Inside Asian Gaming

March 2014 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 29 FEATURE “My engineering team grows by 40%. Now we have the ability to develop new technologies together whereas perhaps we were previously both developing competing similar technologies. We’ll also have more capability on the sales side and the tech support side— the way we interface with our customers. We’re just broader and stronger.” Tom Nugent , Crane Payment Innovations’ president of Gaming and Retail they’ve made since 2006—this is the fourth one in this space—to have an owner that’s so committed to that space and willing to invest in it is incredibly exciting for the future.” The merger will obviously add up to certain cost savings as well. “There are some redundancies,” acknowledges Mr Nugent. “There’s also the supply chain where we’re both buying technologies or materials, so nowwe have as a bigger company the ability to leverage our supply chain and leverage our capabilities in different locations. “Another thing is Crane and MEI both have physical offices in some places. In Las Vegas we have two different physical offices three miles apart. [In January] we brought those together. We’re doing the same thing in other locations. Australia is next. That gives you one location, you reduce some costs associated with that and bring the families together.” Long Time Coming The completion of the acquisition has been 24 months in the making from when MEI began to look for options for future development, which led to it forging a relationship with Crane Co. Although Crane had originally announced its intent to acquire MEI on 12th December 2012, the process was held back by the European Commission’s request that two CPS products first be divested in order to avoid the formation of monopolies following the merger. Neither of the divested products were in gaming. Although Mr Nugent is excited about what CPI will be able to offer customers, he points out, “Our challenge, in the immediate future, is to temper the enthusiasm of what can be with the realism of what needs to happen to provide the level of service customers have associated with these brands.” It’s a work in progress, and the new entity will begin to take shape as corporate and customer-facing functions are consolidated. CPI emphasizes that until core functions can be assimilated in a manner that is seamless to customers, it intends to have CPS and MEI act as separate companies in a “business as usual” state. In Asia, the MEI and CPS brands have distinct followings. “MEI does very well in Macau on the traditional casino side, whereas in Australia, where there’s still a lot of coins usage, you have a lot of Crane influence there,” says Mr Nugent, adding, “And in the Philippines, Crane has a presence in the bingo markets while MEI has the casino presence. So we’re able now to service customers however they grow.” Meanwhile, MEI has been growing share in several key Asian jurisdictions, notably Macau,“where it used tobeaone-competitor market; now it’s a two-competitor market. And that’s good for our customers because they have a choice, versus in the old days when it was just the other guy.” “Asia remains a very important market for us,” continues Mr Nugent. “I spend quite a bit of time there and we have local teams in each of the countries. We know that Asian gaming continues to grow. We will continue to put additional resources there and look forward to all the new exciting developments.” The new SCR note recycler joins the SC Advance note acceptor and EASITRAX Soft Count in MEI’s portfolio of cash management solutions.