Inside Asian Gaming

April 2010 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 19 Asia’s GEM Casinolink product.” IGT Casinolink links the management of slot machines, table games, account-based wagering, marketing and the cage into one comprehensive system. “Our new NOVOSTAR slant top is a brand new product in Asia and I’m delighted to say it will soon be making its debut in public at a top venue here in Manila,”says DavidOrrick , CommunicationsandBusinessDevelopment Director of Austrian Gaming Industries GmbH , the international subsidiary of the Novomatic Group . “We are sure our new slant top and its multigame format will do extremely well in this market and we’re obviously very keen to see the results of its performance here. “Physically it’s a very attractive game for this market. It has a twin display with 26- inch monitors—the largest monitors you will find on a slant top [gaming] machine anywhere in the world. It’s completely different to how you would expect a slant top to be. We’re all aware of the normal slant top configurations in casinos all around the world. This is an attraction in its own right. That’s particularly the case when as here at Asia’s GEM they’re presented back to back. It creates an ‘island’ of slant top machines on the casino floor. As with all Novomatic slant tops now, we have the innovative flip screen feature, where the player can choose his preferred ergonomic position. By using the flip screen feature they can play the game on either the lower or the upper monitor. We also have the Novomatic patented foot switch activator for game play. All in all it’s a really attractive product and we’re very, very confident that it will do well here.” “One of the biggest growing markets in Asia at the moment on the electronic side of the gaming industry is systems,” says David Kinsman , Chief Executive Officer of Weike Gaming Technology . “Weike is the biggest supplier for slot systems in Asia. We’ve been in the systems business since1999, a year after the company started.We have over 75 sites using products from our jackpot system through to our full player tracking, marketing and promotional systems. “The systembusiness in Asia is starting to become very significant,” states Mr Kinsman. “In the Philippines systems don’t yet play much of a role—some of the VIP clubs have them, the newResortsWorld [Manila] project has them, and the new casinos that come online will have them. We expect Pagcor will also move into this particular [systems] area. “There are a number of Asia-based suppliers in the Asian systems market, including us. Currently in the general casino-style systems segment the market is dominated by Bally and IGT. On the slots side it’s dominated by us. In Vietnam for example, 70% of the sites useWeike systems. We hope that in markets such as the Philippines we will ultimately be a significant player. “In Singapore the only current wide area jackpot network with player tracking and machine monitoring etc is a Weike system operated by the biggest club group in Singapore,” adds Mr Kinsman. “’WeSystems’ as we brand it, is a totally home grown product, based on very modern architecture and it’s certified to GLI standards. It operates in Macau, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Cambodia and on a number of ships.” “The Philippines is an exciting and growing market and we are finding some great opportunities here,” says Cath Burns , Vice President Asia Pacific for Bally Technologies . “Bally is strong in all areas of electronic gaming and casino systems and we’ve been particularly successful with both our games and systems in Asia. As regional markets mature we expect to see more sales in both segments.” In January Bally announced a deal with MacaucasinooperatorGalaxyEntertainment Group (GEG) to provide comprehensive table, slot, and casino management systems across its StarWorld Hotel & Casino and Galaxy Macau properties. StarWorld Hotel & Casino, Galaxy’s flagship property on the Macau peninsula, will be the first casino in the Asia Pacific region to use Bally’s iVIEW DM and Business Intelligence solutions, with installation due in May. Bally also has a strategic agreement to roll out its gaming management products including: Bally Table Management Systems (TMS) a suite of technologies for automated table tracking; Bally Casino MarketPlace (CMP) casino management software; and Bally Slot Data System (SDS) for slot floor monitoring, across several Macau gaming properties operated by SJM, Dr Stanley Ho’s casino operating business. Bally has already installed CMP11 in two new SJM properties in Macau and in one famous old one. Bally set up TMS, CMP and SDS at L’Arc when it opened in September, Oceanus at the time of its December launch, and went live with the 40-year-old Casino Lisboa’s first table management system earlier this year. “We’re pleased with our progress in the Philippines market and are very happy with David Orrick, Austria’s Novomatic Group