The list of new slot and casino management products launched at G2E in Las Vegas is too long to mention in detail here, but Aristocrat’s stood out as significant.
Although Aristocrat continues to record strong sales in the United States, it’s facing particularly strong competition in its home market of Australia and in Asia.
One of Aristocrat’s launches at G2E was a new game based on the hit Hollywood movie Jaws and its spin off films—a theme that should travel successfully across markets.
Aristocrat also launched a high-tech touch-screen ‘stepper’ video poker machine with high quality graphics and sound. This product could be particularly suited to the non-casino market in Asia where players in gaming arcades and halls compete for prizes rather than hard cash.
Emerging markets are likely to be particularly important for all the Australian gaming manufacturers as gaming clubs at home seem likely to cut back their machine replacement programme over the next few years. A spokesman for Clubs NSW, a major domestic operator with 72,000 gaming machines, recently cited recession, increased taxes and a smoking ban in venues as reasons for a likely fall in revenue and subsequent revision of its replacement policy.
In the first half of 2008, 40 percent of Aristocrat’s sales revenue came from US casinos. Australia and New Zealand accounted for a 21 percent share, with Japan gaming arcades providing 20 per cent and emerging markets such as Macau and Europe providing 18 percent.
