Inside Asian Gaming

also has recently introduced electronic black- jack and poker games from Shuffle Master, with video representations of a dealer. Video lottery terminal games outside North America, however, can be much dif- ferent. In Israel, using monitoring technol- ogy from Austin, Texasbased Multimedia Games Inc.,the display is more basic.“There’s no sound,” said Gary L. Loebig, executive vice president for sales at Multimedia. “The animation is simple. You see a display like a scratch ticket, and when you press the but- ton, you just see a jagged scratch.” In the United States, players want something more than an onscreen scratch.“There are almost two distinct VLT markets,” said Elsasser, who spent 15 years as executive director of engi- neering at GLI and has been working with video lottery terminals since South Dakota first legalized them. “There’s the U.S., and then there’s the rest of the world. The mar- kets are evolving at two different rates, two different paces. The international market tends to be a traditional VLT market, though they’re starting to do some interesting things in the United Kingdom.The video lot- tery games are true to the traditional sense of the lottery.” And even in the United States, differ- ent jurisdictions mean different kinds of outlets. VLT installations can be huge, as in racetracks with 2,000 machines as in Dela- ware, 750-unit sites in New Mexico, unlim- ited numbers in New York or at Louisiana tracks, or numbers set by the commissions in Delaware andWest Virginia. Or the outlets can be smaller venues such as bars and tav- erns with five games in Oregon, 10 in South Dakota, truck stops with 50 in Louisiana or fraternal and veterans organizations with 10 in West Virginia. Slot lessons Whatever a facility’s size, it expects top, cur- rent product. “VLT markets now get top games, the newest, latest greatest products,” said Craig Bullis, vice president public gam- ing and VLT operations for Bally Technolo- gies.“We’re rolling out CineVision,our 26-inch wide screen slant top, and Delaware is one of our first markets. We introduced CineVision early on the East Coast, in Delaware, and the acceptance has been outstanding. “They’re trying our new product in Dela- ware and New York. At Yonkers Raceway in New York, they have our widescreen upright, and the Bally brand is the highest earning brand per device at more tracks than IGT or Spielo. At Yonkers, all their stuff is cutting edge. The Bally games are all CineVision and widescreen upright.” Bally is not the only company infusing slot-type innovation into VLT product.“WMS video lottery terminals today share a com- mon platform with our casino slots,” Borden said. “This benefits our lottery customers in many ways: It eliminates the risk of obsoles- cence, allows our lottery products to evolve with our casino products, and opens the VLT markets to our vast library of highly success- ful game themes. In fact, many of our hottest games are getting solid play in VLT venues— hit video themes such as ‘Kaboom,’ ‘Jackpot Party Progressive,’ and ‘Men In Black,’ as well as five-reel mechanical games from our inno- vative new series of ‘Hot Hot Super Jackpot’ games and also coming soon to WMS VLT is ‘Monopoly Big Event.’” That includes WMS’ most up-to-date technology. Games in the video lottery mar- kets are housed in the ergonomic Bluebird slot cabinet, and driven by the CPU-NXT game platform, just as are WMS’ newest ca- sino slots. “As successful as it has been, the Bluebird continues to evolve as gaming changes,” Borden said.“Now sporting a belly LCD in the upright mechanical reel version, the Bluebird has brought interactive help and pay table display and multi-coin functionality to tra- ditional mechanical reel games. This touch- screen display utilizes the same logical infor- mation sequencing as the larger LCDs found on the video Bluebird cabinets. In order to maximize its customers’ investment in this product, WMS has ensured that the Bluebird cabinets can be easily upgraded to support server based gaming.” The crossover from slots to VLTs ap- plies to International Game Technology, too, along with themes specially developed for VLT markets. “IGT establishes a strong brand identity and uses the same cabinet and game theme styles as found in other traditional gaming markets,” said Jim Cole- man, IGT marketing manager, Class II and Lottery. “That brand identity includes game aesthetics, game play features and propri- etary game play features that set us apart from the competition. We have also intro- duced unique game concepts tailored to each venue. “IGT is proactive in offering as many products as possible to the lottery market.” Coleman added.“We have engineering teams and product marketing support groups that focus solely on that market.We work with the state lotteries to educate them on develop- 36 The new Viva Macau isn't just an airline, it's one big gig in the sky. Where no one's just a passenger and everyone feels like a superstar. Like vibrant Macau itself, our new airline boasts plenty of onboard fun, exotic destinations, wide bodied jetliner luxury, a premium 'Superstar' class with more legroom than ever, and all this without any compromise on your safety and comfort. So come fly Viva Macau, fly simply different! Visit flyvivamacau.com Whatever a facility’s size, it expects top, current product. “VLT markets now get top games, the newest, lat- est greatest products,” said Craig Bullis, vice president public gaming and VLT operations for Bally Technologies“