Aruze Gaming Americas President Robert Ziems

"Surprisingly, we see a continuation of services needed from our customers during the shutdown"

The main demands have been for conversions or assistance with carpet/machine moves. We are pleasantly surprised at the continuation of business as our clients strive to improve their locations during this period.  
2020-04-07
Reading time 3:56 min
In an interview with Yogonet, Ziems says its clients strive to improve their locations during this period. The firm draws on internal talents, financial abilities, a strong relationship with its business partners, and it looks forward to benefiting from the recently passed US relief. Though Aruze expects workforce reductions will be required, financially it has maintained 100% of its capacity and will work on a customer-by-customer basis.

What are your first concepts and insights regarding the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on the gaming industry globally, and your business areas in particular? What effects, learnings or trends have you identified so far in that sense?

Our first challenge was to get our heads around how fast the landscape has been changing. 2019 was the best year ever for Aruze and 2020 was at a quick pace to surpass 2019. Within 7 days most casinos in North and South America were ordered to shut down, within 10 days Aruze went from normal operations to implementing ‘Social Distancing’. We have such a great team at Aruze that even with social distancing we maintained 100% of our capacity. The next challenge was to adjust our business plan to match what is going to be an obvious reduction in demand whilst ensuring the long-term health of Aruze and livelihood of our employees. 

What we have learned is that we all are in this together, I mean everyone – players, casinos, companies, employees, governments. We learned attitude is everything. We understand the serious threat to our health as well as the economy, but we remain optimistic that the end is sooner than we think, and the recovery will be better than expected.

What's your approach to this global crisis, and the strategies you are choosing in order to reduce damages and pave the way for the fastest possible recovery? What resources are you drawing on?

First, we have a responsibility to our workforce to make sure they are safe. Second, we must adjust the business to the economic reality of the entire market being shut down for a period of time. With the goal of recovery in mind, we will be making the business adjustments over time as conditions dictate. Our plan is to maintain the capacity necessary to satisfy our customer’s needs. Surprisingly, we see a continuation of services needed as many of our customers are utilizing the ‘shut down’ to accomplish many projects they have been putting off as they were difficult to do whilst they were in full operation. We ourselves are taking the time to improve our internal processes and making facility improvements.

As for resources, besides our internal talents, financial abilities, and a strong relationship with our supportive business partners we look forward to taking advantage of the recently passed US relief. We want to do as much as we possibly can to maintain our entire workforce for as long as possible. This is good for Aruze, our employees, and especially our customers. We want to be 100% ready for when the market rebounds.

What special measures or strategies is Aruze taking as a company to protect/help employees, clients, local communities, etc., both in terms of health and financially? Are workforce reductions, temporary layoffs or slowed recruitment processes in your plans or consideration?

At the very early stages of the pandemic, Aruze adjusted its health practices and provided sanitizers, wipes, and internal distancing practices. Anyone not feeling well was required to not come into the office to work and those who could be most at risk were encouraged to work remotely. Since then Aruze has adopted all the recommendations and mandates by the Federal, State, and Local governments. Financially we have maintained 100% of our capacity and will work with our customers on a customer-by-customer basis.

We fully expect that workforce reductions will be required. This is something that we responsibly cannot ignore. However, our plan is to minimize the effect on our workforce by stretching their continuous employment for as long as possible. By doing this we believe that the time off work will be as short as possible and government aid will be quickly available if the need be.

What are the main demands or concerns you’ve been receiving from your customers/partners since the outbreak?

The main demands have been for conversions or assistance with carpet/machine moves. We are pleasantly surprised at the continuation of business as our clients strive to improve their locations during this period.  

How would you assess the existing resources, approach and measures taken by regulators, governments or other state institutions in the jurisdictions where you have operations? Could you mention similarities and differences between those jurisdictions?

Well, almost ALL jurisdictions shut down casino operations within a week. This is what caused such a fast pace in the beginning. It made it very difficult to set a path forward. Most of the regulatory agencies have been great in either continuing the approval process for machines and games or adjusting deadlines for licenses and renewals. As I mentioned earlier, we are all in this together and it is inspiring to see everyone working together.  

Do you see the need for further regulatory actions to be taken?

At this point, I don’t. I think that in time, as we begin the recovery process that the health departments across the world will want to implement some sanitizing standards for casinos but I would not want to venture into a guess as to what that might look like.  

What are in your opinion the possible scenarios this could bring for the land-based sector, and your company in particular, in the mid-long term?

One thing that has been proven over time is the resiliency of the casino market. This crisis will pass, and the market will recover. I believe Aruze will quickly restore its momentum as the factors that brought Aruze such a great year last year, as well as momentum this year, were our fantastic products and team and they are still in place. 

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