Inside Asian Gaming

MEI 90% of the [slots] floor uses CASHFLOW SC— because of the experience with the EASITRAX system. Genting’s Manila project was a very good grounding for us in entering the Singapore market with Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). At RWS they have 100% adoption of our bill validator product—and they all come with EASITRAX.” That sums up MEI’s modular approach to marketing its casino products. EASITRAX can drive the sale of CASHFLOW SC units and vice versa. “EASITRAX Soft Count allows the CASHFLOW SC to redefine what a bill validator can offer casino operations and, in so doing, enhances the value that MEI can offer our industry partners,” states Tom Nugent. CASHFLOW SC highlights The basic selling point of CASHFLOW SC—as with any quality bill validator—is to increase gaming machine ‘uptime’—the amount of time a machine is operationally active and earning money— and to reduce operational costs. CASHFLOW SC does this by: • controlling acceptance rates (i.e. governing what actually goes into the cashbox); • generating currency report documents on how many bills are in each cashbox and the percentage of collected denominations over a period of time; • managing drop status (the daily collection of the money and cashboxes); • generating jam reports if jams occur, identifying potential problems; • defining the reason for any bill rejection based on one of seven categories; • issuing a version report to ensure each bill validator has up-to-date software. The crucial differentiator with MEI’s casino peripherals is they work in a modular way. When individual MEI products are teamed together they produce even greater benefits than when employed separately. The EASITRAX Soft Count system, for example, has been designed to be easily retrofitted to the CASHFLOW SC bill validator. “In order to take full advantage of the efficiencies that EASITRAX gives you, you must have your whole floor as CASHFLOW SC. That makes it harder for competitors to pick MEI off product by product,” says JeanMarie Decker. Track your cash Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology aboard CASHFLOW SC and EASITRAX is used to connect slot machine asset numbers and bill validator operational information to a specific cashbox and integrate all that into the count system. The cashbox can be taken out of the gaming machine and ‘identified’ by the EASITRAX reader base. Up to four EASITRAX reader bases can then be linked simultaneously into a soft count room system that includes a USB hub and a computer. EASITRAX Soft Count’s proven technology has been installed in over 64,000 slot machines in the United States and Asia since product launch in 2008. MEI has built on the rapid market acceptance of CASHFLOW SC and EASITRAX by developing its next generation bill validator, the SC Advance™. The newproduct was displayed at the International Casino Exhibition in London in January and is likely to be launched in Asian markets in the third quarter of this year. Advanced technology “SC Advance is even faster, so the acceptance rates [for bills] are better, it’s more secure and it has a bigger memory as well,” says JeanMarie Decker. Details of the enhancements available via SC Advance include: • transmissive sensors to see all the way through banknotes in multiple wavelengths to check for unwanted bills; • faster bill-to-bill speed, meaning faster transactions and fewer delays for players at the gaming machine; • expanded memory, allowing more firmware updates and, therefore, more functionality; • processing of barcode coupons in all four directions and improved acceptance where bills of one currency come in different sizes; • an upgrade to USB 2.0, which speeds up communications with the host machine and potentially expands functionality. “When someone wants to integrate SC Advance into their casino, they don’t have to buy all new products because SC Advance can work side by side with CASHFLOW SC. All you have to do is replace the head. It can be interchanged throughout your units,” explains JeanMarie Decker. “Because of the high quality of our products, customers can expect them to have a lifespan of at least seven years,” adds Edmond Tang. ”In Asia it will probably take another two years for the replacement cycle to kick in with many of our current CASHFLOW SC customers. But the launch of SC Advance is about positioning us for that transition, as well as capturing new customers. “In the Philippines, for example, PAGCOR [the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation] is talking about retrofitting bill validators to the units in the casinos they manage. That’s a great sales opportunity for the market—around 8,000 units—and one that we will pursue,” adds Mr Tang. “Our offer is very strong and I think that’s why we’ve been able to expand so quickly in Asia. When we first entered Macau, 90% of the market was held by a rival manufacturer. Speedy service is part of that strong offer. We have our dedicated support team for gaming products in Hong Kong and we serve Macau directly. We can fly to Manila in about an hour and a half. Our customers in the region appreciate all these things. We’re very positive about the future in the region.” For a demonstration of SC Advance, CASHFLOW SC, and EASITRAX Soft Count, visit MEI at Booth #1423 during G2E Asia 2011 at The Venetian Macao from 8th to 9th June. CASHFLOW SC SC Advance June 2011 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 79