Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | July 2013 32 T he United States Playing Card Company has been supplying playing cards since 1885, and its brands, including Bee®, Bicycle® and Congress®, remain the most internationally recognized in their category. Although USPC is the undisputed market leader in the US, Asia is dominated by a competing supplier. The most coveted of the region’s markets is Macau, where the insatiable appetite for baccarat results in the consumption of over 100 million decks of cards a year. USPC has its focus set firmly on that market, having opened a Macau office in December 2011 and hired Adam McGregor as its vice president of sales for Asia, based out of that office. Mr McGregor says of USPC’s mission in the region: “It’s about being here, supporting the market and trying to provide the operators what they want. It’s about giving them tools that improve efficiency and generate revenue. It’s not just about supplying a card any more. It’s technology, it’s so many things.” That security-enhancing and efficiency- boosting technology takes the form of the new Bee-Tek™ Intelligent Electronic Baccarat Shoe, the central pillar of USPC’s baccarat solution. Released last year, the Bee-Tek shoe is, according to the company, not only more secure and less vulnerable to degradation over time than competing products, but also based on an open-architecture platform to enable upgrades and expansion. The Bee-Tek shoe took center stage at the USPC stand at this year’s G2E Asia, held 21st to 23rd May at The Venetian Macao. According to Mr McGregor,“we’ve got plenty of interest in it. We’re all over the place at the moment. It’s Singapore, the Philippines, Macau, Korea, Australia, New Zealand.” Mr McGregor points out that USPC is acutely focused on building its presence across the continent. “That’s not to say we want to take any focus away from the US, but Asia is a growth area. It’s a key market in playing cards. It’s the biggest in the world. So USPC Vice President Sales - Asia AdamMcGregor, left, and Technical Customer Service Manager - Asia Austin Ao Getting a Shoe In The Bee-Tek™ Intelligent Electronic Baccarat Shoe provides a door opener to casino markets across the region for The United States Playing Card Company we obviously want to be a big part of that.” USPC President of Global Sales Retail and Casino Michael W. Slaughter argues that in addition to the strengths of the company’s new shoe, there’s a basic business rationale for USPC to increase its share of the Asian casino market. “I think what’s in our favour is every CEO of every business in the world, what keeps them up at night is constant supply chain. And having limited suppliers can inhibit your ability to grow your business, as well as for you to get the best pricing in FEATURES