“50 years from now there will still be brick & mortar casinos with slot machines being built and thriving”

What results did you achieve at ICE? Were you able to meet the goals you had set before the show?

The show was very busy with a lot of potential business relationships. In the Hong Yen Technologies (HYT) booth we met with a number of potential cabinet customers who seemed very pleased with the new product offerings.

In addition to cabinet sales, the goal of both HYT and Gulf Coast Gaming (GCG) was to forge new business relationships. Efforts such as these typically take time before reaching fruition. Subsequent to the show we’ve had a number of discussions and are moving forward.

What emerging trends caught your attention? 

Obviously iGaming is what is presently new & sexy, however the industry needs to remember that just because brick & mortar casinos and slot machines are not presently what’s hot doesn’t mean they are necessarily just plain old & ugly and will soon fade away. On the contrary there is plenty of room for both products and 50 years from now there will still be brick & mortar casinos with slot machines being built and thriving.

How has the growth of igaming influenced the development of ICE?

I think it’s been good. The show is huge and the new blood has brought new energy and excitement.

Which of your products attracted most attention from visitors?

Really this is difficult to say. Because ICE attracts such a wide variety of visitors we had quite a few people visiting the booth interested in the older less expensive products while at the same time we also had a high number of visitors who caught sight of some of HYT’s newer cabinet designs and stopped in specifically to see these.

Cabinet designs never stand still; they are constantly evolving so much so that we rarely sell an exact product from the show or website. Instead, the vast majority of customers want certain modifications made. Some of these changes are jurisdiction & market driven but most are of a cosmetic or personal preference nature.

What do you expect to happen after the show?

Specific to HYT & GCG,  in our case follow-up & follow-up followed-up by some more follow-up. There’s always an overabundance of excitement during and immediately after a show before reality sets back in.

However, once reality does set in then you find out who was serious, can they do what they said at the show, and plans to move forward. However, post-show we have to reach out and assist everyone. Once this immediate potential customer base grows smaller due to their own internal constraints or market changes then the serious ones are those left for us to concentrate on.

Specific to the industry in general, at some point the gaming industry in respect to gaming cabinets is going to collapse back on itself. Cabinets should not cost more than small or midsize automobiles. The trend to make things more attractive through expensive design processes (castings, molds, etc) is somewhat superfluous. While an intricate cabinet design may initially attract a player, no player is going to play a machine long because they like the cabinet. The software (Game Theme specifically and Operating System to a much lesser degree) is what will keep customers playing and coming back.

Cabinets need to be ergonomically correct so that players are comfortable, the cabinets need to be fully functional, they need to feel sturdy (not like they might fall apart with the next spin), the designs need to be clean – by this I mean there cannot be large ugly gaps, and the machines (software included – via attract screens and sounds) themselves need to be attractive to a degree.

Players need to feel like they are sitting down in front of something built well but not something so ornate that it makes them uncomfortable or feel silly.

Clarion Events expects that by 2020 ICE will see the exhibition fully occupying the entire site at ExCel. Will there be room for start-ups, small companies and next-generation operators at the international trade show?

Yes, I think ICE does a very nice job of showcasing not only the large but also the smaller operators. And yes, there will always be a place in the gaming industry for start-ups and smaller operators.

I can’t think of another industry that’s as attractive to new entrepreneurs with new ideas as the gaming industry. Once they make their decision to enter the industry though they need to be very careful who they team with and how.

The majority of failures happen when the new person or company believes they know everything about the gaming business or they make a mistake of joining together with the wrong partner(s).

For example if a new company is founded in Asia tomorrow with a great idea and they want to enter the United States Gaming Market they should not just assume they can do this on their own but at the same time they should not just join together with someone who has the flashiest presentation or makes them the most promises. Instead they need to recognize that they will need individual market assistance and once they recognize this they need to be very careful in choosing who they will obtain this assistance from (character over flash).