Issue link: http://osercommunicationsgroup.uberflip.com/i/484387
G a m i n g N e w s 2 3 T h u r s d a y, A p r i l 2 , 2 0 1 5 of gaming meetings, it appears there are at least three primary causes for the decline in revenues: saturation of the market, casino expansion/regional competition, and the uneven recovery from the global economic crisis. Also troubling is the large supply of casinos, but a stagnant pool of players. Many concepts have been floated in an attempt to appeal to the younger, Millennial generation, including redesigning the gaming floor to be multi-level and creating new, interac- tive games. What is rarely, if ever, brought up is going smokefree. There is the perception that every- one who gambles smokes, that co-mor- bidities of "risky" behaviors go togeth- er and that the casino is the sanctioned environment in which to engage in these behaviors. I have even heard that smokers are better customers because they sit and play longer. (However, none of these 'length of play' surveys have been conducted in a smokefree casino.) This may have been the case 10 to 20 years ago, but times have changed and currently 82 percent of the U.S. population does not smoke. Doing what has always worked doesn't seem to be working for the industry very well today, and if it fails to recognize the growing trend toward a healthier, nonsmoking population, it will contin- ue to lose. Atlantic City (AC), and the Revel in particular, are good examples of how competition and saturation have nega- tively affected the industry. The Revel opened up as a high-end "lifestyle resort with a casino" that was completely American Nonsmokers (Cont'd. from p. 1) smokefree, and it failed. Many like to attribute the failure to it being smoke- free, but the truth is that many other fac- tors caused the Revel to fail. Even before Revel broke ground, growing competi- tion, the economy and financial issues threatened its success. Revel added smoking back onto the gaming floor, but it wasn't enough to save the troubled property. Keeping smoking in AC casinos did not save other venues that recently went bankrupt and closed. Regional competi- tion from Pennsylvania, Delaware, New York, and Maryland had an enormous impact on the plight of AC casinos. Only Pennsylvania allows smoking; the other three AC competitors are smoke- free. There are now more than 500 smokefree casinos and gambling ven- ues across the U.S. and in a growing number of sovereign tribes. If smoking is allowed inside a casino, the health of employees and patrons are at risk. Secondhand smoke is a leading pre- ventable cause of heart disease, cancer, respiratory illnesses and death. Ventilation systems may improve odor but do not address the serious health risks caused by secondhand smoke exposure. The only way to protect employee and patron health is to pro- vide a 100 percent smokefree environ- ment. Change is the only constant in the gaming industry. Casinos need to inno- vate and evolve to remain competitive and to attract new, younger players and guests who, more often than not, do not smoke. For more information, visit booth #336 or www.smokefreecasinos.org. the level of performance of Class 2 games and further erasing the distinction between Class 2 and Class 3 games on the casino floor. Most significant among these new features are Parlay Bets and Mystery Progressives. Eclipse Gaming's Parlay Bet feature allows a player, especially a high roller, to push their winnings on a series of 2x or 4x even-money gambles at the end of a game. A player has the opportunity, at the play- er's option, to raise their winnings by 2 to 16 times if they are successful at winning the Parlay Bets. Eclipse's Parlay Bet fea- ture is highly configurable so that it may be managed within the casino's floor parameters. "The Parlay Bet, especially in high roller areas, gives the slot manager anoth- er tool to further engage the player with more opportunities to win while increas- ing their profits on the floor," said Jack Saltiel, CEO of Eclipse Gaming. Parlay Bets may be enabled on a significant por- tion of the company's Class 2 library with the feature being added to rest of the library in the coming months. Mystery Progressives have also come to the entire Eclipse Gaming's library of Class 2 games. As in a traditional Class 3 Mystery Progressive, all players have the Eclipse (Cont'd. from p. 1) opportunity to win the Mystery Prize in addition to all of the other prizes offered by their favorite game. All bets made on games that are enrolled in the Eclipse Mystery Progressive are eligible to win the Must Go Prizes with greater chances of winning given to the players making bigger bets. Mystery Progressives can be configured on any and all of Eclipse's games on a game floor. "This allows the casino manager to put this Mystery feature on the games they want to showcase, regardless of title. The Mystery Progressive is another tool to help the floor manager raise the average bet on the gaming floor by rewarding the larger player with better chances to win the Mystery Prizes," says Saltiel. Eclipse is the first to offer Parlay Bets and Mystery Progressives on its Class 2 Games. These two new features, among others offered by Eclipse, are helping Raise Eclipse Gaming's Class 2 games to a higher class! Eclipse Gaming Systems is a leading provider of games for Class 2 and Class 3 gaming markets as well as video lottery markets. Eclipse Gaming provides com- plete gaming solutions from the games to back office systems that help manage the gaming floor. Visit Eclipse Gaming Systems at booth #820. other. Bowling is also more profitable than ever, for many of the same reasons. Innovative equipment, such as Brunswick automatic bumper rails and interactive light displays, let everyone from toddlers to seniors have more fun bowling. Finally, the development of multi-entertainment venues, combining bowling centers with other venues like casinos, full-service restaurants, cinemas and live concert venues, gives operators more ways than ever to make money. Of course, all of this means the bowling business has become more com- petitive, so it's more important than ever to choose the right partner to help make your center a success. Brunswick's cre- dentials and capabilities in this arena are unmatched. It was an original pioneer Brunswick (Cont'd. from p. 1) and popularizing force of bowling dating back to the late 1800s, and today, Brunswick has both deeper penetration and wider reach than any other company in the bowling business. Brunswick is "bowling with a capital B," and it rings true. Simply put, no one else brings so much to the table for your new center. From Brunswick's financial strength to its unparalleled expertise in the bowling business, from its full suite of industry- standard bowling center equipment to its strategic business alliances with leading design and construction firms, Brunswick offers you the best of every- thing you need to open a dynamic new bowling center – and maintain that suc- cess for generations to come. Visit Brunswick at booth #543 for more information. charity of choice for Multimedia Games and TournEvent for Charity. As part of this partnership, Multimedia Games awarded Save a Warrior a $10,000 dona- tion at the Championship in 2014, with another $40,000 donation to be awarded this year. "Save A Warrior is honored, hum- bled and thrilled to be named Multimedia Games' national charity of Multimedia Games (Cont'd. from p. 4) choice," said Ronald 'Jake' Clark, Creator and Executive Director for Save A Warrior. "This charitable donation only serves to make us seek to work harder, and to serve more active duty and returning Warriors at risk for PTSD- related suicide. We are immensely grate- ful for this benevolent partnership that will save lives and will cause military families to stay together." Visit Multimedia Games at booth #1121. Ireland. For the last 17 years, eQube has been focused on developing leading edge solutions for the electronic bingo industry. GN: Can you tell our readers about your products and why they make eQube stand out among its competitors? KT: eQube offers a full range of electron- ic bingo products, from Stationary (Gecko) and Portable (Gecko Pad) devices to Point of Sale systems. We also offer a full range of regulatory and opera- tional reporting modules. The products for which I am really proud and that truly make eQube leading edge, is our credit, or account based, playing system and our Xtra Games. Customers can purchase bingo cards electronically and deposit funds into their account to purchase additional products at their leisure. When they win a prize, it is also "deposited" directly into the account, giving them instant access to these funds. This helps increase spending in our cus- tomer's bingo facilities. In addition to eQube's credit system, we also offer a full library of Xtra Games. These are side games that can be played before, during and after session bingo and have shown to generate up to 30 percent in incremental sales. When offered in con- junction with eQube's account system, players can choose to purchase Xtra Games at any time and see their winnings deposited into the same account, providing eQube (Cont'd. from p. 1) additional funds for increased play. Because eQube systems are based on accounts, players can switch back and forth between Stationary and Portable units as many times as they like, until they find that "lucky" device. Should players want to add funds to their account, they can simply walk up to our Gecko Xpress terminal, a self serve stand alone "ATM" that handles the trans- action without the need to visit the cashier's window. To assist our customers with provid- ing a total eBingo solution, eQube also offers a variety of peripheral products such as our vFlash virtual flashboard, our vBlower virtual ball machine based on an RNG, and our soon to be released hands free blower. However, for those customers that prefer to use a traditional ball machine, eQube systems are able to inte- grate into a variety of manual ball machines. GN: Anything else you'd like to add? KT: I'd like to let readers know they can visit us at booth #1314 and view a full line- up of our unique products and services. I would also like to thank and congratulate Lisa Gonzales and all the Senior Management team at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino for selecting eQube Gaming as their eBingo solutions provider. Visit eQube at booth #1314. For more information, go to www.eqube.com, call 780.414.8890 or email info@eqube.com.