Created in 1976, the Bally System from Scientific Games was one of the first slot-data systems and remains the most popular today in terms of its install base. SG is making its biggest investment ever into innovating and modernizing the system architecture and portfolio of products and services.
According to Rob Bone, SG’s Senior VP of Global Systems and Table Games, the goal is “to create a services-fabric, data-first approach to optimize value and agility to ensure we deliver the compelling player acquisition and retention innovations to operators that we are known for.”
Scientific Games’ SVP Rob Bone
Bone, who previously served in senior executive roles with WMS and Interblock, said he and his team are big fans of “the Rule of Three.” It’s a principle of writing and communicating based on how humans process information. Concepts in groups of three (according to Wikipedia) tend to be memorable, “a perfect combination of both brevity and rhythm and the smallest amount of information to create a pattern.” Perhaps that is why SG’s rethinking of the system has three major elements.
The first target is cashless gaming at both slots and table games. Several vendors at G2E will be talking about their efforts in this important new segment that many believe will result in a positive paradigm shift for gaming revenues.
Scientific Games calls its cashless product Unified Wallet and has been investing in cashless IP for well over a decade. Unlike some vendors that are pushing total systems (in which their system encompasses both slot and table credit delivery and a banking/payment solution), Scientific Games is focused on offering operators freedom of choice. In other words, an operator can choose to mix and integrate effortlessly with several other fintech solution providers, such as Everi or Sightline. Or, as is shown at their booth at G2E, they can opt for SG’s integrated solution of Global Payments’ VIP Mobility product, the only existing single-app cashless solution that dynamically adjusts to each operator’s brand and supports anonymous play. As the name suggests, payments and gaming credits can be funded and redeemed on personal mobile devices (tech-speak for your phone). Also built in are several gaming-specific features that operators will appreciate, like AML controls and responsible-gaming limits that are completely configurable.
The second big focus is continuing to deliver on innovative solutions, such as Player Boutique, which Bone calls “lightning in a bottle.” Two proven casino marketing promotions that have stood the test of time are slot tournaments and gift of the week or month.
Tournaments were automated years ago with most systems, including SG’s. However, today the wildly popular gifting programs remain primitive and manual. On any given gift day, players line up (often in long queues) to get their reward, which can range from sink stoppers to watches, video cameras to luggage. Players love these promotions, but they certainly don’t like standing in lines. They also don’t like when supplies run out (which they often do). For operators, it’s a giant labor headache, as well. After hours of checking IDs and handing out rice cookers or blenders, the marketing team is left exhausted. Casino executives are not exactly pleased when they see their high customer volumes evaporate as players leave to take their George Foreman grill to their car.
Player Boutique allows players to select their own individual prize at the slot machine (with lots of choices), then have it delivered to their home within a day or two via Amazon. Even if there is just a single prize choice, the delivery concept works well. There are no inventory issues, no labor headaches, and no lines with this type of prize fulfillment. This concept might not have worked a decade or two ago, but in today’s Amazon world, it is not only acceptable to get purchases or prizes quickly in the mail, it is generally preferred.
Operators also have the option to create a progress-bar persistence factor in their gifting promotions by offering larger-than-normal prizes that can be obtained over time. Major appliances, expensive jewelry, and electronics can be awarded by building credits over days, weeks, even months. For Baby Boomers, it’s like an electronic Green Stamps booklet. For younger players, it’s as normal as shopping a website.
This one element could be the biggest game changer in the SG System’s new thinking. It can allow operators to tailor their rewards to their unique player base. It promises to increase guest satisfaction, eliminates inventory issues and obsoletes long lines. The labor savings alone make it a no-brainer.
Curious if this will really work? One major casino operator with six different properties live saw a double-digit decrease in customer walk rates on gift days and (even more impressively) a double-digit increase in coin-in during the days of the promotion. Truly, Player Boutique can be a game changer.
The third and most important element of the SG system transformation is the substantial modernization investment being made across the business. Like other system providers, SG often customized elements of its system architecture for individual customers. While there are some benefits of that strategy, it makes the platform difficult to upgrade and implement new technology quickly. A large cash investment over the next 24 to 36 months will target standardizing the system’s basic design to make it more consistent and agile, optimizing all customers’ systems architecture via the introduction of this modernized, microservices solution, then innovating with an intent focus on the player’s holistic gaming journey.
Scientific Games Systems are more focused than ever and are passionately committed to delivering customers’ their very best, both for today and tomorrow.
