Inside Asian Gaming

September 2011 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING 57 50 (48) Joe Pisano CEO Jade Entertainment and Gaming Technologies 49 (-) Albert Radman Sales Director for Asia Alfastreet Gaming Instruments formed a strategic partnership with Jade Entertainment to explore gaming markets in the Philippines. In addition to acting as a distributor and supplier, Jade Gaming also holds a gaming operator licence in the Philippines. The company operates the Oxford Princess Casino inside the former Clark Air Base south of Manila. Jade Gaming has recently made its first foray beyond the Philippines’ borders. In May, the company set up its first overseas wholly-owned subsidiary, Jade Entertainment Macau. An Australian citizen of Italian descent, Mr Pisano is a 30-year veteran in the gaming industry. He holds a Master’s degree in Business and Technology from the University of New South Wales. Previously, Mr Pisano has held senior positions with several large international gaming companies, amassing a wealth of technical and regulatory knowledge of the industry. Asian Gaming 50 – 2011 gaming machines and technologies. The company, based in Manila’s business district, Makati City, was founded by Asia- Pacific gaming veteran Joe Pisano in 2009. Naming his venture after a gemstone that is synonymous with Asia, Mr Pisano says his aim is to make Jade Entertainment and Gaming Technologies a familiar name in casinos in the Philippines. The company aspires to be a one-stop shop for operators seeking to stock their casinos with the most up-to-date gaming products, technologies and services. Jade Gaming’s major suppliers include Novomatic, IGT, Crane, VSR and Futurelogic as well as emerging market manufacturers like Hydako. Jade Entertainment is the exclusive representative of various Asia-focused slot manufacturers and gaming paraphernalia distributors such as Aspect Gaming and, most recently, Signs4U. In February 2011, Signs4U, a Netherlands-based private company specialising in casino signs, well in smaller Southeast Asia markets. In Laos—where there are only a handful of casinos—Alfastreet installed a total of 250 terminals across the country. In Cambodia, the company says it has captured 90% of the ETG market. Alfastreet is also the number one supplier in Vietnam and has brought several installations to the Philippines where it says the initial response from players and operators has been very good. Having done so well in Southeast Asia, Alfastreet’s next ambition is to build its presence in the Macau market. It’s working on some deals that are currently confidential. But Mr Radman’s decision to start on the shop floor and work his way up looks like paying off. WhenAlbertRadmanjoinedAlfastreet—a leading specialist manufacturer of multi- player electronic gaming instruments— seven years ago, he specifically asked to start at the bottom. That was despite the fact he had prior training in electronics and a university degree in communications. He reasoned that the best way to fulfil his ambition—to be a senior sales executive in the Slovenian company—was to have real insight about what it does and how it does it. Within six months he was head of production. He used that experience and understanding to realise his ambition and switch to sales manager and later to his current role—Sales Director for Asia. Hisfirstmoveinthesalesdirectorrolewas a decisive one—to break ties with the firm that had been acting as Alfastreet’s regional sales representative. Instead, he organized his own internal sales and support team. It very quickly started producing results. Today, Alfastreet is one of the most successful electronic table game (ETG) manufacturers in Asia. Mr Radman says the keytothatwasdevelopinggoodrelationships Jade Entertainment and Gaming Technologies has built a solid reputation as a trustedprovider andoperator of electronic with customers, good support for the products, flexibility on deal making and continuous development and improvement of already stable, good quality products. Mr Radman and his team understood the need to look at Asia as a series of markets and not as just one big market. They took time to study each jurisdiction and modified Alfastreet’s products to fit perfectly into each—“even the smallest club in the rain forest”, as Mr Radman poetically puts it. In the past year Alfastreet has had major installations across the region—most notably in Singapore. After initial medium- sizedorders frombothResortsWorldSentosa (RWS) and Marina Bay Sands (MBS), the quality of Alfastreet’s multi-player products showed in the casino revenue figures. Both casino operators ordered more units. Alfastreet now has 300 terminals in RWS— the single biggest set up involving no fewer than 154 terminals. At MBS, the company installed close to 200 terminals with great success and good acceptance from the operator and from the players. Alfastreet is currently developing new games on the platform for the Singapore operators. It has high hopes that the success of its expansion into the Lion City will help drive further regional sales soon. Alfastreet has also done exceptionally