Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | April 2013 26 SUPPLIER AWARDS I nside Asian Gaming ’s Supplier Awards 2013 marks the fifth annual installment of our kudos to the manufacturers whose creativity and commitment to innovation make possible the tremendous growth of Asia’s gaming industry. Our judges are all senior casino executives with extensive practical knowledge and a wealth of first-hand experience as to what their players like, and they are uniquely familiar with the great variety of games and supporting products that over the last year responded especially well to those preferences and delivered exceptional results for operators and manufacturers as a result. Revenue performance, though clearly the key judging criteria, was far from the only one. Our panel of experts was asked also to consider feedback from players and from their own staffs and were encouraged as well to assess the nominees in the various categories on the basis of their observations and considerable experience. Machine gaming, though it occupies a distant second place to table games in the revenue mix of Asia’s largest casino market, is growing in popularity and importance in Macau as the territory continues to evolve toward a true leisure destination. This has been reflected over the last decade in a slot sector that is trending toward levels of popularity on a par with the rest of East and Southeast Asia, growing from about 2,250 devices and US$80 million in annual revenue to more than 16,500 devices, and together with live multi- terminal games, surpassing $1.64 billion in revenue. Significantly, even as the number of devices has increased, win per slot has grown from less than $100 a day to more than $250, which means the machines themselves are delivering a more entertaining experience, prompting customers to play them longer, and generating more coin-in. It’s a tribute to the people who bring this experience to the marketplace, and that’s what the Supplier Awards are all about. ELECTRONIC GAMES Best Standalone Slot Winner: Aristocrat – 5 Dragons Legends This is the second year in a row our judges have chosen 5 Dragons Legends as “Best Standalone Slot” from among a strong field of contenders— proof again of the success of Aristocrat’s “brand extension” strategy of taking a solid performer and offering its fans, of which there are many in Macau, the chance to enjoy an enhanced version of it, and at the same machine. 5 Dragons introduced Aristocrat’s innovative Reel Power technology to what was a fledgling Macau slot market back in 2004, and it quickly caught on among Chinese players, who like the RTP boost provided by the ante bet and the ability in the bonus to select Nominees: Manufacturer Title Aristocrat 5 Dragons Aristocrat 5 Dragons Legends Aruze The Gold IGT Cash Cove SHFL 88 Fortunes Weike Qin Shi Huang 5 Dragons Legends