Inside Asian Gaming

November 2016 inside asian gaming 35 INSIGHTS “If you want to be global, it is essential that you have an international perspective and it’s hard to do that if everything you do is located inside the United States.” A ndrewW Scott: Thanks for chatting with us John. Interblock is a little different from other global gaming equipment manufacturers in that the company operates out of Slovenia. What benefits does that provide? John Connelly: Actually I see Slovenia as a tremendous asset and differentiating factor for our company. It’s a little known secret that the talent, education level and work ethic relative to cost is outstanding. I’ve been involved with companies that have had major offshore development in India and other countries that are more traditional and I would say that Slovenia is by far the best experience I’ve had. So we will continue to invest heavily in Slovenia from a manufacturing and R&D perspective. There are no plans or considerations to move that. Even this year we’ve invested a considerable amount of money in both areas. We’ve expanded our manufacturing facility to keep up with demand and we’ve tripled our R&D team in the past 2 months. We will probably continue to grow that department into 2017. AWS: And of course you have a European Chairman in Joc Pečečnik. How does that impact upon the company culture? JC: Having a 25-year-old private company such as Interblock, there is tremendous value in that. The innovation that comes out of Interblock and the history – it was essentially the company that created ETGs. The founder was the first person to show, at a London show 25 years ago, a mechanical ETG. So that core fundamental knowledge and experience within the sector is something that is extremely valuable. I also see it as an advantage having different cultures and visions within the company rather than just an American vision. If you want to be global, it is essential that you have an international perspective and it’s hard to do that if everything you do is located inside the United States. Having our chairman come from Europe and traveling around – I don’t want to guess how many millions of frequent flyer miles he has around the world – gives us that international perspective. And having that dichotomy between the Slovenian through the growth of our company and where we’re deriving our revenue and orders. Right now we’re experiencing double digit growth across all continents so for us it’s about sustaining the infrastructure and the appropriate levels of support for the growth rate. A lot of my time and my team’s time is dedicated to servicing infrastructure to support this hyper-growth rate. AWS: What about Asia specifically? JC: We’re very proud of Asia. We have over 85% market share in the major casinos in the Philippines and Vietnam and we have just re-entered Macau very recently. When Macau originally opened we were the market leader. Now we’ve signed deals for upwards of 250 seats with the Venetian, we’ve got a major deal with Melco-Crown and are quite frankly in discussions with several other Macau groups. So Macau for us is very much a driver. Vietnam has always been a very strong growth centre for us and then with the changes with the VIP rooms in Macau we’re seeing a pick-up in business in the surrounding countries such as the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia markets that are also important to us. AWS: Macau has gone through a systemic change in recent years and the prevailing wisdom is that we are now finally starting to come out of that. What’s your perspective on the Macau market? JC: I feel most comfortable sharing what the experts have been telling me and that means our customers and partners. operation and then Latin America, Sydney, Macau and North America – it’s been highly valuable in making decisions about where we’re going in regards to our products and our priorities. So it’s been great. I also travel a lot and I understand the importance of not managing from behind a desk in this industry. I spend around 20-odd days a month on the road visiting the offices of customers. I would say we are very much a global organization and we will continue to stay that way. AWS: You speak of having a presence all around the world. What markets are you looking to focus on over the next 12 months? JC: Well that’s the good news. The customers are somewhat dictating that