Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | February 2011 32 • Virtual Racing: Last July, Barona Resort &Casino in southern California launched a floor-wide “Off to the Races” virtual- racing promotion on all 2,000 of the slot machines on its floor using iVIEW, the Elite Bonusing Suite, and Bally’s CoolSign media-management system. During the month-long promotion, qualified carded slot players received notification of the bonus event on their slot machines and were given the option to touch and choose an animated horse. They received a prize from the casino whether they chose the winning horse or the last-place finisher. “This promotion is the first event ever where 2,000 devices and more than 50 displays were all synchronised for a floorwide community gaming experience,” said Mike Murphy, Barona’s Vice President of Technology. “Because our customers had to earn 100 points to be eligible to even participate, it helped generate revenue and increased the percentage of carded play. Plus, the interactivity and ability for players to choose their horse to cheer for definitely added a feeling of excitement and anticipation on our floor.‘Off to the Races’ has been, by far, our most successful casino promotion.” The Virtual Racing app is configurable according to the operator’s needs, and variations on the theme could include virtual car, dog, or even pig racing. • DM Tournaments: Using the DM Tournaments app, casino operators can take a given selection of slot machines on the floor, and using a central console, convert them from regular play mode to tournament mode. Slot tournaments are among the most effective casino promotions. Currently, in order to run them, casinos need to either set aside a section of slot machines, or switch out chips in the machines they want to use. With DM Tournaments, however, “you can run tournaments as often as you want and on whatever games you want,” says Ms Burns. Whereas virtual races can run on either the iVIEW DM or iVIEW SmartScreen, DM Tournaments can only run on touch- screen machines capable of running iVIEW DM, since tournaments need a full game screen. • U-Spin Bonusing: This second-chance- to-win promotion utilises Bally’s U-Spin™ gesture-control play mechanic, first introduced on the highly successful Cash Spin game, which is now being rolled out in Macau. During U-Spin bonus sequences, the player gets to touch the screen and spin a virtual wheel, with a chance to win marketing dollars. All the Elite Bonusing Suite applications are run via a central console using standardised intuitive controls. “From the way you schedule it to the way you assign prizes, you only have to teach the marketing person once. Just like themenus inMicrosoft Office. It’s File and Save and all that. It’s all integrated,”Ms Burns said. The applications can also be used in conjunction with CoolSign, which offers an integrated way of generating and managing digital messages to customers, also through a central console. The messages can be delivered to patrons via many different media, including overhead electronic signs on casino floors, in-room television, and outdoor advertising. Crucially, CoolSign also has a direct interface with the iVIEW displays. As a result, casino management can beam marketing and other messages direct to consumers while they’re playing games. Bally is the global leader in slot and casino management systems, and has continued to grow its market share in recent years. The addition of these new technology offerings to Bally’s product range “makes us a fully integrated solution across a casino floor,” says Ms Burns. “Whether it’s our casino management systems, slot management systems,TableView™ (our tablemanagement system), Iview Display Manager, CoolSign, or Bally Business Intelligence™; the foundation’s there. Now it’s just a matter of adding to it and helping casinos maximise revenue, stay, play—whatever the goal is. Game on Two hot new games currently being rolled out by Bally in Macau are Cash Spin™ and the Chinese version of Fireball™. “In the US, Cash Spin is a premium game title for Bally, which means it is placed and operated on a daily fee or participation basis,” says Ms Burns, and it has become the fastest selling premium game title in Bally’s history. “Given the economic climate in North America, we’ve really been growing our participation business there,” she explains, adding “recurring revenue models are Bally Technologies