Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | January 2013 22 Tech Talk U ntil recently, RFID tags in casino chips were mainly used to verify genuine currency and ferret out counterfeits, but operators are now increasingly being turned on to the other efficiency-boosting benefits of the technology. As Scott McCarthy, GPI vice president of Sales, Asia, puts it, “I see more and more operators embracing RFID as a total casino currency solution rather than just a counterfeit currency verification instrument. I know that in the past RFID promised to deliver so much more than it was capable of delivering at the time. This hampered the technology’s application in gaming and its wide-scale adoption in the industry. That’s changing now. RFID is finally landing on its feet.” Mr McCarthy joined GPI—one of the world’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of casino currency and table games equipment—toward the end of 2011 and has proved a boon to the company’s efforts to develop RFID applications that are truly relevant to operators. His insights gleaned over more than 15 years working in casino cage operations in Macau and Australia include an extensive background in VIP junket operations. Mr McCarthy’s appointment laid the foundation for GPI’s campaign to beef up its presence and offering in Asia out of its rapidly growing headquarters in Macau, the world’s highest-volume casino table market. Officially joining Mr McCarthy in the Macau office from October—though she’d spent considerable time in the regiondealing with the company’s business prior tomaking the formal move—is Kirsten Clark, who was concurrently promoted to the position of senior vice president and chief operating officer – Asia. On the occasion of Ms Clark’s appointment, companyCEOGregoryGronau noted, “Kirsten joined GPI in January 2011, and has since made some major inroads in the growing Asian gaming market. She has developed new working partnerships with key Asian customers and regulators, as well as identified and implemented numerous new product strategies. Kirsten’s work has been key to establishing a solid base that will support GPI’s future growth in the Asian market, and we are confident that she will continue to positively impact business RFID’s Revival The perception of Radio Frequency ID as applied to casino currency has been sullied by several false starts, with many early providers failing to deliver on their promises of what the technology could do to add value for operators. That’s now changing, in large part thanks to the efforts of Gaming Partners International