Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2009 16 and elsewhere. Giving practical industry insights into the standards will be a panel consisting of: Ian Hughes, Senior Director of Engineering & Client Services, Gaming Laboratories International (GLI), World Headquarters; Adrian Marcu, Chief Architect, Engineering, International Game Technology (IGT); Manson Yip, Senior Client Project Manager, Bally Technologies, Inc.; and Kent Young, General Manager, Executive Vice President, Aruze Gaming America, Inc. Turning the Tables: How to Increase Revenue and Profitability , will demonstrate how technology, customer service and dealer training can maximise the revenue and profits flowing through the pits on a casino floor. Experts including Gabe Hunterton, Senior Vice President, Casino Operations, MGM GRAND Macau and Andrew Macaulay, Executive Vice President, Asia, Shuffle Master Inc. will explain how new gaming systems and upgraded RFID elements can track players and maintain the integrity of games. The session will also cover marketing, staff training and evaluation of results. On the afternoon of day two of the conference, Making a Hand : Poker in Asia will examine the state of the sport in Asia, the success of poker tournaments, the similarity of poker to other casino games popular in Asia and suggest ways to market poker to casino players in Asia. John Raczka, General Manager of Entertainment & Advertising, Macao Studio City, will be moderator for the session. Tom Hall, CEO and Executive Vice Chairman, AsianLogic, a leading developer, operator and manager of online casinos, online poker, multiplayer P2P and Asian games, and an operator of land based casino games including poker, will be a speaker. The Marketing track explains developments in this young but growing discipline in the Asian gaming market. Players’ Clubs, Part 1: A Value Proposition looks at why the slot club cards found in many jurisdictions are not currently as popular with Asian players. Issues include the reluctance on the part of many consumers to identify themselves as well as a general unfamiliarity with the technology and its procedures. The session will explain why players’ clubs offer as much value to the consumer as they do to a casino marketing department. The discussion will consider the finer points of establishing a player tracking programme and offer solutions for overcoming the challenges of doing so in the Asian market. Players’ Clubs, Part 2: The Evolution of PlayerTracking looks at the importanceof this methodology and its associated technology, offering delegates ways of determining the best set up for their operations. Speakers for the session include Jay Bertsch, Director, Systems Sales, Konami Gaming, Inc., and Stephen Karoul, Senior Vice President, Strategic Casino Marketing Asia, Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd and Tony Tong, Co-founder, JIBO Technology Ltd. Players’ Clubs, Part 3: Creating Loyalty and Player Reinvestment , considers the role of returning some of the money gambled by a player to that player in the form of comps and discounts in an effort to create loyalty. The session will examine marketing expenditures that are forms of player reinvestment, define the player reinvestment rate and ranges found in a variety of competitive markets, and discuss the value of player reinvestment during a financial downturn. The Alternatives: Web and Mobile Marketingwill discuss how touse cell phones and other portable wireless communication technology to spread marketing messages. The panel, led by moderator Dr Andy Nazarechuk, Dean, University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) Singapore Campus, and including Victor Tong, CEO & President, PacificNet, Inc.will also look at the role of website design. Mass Marketing: Who is the Asian Player and How to Market to Them focuses on the techniques and tools that can be used to bring players of all levels to a casino. Dr Desmond Lam, Visiting Senior Research Fellow, University of South Australia, will also talk about campaigns that have proved successful with Asian players and look at research into why they work. Stephen Karoul G2E Asia 2009