Casino Enterprise Management

At Casino Enterprise Management we know technology drives innovation, especially when it comes to the slot floor. This advancement is key to keeping our industry on top of its game. With all the time, energy, and money it takes to develop innovative new products, companies committed to ingenious engineering should be applauded. That’s why we decided to take matters into our own hands, with the first annual CEM Slot Floor Technology Awards.

The CEM Slot Floor Technology Awards highlight ten of the year’s newest slot floor products exhibiting extraordinary advancement in efficiency, profitability, and convenience. From server-based, downloadable gaming to video reel technology to advanced visual analytics, the ten winning products are a testament to the commitment our industry has to providing operators and players the most technically progressive gaming products in the world. 

A select panel of gaming professionals who use and apply gaming technologies daily carefully chose the premier companies who exhibited the most innovative products in all areas of the floor. These fine industry professional are Buddy Frank, director of slot operations at Viejas Casino in Alpine, Calif.; Ralph Margolis, director of slot operations at Mystic Lake Casino and Resort in Prior Lake, Minn.; John-Martin Myer, president of Global Gaming Initiatives; Raymond Swamp, director of slot operations at the Akwesasne Mohawk Casino in Hogansburg, N.Y.; and Chuck Hickey, director of slot operations at Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino in Lakeside, Calif. 

So, here they are, in no particular order, the first annual CEM Slot Technology Awards winners:

WMS—Organic Light Emitting Diode Button Panel
You probably heard about all the excitement WMS’ Organic Light Emitting Diode Button Panel received at G2E, but because it was still in development, you may not have seen it in action. Not only do the bright and vibrant buttons feature advanced graphics and embedded text display capabilities, they also support animations. This technology enables a truly remote-configurable gaming device; when a new game with new betting structures is added, the button configuration can be adjusted as well. Some of the highlights of the product are: USB interface, independent animation on each button, fully downloadable images, 1MB of storage on each button, 128 x 64 resolution, and 16 levels of color. The buttons support dynamic addressing and auto enumeration from the interface controller. The interface controller will also allow downloadable firmware, images, and unloadable firmware to button controllers.

WMS—Transmissive Reels
WMS’ Transmissive Reels was the only submission our judges unanimously voted for. Perhaps that’s because the technology is the first of its kind in the gaming industry—fitting for a company that is truly on the edge of advancement. Transmissive Reels combine a reel-spinning product with a transparent LCD cover. This allows full video to be played over the reels as they spin. The product is first being introduced as a wide-area progressive. Adam Steinberg of Morgan Joseph had this to say about WMS’ Transmissive Reels: “WMS’ Transmissive Reel technology [is] one of the most innovative products we[’ve seen] on the floor and should enable WMS to capture meaningful market share of the mechanical reel market, and provide real competition in what has generally been a moribund segment of the slot market. As usual, the company’s video product [is] a cut above the rest with crisp graphics and sound.” Be sure to look for WMS titles coming to slot floors soon that use this same incredible new technology.

IGT—sb™ Service Window
IGT’s  sb™ Service Window displays player-oriented information on screen, with benefits and services tailored to individual players based upon club tier. Patrons can insert their players’ club card and a list of their favorite games displays. This list dynamically changes as players’ game-play preferences evolve. The biggest innovation this technology offers is eliminating one-size-fits-all player rewards. The flexibility of the sb Service Window allows operators to tailor benefits and services to as many levels and types of players’ club members they desire. Menu options for a variety of player-oriented functions and levels can be tailored to each operator’s needs. For example, operators can offer their highest-tier players access to all the available functions, while mid- and lower-level players receive access to only selected functions. This allows operators to provide excellent service and an enhanced gaming experience to all their customers while encouraging mid-level and lower-level players to move up to the highest level. Even bigger and better innovations will be realized as operators become more comfortable with sb products. The open architecture solution will allow operators to network individual system products to maximize their potential and offer the most customized rewards imaginable.

IGT—Guaranteed Play™ Poker
IGT’s Guaranteed Play™ Poker was another judge favorite. This product, for the first time ever, allows operators to package blocks of game play with other services, such as meals, spa treatments, and hotel rooms, driving business to other areas of the property. This allows players to purchase guaranteed amounts of entertainment at one great price. Using the EZ Pay® Purchase Ticket feature, Guaranteed Play enables the purchase of a discounted block of games rather than a dollar amount. The game screen displays the number of games purchased, the number of games or hands remaining, and the credit balance. Credits can run negative without stopping play and without additional cost to the player. From the operator’s perspective, they can pair Guaranteed Play Poker packages with current promotions to maximum profitability across the property’s entire enterprise. For example, an operator running a tournament over a particular weekend could encourage the use of more property amenities by coupling them with Guaranteed Play Poker packages. The operator could also entice patrons to stay longer by offering free rooms prior to the tournament. This product is truly innovative to firmware, systems, player tacking, ticketing, components, offer management, and marketing.

Compudigm—Gaming Power™ V5
Compudigm’s Gaming Power™ V5 allows slot operators to extract deep and actionable insights from the massive volumes of slots and customer data casinos generate every day to understand patron behavior and preference, and to manage, monitor, and optimize  their slot floors with a speed and precision unmatched by any other application. Gaming Power V5 leverages Compudigm’s seePOWER™ advanced visualization technology, and is one of just a handful of technologies first used in the gaming industry that is now used in other global enterprises, such as retail, telecommunications, electricity networks, and financial services. Gaming Power is the winner of two consecutive Computerworld Smithsonian Laureates. It incorporates numerous unique capabilities, such as proportional frontal slot, back, and area contouring, animations, and real-time and predictive capabilities that are unique in the industry and provide tangible competitive advantages.

Cash Systems Inc.—Powercash™
Cash Systems’ Powercash™ will surely increase the efficiency of casino operations and player satisfaction by decreasing—and potentially eliminating—the need for currency and tickets. It is the first product that allows a player to fund his or her account directly at gaming devices. Powercash is true cashless wagering. Working in conjunction with the casino’s player tracking and accounting system, players can apply their funds to their player account or draw funds from their account to the credit meter on the gaming device. Once Powercash is put into place, casinos will see a decrease in the need for cash in their cages. Bill acceptors will have less currency and fewer tickets, reducing the number of times per week they need to be dropped. Fewer tickets mean fewer issues with fraudulent or damaged tickets. All this translates to more efficient casino operations and lower operating expenses.

Cyberview Technology—Game Development Tool Kit
When Cyberview Technology first introduced server-based downloadable technology to the gaming world, it envisioned a future that provided more freedom and control in the hands of operators and players than the reliance on what is currently available from traditional gaming suppliers. Cyberview’s Gaming Development Took Kit (GDK) will allow developers to work in new ways to create games with Cyberview—or with any of Cyberview’s customers—directly. Large and small gaming venues will have the ability to design games just for their player bases. It presents the tools necessary to develop games targeted to their unique player base and in doing so, offers higher performance. It also opens the door to the boundless creativity of developers in any related field of game entertainment, in any part of the world. By providing a suite of tools and services, the GDK is aimed at simplifying the development of game content and providing more flexibility and speed. In all, the GDK brings rapid programming technology to the gaming industry. At the heart of the GDK is the Gaming Machine Emulator, which gives the programmer true “what you see is what you get” access to the gaming machine screens in both single and dual screen configurations. The GDK also comes with comprehensive documentation with many samples of source code, including a user guide for the Gaming Machine Emulator, a tutorial for developing video reel games, the complete game programming interface, and all the source code to a fully functional video reel game. It also supports the development process with emulations of the services provided by the Cyberview platform. The game development tool kit is available with the GLI approved Cyberview Technology server-based downloadable gaming system. In all, the GDK brings rapid programming technology to the gaming industry.

Gaming Standards Association—Game-to-System (G2S) Protocol
Gaming Standards Association (GSA) developed its Game-to-System (G2S) protocol to standardize and enable secure communications between gaming devices and systems. G2S integrates GSA’s BOB and IGT’s SuperSAS™ protocols. The new protocol features important elements that existed neither in BOB nor in SuperSAS. G2S is the result of years of collaborative work between worldwide gaming manufacturers, suppliers, operators, and regulators. Slot machines will no longer be stand-alone devices. They’ll talk to many different peripherals within the game and outside the game, and they’ll talk to various back-of-the-house systems. Operators will be able to audit games more accurately and efficiently, manage game combinations, and provide more options for customers—all at the speed of a download. G2S is based on proven computer industry standard technologies, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, and XML, which will allow the industry to migrate to downloadable games and other new technology, such as client/server games, and Intranet and Internet environments, while maintaining the games of today well into the future.

Bally Technologies—ALPHA Elite™ Series of Video and Reel-Spinning Slots
The ALPHA Elite Series is a new generation of modular video and reel-spinning slots running on the advanced ALPHA OS. In an industry first, modular video monitors can be swapped out for electromechanical reel-spinners modules. Five distinct cabinet styles offer multiple configurations and easy conversion from reel-spinner to video slot and back again with minimal cost and minimal downtime. Standardized interchangeable parts provide unprecedented flexibility, easy serviceability, and quick manufacturing turnaround. Operators can order multi-denomination/multi-percentage configurations running ALPHA OS and utilizing Bally’s deep library of legendary reel-spinning game titles. The ALPHA Elite S9000C/Classic reel-spinners take players “back to the future” as Bally’s enormous game library is reborn on this advanced configuration. The ALPHA Elite S9000E builds upon the success of Bally’s new S9000 reel-spinning series by featuring from three to seven reels mated to a 20-inch LCD display. The ALPHA Elite V20 and V20/20 products feature either a single or twin 20-inch monitors. The dramatic ALPHA Elite V32 features a stunning 32-inch vertical touch-screen LCD display.

JCM American—Intelligent Cash Box™
The Intelligent Cash Box™ (ICB) by JCM American is an innovative accounting product that not only tracks assets and revenue right from the start, but also automates your cash boxes and standardizes revenue drop and soft count functions across the gaming floor. The product also significantly improves the soft count room’s efficiency and speed by reducing support labor and providing better data tracking. The ICB is a system, not just a cash box, which dramatically improves casinos’ accounting operations by automating accounting processes and eliminating human errors. Its flexible system can easily adapt to any soft count room’s guidelines. The ICB speeds up the time it takes to get data from the soft count room to accounting, generally by 50 percent. It also eliminates human error by automating critical manual steps in the count process and providing a triple check for accuracy. Using this product will ensure you spend less time fixing errors and more time increasing your profitability.

CEM thanks everyone for their interest and participation in the first annual CEM Slot Floor Technology Awards. All the submissions were truly remarkable—we would have liked to feature all the products, but then it wouldn’t be a competition, would it? Also, thank you to our honorable judges, who spent days and nights pouring over the many submissions and had the difficult task of selecting only ten products. And lastly, congratulations to our winners: We applaud your groundbreaking efforts to keep this industry always evolving and exciting. Kudos!

You can reach Krista Reiner by email at editor1@aceme.org.