Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming MArch 2016 22 Tech Talk 18 months after launch, VisuaLimits’ VL-Focus is taking North American casinos by storm By Steven Ribet T he iPhone revolutionized telephony. Packing different tools, Swiss army knife-style, into a single device, it knocked traditional flip phones out of the market. The Nevada firm VisuaLimits thinks it can do the same for table gaming, an area in the casino industry where innovation has historically been thin and slow. Its intelligent table limit sign goes way beyond telling gamblers how much they can bet. VL-Focus, as the product is called, is also a tool for marketing, customer relationship management, staff management, security, dispute resolution and optimizing resource allocation. Some 18 months after moving beyond pilot trials, over two thousand units are now installed in North American casinos. VisuaLimits recently found a distributor in Europe. Now it is adapting its offering for a push into Asia. “Our product started out a decade ago as an advertising tool with basic analytics,” says VL-Focus’ developer and company COO Ryan McClellan. “Then five years ago we got the idea to make it into something really useful for table games, with a tool for every different department.” The basic hardware for VL-Focus is a double-sided screen display. Positioned at a corner of a gaming table, the front side of this main unit faces the players with two cameras hidden above its screen, while the back side is a slanted touch-screen operated by the dealer. This main unit is connected to a second double-sided display pole- mounted above the tables fitted with two more cameras surveying Table Gaming’s Killer App VisuaLimits COO Ryan McClellan shows off his invention at this year’s International Casino Expo in London.