The dynamic duo of Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson captured the attention at G2E last week, as each gave electric presentations to more than 1,500 people each day. Wynn kicked it off on the opening day of the show in traditional Wynn style, spinning yarns and anecdotes that enthralled the audience. The Wynn Resorts chairman didn’t endear himself to the major supporters of the show, the gaming manufacturers. He repeated his often-spoken comments that slot machines and table games are all alike.
“It was never the slot machines,” he said. “The machines have no power unto themselves.”
“From Bangor, Maine, to Phoenix, they are an hour and half to a slot machine,” Wynn said. “You’ve got to give people something they’re willing to get on an airplane and submit to a body search for. That ain’t a slot machine.”
Wynn said all gaming devices are alike but if you give them an exciting experience, that makes all the difference.
“It’s about things that give people a chance to live big,” Wynn said. “If you give it to ’em, you’re going to be OK.”
Nonetheless, Wynn bragged about his casinos, starting with the Golden Nugget in Downtown Las Vegas through his current Wynn and Encore, have always established new highs in gaming revenues.
In a post-speech Q&A, Wynn answered a question about internet gambling. Although he said he agrees with Adelson’s objections to iGaming and its impact on children and problem gamblers, he simply doesn’t see it as a good business. He said members of his team said he had to spend $40 million to $50 million or risk getting “left behind.” Wynn actually had planned a New Jersey iGaming casino via a deal with Caesars until Adelson convince him to back off.
The next day, Adelson, interviewed on stage by GGB Publisher Roger Gros, exhibited even more passion when discussing his opposition to iGaming. He described a childhood with a father addicted to gaming and, as a father, losing a son to drug addiction.
“To me, it’s a matter of principle,” he said. “I was raised in a family that suffered from the scourges of uncontrolled gaming. I don’t want people to get abused, because when I look at people like that, I see the faces of my parents.”
He said children as so technologically sophisticated these days that they can get around any attempt to block them from online casinos. As for the contention that it’s already happening and impossible to stop?
“Then why don’t we legalize prostitution?” he exploded. “Why don’t we legalize cocaine, and heroin, since people are ‘doing it already?’ That’s not a good reason, just because they are doing it anyway.”
Enforcement, not regulation, is the only thing that will stop iGaming, according to the Las Vegas Sands chairman and CEO.
And he’d like to see full enforcement, rather than settlements, against companies like PokerStars, who are “essentially lawbreakers” and currently up for a license in New Jersey after being sold to Amaya Gaming.
“It’s the same organization – just different stakeholders,” he said.
The crowd seemed to agree as they applauded at his closing line: “I just don’t see any compelling reason to put an electronic casino in 318 million hands.”
Before the iGaming discussion, Adelson described his success in Macau and Singapore, along with his vision for other parts of Asia. He said he expects the current dip in gross gaming revenues in Macau to reverse itself shortly, and pointed to recent remarks by Chinese leaders that the corruption crackdown is over.
“Everything that I’ve seen happen in the last 13 years when I first was exposed to Macau is cyclical — it comes and goes,” Adelson said. “It’s like gambling: You start off at a baseline, sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down.”
Adelson also responded the speculation the day before at a seminar held at the Meadowlands in northern New Jersey that he may be interested in building an integrated resort there.
“Yes,” he simply said, although he indicated he has not given it much thought.
In other general sessions, two state-of-the-industry panels focused on the views of supplier and operators. The director of UNLV’s International Gaming Institute Bo Bernhard moderated both.
The operators’ panel consisted of MGM Resorts Chairman and CEO Jim Murren and Hard Rock International CEO Jim Allen discussed the state of the U.S. industry. Most notable in the discussion were references to Atlantic City. Allen wanted nothing in AC for his company, where Murren said he would consider building a new complex on 50 acres MGM owns adjacent to the Borgata, which they co-own with Boyd Gaming. Construction would only begin, warned Murren, if the tax rate in Atlantic City were stabilized and regulatory reform continues in New Jersey.
Allen said that his company has the rights to gaming at the Meadowlands, despite Adelson’s interest. He said that any benefit for Atlantic City should be monetized and planned completely. “If you’re going to hand $50 million or $100 million to Atlantic City, “ he said, “you might as well just give it to the homeless.”
Murren also said MGM Resorts, which sponsors fantasy-sports events, could go a step further by investing in fantasy sports leagues.
“It’s obvious what’s happening,” Murren said, noting the growing popularity of fantasy sports. “The more we get this out in the open, the more people understand this is a very healthy, fun way to entertain oneself.”
In addition to expanding its sports betting in casinos, MGM is looking to expand sports betting in states where it’s not currently allowed.
The suppliers’ state-of-the-industry panel on the second day of last week’s G2E featured CEOs of several slot manufacturers who assessed the changing slot-sector landscape.
International Game Technology CEO Patti Hart, Multimedia Games CEO Patrick Ramsey, Amaya Gaming Group CEO David Baazov, Aristocrat Leisure Ltd. CEO Jamie Odell and Novomatic AG CTO Thomas Graf addressed a full range of issues, including the effect of the recent mergers and acquisitions, the changing customer base and the evolution of game styles.
On the mergers, the panel addressed the possible layoffs from synergies as large companies combine by stressing that the health of the industry will ultimately benefit, even if short-term job losses ensue. Odell noted that the recent mergers created $600 million in synergies. “That’s us saying we had $600 million too much in cost,” he said. Added Baazov, “Every industry is cyclical, and we have a fiduciary responsibility… In the long term, it will result in more sustainable jobs.”
The overall outcome for the industry, Baazov said, will be a much healthier business. Hart added that new jobs will ultimately be created to replace jobs that are lost. “Gaming in the U.S. and abroad is a creator of jobs,” she said. “When we prune in one place, we plant in another place.”
On game style, the panelists stressed that the slot-makers are developing new games to attract the millennial generation. “Young adults are more likely to play slots,” said Baazov. “There needs to be a healthy mix, and slots have to be more entertainment-centric.”
Ramsey commented that there is ample room for new game styles without replacing the traditional slots on the floor. “I have yet to put a product in front of Nevada regulators and get rejected,” he said. “Maybe I should push my own team more. Nevada is open to different products.”
As always, the slot manufacturers presented new games, systems and cabinets. The highlights of the show included Bejeweled 3D from GTECH—one of five “True 3D” games they launched with amazing 3D images.
Aristocrat again made its mark as it concentrates on developing big-name game designers, who produced such titles as The Big Bang Theory, based on the TV show, and Ted, based on movie of the same name. Also great from Aristocrat: Game of Thrones, based on the HBO series, and Britney Spears, both on this new “Arc” cabinet, which is two curved 42-inch LCDs and another with an 84-inch display. “The Behemoth” cabinet has one 84-inch monitor. The company also followed up its hit of last year, The Walking Dead, with Sons of Anarchy, another unlikely slot game
IGT debuted two games themed after the afternoon talk show hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The company also added another great skill game in its Reel Edge series, Race Ace, which is 100 percent skill-based bonus has players using a joystick to navigate a car in a race using any button as the accelerator. Also different from IGT was Wheel of Fortune Ultra Wheels, which featured no reels on the screen, just four bonus wheels, and Harley Davidson – The Open Road, with a motorcycle tire/bonus wheel. The company also debuted the S3000, the new generation of its reel-spinners.
Bally Technologies debuted Duck Dynasty, based on the TV show; and Zoltan’s Fortune, recreating an old-timey fortune-telling machine. Dragon Spin, on the Alpha Pro Wave 360 with curved monitors in a 360-degree display featured a dragon traveling around the screen dropping wild symbols and multipliers.
Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter made an appearance at the Bally booth. Carter signed autographs to help Bally celebrate the release of the Wonder Woman video slot, a game on the slot-maker’s Pro Wave cabinet featuring actions scenes and music rom the classic 1970s TV show in which she played the comic-book super hero.
Konami went the video game route by created a warrior hero named Neo Contra, with impressive graphics and game play. Hammer Festival, features a blue-eyed, loincloth clad monkey and a hammer. And the company has developed a video dice game that relies on video-poker like strategy.
Aruze’s Player’s Party is the next generation of their community game shaped like Paradise Fishing with a big common display and shared bonus wheels.
Multimedia Games’ Haunted House After Dark sends players through a haunted house picking object from creepy rooms to reveal bonus awards.
WMS released some great takes on Elvis, where players can pick the “era” for the bonus from Memphis Elvis, Hollywood Elvis or Vegas Elvis, and on Austin Powers, with lots of funny takes from the movies. WMS also presented a very cool Elton John-themed game with giant glasses framing monitors for the bonus rounds.
