G2E 2008 Las Vegas Recap

LAS VEGAS, NV USA

Las Vegas, NV, USA– The 2008 Global Gaming Exposition (G2E) was held Nov 17-20 at the Las Vegas Convention Center with over 300,000 sq feet of displays, many education tracks and 700+ exhibiting companies showcasing the newest games, technology, trends and developments that will drive the future of gaming. I believe attendance was down from last year (it was not as ‘shoulder to shoulder’ on the convention floor) but will have to wait for the final numbers. Needless to say, if you didn’t attend, you would spend a year of research and work to learn everything that was all in one place here at the show- there truly is value in having the hands on experience and ability to meet with SMEs.

There were a couple of key themes that I observed at this year’s show:

·         Economic environment

·         Gaming Technology

·         Data Warehousing and analytics

Economic Environment

Leading executives from the international gaming entertainment industry provided their insights into the current economic environment using such terms as ‘game changer’ and ‘nothing but brutal’. I would propose that in order to navigate the current challenges that organizations need to ensure business innovation is occurring through choiceful strategies, enabling structures (especially IT!), consistent and reliable systems, stretch goals and an organizational culture and leadership that truly values and believes in these items. Doing so will enable organizations to maximize the ROI on the truly strategic project portfolio and leverage these foundations as a springboard for success.

Gaming Technology

I toured the booths of several manufacturers, including IGT, WMS, Shuffle Master, Progressive Gaming, Aristocrat and Bally Technologies(*1) and met separately with some of their management. There were some interesting game themes and innovations, but I had higher expectations for what would be shown around server-based gaming in light of several large Las Vegas properties having recently come online or scheduled to open within the next 18 months. Some of the server-based tools were innovative and, effectively utilized, could enhance the experience for the casino patron. In particular, IGT’s service window & Bally’s iView showed more features than last year and adds some revenue enhancement opportunities- I continue to advocate that with the correct analytics and personalized content these tools will generate revenue enhancements, cost savings and property brand & amenity awareness. Of interest as well is the move from traditional mechanical reel slot games to LCD electronic reel slot games – the LCD displays emulate the look, sound and feel of the mechanicals even down to the reel curvature!

Lots of time and floor space spent on e-tables. Shuffle Master had the largest demonstration; with all e-table providers substantially improving their offerings over those displayed last year. Forecasting this out a few (several?) years, with the Gen X & Y demographic mentioned in previous blog entries, you can see some exciting convergence possibilities with gaming console game concepts if a way to gain regulatory approval could be figured out. Additionally, while I’ve been a vocal advocate lately for the live, interactive table games experience, in my view, the roulette experience is clearly enhanced by the electronic version and is able to maintain the live interactivity and excitement, with labor concerns being the only pushback I can see for conversion but in keeping with the other show theme of surviving in lean economic times this area will continue to rapidly develop.

 

Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence

Almost everywhere I looked gaming systems and application providers were highlighting their data warehouse and business intelligence offerings. IGT, Bally’s and WMS showed their slot floor interfaces that will give a floor manager real-time information on machine and customer play- most of these capabilities arriving from somewhat recent acquisitions. Agilysys, Microsoft, Infor, Micros showed their ability to provide various reports and insights through the offloading of transactional data into their backend data warehouses. I suspect it will be an interesting discussion and blog entry on the merits of having point solution specific data warehouses vs. a dedicated, holistic solution such as a MicroStrategy and TeraData (both of which were also at the show demonstrating their integrated approach).

 

 (*1) Full disclosure, as of this blog posting I have authored and issued a RFP on behalf of a client that is currently pursuing the purchase of such systems and  as a vendor agnostic consultancy the highlights and observations made are just that, and not an actual endorsement or referral.