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April 2014 Reach new heights at The Ocean Club Casino Technology in Casinos - Special Edition
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April 2014
Reach new heights atThe Ocean Club Casino
Technology in Casinos - Special Edition
Creating Confidence. In people focused operations, you need the time and flexibility to provide those people – your customers – with the services they want. Our compact, efficient and highly secure solutions for your count room offer a range of advanced processing features, including banknote authentication, denomination sorting, and ticket processing plus a portfolio of service packages tailored to your needs. Saving you time to concentrate on your customers. www.gi-de.com
“ Gaming is our business. But we leave nothing to chance with our currency handling needs.”
15289_GD_BNPO_Anzeigen_CASINO_casino-life_RZ.indd 1 31.08.12 19:08
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Saverio R. Scheri IIIPresident & CEOWhiteSand Gaming Incwww.whitesandgaming.com
This issue of Casino Life magazine is very exciting and once again highlights the international growth of the gaming industry. With the US industry starting to make a comeback, we are hearing about
a number of new projects including Genting on the Strip in Las Vegas, a resurgence of Downtown Las Vegas and many new potential jurisdictions on the East Coast including New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Florida.
Also in this issue are a number of great interviews with company executives at The Ocean Club Casino Panama, Manila Bay Resorts, and Hippodrome London – a great piece about gaming in Peter’s backyard! If you map the companies in this issue, it has never been so evident that gaming is truly a global industry with a significant presence in six continents (although I’m sure there are poker games in Antarctica, I think we can leave that continent off the list). Just a few decades ago, gaming outside the US was quite different than it is today. It wasn’t nearly as prevalent, and the casinos were much smaller. International casinos today have not only matched Las Vegas in glamour, but in many ways surpassed Las Vegas in design, amenities and customer service. It’s great for the gaming industry but keeps me on a plane much more than I would prefer!
I am very lucky to have been involved with this industry for over thirty years, and have been part of its evolution and global expansion. When I started in this business, gaming in the US was restricted to Nevada and Atlantic City only. Now, there are over 1000 casinos throughout the US and I think I’ve visited almost all of them – sometimes for work, sometimes for fun, but I am always amazed at how some are very successful and others miss the mark. It inspired me to create WhiteSand Gaming and provide advisory services and casino management services to help casinos compete more effectively and generate more revenue.
A big part of our resources here at WhiteSand includes the in-depth research and writing that Peter White and the contributing staff at Casino Life Magazine provide. We use it to learn about the details of key organizations and learn from their successes and failures. I know you will thoroughly enjoy this edition as much as every edition.
EditorGuest
Editorial:
Editor in Chief: Glyn ThomasMob: +380 952 705 596
Associate Editor North AmericaDavid Mckee
Special Assignment Correspondent:Jack Bulavsky
N Europe - Damien [email protected]
UK - Alan [email protected]
Latin America & Asia Correspondent:Janice Chaka
International Casino & GamingCorrespondent:
Online Gaming Editor: Sam [email protected]
Production:
Designer: Stewart [email protected]
www.totaldesignworks.com
Subscriptions: Helen [email protected]
Web & IT: Sudip [email protected]
Journal Manager: Chris [email protected]
Publisher: Peter WhiteTel: +44 (0) 1892 740869
Mob: +44 (0) 7973 [email protected]
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Glyn Thomas chats with Desmond Whitcher Director Alternate Gaming & Innovation
Sun International, ahead of the opening of the organisation latest Resort Casino
ViewOcean
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Sun International Limited, a contract for the management and operation of a complete casino situated at the Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower, Punta Pacifica, Calle Punta Colon, Corregimiento of San Francisco, Panama. Pursuant to the contract, the Gaming Board issues a Gaming Licence for the complete casino.
A complete casino is a gaming hall that offers a combination of gaming tables and Type A Slot Machines in conjunction with any other games or gaming devices which Ocean Club Casino will manage in accordance with the business plan submitted to the Gambling Board. The contract itself has provisions which are fairly standard in the industry; namely the regulation of the operation of the casino by way of prescribing profit share to be paid to the Gambling Board, internal controls and reports.
The duration of the contract is for 20 years.
Later this year one of South America’s most impressive new Resort Hotels that is also the tallest building in Panama, will open its Casino venue that encompasses a 75,000 sq-ft gaming area, which will be
known as the Ocean Club Casino. Glyn Thomas chatted with Desmond Whitcher Director Alternate Gaming and Innovation during the London ICE Totally Gaming Show last month about Sun International’s latest exciting new venture in one of South America’s strongest economies.
Casino opens its doors first week September 2014. Could explain a little about the details of the 20 year Casino licence.“In November 2013, the Gaming Control Board of Panama (Gambling Board) granted to Ocean Club Casino Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of
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The casino operator may request to extend the contract prior to the expiry of the 20 years, for a further 2 year period.
The casino may remain open for 24 hours a day, 7 days a week including public holidays.”
This deal also incorporated the purchase of three floors involving the 65th floor and the penthouse on floor 66 of the 70-story mixed-use Trump Ocean Club International Hotel and Tower on a freehold basis for $45.5m. I guess many of the rooms on the 65th will be VIPs and along with the Penthouse on the 66th floor. Penthouse has been fully developed into our VIP gaming area, we believe it will be one of the worlds “highest, best view” gaming experiences in the world.
This licence involves development of entertainment‚ along with food and beverage offerings as well as the total fit-out of the casino and related facilities which is likely to add up to a sizable investment by Sun International. Are you in a position to comment yet on the Slots and Tables gaming mix, will it for example be similar with regards to suppliers and games to those that are proving so popular at the Monticello or are new games, slots & multiplayers in the mix?
The slot mix is made up of Aristocrat, Aruze, Bally, Goldclub, IGT, Interblock, Konami, Novomatic, Spielo and WMS. We have selected top performing games and progressive jackpots.
There are multigame / multi player option in both slots and electronic table games. The live gaming table mix includes, Blackjack, Roulette, Poker and Punto Bunco
Sun International has built a strong reputation for its impressive entertainment from its operations most notably in the operations home country South Africa, can we expect with this new Casino a lot of that excitement and showbiz glamour, with an added touch of Latin American passion?Currently this will only be on the casino floors, but we are looking into shows, productions ect.
Does Sun International consider that region as an option for further expansion?Yes we do, but our current focus in South America where we want to establish a large foot print.
Does Sun International expect any new licences being granted in South Africa in the near future?We don’t expect any new licences but we are exploring opportunities to re-locate one of our existing licences to a new location.
Given the level of successes, do you see further opportunities in South America for Sun International in the years ahead?Very definitely.
MaximisingPotential
Peter White spoke with Simon Thomas Chairman of the Hippodrome during this year’s British Pokers Awards
held at the iconic Entertainment destination
Introducing the all new
www.ainsworth.com.au
Experience the versatility of the cabinet range for yourself. For more information email [email protected] or dial +44 1293 538011
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Introducing the all new
www.ainsworth.com.au
Experience the versatility of the cabinet range for yourself. For more information email [email protected] or dial +44 1293 538011
During our conversation you mentioned how the Hippodrome is Constantly Evolving, so there hasn’t been a situation where you can say the process is complete. It will never be complete. The Hippodrome is the West End’s very own Forth Bridge. From the minute we opened the front door on July 13, 2012, we’ve been improving, innovating and tweaking – this is where the fun really begins.
If you look at the history of the building, it’s the one entertainment venue in London that has never stopped reinventing itself. Which is why it became the icon it is to this day.
Similarly, I’m not going to sit back and say ‘job done’ because I’d be a fool to think we can’t improve things further.
New trends, fashions and requirements demand we offer new things to different audiences. We also spot opportunities on a daily basis and these impact wonderfully on the business.
Who knew we would be home to Pokerstars’ first live deck? Or marketing ourselves to our United States visitors as the home of American Sports in London? But the 400 NFL fans for every weekend line up of matches during the football season proved we can do that too.
I’ve also just signed off on a major repositioning of the lower ground casino, to give it its own new identity, and work begins soon.
When I look at the Hippodrome now compared to
when we launched it’s a very different place; physically and as a business. We’ve learned, we’ve adapted and we’ve smashed all our targets.
It has been clear even from our first interview with you ahead of the opening that Technology in Casinos has always been of primary importance?The Hippodrome is one of London’s historical entertainment icons; but now with a high tech digital core. When we renovated the building we took the opportunity to introduce the very latest technology in terms of gaming, but also everything else required for a massive state-of-the-art entertainment venue that has to adapt to the needs of launches, conferences and events too.
In technical terms, this means we have a sophisticated ‘high availability’ infrastructure running a fully integrated casino management system which gives us an holistic view of the whole business and our players.
And the fact that I can change the colour of the lights on the exterior of the building while sitting in the bath at home…well, no-one could get bored of that.
Can you possibly chart the development of the impressive increases in attendance at the Hippodrome that even exceed the original forecasts in numbers of visitors to slots and tables since its opening.
I sat down with the team prior to opening and said how happy I would be if we reached 18,000 visitors a
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week by the end of the half year. We hit that figure on the second week, and are now nipping at the heels of 150,000 customers a month.
We celebrated our millionth visitor in May 2013 – six months ahead of predictions – and the second million in January this year. We’re the busiest casino in the UK.
Player engagement/retention and interaction/enjoyment, would appear from conversations with you, to be amongst the key qualities you look for with new EGM’s is that an accurate observation?
The EGM’s are an attractive part of the offer at the Hippodrome as with any modern casino. But it remains bizarre that British casinos are limited to 20 machines and I am hopeful the Government will correct that soon.
As for the current EGMs, they do a great job and I suspect are where people who cut their teeth gambling online start in a real casino.
We met you at industry trade shows around the World, often at booths whilst being presented with the latest games, slots and multiplayer technology, which says a lot about the importance you place in keeping fully up to date with the latest technology and industry game development trends?The casino industry is a fantastically exciting industry and it is important if you want to be at the cutting edge to be aware of all the trends.
The growth in Poker at the Hippodrome is also very noticeable, especially having recently been a guest at the British Poker Awards hosted the Casino.
I am delighted with the success of the Pokerstars
partnership. They’re a dynamic organisation and highly respected in the poker world. Being their first live poker deck in Europe it took time to develop the relationship to maximise mutual opportunities. Things are progressing well and there is much more to come.
Of course the Hippodrome also hosts its own tournaments. February 2013 saw our first ever Winter Classic. We put a £25k guarantee on it, which I thought may be a little ambitious, but we smashed targets and made £33k. We even had four people fly over from Russia to play it.
We’re growing the market, and every Classic we get around 20% new people.
And we’ve also had to open two further dedicated poker rooms, which means we’re doing things right.
Innovation has been synonymous with the Thomas name in the Entertainment and Leisure industries over many years. With that in mind is game development with a partner manufacturer supplier a possibility in the years ahead? We’re an ideas factory. We also understand the legislation, and have the contacts to make things happen so there are plenty of things happening in this area which we will announce when we’re ready. How do you see the year ahead for the Hippodrome? As Churchill said: ‘It is always wise to look ahead, but difficult to look further than you can see.’ Suffice to say, we are doing OK but we now have the headspace to see even more opportunities.
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Top PerformersGlyn Thomas chats with Tom O’Brien CEO of Interblock-USA
How was 2013 and how do you see 2014 shaping up? We believe that Interblock again proved to be one of the top performers in the past year, with improvements that we believe will increase interest in our products and help us to move forward and expand to the new markets. Our goals are to continue to strengthen our position in all markets, release great products that the players love, provide the best service support and customer relations and build on the great momentum that we saw in 2013. We will try to keep pace with new technology, which is always on the horizon and is constantly adding new dimensions to our games and
this will stay our key goal in the 2014.
The highly successful G4 Organic Roulette continues to be a winner for Casinos which must be very satisfying for the company?Yes, indeed. Many of the casinos still have very well operated products inside their venues from our 3rd and 4th generation of products. Most popular product is definitely still a roulette and we are not talking only about EMEA region, but the whole world. In general, we see trends moving more and more in favor of installing electronic table games (ETGs) into casinos in
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and were already a huge success, particulary our G5 Mini Star Roulette. Customers also showed interest in many new features like additional Side Bets, faster result detection, wider and bigger screen size with high definition monitors and a lot more. We believe that ICE show is kind of a forecast for the year ahead, which showed to be very positive this year.
What are the next big shows were our readership can visit your booth and what will be the stand out Multiplayers and Games on show?Beside ICE which was in February, this year Interblock will also be present at Southern Gaming Summit in the US, G2E Asia in Macao, AGE in Sydney and G2E Las Vegas. Listed shows are where Interblock will be exhibiting, but there are also exhibitions like Fer-Interazar, Winter Games and Canadian Gaming Summit to name a few, where Interblock will be participating with their distributors. In this year exhibitions, we’ll definitely be focusing on revealing all the advantages, our new G5 product range has to offer to the market.
G2E Asia is also an important show for Interblock are you in a position to let us know what you plan to be exhibiting on your booth at this year’s show?
higher volume and more often, as players are becoming more comfortable with the concept. Overall ETGs are the future of gaming, we believe, as flexibility of playing, what they want, when and how in their own comfort zone still presents one of the main advantages. But all this doesn’t make our work easier, it only means we have to put even more ideas and creativity into our products, to stay in the competitive zone with new developments.
Given the awful weather experienced during the closing month’s 2013 and first two months of 2014, experienced in North American and much of Europe, how much impact has that had on business for the end of last year and the start of 2014?Usually in our industry, business is not conducted over night, so we don’t believe there was any special impact on Interblock operations. The only biggest concern we had, was the terrible frost period we had in Slovenia, just before our team was leaving for United Kingdom for the show and there were some delays in arrivals.
How was ICE Totally Gaming for Interblock this year?Customers at ICE 2014 London show were very excited over exceptional presentation from our latest, newest and most innovative G5 generation of gaming products. After we presented G5 product range at G2E 2013 Las Vegas show in September only to the VIP customers, products were already getting many positive feedbacks
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At this year G2E Asia Interblock tends to strengthen its position on this market even more, with triple the size of the booth from previous years and by introducing our latest, most innovative and newest 5th generation of products, we already revealed at the US and Europe shows. Very important part of Interblock presentation will also be Interblock Hologram Gaming Lounge (IBHGL), which will be the first of a kind in Asia. Beside Hologram, we will present a step forward to this technology, the scaled down version of award-winning IBHGL, so called G5 IBHG (Interblock Hologram Games), which is a stand-alone gaming product allowing up to 5 G5 Play Stations to be connected and offers exciting gaming solutions for Video Blackjack and Baccarat games. Other products exhibited at the Macao show are G5 Bubble Generator with 12 G5 Play Stations with Keno and Pop’n Poker Game, a newly developed electromechanical generator which generates results for our Pop’n Poker and Keno games. Balls that come out of the centre tube of the generator fall through openings around the cone and trigger the sensor, which
displays the result with accompanied LCD display. With this approach the generator is capable of displaying a large number of results very quickly. Several different games can be played at the same time. Interblock currently supports Pop’n Poker and different variations of Keno game, which offers huge possibilities of Bingo games. Other exciting products will be the G5 Wheel Generator with Big3Six game, which is an exciting new spin on an old classic. The game consists of 3 Wheels which offers 3 times the fun and 3 times the action. The 3 Wheels also act as reels for a Slot Machine themed Side Bet. And the last but not least, is our smallest and best performing 8-seat product G5 Mini Star Roulette with 08 G5 Play Stations available with Single or Double Zero roulette wheel, however in a much smaller diameter – approx. 2m (6.5 ft.) and it’s built to accommodate any casino floor size with a much smaller footprint and with an excellent roulette wheel visibility. We promise an amazing presentation.
Online Gaming and Mobile Gaming are major growth
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markets how are Interblock innovative games transitioning over to those platforms?Latest technology is one of our key focuses for the coming years. We continue to work on technological growth in gaming and online gaming and we are always strengthening our position in the gaming industry.
Based on recent years can we expect 2014 to be another year of further new innovative EGM launches & international expansion with the latest G5 range of products?We allow ourselves to believe that already with G4 generation of products we definitely turned a traditional game in a modern masterpiece, with the availability of deciding on so many different configuration, design and form, we changed the philosophy of electronic gaming. Also the ability of multi-game options, custom design and almost infinite number of the play stations and generators always lead and result to new forms in our existing line-up of products. It is still a great platform, but introducing our fifth generation we definitely opened more doors to ourselves than ever. One of the main advantages that were brought with our latest generation of products is modularity, where all elements are stand-alone type and offers almost unlimited possibilities of configurations, which allows operators to use their imagination and experience to build a custom layout of products on casino floor. Using simplified versatile X technology, makes upgrading for example from a few play-station to an island layout much easier and less expensive. We implemented newly developed Ball and Wheel generator and hit the market with Interblock Hologram Gaming Lounge technology. The new G5 product line from Interblock is split into two main innovative categories, G5 Mini Star and G5 Diamond, all featuring the new G5 Play Station. New G5
Play Station offers state of the art technology in a fully automated device and is built to accommodate a larger LCD display along with a separate button LCD display. There is better security, high quality sound system, faster and more powerful embedded graphical engines, added feature that is a power meter with easier access for maintenance. In addition the G5 Play Station offers low maintenance cost and low energy consumption. G5 platform hardware is similar to the already existing G4 platform. The difference is an updated logic board, wider Play Station monitor, upgraded modules, added side bets and High Resolution game graphics. The new
product range will hopefully be very popular for many more years.
The G5 Diamond is another
stand out design, do you think that the innovative
approach to the design contributes to the
success on the gaming floors that Interblock EGM’s provide Casino operations World Wide?When talking about the design, we put much bigger emphasize
on more Swarovski crystals with new
chrome outlook and letter signs,
wider touch screen with high resolution
game graphics and colour adjustable illuminated armrests,
that makes our products even more attractive.
G5 range immediately received outstanding market response and during 2013 and beginning of 2014 Interblock won three amazing awards for Interblock Hologram Gaming Lounge (IBHGL) and Mini Star Roulette named as ‘One of the Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Technology Products’ and Big 3 Six named as third ‘Best Table Game Product’ of the year. This was not only an important evidence for our customers but also pays off for all hard working hours our team has put into product development in record time, and a cream on the top of the cake with the best recognition and motivation for future projects.
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“Bitcoin, what is it and what purpose does it have for us
in the casino industry?”“Andrea & Andrew Flynn are experienced professionals in KYC, AML, online fraud, casino cheat detection, legislation
and have a casino background jointly spanning 46 years in both land-based and online operations. Casino Life ask
their views on what affect the new cryptocurrency may have on the casino industry in the near future.”
Could we start by asking about Bitcoins’ brief history of how it was started and to where we are currently with this new type of digital money?About six years ago, using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, an anonymous computer programmer, or group of programmers, built the Bitcoin software system and released it onto the internet. It uses a public ledger to record transactions which are cryptographically signed for security. This was something that was designed to run across a large network of machines — called bitcoin miners — and anyone in the world could become a miner.
Bitcoins are just long digital addresses and balances, stored in an online ledger called the “blockchain.” But
the system was also designed so that the currency would slowly expand, and so that people would be encouraged to become bitcoin miners and keep the system itself growing.
When the system creates new Bitcoins it gives them to the miners. Miners keep track of all the bitcoin transactions and add them to the blockchain ledger, and in exchange, they get the privilege of awarding themselves a few extra bitcoins. No fees is that a fact?Yes, it’s a fact. If anyone of us wishes to transfer a Bitcoin payment to another person, anywhere in the world, the recipient receives their coins in a few seconds. At the
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moment, many transactions are typically processed in a way where no fee is expected at all, but for transactions which draw coins from many bitcoin addresses and therefore have a large data size, a small transaction fee is usually expected. So, the value in which they finally receive may have a couple of digits shaved off but the difference is minute in comparison to the amount of value that has been transferred.
The only time a fee may occur is when you go through a third party exchange to convert bitcoins from a fiat currency or vice versa. How well accepted is it with organisations such as Amazon, eBay, iTunes and ToysRuS?Well, eBay quietly added Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency to their Coins & Paper Money section last week. They haven’t taken the bold step of offering payment in Bitcoin as of yet but it is still a big step considering the company is also the owner of Paypal, which is seen as Bitcoins biggest adversary. We are reliably informed that E-bay and all other large trading companies are currently investigating accepting Bitcoin following the example of Overstock.com who on the 9th January 2014 became the first major retailer in the world to start accepting Bitcoin as payments for its goods. US$126,000 worth of goods were purchased in Bitcoin on the first day which represented a 4.33% increase in sales from their normal income of $3 million per day. However, the initial excitement may have begun to wan because as of 13 March 2014, Overstock Bitcoin income had shrunk to under 1% of their normal daily cash intake.
A couple of weeks later in January, two downtown Las Vegas casinos began accepting Bitcoin, but only in their gift shops. The press release and accompanying publicity went viral and the names of the casinos became known globally. Unfortunately, Bitcoin is a very long way from being a working and accepted commodity in the US casinos but only due to the complex gaming regulations and lack of understanding on the part of casino executives and regulators at this moment.
However, we do foresee the major gaming companies
introducing their own cryptocurrencies in the future as it would make more sense to have your own customers and employees as miners as well as receivers and users.
We also at AACASINO already have a full working process theory for any online or landbased casino and betting operation but we have not yet received as much interest as we hoped for at this time. What are its current constraints?There is a lot of ignorance regarding Bitcoin but unfortunately this doesn’t seem to deter anyone from having an opinion either. Thus, there is a lot of bad press and theories. It will take time for the casino industry to learn and realise for themselves the distinct advantages over cash, credit cards and e-wallets and the regulators to foresee the increase in social responsibility and AML.
Bitcoin wallets can be lost but by the negligence of the bitcoin owner. Like any item of value, there are methods
to protect yourself to ensure your wallets are neither hacked nor lost.
At this moment, bitcoins are still not widely accepted but in terms of casino gaming and betting this is positive news for any operator to take advantage of the present 12 million coins that are currently in circulation.
The crytocoin is still in its infancy and any press story with a distant association to Bitcoin tends to send the price down. However, this volatility should have no serious actual impact on the gaming industry. Players always have a set amount they wish or can afford to wager regardless. So whether they play at their $100 worth at 1 Bitcoin or 0.00001 it doesn’t really matter. The operator too has to have a set amount of cryptocurrency to show they are able to pay out winners but their own funds are topped up by the unfortunate losers so they should, in theory, not have to buy Bitcoin at inflated prices. We strongly advise any operators to operate only in Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency though and not to mix with their cash operations as the fluctuations will over complicate the day to day running of the business.
There is currently no buyer protection, which was an unintentional part of the overall philosophy behind the instigation of Bitcoin but this is easily remedied by using
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an exchange service as an escrow.There is built in deflation since the total number
of Bitcoin is capped at 21 million. Each bitcoin will be worth more and more as the total number of Bitcoins maxes out. It’s a reward for the early adopters but may add to the volatility of value as spending surges occur when the price greatly increases thus sending the value down again. Furthermore, the volatility is deterring new buyers as they either fear their purchase will decrease short term or find it hard to accept why they should buy Bitcoin at such an inflated price than say a year or 2 ago. However, we must remind ourselves that the fluctuation of Bitcoin is not of an importance to the operator. Bitcoin should be seen as purely a facility to transfer funds between themselves and their customers.
As we can see, the decentralised nature of Bitcoin is both a curse and blessing. This is why although we are advocates for Bitcoin to be used in the gaming industry, we are not, as of yet, investors in any cryptocurrency. Is there enough commitment behind it to insure it that it’s here to stay?Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are certainly here to stay. The banks and governments have the most to fear of its existence which will cause a delay in the acceptance and understanding amongst the general public. Bitcoin will hugely succeed globally once it is understood and accepted or hugely fail due to a technical issue that was not foreseen.
However, in relation to its acceptance into the gaming industry we all clearly remember the time when slots and internet gaming were being dismissed by gaming establishments. Any casino executive still having that train of thought is clearly not working in the right business in this day and age. It’s a slow learning curve for us all.
Are there any countries that do not except this currency?Bitcoin, although not a currency, is a commodity and is legal almost everywhere depending on what you are doing with it. However, some countries may restrict you as a miner or as an exchange or even as a user.
Governments are still struggling to understand what it is, so we can expect regulations to take much longer. There have been restrictions placed in certain countries due to panic though but then lifted at a later date once understood better. At this moment we don’t foresee how any user may be prevented from using Bitcoin if they so wish. There appear to be loopholes for every new restriction released. How is/has the take up been for social gaming and online gambling sites?So far, Bitcoin has mostly been utilised by operators of a non-gaming background. Many are keen to use the anonymity of the cryptocurrency to exploit their online gaming into jurisdictions and countries where licenced operators are unable. However, the darker side of this is that they are further tarnishing the image of the Bitcoin and in addition severely shooting themselves in
the foot in terms of customer retention and fraud prevention. It feels like online gaming is taking a step backwards and regulators haven’t still learnt their lesson of the slow uptake to regulate online gaming in the early years.
Bitcoin really suits the business model of both landbased
and online gaming for a variety of all the right reasons. It may take a while for this ‘penny to drop’ with regards to the regulators but once they are aware of how transparent the business becomes then we may see Bitcoin as the currency of gambling. This would lead to a gaming industry in the future with no cash, no robberies or theft at gun point and players able to play at any denomination. Betting businesses operating much more efficiently and the customers will be able to deposit and receive their own funds almost instantaneously. Accurate win/loss history available for the players plus regulators and operators so proactive measures can be taken to protect the vulnerable and for a first time ever, global self-exclusion can be a reality. Operators will be against this transparency primarily because it is change but also because they will feel they have lost some of their control. But once they realise operating costs are slashed then there may be only one way forward for them.
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