual machine.” It also will allow digital signage through IGT’s sbX Media Manager to be tied in across the property, so what you see on the huge sign on the street conceivably could be on the plasma screen above a bank of slot games and on the Service Window itself. Applications could involve expanding the capabilities of IGT’s Tournament Manager, now used for standalone tournaments. New applications will explore areas for creating even a greater sense of community among players. “We’re definitely looking at how you enable that communication between players,” says Saenz. MGM Mirage and IGT are carefully preparing for this opening, running tests at Treasure Island (now no longer part of MGM Mirage’s portfolio) and a regulatory field trial at the Monte Carlo and taking full advantage of the resources at IGT’s new Interoperability Center in Reno. “There will be no surprises in terms of functionality at ARIA,” Saenz says. As the field trial progresses at Monte Carlo, “gradually we’ll start to introduce third-party EGMs to the system,” he says. “At the moment, all vendors are invited to participate, and all the majors are certainly working on it.” If there has been a challenge, it has been