Gaming equipment supplier Sega Sammy Creation Inc’s “Baccarat Maximum Fortune Premium”, is building on the name of a market-proven product, with fresh elements to appeal to younger adults, says Kevin Lee (pictured with the new version), director of sales – Asia, for the company.
He was speaking to GGRAsia at casino industry trade show Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia 2025, held earlier this month in Macau.
Explaining how the new product built on the good name of the company’s “Baccarat Maximum Fortune”, Mr Lee explained: “We enhanced it with an ability to skip three hands to produce more trends for players to decide [on their wager].” That compares to a one-hand skip function on the original.
Mr Lee stated: “Baccarat players look for ‘trends’ to play – whether it’s ‘banker’ [bet] or ‘player’ [bet].”
While the game has the upright look of a slot, it actually has the gameplay of an electronic table game.
The Asia sales boss added that players at live-dealer baccarat tables, will often “walk around tables” on a floor, looking for “a specific trend, and then they play together,” with friends.
He explained, referring to the ability to skip up to three baccarat hands on a single unit of the company’s new game: “By having this feature, we believe that players will bet more.
“It will generate much higher turnover and translate to higher windfall to the casino.”
All about ‘trends’
Sega Sammy Creation has also developed animated signage for Baccarat Maximum Fortune Premium, designed to serve as “reminders” for players regarding perceived ‘trends’ in play.
“We try to create some element of reminders – some indication for players to see that a certain [baccarat game] result hasn’t appeared for some time,” explained Mr Lee, noting that such function could help induce players to wager more in the game.
The baccarat side bet options Lucky 7 and Super Luck 7 – introduced in the traditional live gaming format in Macau last year – will also be added to Baccarat Maximum Fortune Premium, and the existing Baccarat Maximum Fortune product – subject to Macau regulatory approval – possibly “by September” this year, Mr Lee also mentioned.
Baccarat Maximum Fortune has already been particularly successful in Macau, states Mr Lee. He thinks that has been helped by Macau’s generally-high minimum bet levels across traditional baccarat tables. That has opened up space for more “affordable” play options.
“Seeing the demographic of tourists coming in – they are getting younger. So… maybe they want to try baccarat; but they feel intimidated at the [traditional live] table, which is so crowded,” remarked Mr Lee, referring to the Macau market.
Another “intimidating” scenario for novel players in table game baccarat, is daring to bet on an option different from the rest of the players present. “That’s where we come in,” Mr Lee stated.
He also noted: “Baccarat itself is a very straightforward game. So… by adding more elements of surprise or higher odds, and then some fun animation, hopefully we can draw in new players.”
Another Sega Sammy Creation attention-grabber at the trade show was the slot game “Prosperity Peaks”, described as the latest in the brand’s “Extreme Wild” series and designed “specifically for the Asian market”, according to the supplier’s pre-G2E Asia show corporate materials.
Prosperity Peaks – featuring the graphic motifs of pots of golden coins and the Chinese god of fortune – has a similar play mechanic to Sega Sammy Creation’s existing slot game, “Extreme Wild – Lanterns”, the latter a “successful” game, Mr Lee mentioned.
A major feature for Prosperity Peaks is the “Dice Wild Feature”, triggered when dice symbols appearing on reels 1 and 5; the two dice symbols will then roll, and determine the number of positions that change to wild.
