Inside Asian Gaming

March 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 9 2003, but even so, demand outstripped supply, as demonstrated by the banks of idle machines at Casino Lisboa. In order to make slots more appealing, Lawrence Ho came up with the Mocha Clubs concept, envisioning a string of trendy and cosy outlets focused exclusively on machine gaming. The Mocha Pioneering Team worked tirelessly to help realise Mr Ho’s vision. Constance Hsu, Mocha’s current chief operating officer, was part of that team. Ms Hsu comes from an accounting background,and has beenwith the company since it was officially founded in September 2003. Her involvement began even before that, however, as she was responsible for compiling the feasibility study for a slot gaming business in Macau that eventually led to the creation of Mocha Clubs. Looking at the success of slots inmarkets likeAustralia and concluding the main reason for their non-performance in Macau was a lack of quality product rather than insurmountable cultural factors, she helped put together the proposal to launch Mocha, and has been developing her operational expertise ever since as the company forged new ground in Macau and Asia. Evolving mix Faced with the daunting task of convincing table-loving Chinese to switch to slots, which are referred to in the Cantonese dialect as“hungry tigers,”Mocha Clubs came up with the novel approach of introducing electronic versions of popular table games such as sic bo, baccarat and roulette. These electronic table machines, known as multi-terminal games, offer a hybrid between tables and slots,and Mocha was one of the first operators anywhere to offer them. Multi-terminals made up 70% of Mocha’s installed machine base during its first few months of operation, and contributed an equivalent proportion of total revenue. The rest of the floor was occupied by linked progressive and stand-alone slot machines. As multi-terminal players became accustomed to playing onmachines and saw some of the slot players winning jackpots, they began tentatively approaching the hungry tigers. By 2005-06, following a steady transition frommulti-terminals to slots,multi-terminals made up about half of Mocha’s installed base and revenue, with the other half coming from slots, though largely weighted towards the linked progressives, with players eager to win the big jackpot. The shift in preferences continued, with stand-alone slot machines in particular having made strong gains over the last year, reveals Ms Hsu, to the point that the split between multi-terminals, linked games and stand-alones is now even, with each commanding about one third of both installedbaseandrevenue.Stargames’Action Cash has remained Mocha’s top-performing stand-alone since the company’s inception, but the performance of Aristocrat’s stand- alones has recently been catching up with its new Chinese-featured games, such as 5 Dragons, 50 Dragons and 50 Lions. Ms Hsu credits the maths of Stargames’ stand-alones for their enduring popularity. “Our players are loyal, regular players. They are not one-time players,” she stresses, “so they are very smart. When they play several