Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | June 2010 48 D avid Punter was appointed in December to the key role of General Manager Asia Pacific for Aristocrat Technologies, the dominant supplier of slot machine technology in the regional market. Mr Punter was previouslyMarketingDirector, Asia Pacific, for Aristocrat Technologies Australia. In his new role, he has the vital task of developing strategies to ensure the sustainable growth of Aristocrat’s regional business. Inside Asian Gaming spoke to Mr Punter at the recent Asia’s GEM industry exhibition in Manila, and asked him about his latest role. Inside Asian Gaming : How did you get involved in the gaming industry? David Punter: After graduating from university in Newcastle [New South Wales] with a Bachelor’s Degree in Commerce majoring in marketing, I worked in the hotel industry, including managing the gaming room—at the time when slot machine gaming really came into the hotel industry in New South Wales. I realised I had to get down to Sydney to create a career for myself in gaming. I was lucky enough to join Aristocrat’s sales cadet programme. About a year into that two-year programme, I was appointed marketing manager for New South Wales. It was then, and still is, a major market in Australia. It has more than 100,000 machines and is a very strong market in pubs and clubs. I was in that post for three years, and then moved into a sales role in metropolitan Sydney working with some large clubs and hotel groups. Aristocrat seems to be good at developing talent. Is that your experience? I think a core strength of Aristocrat is getting their people to understand as much as they can about games, how they work and how to adapt products for players and markets. You get a really holistic view of what gaming is. In the sales cadet programme, they threw me into divisions like marketing, finance, sales—even the manufacturing side. The graduate programme—which we still run—is a really good way of grounding cadets who have come from university or have been in the business for a couple of years. At the beginning of the Macau ‘Big Bang’ of market liberalisation, what were you expecting as a company from that market and the rest of Asia Pacific? At Aristocrat we knew we had an Playing to Win Aristocrat’s David Punter on the joys and potential pitfalls of being number one slot supplier in Asia Pacific David Punter Cash Express opportunity to do well in Macau. The Asian player base had already been exposed to some Aristocrat products in the Philippines, in Singapore’s slot clubs and the Genting Highlands in Malaysia. We knew that if we did things well and worked with some very experienced and knowledgeable operators in Macau, we could build on that opportunity. We’ve delivered strong products in Cash Express® and Jackpot Carnival™. We’ve customised those products with the Chinese language and, where we could, tailored some specific games to suit the market. Our top games in theMacaumarket are Choy Sun Doa™, 5 Dragons™, 50 Dragons™, 50 Lions™. And FA FA FA™ is one of our strongest links in the region. As a result, we have been able to grow our market share in Macau to more than 50%—taking the majority of floor space in the city’s casinos. How do you make sure you maintain that good performance? Our staff work very closely with the operators to get to know their business. We like to celebrate our mutual success with our clients and we get excited when a new product is well accepted in a casino and performs well. Our commitment is to make sure our games are right for the customer and the Talking Heads FA FA FA