Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2012 26 “I f you are going to hit a mega slot jackpot, then Macau is the best place in the world to do it,” says Geoff Andres, Senior Vice-President and General Manager at Sands Casino Hotel. Sands China Ltd introduced Asia’s biggest slot jackpot to Macau on 30th December, with the launch of a new series of MegaBucks® slot machines at a ribbon- cutting ceremony at The Venetian® Macao. A total of 140 new machines will be in operation at the three properties operated by Sands China: The Venetian Macao, Sands® Macao and The Plaza™ Macao casinos. “And when Sands Cotai Central opens [slated for mid-April this year], the games there will be linked together also,” adds Mr Andres. Speaking to Inside Asian Gaming on the sidelines of the MegaBucks launch, Mr Andres commented: “The base jackpot is HK$50 million, which is huge. And since all the games are linked progressive, that jackpot will grow even larger very fast. You see how fast that meter is going up. And when the jackpot hits here [in Macau] it’s all paid out at once,” whereas in the United States it is paid out in annual installments, usually over twenty-five years. “So it really is a life-changing jackpot; the fact that when it hits here you get it all paid at one time,” says Mr Andres. Furthermore, unlike in the US, where players can end up giving up to 40% of their jackpot winnings to the taxman, there is no tax liability on slot jackpot winnings in Macau. Life-changing launch International Game Technology (IGT) launched MegaBucks in Nevada in 1986, and since then, Megabucks has spread to other US states and produced dozens of major winners with jackpots ranging from just over US$1 million (when one million dollars was the system’s base jackpot—the current base is US$10 million) to the world record slot jackpot of more than US$39 million, won in March 2003 at the Excalibur Hotel andCasino in Las Vegas. In the US, MegaBucks does not cross state lines, and each state that offers the game has a separate jackpot system with separate meters and winners. Each MegaBucks machine has its own RNG (random number generator) and chooses its own outcomes. These outcomes are reported to a central station, and when the jackpot is hit on one machine, the central station sends out a message to the other machines to reset their meters. In Nevada, MegaBucks slot machines offer jackpots that accrue over several hundred machines located across multiple properties. MegaBucks in Macau is the only wide-area jackpot operating between multiple casino sites in the city—though importantly, they are sites run by the same operator, Sands China, whereas the sites in Nevada are run by a multitude of different operators. Another key difference is the MegaBucks machines in Nevada are owned and operated on a participation basis by IGT, whereas in Macau slot manufacturers have thus far not been able to operate their machines on a participation basis, and Sands China purchased the MegaBucks machines outright from IGT. Of course, installing MegaBucks across Sands China’s venues “took a lot of work and many months of partnership between us and IGT,” according to Mr Andres. It is unlikely that two or more of Feature Geoffry Andres (middle), Senior Vice President and General Manager of Sands Casino Hotel, officially mark the launch of the newMegaBucks® slot machines at a ribbon-cutting ceremony at The Venetian Macao on 30th December Millionaire Maker Sands China launches Asia’s biggest slot jackpot across its three Macau venues