Inside Asian Gaming

IAG SEP 2020年9月 亞博匯 86 JAPAN income and the pachislot-type amusement that even we want to play. MY: But we aren’t giving up on this at all. We believe that this sort of gaming element is necessary to allow customers to enjoy casinos for long periods of time. We plan to incorporate both operator and user opinions to continue making improvements. SK: Do you think pachislot-type gaming aspects will hit big once there are IRs in Japan? HS: Yes. In that sense we really want to take the lead [in a Japanese IR]. Of course, other companies are developing products, but we are developing in Japan, so we don’t want to lose in a Japanese IR. Naturally we are also developing products with existing pachislot themes. We should probably be able to make that announcement in six months or so. MY: There will be at most three IRs in Japan. Even if each location has 3,000 slot machines, that’s a total of 9,000. It’s a very small market. However, if certain machines become popular in Japan and customers leave with the impression that Japan has great game content, that’s an opportunity to expand sales to overseas markets. I think it will help give Japanese manufacturers strength. We’re adding aspects to meet the needs of the market and also things that we personally want to do. SK: This is the idea of new CEO Scott Winzeler? MY: That’s right. He always says, “Start with the core, then we can do what we want.” He started out in Japanese pachislot at IGT, so I think he understands that side of things very well, and his way of thinking is a really good reference.