Global Gaming Expo (G2E) is always the climax of the year for gaming vendors and operators who want to stay on the cutting edge of the industry. In the past few years, broader coverage of iGaming, social gaming and compliance and regulatory issues have made it an important touchstone for the industry.
But nothing topped G2E 2015 when it comes to pinpointing a changing industry is such a dynamic way. The keynote presentations, conference program, and special events created an atmosphere of excitement and expectation. Millennials, skill games, daily fantasy sports and eSports dominated the discussions. And of course, the exhibit floor displayed the latest and greatest products and services bound to find their way into casinos worldwide.
But on Monday, the day before the exhibit floor opened, conference sessions kicked off with an intensive program that featured a unique collaboration between the National Indian Gaming Association and the American Gaming Association.
“Indian Country has traveled a long way to get to where we are today,” said NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens. “We are proud of our role in Indian gaming and our strong presence in the market. NIGA and the AGA have collaborated to bring you an enhanced Global Gaming Expo 2015. We look forward to discussing the political fronts we continue to monitor at the national level with the top speakers, regulators, professionals and tribal leaders providing an invaluable opportunity to learn from one another.”
Also on Monday, the fifth edition of G2E’s iGaming Congress featured a collection of sessions with expert speakers addressing the state of the iGaming industry today.
G2E Keynote Features Famed Card Counter
On Tuesday, the main conference program debuted with famous card counter Jeffrey Ma, head of the team of MIT students who used math to bring down blackjack games across Las Vegas from 1994 to 2001 and inspired the book Bringing Down the House and the movie 21, delivering the keynote address to open G2E.
In a funny and engaging address, Ma used his experience as a card counter to demonstrate how data and analytics, which gave his famous team an edge over the casinos, can apply to the operation of a casino.
Since the successful book and movie, Ma has become a sought-after expert in the application of data and analytics, as well as founding four companies that were acquired by major corporations. After regaling the audience with his stories of the MIT team and of the making of the book and move, Ma told the audience that card counting illustrates how it is always better to “go with data rather than your gut.”
“The idea of losing scares us,” Ma said. “But if you study the data and history, it gives you a little bit of an edge.”
Caesars CEO Takes Aim at Slot-Makers
On Wednesday, in his first G2E appearance as CEO of Caesars Entertainment Corporation, Mark Frissora used the G2E CEO panel to urge manufacturers to accelerate work on creating skill-based slots and other innovations that will appeal to the millennial generation. Some manufacturers were offended that Frissora, new to the industry, would make an “offensive” remark at the event where they debut their latest innovations and creations.
Frissora said he is “shocked” at the lack of innovation from the slot-makers with respect to the millennials, rejecting one popular view that the younger players will evolve into traditional slot players as they grow older. “Are you kidding me? I know my kids,” he said in predicting that millennials will never sit down to play traditional slots.
“These games need to change,” he said. “The time is now.”
Frissora said games need to “break through the clutter” of mobile and social-network input millennials constantly receive through their smart phones. He said getting the millennials on board with new styles of games represents “a huge opportunity to make the pie bigger,” bringing new players into the casinos.
Frissora was joined on the panel by Rush Street Gaming CEO Greg Carlin and Scientific Games CEO Gavin Isaacs.
Carlin noted that millennials, while having risen to 13 percent of total casino customers, still represent only 2 percent of slot revenue. However, they represent 17 percent of table-game players and 10 percent of that revenue. He said the slot floor needs to be reconfigured to take advantage of this desire for social interaction.
Among Carlin’s suggestions was to make sure wifi is available and strong throughout the property, and eliminate the restriction on smart phones at gaming tables. He also envisioned sections of the casino specifically designed for millennials, with a big table-game pit, DJs and lots of noise, offering a popular bar at O’Shea’s on the Strip as an example—Frissora noted that bar has beer pong, and it is always packed.
Isaacs said the slot manufacturers’ responsibility should be to constantly monitor the specific needs and likes of millennials to create games that appeal to them now, and others that will appeal to them as they age.
Cirque, Simpsons, Pinball Lead Slots
But of course, the star of the show at G2E is always the exhibit floor. Major slot manufacturers saved some of their biggest game reveals for the week of G2E, with announcements of several new licensed slot themes made at or just before the big show.
Scientific Games Corporation used the show to announce a new partnership with legendary Canadian show troupe Cirque du Soleil. The first game to come out of the partnership, KOOZA, is based on the troupe’s touring show. According to game designer Jason Stage, it was decided to recreate that show in the first game because people around the country are familiar with the touring show, as opposed to the many shows that are staged only in Las Vegas.
Stage also says the touring company’s main character, the Jester, is a version of the Joker in the card-playing world. Stage’s team filmed original footage of the show’s star specifically for the slot machine. That footage is intermingled with footage of the Cirque touring show to create bonuses for the game.
Another theme revealed for the first time at G2E by Scientific Games is The Simpsons, a hilarious video slot based on the longest-running animated series in history. Clips from close to three decades of The Simpsons are woven into bonus rounds, highlighted by a new game mechanic called “Leap Motion” technology.
The cabinet features a technology allowing players to wave their hand in front of a sensor and have the motions transformed to Homer Simpson’s hand on the animation—the player catches sprinkles from an animated donut as Homer, in real time, to accumulate credits. Other bonus events use the technique to let you scratch a lottery-style ticket.
Scientific Games also showed its newest Playboy-themed slot, in partnership with music star Pitbull, called Playboy Don’t Stop the Party. The slot, on the Alpha 2 Pro Theater cabinet, joins a Playboy-themed table game, Tablemaster Fusion Playboy Bonus Blackjack.
Scientific Games was one of several manufacturers dabbling with skill games, with Space Invaders Evolution, featuring a bonus replicating the classic arcade shooting game, with the player picking between a chance-based bonus and the skill-based arcade version.
IGT made the other major skill-game showing among the top slot manufacturers with Texas Tea Pinball, replicating one of the slot-maker’s biggest video-slot hits of the 1990s and early 2000s in a game with a bonus that transforms the slot into a working pinball machine, with several launching balls (instead of steel pinballs, they are rolled-up armadillos) and flippers worked via the spin button or a touch-screen panel.
The hybrid skill game reviving a major IGT proprietary brand was accompanied by major branded themes such as TMZ, a funny game based on the TMZ celebrity-gossip tabloid TV show. A “Photo Booth” feature has the player sit still for a headshot photo, and in all subsequent bonus rounds, the player is one of the TMZ news crew (hosted through voice-over by the show’s producer and star Harvey Levin)—which bounces around in funny cut-out animation around Hollywood on a bus searching out celebrities.
Other IGT branded standouts included new versions of longstanding licensed themes including Ghostbusters: Slimers Gone Wild and a new version of I Dream of Jeannie. The latter uses IGT’s four-screen multi-play format and a wheel that is formed from the bottom of the famous bottle from the I Dream of Jeannie TV series.
Aristocrat also chimed in with major licensed-game launches, headed by a funny video slot based on the beloved 1983 holiday film A Christmas Story. Bonus rounds put the player in the place of 9-year-old Ralphie Parker, in the famous scene where he is faced down by a scary department-store Santa at the legendary Higbee’s in Cleveland (which is now, coincidentally, Horseshoe Cleveland). The bonus ends when you are pushed down the colorful slide by Santa.
In other releases, Aristocrat took full advantage of the new Arc Double cabinet, the giant curved-monitor setup that uses two stacked 42-inch LCDs to provide an imposing setup for the player. (The launch game for the platform, Britney Spears, is currently doing big numbers in the field.)
At the show, Aristocrat launched its new Game of Thrones slot on the Arc Double. The game features three sets of reels—each representing one of the warring medieval royal families that duel on the popular HBO fantasy series. Battle scenes are woven into expanding wild-reel features, with lighting shooting across the entire vertical display to great effect.
Another new series launched on the Arc Double is based on Downton Abbey, the British TV series based on an aristocratic British family in the early 20th century. The double Arc monitor is here used to replicate the entire manor from the perspective of the domestic staff in a clever sequence.
Major title sequels on the Arc Double include Walking Dead: Season 3—with a creepy sequence of zombies climbing over the reels at the player—and Buffalo Grand, which super-sizes Aristocrat’s top title.
Konami Gaming launched its new Concerto cabinet with Wheel of the Imperial Eggs, a game featuring beautiful artwork under three stand-alone progressive levels. Also on the Concerto is Lamp of Destiny, on the new KP3+ platform. Players pick from exotic lamps to determine free games and multipliers.
Konami also featured a new game on its innovative Rapid Revolver cabinet. In Lucky Sticks, free games and multipliers are set up by a classic Asian stick game that determines how many spots on the progressive drum display are active.
Everi, in its first G2E display as a combined company since the acquisition of Multimedia Games by the former Global Cash Access, featured great new proprietary titles such as Her Majesty, a hilarious take on the Elizabethan British royal family, and Inca Goddess, on the new MPX Premium platform, featuring bonus reel sets in the form of a pyramid.
Everi’s main event at the show was the fourth annual TournEvent of Champions, a national contest on Everi’s TournEvent tournament system with 180 participating finalists from 100 casinos across the U.S., plus three in Peru. Each finalist qualified through a satellite event, and all finalists are given an all-expense-paid trip to Las Vegas for two for the finals, in addition to $500 spending money and at least a $500 prize in the tournament itself.
The winner of the $1.3 million tournament, Rita Kellerman from the Ho-Chunk Gaming-Wisconsin Dells casino, took home $1 million.
There also was a charity version of the tournament, TournEvent for Charity, on the G2E show floor. Participants included celebrities such as Carrot Top and Robin Leach and a variety of media participants. Each participant won $1,000 for a charity of his or her choice, and the winner—Indian Gaming Publisher Steve Burke—donated $10,000 to the National Indian Gaming Association’s Spirit of Sovereignty charity.
Everi matched all prizes with its own donation, totaling $40,000, to the Save A Warrior foundation, which aids U.S. military veterans struggling with PTSD.
Other standouts from slot suppliers included Player’s Battle from Aruze, a two-player game with a competitive bonus based on the format of the company’s hit Player’s Battle. Another Aruze feature was Virtual Roulette, which uses holographic projection technology to replicate the spinning of a ball on a physical roulette wheel—with an added progressive bonus round for a side bet.
Other G2E slot highlights include Dragon Fortune and Cinderella from Ainsworth, White Buffalo Dreamcatcher from AGS, Hauntsworth House and Big Prize Bubblegum from Incredible Technologies, and a groundbreaking new slot product from Casino Technology and Alto Gaming called Hot Rod.
Hot Rod is an actual replica of a hot-rod car, with a slot machine built in at eye level. In a remarkable display of technology, the game includes a projection system that creates an attract mode showing the car in motion as players pass in front. It was one of the hits of the show.
Speaking of groundbreaking technology, Spin Games showed a new product called “Veriti,” a virtual reality system that takes slot games to a whole new level. Veriti is centered around a pair of goggles that takes the user into a virtual-reality world—a 45-by-45-foot, 3D room.
The nature of that space ultimately will depend on the slot theme in play. There are 45 digital social games loaded into the device. The initial room is essentially a dimensional theater, but eventually, it can be inside a pyramid, in the French Quarter or wherever else the game takes it.
There were innovations on the electronic bingo side from multi-national supplier Ortiz Gaming. Ortiz Gaming debuted its expanded product line, including new game types, cabinets, systems and a variety of options for any gaming platform.
Ortiz Gaming’s interactive division, Ortiz Interactive, was a featured sponsor of the iGaming sessions which kicked off the G2E events Monday.
DEQ Showcases Progressives
DEQ Systems Corporation, a leading supplier of table game systems and table-game side bets, showcased its PRSM Progressive System at G2E.
The PRSM Progressive System is an enhanced progressive platform that provides extensive progressive options for table games. It is designed to significantly drive drop with unique multi-level, random jackpot and wagering options while enhancing the experience of live table game players.
In the Proprietary Tables games segment, DEQ featured What’s Wild Poker and re-release Player’s Choice 21 innovative poker derivative games positioned to compete with current industry-leading products.
DEQ also highlighted its Poker Room Bonus system, a flexible progressive jackpot system designed specifically for poker rooms, allowing operators to define the jackpot prize structure.
“Over the last year, DEQ has continued to grow its business into new markets,” said Joe Bertolone, president and chief executive officer of DEQ. “We are proud to showcase these new products and solutions that bring a diverse and exciting player experience. We have reached unprecedented milestones with EZ Baccarat installations, and are focused on our table systems product pipeline with equal intensity. As we move into 2016, we will continue to diversify our product lines and use our strengths to help our global customers make money.”
G2E Daily Fantasy Sports
At a general session on Tuesday, Jason Robins, CEO of the daily fantasy sports site DraftKings, was forced to defend the DFS industry at the Global Gaming Expo, pointing to statistics that say DFS players do not regularly bet on sports in the traditional way.
Robins said less than 15 percent of the site’s customers report that they bet on sporting events. He said that fantasy sports—where players pick fantasy teams of pro players and gain points for the statistic those players put up—is attracting a new kind of player over conventional sports betting.
“It’s quite a different experience, and it attracts quite a different customer,” he said.
Robins was speaking at a well-attended panel discussion focusing on daily fantasy sports.
Robins said the majority of the site’s players are men between 21 and 35.
“They do their homework,” Robins said according to the Las Vegas Review Journal. “It’s like the stock market. They enjoy looking at something and trying to figure out something that someone else doesn’t see.”
Robins also compared DFS to chess, saying players win by studying the game.
Robins was joined on the panel by Jeff Burge, a top executive with sports wagering company CG Technology, and Chris Sheffield, managing director and senior vice president of interactive for Penn National Gaming.
The two panelists focused more about daily fantasy sports growth and possibilities for traditional casinos. Sheffield said fantasy sports could be a “stepping stone” to more conventional sports betting.
Burge said the two industries should be able to coexist without cannibalizing one another.
“By all of our estimates, there’s plenty of market to go around,” he said.
Still, discussion at the expo showed that for many casino operators, the uncertainties about DFS are making the industry cautious about diving into the game.
Geoff Freeman—president of the American Gaming Association which is currently studying DFS—said at a news conference that daily fantasy is in “a gray area” in the eyes of many gaming regulators. He said it is the association’s job to clarify that, especially as it relates to the association’s efforts to legalize sports betting nationwide.
States such as Massachusetts, California and Nevada are currently also studying the legality of DFS sites and New Jersey Congressman Frank Pallone has called for a Congressional hearing in the matter. Fantasy sports were exempted form a federal ban on online wagering as a “game of skill.” But that was before the rise of daily fantasy sports, which has caused an explosion of growth in the industry.
Hall of Fame
The 2015 class inducted into the AGA Gaming Hall of Fame included several diverse new members: Victor Salerno of William Hill US, Lynn Valbuena of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians and Navegante Group founder Larry J. Woolf.
In a ceremony at MGM Grand’s The Mansion, the three candidates were lauded by AGA and MGM Resorts Chairman James Murren, and AGA President and CEO Geoff Freeman.
“Victor, Lynn and Larry are pioneers in the gaming industry and worthy of induction into a very special fraternity,” said American Gaming Association CEO Geoff Freeman. “Victor has been on the cutting edge of the sports gaming industry for decades, Lynn has been a staunch advocate for tribal rights and Larry’s business acumen has been the driving force for the success of several renowned properties.”
Salerno is the first bookmaker to enter into the Hall of Fame. Valbuena is only the second Native American, following NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens at last year’s ceremony. And Woolf helped to build the hotel where the ceremony was held, when he was the president of MGM back in the 1990s.
Millennial Moment
The younger audience was a big focus at G2E. Adults born between 1980 and 2000 are adept at video gaming, computers, and other forms of technology, which makes it a challenge for casinos to attract them with traditional gaming options.
While older adults enjoy the simplicity of simple slot machines that require no skill, Gamblit Gaming CMO Darion Lowenstein says young adults are more adept at problem-solving gaming platforms from their many years of exposure to video and computer games and generally enjoy more action from their games.
Younger adults want games that remind them of the video games they grew up with, which sets their gaming interests very far apart from older adults, Lowenstein said.
Changing tastes in gaming between millennials and older adults requires casinos to reconsider how it goes about marketing itself to younger adults and determine the best ways to keep make gaming fun for them and keep them interested in coming back and playing more.
Younger gamblers enjoy skill-based games, social interaction, and lots of action from their gaming experience, and casinos will need to focus on how to deliver that gaming experience as Millennials continue growing in importance for the gaming industry.
Casinos Entertainment Awards
In the third annual Casino Entertainment Awards at G2E, big names too center stage.
The magic duo Penn & Teller won top honors as “Casino Entertainers of the Year.” The act has a permanent showroom at the Rio and is noted for many different television programs.
Little River Band was named musical artist of the year and Ron White won comedian of the year at the awards ceremony held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.
Charo presented Jerry Lewis with the Casino Entertainment Legend award. The iconic comedian first performed in Vegas showrooms in the early 1950s.
H. C. Rowe, executive director of the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, also received a Casino Entertainment Legend award, which recognizes lifetime achievement in the casino entertainment industry.
The Showroom at Turning Stone Resort Casino was named showroom of the year. AVA Amphitheater at Casino del Sol won amphitheater of the year.
Other winners included: Bob Rech, director of entertainment at Potawatomi Bingo & Casino, named casino entertainment executive of the year; Terrye Seigel, president of Terrye Seigel Productions, named independent talent buyer of the year; and Seth Shomes, vice president and head of the casino division at United Talent Agency, named casino booking agent of the year.
Presented by G2E and the American Gaming Association (AGA), the Casino Entertainment Awards, are the only awards exclusively honoring outstanding artists, executives and venues in the casino entertainment industry.
Smoke Free Protest
All was not sweetness and light at G2E, however. Table games dealers in Las Vegas picketed the show to demand Nevada casinos become smoke-free.
They say it’s a health issue and want the few remaining smokers to keep their smoke outside the casinos so the dealers can breathe clean air while working.
Some casinos and sports books already have gone smoke-free, but others are reluctant out of fear of losing business to casinos that allow smoking at gaming tables.
“If the state goes nonsmoking, there’s no competition,” Transport Workers Union Local 721 President Cynthia Falls told the Las Vegas Sun. “More than that, we deserve better. Why are we the last bastion for smokers?”
The local represents the picketing table-games dealers and organized the protest.
