Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | August 2010 36 Under Yasushi Shigeta’s stewardship Angel Group has maintained and built on its precious reputation for quality control in the manufacturing of its gaming products. Angel Playing Cards are acknowledged in the Asian gaming industry for having the lowest failure rate of any product in that category. Mr Shigeta’s professional background in management consultancy—he entered the sector after graduating with a degree in Information Science from Kyoto University in 1990—probably helped him keep an overview on quality-related issues when he joined Angel three years later. He worked his way up from middle management to become a director of Angel Group in 1995, finally being appointed to the top job in 2005. Angel Playing Cards’ consistent quality helped Casino Angel pre-shuffled cards win the most nominations in the category of ‘Best Table Gaming Essential’ in Inside Asian Gaming’s Supplier Awards 2010 in March. Angel is in fact the pioneer of pre- shuffled cards and has been manufacturing them for over ten years. Angel is dominant in the key Asian jurisdiction of Macau, where the company is estimated to have 90% of the market. The judges praised the quality of Angel’s pre-shuffled product, with one operator reporting an error free record of over 99.9%. To give an idea of the high intensity of playing card usage in a baccarat-dominated market such as Macau, a casino operator with major properties in both Macau and Las Vegas said that its Macau casino goes through about as many decks in a month as its Vegas casino uses in an entire year. Apart from supplying playing cards, Angel also pioneered the electronic baccarat card shoe, which has been granted several patents in Macau, Australia the People’s Republic of China and the United States. The Angel Eye shoe is used on over 5,000 tables around the world, enabling big improvements in security and efficiency for casino operators. Since its foundation in 1956, Angel has been dedicated to manufacturing all types of playing cards and gaming cards for domestic and international markets. The company started supplying major casinos in 1998. Angel, based in Kyoto, Japan, has 200 employees dedicated to producing high specification products, including packs tailor-made for individual operators and venues. 31 (35) Yasushi Shigeta President & CEO Angel Group 32 (32) John Gomes Managing Director IGT Asia well received REELdepth™ games, which use Multi-Layer Display® technology to create 3-D virtual reels. The launch was at Resorts World at Manila, the largest casino in the Philippines and a joint venture between Star Cruises (now Genting Hong Kong) and a local developer. Mr Gomes joined IGT in 2004 as General Manager for Russia with the responsibility of setting up and running the company’s business and offices in that emerging gaming market. Prior to his job with IGT in Russia, Mr Gomes worked for the biggest local gaming operator in that country. He has more than two decades of experience in gaming. He started his career with leading leisure group Sun International and as gaming was legalised in South Africa, Mr Gomes joined Tsogo Sun Gaming before relocating to Russia. His knowledge of multiple international markets has served him well in the Asia Pacific region with its diverse markets and varied international clientèle. Players in the region often travel outside their home jurisdiction for their casino entertainment because of restrictions on domestic players even in markets where casino gaming has been legalised. Asian Gaming 50 – 2010 IGT Asia, led by highly experienced gaming executive John Gomes, had its best ever year for regional sales, brand and product awareness, capturing a reported 25% market share for electronic gaming equipment at Singapore’s two new integrated casino resorts. “This year has really been great for us. Customers once again are in purchase mode,” Mr Gomes told Inside Asian Gaming at G2E Asia in June. The company has also been careful not to give product away for the sake of sales, instead preferring to build recognition of some of its premium slot products by player word of mouth via strategic placements in key venues across the region. IGT premier video slot themes, including Wheel of Fortune®, Star Wars™, Indiana Jones™, Back to the Future™ and Alien vs. Predator™, have been installed at Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) in Singapore. New premium product launches in 2010 include Sex in the City®, the slot game themed around the popular and long- running HBO® television series, and Wheel of Fortune enhanced version complete with big screen (based on the popular syndicated television game show devised by Merv Griffin). At RWS, IGT also installed IGTAdvantage® SMS [slot management system], EZ Pay® and RFID Chip Inventory System (CIS). In Marina Bay Sands, Las Vegas Sands Corp’s resort, IGT installed IGT Advantage Table Manager. In August 2009, Mr Gomes was also responsible for the launch in Asia of IGT’s