Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming June 2014 36 Tech Talk Elegance in Innovation Alfastreet’s slick new terminal, dubbed the Wiky, boasts a generous 32-inch display that enables players to bet on up to four games at once S lovenia is an international hotbed for manufacturing cutting- edge multi-terminal gaming machines, and at the forefront of the industry is Alfastreet, which this year is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Initially focused on the European market, for much of the past decade the company has been involved in intense research and development to gear its products to the Asian market. It has excelled in that effort. In Singapore, where the company competes on a level playing fieldwith other suppliers, its products have proven a clear favorite among players and operators alike. At Resorts World Sentosa, for example, Alfastreet terminals make up nearly 500 of the property’s 2,400 gaming machines. It’s a different story in Macau, however, where despite the enthusiastic reaction to Alfastreet’s eye-catching offerings at G2E Asia held last month at The Venetian Macao, the company has struggled to gain traction in the city owing to patents held by local gaming machine manufacturer LT Game that have effectively kept out all other suppliers of competing products. That patent is being persistently challenged, though, which could eventually pave the way for Alfastreet to greatly increase its share of what is sure to become Asia’s most lucrative multi-terminal market. Elsewhere in Asia, the company has been going strong in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia, according to Sales Director Albert Radman. The company’s top sellers region-wide are its roulette products. On display at the show was an enhanced version of the classic eight-station R8 roulette, which comes in a distinctive square shape and performs particularly well in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. In other markets, including Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, players prefer single terminals, and the versatile SL has fit the bill perfectly over the past few years. Whereas Alfastreet’s previous roulette products had all been fully automated, the SL was its first semi-automated offering, with a live dealer spinning the ball but all bets and payouts made through electronic terminals. Asian players from Singapore to Macau have eagerly embraced the live-dealer multi- terminal concept. In Singapore, roulette is the game of choice, but in Macau baccarat “Baccarat players in particular always like to play several tables at once. Providing them a product that allows them to bet on four tables at once on one terminal seems to be a sure hit,” says Alfastreet Sales Director Albert Radman.