Inside Asian Gaming

May 2012 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 43 Shuffle Master human resources and the financial commitment by way of R&D. How do you measure that performance? Performance is about giving a game to a player that they are entertained by and happy to continue to play, to the point where its net win is in the top echelons of what the casino operator in looking for on the gaming floor. Operators look for a ROI on each square meter of the gaming floor. It’s a happy medium between generating revenue so the operator is happy, but also entertaining the player. If the player is not comfortable or satisfied they won’t come back to the machine. Just about all games fall off in popularity over time, and some fall very quickly. A combination of good maths, good graphics and features that reward the player will keep them entertained so they’ll keep coming back. It’s a complex business. If you look at the last 10 years, you go around to all the companies, what they spend on R&D, and when you consider that in themarketplace there aremaybe two handfuls of games that actually work at the top end, it’s not an easy job to get the highest performance. It’s about being committed, and it’s about continuing to work on refinement, direction, approach and the strategies to get to where you want to be. And I can assure you this company is very committed. Certainly you’ve brought a lot of new slot product to market in the last year. When you look at it, it’s just been over a year now since we launched Equinox in the market. Previously, Stargames were in the market; however for the three years prior to Equinox being launched very little was installed. Shuffle Master acquired Stargames then invested considerable time and money into R&D to give us the right platform to relaunch the slot business in March last year throughout Asia. Since then, we have put a lot of new titles into the market. Not all as successful as we would like, I’m happy to admit that; but we learned a heck of a lot about what is good, average and better. Now, we are really in the stages of refining how to deliver performance. It’s a commitment, again, which the company is serious about. Whilst the slot machine business only came to us through the acquisition of Stargames, and today it’s a very strong segment for us particularly in Australia with the market share growing there, we have expanded our focus to Latin America and Asia. What’s doing especially well for Shuffle Master right now in Macau, among the different “families” of slot games, as the company refers to them? The Pink Panther range of games and Potion Power are two families. Then we followed with a Pirate-themed link and more Chinese-themed standalone games. For the show we are excited about a strongly branded Chinese theme link “Duo Fu Duo Cai” and another super top box game called “Legend of the Lamp”. These will be must-see products at the show this year. The appeal of links for Macau being the big top prize? It’s the bigger top prize but it’s also not forgetting the player who knows it’s not going to go off that often and wants an entertaining package in what we call the mid-range of the game. It’s about giving entertainment value in the mid-range. Going back to the commitment this year, we will have 34 slot machines on the stand at G2E Asia. That’s more than this company has ever demonstrated before in this market and it shows how committed we are to Asia. What will be some of the highlights? Obviously, the new link “Duo Fu Duo Cai” Link—large visual Chinese theme with high-impact signage—Random Magic and our next super top box with its’ high frequency five feature game package “Legend of the Lamp”. It’s got the visual impact because of the 32-inch top box, and you’re seeing a lot of that now in the Macau market. Moving to table games, a perennial strength for Shuffle Master: What will you be showing? Our ETS range will feature something new from Rapid, being our VIP-room version called “Signature”. It’s a new product for us that enables VIP players to play in a much more comfortable, personalized position on the terminal. Then there’s our Vegas Star virtual-dealer product which will be featuring craps with a new side bet and a separate configuration of Grand Baccarat. Actually MGM was the first to get this Grand Baccarat version in the market and now we’ve got it at a couple of other venues in Macau. The Grand Baccarat features a side bet progressive jackpot on a Grand Tie. We’ll also have Roulette Live, which is basically a 10-station circular configuration “If you look at the last 10 years, you go around to all the companies, what they spend on R&D, and when you consider that in the marketplace there are maybe two handfuls of games that actually work at the top end, it’s not an easy job to get the highest performance. It’s about being committed. And I can assure you this company is very committed.”