by Buddy Frank
"To be or not to be." According to Wikipedia, this is the most widely-known, widely-quoted line in the English language. There’s a great corollary on the slot floor today: “To dispatch or not to dispatch.” Whether you’re Hamlet or just an ordinary slot director, dispatching is the best way to “take arms against a sea of troubles.” Today it’s clear that if you don’t have a dispatching system - and, moreover, aren’t using it effectively - you’re sure to “suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” The slot manager’s version of that grief? Complaints about wait times.
While Shakespeare’s soliloquy has a 500-year legacy, dispatching as a software solution is just now reaching its 15th anniversary. Around 2004, both CIS Technology in Reno (working with Eldorado Resorts) and the William Ryan Group (working with Harrah’s corporate) created early versions aimed at improving and understanding guest service needs both on the slot floor and for cocktail service (the latter primarily with William Ryan). There were some earlier attempts, such as IGT and CDS (now Aristocrat) that offered event notifications via pagers, but it wasn’t really dispatching.
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by Frank Legato
New technology in the slot sector that will change the way people play slot machines in 2019. That’s because innovation is invariably developed to address changes in the nature of the customer, and the customer is changing.
The overarching trend for the U.S. casino industry in 2019 will be related to the biggest piece of news in 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in May to overturn the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, opened the floodgates to legal sports wagering. Zeroing in on the slot sector, that event has brought technology to the forefront that forward-looking manufacturers have been developing for years.
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by Buddy Frank
by Sally Denton & Roger Morris
461 pp. Vintage Books. 2002, $17.95
I often write about how Las Vegas doesn’t really represent the world of gaming today. The city is undeniably the entertainment center of the universe, but in terms of gambling, Sin City no longer dominates. The revenue leaders are in China and Singapore, the biggest casinos in such seemingly unlikely venues as Oklahoma, Florida, Connecticut and California. And today, just about everybody has higher Win Per Unit slot figures than southern Nevada.
However, there is no doubt that Vegas started it all, and reigned supreme for years and years. Reno and Havana were brief challengers, but both faded quickly, Reno in the post-WW2 years and Havana as a result of the Cuban Revolution. If you’re like me, much of what you know about early Vegas is as much legend as it is reality; Hollywood movies and a trip or two to the Mob Museum probably cemented my views more than any pursuit of real historical research.
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Upcoming Industry Events of Interest
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4505 S. Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154 - 1/15/2019 - 1/17/2019
Now with the invalidation of PASPA, the legalization and regulation of sports betting has been on the minds of many jurisdictions. Our 2-day intensive program - covering the basics of sports betting, provides forward looking gaming jurisdictions with the tactical information to prepare for opportunities in changes to current sports betting laws. Developed for legislators, policy makers, tribal and state government officials.
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Durant, OK - 01/15/2019 - 01/17/2019
The Slot Academy is an intensive training course for gaming management proven to improve the efficiency and profitability of the gaming floor. The course takes an in-depth look into machine meters, pay table calculations, TQM, performance analysis and considers each of the different player profiles and how you can better fulfill your visitor’s expectations through the gaming environment, promotions and floor layout.
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ExCeL London, One Western Gtwy, London E16 1XL - 02/05/2019 - 02/07/2019
Welcoming over 33,500 attendees to the 2018 edition, the seventh consecutive year of growth for the industry leading gaming technology event, ICE is the world's platform for gaming solution exploration, providing industry decision makers with not just the largest showcase of products and services under one roof, but also an unrivalled learning programme of seminars and features to help drive your professional development.
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Excel London, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London E16 1XL, UK - 02/06/2019 - 02/09/2019
The London Affiliate Conference is taking place on the 6th - 9th February 2019 at ExCeL, London. LAC 2019 will attract over 5,200 delegates to London for four days of networking and learning. Returning to London for it's 13th year in a row, LAC 2019 will prove to be the biggest edition yet. Registration is soon to open, so stayed tuned to be the first to register.
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UNLV, Las Vegas, NV - 02/21/2019 - 02/22/2019
The Slot Performance Analysis Workshop is designed for gaming industry professionals who already understand basic financial measures such as a profit and loss, variance, mix percentages, ratios, ranking, indexing, and market share. This two-day seminar will give participants the tools needed to effectively analyze and improve the performance of their slot floor.
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Tropicana Las Vegas, 3801 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV - 03/03/2019 - 03/05/2019
The WGPC is an annual conference that connects casino surveillance, asset protection professionals and regulators from around the world. The event examines current and emerging threats to casino entertainment complexes and explores opportunities and practices to combat those threats.
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