In the second of our interviews with key gaming executives ahead of this month's G2E Asia show in Macau, InterGaming speaks to Rebecca Kingswell, general manager for Asia at TCS John Huxley.
How important is the Asian market to TCS John Huxley currently and how big a part of its future strategy does it represent?
The Asian market is very important to TCS John Huxley. We have two dedicated offices in the region and have been operating in Asia for many years. In 2001 the company opened its first office in Macau followed by a much larger operation in 2006, offering manufacturing, sales, service and support. This facility has gone from strength to strength, growing substantially year on year and now also includes warehousing, layout printing, technical service and repairs plus a full carpentry team.
In 2008 TCS John Huxley opened an office in Singapore in response to the planned large integrated resort projects. This office was established to expand TCS John Huxley’s presence into Asia as well as providing excellent after sales service and support in Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Korea and also India and Nepal. The technical service team ensure prompt response time to customers in the region and in addition to this there is a team offering a replacement fitting service for gaming layouts – a much needed requirement due to the wear and tear experienced in these 24 hour a day operations.
Which of your company's products are proving successful in the region and how are they tailored to the market?
We continue our success with electronic sic bo and display systems throughout Asia, as well as gaming layouts and other traditional products. The layout business continues to be very successful and we now have three printers running in our Macau production facility to cope with demand providing quick turnaround times while maintaining the quality we are renowned for.
Gaming Floor Live is proving to be successful for Roulette and we continue to develop our portfolio to include baccarat and sic bo products specifically for the region. We have been working in Asia for over 25 years and our experienced team is continually assessing the requirements in the region by developing new solutions to suit our customers.
Which jurisdictions are particularly buoyant at the moment and which do you anticipate being future hotspots?
Macau is getting ready for another expansion with a number of casinos commencing preparation. Manila has three large properties opening over the next three years and Vietnam has new properties in various construction stages and others under discussion. India is also expanding its casinos.
Why is it important for your company to exhibit at G2E Macau?
G2E Asia is a perfect way for TCS Joh Huxley to see all its customers who are drawn in from across the region. Ideally situated in the heart of the Asian market, it allows our customers to visit us at their leisure away from the pressures of ‘the office’ to see first hand the benefits of our portfolio. In addition to all of this, the TCS John Huxley Asia team is on hand to offer their legendary hospitality and introduce customers to our latest innovations.
What can we expect from TCS John Huxley at the show?
TCS John Huxley will be showcasing a range of innovative products including its new Tablet Roulette system, a server based solution that offers tablet gaming in a live environment. The system lets players roam the gaming floor and continuously enjoy live roulette in what have previously been non-gaming areas.
With fresh developments for 2012, SuperNova Table Bonus System will be another crowd pleaser. The floor-wide progressive and game bonusing system can now be used on all live table games, linking them all together. The system drives increased revenues by adding higher levels of player excitement and loyalty to all live table games including roulette.
The Gaming Floor Live system will also be on show, demonstrating applications tailored specifically to the Asian market that have proved very successful. This real-time game optimisation tool is designed to maximise key performance areas and profitability and unlike any other product on the market, the system automatically captures game data that in turn provides vital information to maximise turnover, maintain house advantage, reduce operating costs and understand opportunity costs.
Finally, Asia's gaming markets are predicted to see enormous growth over the next few years - what factors will this depend on?
The extraordinary growth experienced in Asia and Macau in particular, has without doubt encouraged other Asian countries to develop gaming markets of their own and this is expected to continue for some time. We are witnessing the expansion of the gaming industry’s most promising global market and as a result TCS John Huxley is well positioned to grow with the industry, providing the best products, unparalleled service support, all backed up by a strong experienced team of professionals.
It is very important in this market to have a presence on the ground, which is why we have committed substantial resource in setting up comprehensive facilities both in Macau and Singapore, delivering prompt and efficient after sales service and support.
