Inside Asian Gaming

March 2011 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 29 Supplier Awards Best Electronic Gaming Peripheral — Printer Winner: TransAct – Epic 950 This category was a two-horse race between two quality products. Opinion tipped in favour of TransAct’s Epic 950. High reliability, ease of integration, and the ability to easily swap the printer between one device and another have been cited as reasons for the success of the Epic 950. Others include dual port capability allowing the product to be linked to a network and so enable property-wide or player-specific coupons to be printed. Strong sales and service support from the local TransAct team were also highlighted for praise. Honourable Mention: FutureLogic – GEN2 The GEN2 printer, the second generation TITO printer by FutureLogic, builds on the success of its predecessor the PSA-66-ST, maintaining the latter’s robustness and reliability. The GEN2 printer offers improvements such as ITH (IntelligentTicket Handling) technology, IntelligentBezel system, and ProColor printing. Best Electronic Signage Over time, casino signage has transformed itself from straightforward advertising and direction finding to become an integral part of casino marketing. The judging criteria for best electronic game signage were: * Crowd pulling appeal based on packaging and attractiveness (weighted at 50% of the final assessment). * Daily operation judged by software stability, quality of hardware build, ease of servicing (25% of the final assessment). * System integration based on ease of operation and ability to integrate into operator’s back office and marketing systems (weighted at 25% of the final assessment). FutureLogic GEN2 Digital technology has allowed slot peripherals such as printers and bill acceptors to become increasingly ‘smart’. It has also allowed them to become increasingly reliable, flexible and integrated with the operator’s floor. All these qualities help to maintain and build casino profitability by reducing machine down time and reducing revenue leakage from technical error or fraud. These capabilities also make for a better player experience because there are fewer frustrating ticket-in-ticket-out (TITO) breakdowns or bill acceptance errors. The judging criteria are: * Operator floor feedback based on software stability, quality of hardware build, ease of servicing and upgrade, modularity (weighted at 60% of the final assessment). * Player friendliness based on ease of use, robustness, level of intelligence, player interaction (weighted at 20% of the final assessment). * Interoperability and integration based on ability to plug and play, linkage to operator’s back of house functions (weighted at 20% of the final assessment). Best Electronic Gaming Peripheral — Bill Acceptor Winner: MEI – CASHFLOW SC CASHFLOW SC’s accurate and robust performance was praised along with its modular design. Customers can remove the head of CASHFLOW SC to upgrade to the next generation SC Advance rather than having to swap out the whole unit. MEI says CASHFLOW SC was specified as the preferred bill acceptor for all slot machines selected for the two Singapore casino properties. Honourable Mention: JCM – UBA-14-SS The GEN2 printer is the second-generation ticket-in, ticket- out (TITO) printer by FutureLogic. Its proprietary Intelligent Ticket Handling technology ensures that cash out tickets are fully printed before being ejected from the slot machine. To improve the printer’s reliability further, the IntelligentBezel feature detects for obstruction near the bezel and reduces paper jams, by waiting for a clear path before a ticket is ejected. A separate port is provided for convenient firmware upgrades without the need to remove the printer from the slot machine. Nominees: Manufacturer Title JCM Universal Bill Acceptor- 14-SS MEI CASHFLOW SC Money Controls Ardac Elite Nominees: Manufacturer Title FutureLogic GEN2 TransAct Epic 950 The UBA-14-SS ELECTRONIC GAMING PERIPHERALS The Epic 950 Nominees: Manufacturer Title Gaming Support JackpotJunction XL/CastNet IGT American Idol Orion Art Customised signage Paltronics One Link Media System CASHFLOW SC