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Macau’s table games are the envy of the global gaming industry, currently raking in an average of US$19,000 in daily revenue, and with Gaming Floor Live, the innovators at TCSJOHNHUXLEY have unleashed a technology to take them even further, enabling real-time data collection and analysis to maximize performance. Given Macau’s huge volumes, that translates into big bucks
Gaming Floor Live, showcased at October’s Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, is the culmination of a vision. “We understood the need for a technology to enable collection of data from all our products in real time,” says TCSJOHNHUXLEY Director of Marketing Tracy Cohen.
“Previously, we were able to collect data from products in isolation. From a chipper we could get some information, from a roulette wheel we could get some other information, for example. But these products could not connect to a central source to provide an overall picture—it was about pulling it all together.”
With multiple vendors’ products on every table this need to communicate a link-up of all the information is more important than ever.
The potential benefits, of course, are tremendous, providing insights into the performance of dealers, tables and game speeds and highlighting areas and processes that can be improved upon— and all in real time.
“With over 800 tables already installed in Macau, Gaming Floor Live is maximizing efficiencies on the casino floor and improving dealer speed to increase revenue,” the company notes.
And the key piece of technology that enables it is the TIB—the Table Interface Board—the equivalent of the SMIB in slot machines.
“We plan to have a TIB in every table or connected to every piece of equipment we sell, collecting data and sending it to the central system,” Ms Cohen explains. “GFL is a secure open platform, built using MySQL Database that can be integrated into the casino’s existing IT infrastructure. The system is modular in design and completely scalable, so the operator can choose to have modules for dealer accountability, table optimization, wheel analysis or card analysis. It’s very flexible.”
Moreover, the information is easily accessible because it is browser-based and can be viewed on almost any device, such as a tablet or at a fixed podium.
“For example, a supervisor could walk around the floor with the tablet, and be able to view the color-coded GFL dashboard which shows the status of all the connected tables. A table showing ‘Red’ indicates a process is too slow, and ‘Green’ too fast, so if you see a clear screen, you know all your dealers are working at optimum levels,” Ms Cohen says. “As all the data is fed in real time it’s very easy to see any changes as they are happening, so the pit boss can discretely speak to a dealer, if necessary, to find out why the status has changed.”
It’s as intuitive as it sounds and leads to quick efficiency improvements. “A casino that has installed Gaming Floor Live started with 75% of their dealers performing under average based on the optimum levels they set,” says Ms Cohen. “Once the system had been implemented, that went down to 50%, which is considerable, and they’ve been able to raise the average. Based on these optimized enhancements it could be possible to obtain many increased minutes per dealer per day. As such, this translates to a significant increment in an average dealer’s eight-hour shift and the revenue-boosting potential is tremendous. In Macau, where players like their action fast and heavy, more hands per hour translates pretty much directly to more revenue.”
Gaming Floor Live for baccarat is already out on Macau’s casino floors and will be available by the end of the year on sic bo and roulette. “Over the next 18 months we’ll add other games to that,” she says.
GFL Bonusing was another innovation displayed at G2E as part of the Gaming Floor Live platform. It’s a floor-wide event and mystery progressive platform that works in conjunction with a comprehensive range of live table display solutions known as GFL Media.
“GFL Media is resort-wide,” says Ms Cohen. “So somewhere like The Venetian that can have many thousands of displays will be able to actually control what those displays do from one central controller. [It] also feeds information back into the system, so the operator can collect data from them. Things like opening tables, restaurant promotions, resort entertainment, all those kinds of things, can be gathered from real-time data and acted upon quickly and easily depending on demand.”
Also unveiled at the show was Blaze, a cutting-edge suite of technologies for illuminating table layouts and enlivening the games. Unlike traditional illuminated tables that consist of a light box with many individual bulbs requiring frequent replacement, Blaze’s LED technology is energy-efficient, powering thousands of hours of operating life and ensuring that game play is uninterrupted and regular maintenance is limited.
Also on display were the company’s renowned chippers and roulette wheels. The new Saturn Auto wheel will be launched early next year. Based on the highly regarded SaturnTM wheel, the new Saturn Auto is the most compact wheel of its type, having the same footprint as its namesake. With a patent-pending ball release mechanism, the Saturn Auto can be operated in fully automatic or semi-auto mode depending on operating requirements. “Due to the Saturn Auto’s compact size and variable operating modes, it is ideal for both live gaming and electronic terminal gaming situations, giving operators flexibility depending on demand and requirements,” says Ms Cohen.
