Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2010 14 USPCC Dawn of the Super Deck USPCC’s playing cards and accessories combine the values of traditional craftsmanship with the latest technology, ensuring the integrity of the game W hen a company has been in business for more than a century, there’s a fine line between keeping products true to the values and traditions of the founders and ensuring there’s enough innovation in the company to build new products and new markets in the face of outside competition. The United States Playing Card Company has managed to achieve that by marrying the very latest technology with the highest available standards of materials. The result is the 21st century version of an artefact used by game lovers for generations—namely, the playing card. “Our card brands such as Bee®, Bicycle® and Congress®, remain the most recognised in their category, and Bicycle® brand playing cards have been around since 1885,” says Scott Madding, USPCC’s International Casino Sales Director. “We’re proud of this history, but we are also focused on today, and on innovation,” he adds. Playing card 2.0 A modern playing card as produced by USPCC is far from being humble. It’s a high-tech, sophisticated product that comes in many formats for many settings, including hardwearing plastic and paper composites for casino poker rooms, as well as more traditional linen- finish paper cards for card squeezing baccarat players in casino markets such as Macau and Las Vegas. “We’re the only manufacturer that makes our own cardstock. We scan for any imperfections. All the other playing card companies buy paper pre-embossed,” states Dwight Watson, USPCC’s Casino Sales Manager – Asia. Embossing the paper after printing means the surface of the card retains the slightly dimpled effect essential to allow a tiny cushion of air between each card. That, in turn, allows for more efficient card shuffling via machine, eliminating the risk of two cards being dealt simultaneously from the shoe. “We emboss after the printing process, so that gives the unique linen finish you can feel on the cards. When suppliers buy paper pre- embossed, then print on it, the ink fills in the embossing,” explains Mr Watson. “The reason our cards work so well in shuffling machines is that USPCC’s new headquarters at Erlanger, Kentucky