Inside Asian Gaming

February 2011 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 33 up a game-development studio, so we’ve hired a lead video producer who’s leading that charge up.” “Australia is the number one video content market in the world, and that fosters the creativeness on video. So as far as the available talent down there, it’s very good for us to have a game studio there. It’s very exciting. We’ll use that [studio] everywhere. We’ll use that in Australia, Asia, and North America.” “Australia is a big, big market and commands a lot of respect. I look at it as far as a new entrant going into Vegas. You’ve got to be really respectful. You’ve got to get people who really know the market. And you’ve got to give the market what it needs.” As for getting the right people, Bally announced two key appointments in August. Michael McNee was named Managing Director of Bally Australia, while Ron Jeffrey took the role of Sales Manager for Bally Australia. Both are based at Bally’s new regional office in Sydney, New South Wales. Bally Technologies always good.” From the casinos’ point of view, meanwhile, “when they’ve got capital constraints, it’s a great way for them to keep their business growing and get new product to grow their floor.” In Macau, though, casinos have thus far not entered into participation or fee deals with slot manufacturers. “We haven’t really got to that point [in Macau] yet where slots are giving tables a real run for their money. But that’ll happen at some point, because the growth is excellent.” The Chinese version of the popular Fireball game has just been launched. “It’s one of those games that has global appeal,” says Ms Burns, and the local customisation should further boost its popularity in Macau. Aussie charge In addition to leading the growth of Bally’s systems and slots business in Asia, Ms Burns has also been busy working on the company’s re-entry into the complex and carefully regulated Australia and New Zealand markets. Bally commenced its field trial in Sydney in the first week of November, and that appears to be proceeding smoothly. Ms Burns is taking a step-by-step approach to Bally’s Australasian foray. “We want to do it exactly how we did it in Macau. We want to build it one bank at a time. Make sure our product works; do it the right way and build it the right way.” There is clearly a great deal of potential for slots in the New South Wales market. “Out of a base of 100,000 games, last year they replaced about 10,000 [Macau’s entire installed base is around 14,000 machines]. So if you look at that, even a small percentage of that is worthwhile,” explains Ms Burns. “It’s promising for us. And it’s a market that we had to have, and it’s a market that we had to make sure we entered the right way. We’re also starting Michael McNee Ron Jeffrey