With the latest technology, slot machines could become popular in Macau.
With the labor costs rising in Macau, gambling technology companies are going to invent culturally specific slot machines and computerized games to lure Asian players away from the baccarat tables.
If the new games are a success in Macau, it will help diversify Macau’s gaming revenue away from the traditional baccarat tables, which brings in 88% of the gambling revenues in Macau.
For the new computerized games to be popular in Asia “they need to use stars such as material arts actor Jackie Chan, and singers from the hit television series “Super Voice Girls” the Chinese equivalent of “American Idol” says Tony Tong, chief executive officer of a Pacific Net, a gaming technology.
“There are plenty of games in the market with themes on Star Wars, Spiderman and things like that, Asian people know about them but they don’t have a cultural attachment to them”
The slots machines in Macau only bring in 4.3% of the gambling revenue compared to the slot machines in Las Vegas, which pulls in 60% of their gambling revenues.
Some influential people in the industry feel slots machines will never be popular in Asia since the Asian players prefer to play communal games and try to predict the game results by looking at their dealer’s expression.
But times are changing, currently there’s 15,000 slot machines in Macau’s casinos compared to 2000 eight years ago. Tong predicts in couple of years, Macau will have 30-40,000 slot machines.
Michelle Situ
- Posted: 2008-06-09
- Last Modified: 2008-06-09 16:16:14
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