The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement has approved the first skill-based slot games to enter the casino market on the Video Game Gambling Machine (VGM) produced by New York-based startup manufacturer GameCo, Inc. The VGM will make its debut at Caesars Entertainment’s Atlantic City properties, which include Caesars, Harrah’s Resort and Bally’s Wild Wild West.
GameCo’s VGM is an arcade-style video game cabinet and controller. Each VGM features a single-player game, generally 45-90 seconds to play, adapted from top console, PC and mobile developers. The patented VGM gambling platform allows a player’s skill in popular video games to determine the payout and winnings, while maintaining the same casino economics as slot machines.
Game genres such as action, adventure, sports, racing, fighting, platform and casual games are designed to appeal to millennial, Gen-X and younger baby boomers who grew up playing video games.
“We are thrilled to be the market leader in a global industry effort to attract the next generation of players to the casino floor,” said Blaine Graboyes, CEO and co-founder of GameCo. “With this approval from the DGE, the VGM is officially the first skill-based video-game gambling product approved by any U.S. gaming jurisdiction regulator.”
The VGM’s premier game, titled Danger Arena, is a first-person shooter video game in which player skill determines the payout by using the controller to shoot at “bots,” or robots. The more bots killed, the higher the payout. Caesars Entertainment will feature 21 gaming positions in high-traffic, prominent locations in all three properties, with three triple-unit carousels at Caesars, two at Harrah’s Resort, and two at Bally’s Wild Wild West. The VGM’s launch will be celebrated with both consumer and media events planned for November.
“The New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement was excited to have the opportunity to review and approve this game through our New Jersey First program,” said DGE Director David Rebuck. “We have been at the forefront of encouraging innovation, and are pleased that the efforts of GameCo and division staff have culminated in this skill-based video game becoming available in Atlantic City before any other jurisdiction in the United States.”
GameCo committed to New Jersey as the first market to launch its VGM, and plans to be in a number of additional gaming jurisdictions within the next six months.
Nevada Gaming Control Board Chairman A.G. Burnett, meanwhile, says is agency won’t be left behind, and rejects the idea that they’re “jumping on the bandwagon.”
“We created the bandwagon,” he told the Las Vegas Review Journal. “We actually started creating (regulations for hybrid and skill-based games) back in 2005 when we started loosening up a lot of requirements to add elements of skill. If I recall correctly, New Jersey enacted temporary regs essentially mirroring what we’ve already done here in Nevada.”
