Multi-tasking slot machine hardware introduced at last fall’s Global Gaming Expo by JCM Global was the company’s “most important breakthrough in quite some time,” said Tom Nieman, the company’s vice president of marketing, in an interview with GGRAsia at the recent G2E Asia trade show.
The technology, called Fuzion, allows players to buy and redeem lottery tickets, wager on races and sports or daily fantasy sports, perform real-time currency exchanges and streamline tax form processes for slot wins.
“The early response has been very strong,” Nieman told GGRAsia.
“We took the time to talk to customers and understand the challenges they face, and we came up with the idea of turning slot machines into a gaming kiosk that sells multiple things, not just slot machine entertainment, but it could sell sports book, lottery and so on.”
Fuzion combines JCM bill validator technology and any compatible back-end content management system, along with a JCM printer. The screen shows games, as well as menu of options, including the option to buy a lottery ticket or complete any relevant tax form following a win.
Nieman said the technology will allow operators “greater volume on their sports book, without disrupting players from having to physically go there to make a sports bet. This is just one of the examples when we talk to the operators, but the same concept works for lottery ticket sales, in which the casino gets paid a commission for every ticket sold.”
The JCM vice president believes the new device could “be huge” for sports book in the Asian market. “The driver would be the sports book wagering, the ability to do it from the machine,” he said.
The technology also can be used with older slot machines that do not have a video screen.
