As consumer tastes changes, so too do new technologies.
The casino floor is becoming an increasingly complex place as operators embrace new technologies to deliver a greater return for them and a more exciting experience for their players.
The influence of new digital technologies is evident throughout the industry and will continue to determine its future direction for years to come. How the land-based gaming industry responds will be crucial, particularly as a new, younger and tech-savvy consumer base emerges. Sabby Gill, regional vice president of EMEA at IGT, a company that is taking a leading role in the development of cutting-edge technologies for the gaming industry, believes casinos cannot ignore these new consumer tastes.
“Far from technology shaping the gaming market, it follows the needs and wants of consumers from their day-to-day lives,” he said. “As tastes change, the new audience for casino operators is made up of ‘digital natives’ – people that have grown up for the most part with ubiquitous mobile connectivity, social media, console-based and online gaming. This has influenced much of their leisure user experience expectations.”
Things are changing rapidly – news travels faster thanks to social media, video can be viewed anywhere, anytime with the raft of mobile and tablet devices available – and, at the heart of this, is the consumer themselves. This, said futurist Gerd Leonhard recently, is the result of an explosion of “disruptive technologies,” those that burst onto the scene and immediately re-write the rules. Think of the major product launches from Apple in recent years, for example, and how they have changed the way we purchase and listen to music, or the way we access the internet. Will there be a game-changer around the corner developed within the gaming industry? There have been in the past, so why not now?
One problem is cost. Bricks and mortar businesses need to act now to ensure they evolve to meet these changing consumer requirements but at one of the most challenging periods of economic instability ever known.
“The investment has to be a proven investment,” said Steve Walther of Aruze Gaming. “People are a little gun-shy in going out and investing in revolutionary changes, such as re-wiring their entire floor to introduce server-based gaming, for example. Now suppliers are looking towards a bank by bank strategy, which is helping to prove the investment has a lot of value.”
Casino operators are aware of the need to invest in their offer, but suppliers need to bring winning product to the marketplace, he said.
“You’re looking towards efficiencies to give you a higher margin on your experience but at the same time you want to provide a bigger, stronger, faster experience than before.”
This feature can be read in full in the July 2012 issue of InterGaming magazine.
