Casino floor game changes break free from the cabinet

Online game operators can launch new content almost instantly. Physical casinos, however, depend on hardware replacement cycles that can take years. In a discussion at G3 Pulse, Swiss Casinos CEO Marcel Tobler, ReelLink General Manager Deborah Conte Santoro, and SCCG Management founder and CEO Stephen Crystal examined the commercial, technological and regulatory consequences of a more flexible casino floor.

Crystal recalls entering the industry in the late 1980s, when customers were still feeding coins into slot machines. The adoption of ticket-in, ticket-out technology in American casinos, however, took about 15 years. According to Crystal, this example shows how slowly core innovations reach the casino floor. In his view, this is changing because consumers now want to access content on demand.

Tobler says the problem is not a lack of ideas or technology but the commercial structure of the sector. Online, a new game can be added through a software update. On land, however, steps such as cabinet cost, installation, testing and, in most countries, notification to the regulator are required. When Swiss Casinos brought its online players into physical venues, it ran into a problem. Players liked the atmosphere and the hospitality, but because they could not find their favorite games, they showed little interest in the slots.

This experience led Swiss Casinos to develop ReelLink, a technology that separates game logic from the cabinet. Conte Santoro notes that cloud infrastructure and the online random number generator can be hosted on the provider's servers. Under local regulations in Switzerland, games can be changed daily while the casino is closed. This model also opens the door to themed areas, seasonal events and personalized experiences. Setting aside an area for Halloween or preparing a special environment with the games a VIP guest prefers are among these possibilities.

According to Tobler, the real commercial opportunity is not saving on hardware spending but getting customers to return more often. Each year Swiss Casinos runs a survey asking its online players which information they most want to receive in marketing communications. New games rank first in that survey every time.