The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), that country’s gaming regulator, has announced a plan to complete the conversion of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) in the market to comply with new technical requirements.
Among the Technical Standards for EGMs 1.1 is a requirement that slot machines be spill-resistant to safeguard the integrity of the machines and the information stored inside. They also include a requirement that any win in any game element or sequence of game elements be completed.
Raymond Luna, senior manager of the Slot Department at PAGCOR, said the new standards “demand revised technical standards to ensure that EGMs remain fair, secure and technologically compliant.
“PAGCOR is committed to aligning its regulations with global best practices … and seeks to remain competitive in the gaming business by updating technical standards in line with global industry trends, which aims to attracts worldwide investment and promotes innovation.”
Inside Asian Gaming reports that non-compliant slot machines now on gaming floors in the market will not have to be removed or updated in accordance with the new standards. Though approval applications for non-compliant machines will no longer be accepted after December 30, the machines can still be sold through June 2024. Starting on July 1, 2024, only fully compliant machines may be sold in the Philippines.
Ken Jolly, vice president and managing director for Light & Wonder in Asia told IAG the new requirements are “fairly straightforward in terms of what we’re seeing now in markets around the world. (Version) 2.0 (in Macau) was a bit of a shift with changes to the clocks on the screen and making those clocks flash—that was a challenge—but the Philippine standards are fairly similar to that, minus the clock.”
Michael Cheers, sales director for IGT Asia, added, “We’ve got to go and regress our tests and rewrite some of the software for our popular games. If I want to ship more of that game, it’s going to have to be 1.1, or 2.0 in Macau or whatever. … But the reality is that regulators making these changes does drive redundancy. There is forced redundancy in the market, so we get the benefit of some replacement and additional units or some upgrade charges.
“It’s just a fact of life for a slots supplier,” he continued, “and as long as they don’t take the fun out of the games and the objective of the changes is to meet broader social requirements such as player fairness or messaging, then I think it’s just the way we roll, and we have to deal with it.”
