Las Vegas-based bingo and slot supplier Gaming Arts announced that it has developed a complete range of products to ease the safe reopening of casinos after the industrywide shutdown due to the Covid-19 pandemic ends.
David Colvin, CEO and founder of Gaming Arts, has long been known for his inventions and intellectual property background, spanning almost 45 years. Colvin has worked in numerous industries over the years and has focused those inventive efforts in the gaming space since founding Gaming Arts is 2009.
At Gaming Arts, Colvin along with his son, Eric, are working with an exceptional team of R&D engineers who now collectively are using their skills to focus on how the gaming industry can safely make its way through one of the most challenging moments in its history.
As the Covid-19 pandemic first began to emerge, Colvin and the Gaming Arts R&D group shifted its focus in part to map out the future of safety for gaming machines and equipment in light of the current and future health crises facing the gaming industry. The prime directive is that players and casino staff must be protected from Covid-19 and future viruses.
The gaming world is at a potentially higher risk than most industries as players and casinos are subjected to repeated possible exposure at all levels. Likely contamination suspects include gaming machines, playing cards, dice, chips, cash and the like due to the excessive repeated contact with large numbers of players and staff. These are the areas of important focus to Gaming Arts.
Gaming Arts is in the process of developing a vast array of new products and has filed numerous patent applications directed to the use of UV lighting to disinfect and sanitize gaming machines and gaming equipment along with state-of-the-art slot, bar and table games protective shields. The science behind UV lighting to disinfect, sterilize and decontaminate is well known in the medical field but has never before been applied to gaming equipment.
The list of gaming machines and gaming equipment addressed in these efforts include but are not limited to UV disinfecting and sanitization of gaming machines, card shufflers, bill acceptors, card readers, printers, chip trays, playing card shoes, table games cash drop boxes, dice holding devices, ATMs and more. The goal is to disinfect and sanitize virtually any piece of equipment or object that poses a risk to the gaming public. Gaming Arts is anticipating filing numerous continuation patent applications in the months ahead to cover the many variants it is working on.
Gaming Arts President Mike Dreitzer commented, “Being an industry veteran for several decades, I am very pleased and proud that our team at Gaming Arts led by our CEO Dasvid Colvin could move this fast to be an instrumental part of a solution to a generational problem that our industry faces. This is a difficult and complex situation, and we are grateful to have a role in bringing practical and helpful solutions to our customers worldwide. We look forward to working with the industry to do everything we can to find the best path ahead.”
Importantly, in the case of its UV antiviral disinfecting and sanitization devices, the company has made the decision to work collaboratively with customers as well as other manufacturers who have interest, to make sure that the entire gaming industry and all casinos will have access to these technological advances that protect players and staff alike.
Gaming Arts’ technological advances will play a part in allowing casinos in North America and around the world to return to relatively normal operation without the fear of passing viruses from player to player or player to staff.
“We are grateful and humbled to play a role in this monumental and important effort,” the company said in a press release. “The company looks forward to working with customers and gaming manufacturers alike in the days ahead.”
