When discussing game selection for a casino, you might think about commenting on a particular game theme that has gained customer popularity and is easily recognizable by title or theme. But let’s take a look at another game type that continues to grow year after year and that is a virtual blur when discussed: The limited-to-no actual theme recognition. As you might have already guessed, it is the multi-game! Multi-game devices have been around for over 10 years but have gained little attention, mainly due to the complexity of the devices.
That complexity we are about to address, and why these games have not grown as fast as the primary leader in denomination growth (the penny denomination), is based on the capability of current slot tracking systems to report individual popularity and revenue for each denomination and game offered for public play.
We’ve addressed the need to accurately analyze each denomination in previous articles in this Game Selection Criteria series, but the multi-game and multi-denomination platform presents it own set of complex metering metrics. As an example as to how complex the process might get, take into account that the average multi-game device displays 12 games offered for play. Within these 12 games, each may offer up to eight denominations, with individual hold percentages assigned to each denomination. When you multiply the 12 games offered for play by the eight denominations assigned to each game, the device represents 96 different devices rolled up into one, which reports one coin-in, win and weighted hold percent.
What used to be a simple spreadsheet with each machine identified by a common denomination and hold percentage has evolved into a highly sophisticated series of spreadsheets that drill down into each gaming device, rooting out hidden numbers that represent popularity and revenue opportunities.
I bring up this point in our discussion on selecting the right mix of games and denominations for your casino floor so that we don’t over look the responsibility required for the care of this hybrid version of an electronic gaming device once it is purchased for your gaming floor. And, yes, I did say “care”! With all of the capabilities this device offers a slot director (in being able to change game types with no conversion cost through a simple selection of a game library), without careful analysis and planning, the game is capable of under-achieving when denominations and game types are not carefully paired.
The pairing of denominations to game types is a critical function within the programming of the game library. An example of a poor pairing decision would be to allow penny play on a standard four-coin wager Keno game. The reasons for this are that the maximum bet was never engineered for a wager high enough to support penny play, and a customer could easily wager one penny at a time with no desire to increase the wager, as there is no offering of bonus pays based on increased wagering. This is a simple example of improper pairing that reduces the earning potential of a device destined to support server-based gaming in the not-so-distant future.
For the difficult task of game selection in the multi-game platform, it’s best to take a logical approach to define which denominations and hold percentages are equivalent to a standalone device of the same model on the casino floor. For example, if you have a popular video Poker paytable in a standalone cabinet that generates above house average in a quarter-only denomination, you should include that same paytable in the multi-game library — but only allow quarter play and do not include the other denominations. Just because the other denominations exist doesn’t mean you have to make them available.
With so many options, over-saturating game types in a multi-game platform is easy to do, making the average slot department unable to monitor the daily affect certain games have on the performance of the multi-game devices.
The original concept of the multi-game platform did not include multi-denomination, only multi-games, allowing customers to select their game of choice. This type of new gaming platform supported casinos’ attempts to provide a blend of all games for their customers so they didn’t have to move from one machine to another.
Multi-denomination soon followed, allowing casinos to support the changing habits of customer wagering. What once may have been a dollar market changed to a quarter and nickel market without costly conversions. Though these offerings from the various manufacturers supported reduced cost of conversions, complications in game and revenue reviews surfaced, with operators unable to easily identify under-utilized games within multi-game devices.
With the introduction of multi-denomination came the need to recognize penny players, as these games reduced all meter counts down to pennies, instead of the actual denomination played by the customers. Dollar players were no longer recognized in the player tracking system for their dollar activity, as all meters on a multi-denomination machine were forced to increment as pennies. So began the great penny boom that continues to grow faster than any other denomination, due mainly to the fact that most games today have some multi-denomination feature added to them that reduces the meter count to pennies, giving the illusion of increased penny play.
Multi-games can provide a casino with the variety it needs at various times and can allow patrons to sit next to or near each other while playing the same or different games, which standalone games are restricted from providing. Multi-denomination devices also support a mass-marketing campaign tailored to all gaming wallet levels, allowing longer time on device and the capability to reduce the average wager when payouts are not as plentiful, but also motivating a gambler to increase his or her wager up to the next denomination when the machine is in a pay cycle.
Before over-saturating your casino withmulti-game/multi-denomination products, make sure your statistical infrastructure is situated in such a manner that analysis is available to report on the individual games in your multi-game devices. Limit the variety of games and denominations to a level you are comfortable analyzing. This will assist in supporting the growth of this product and increase your overall revenue through concentrated reviews in over-saturation or loss of popularity.
At the end of the day, and in the not too distant future, server-based gaming should take the sting out of this analysis, with comprehensive reporting tools designed to alleviate the burden of manually analyzing the various games’ performances in multi-game/multi-denomination/multi-confusing devices.
Rich Lehman is VP of Development for the Las Vegas-based Navegante Group. A 26-year gaming veteran, he has served as VP of Slots, VP of Casino Operations and General Manager.
Comments
Post new comment