Casino ticket printer and player management software provider TransAct Technologies Inc has announced a partnership with AIGC Co Ltd to promote its products in Japan’s nascent casino industry.
AIGC Co “will promote the advantages of TransAct’s industry-leading casino gaming print technologies to all constituencies pursuing and supporting the large potential market opportunity in Japan, including established gaming equipment manufacturers, international and local casino operators, government officials and to-be-created regulatory agencies,” TransAct said in a Wednesday filing.
No further details on the nature of the partnership were disclosed.
According to the document, AIGC is “a new consulting agency focused on the potential casino gaming market in Japan”. The firm is reportedly led by veteran casino gaming executive Akiyoshi Isoi.
“I am truly excited to be working with Aki as he is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the casino industry,” the chairman and chief executive of TransAct, Bart Shuldman, said in a prepared statement included in the filing.
Mr Shuldman added: “He now resides in Japan and his relationships and knowledge of the market will help ensure that the advantages of our leading solutions are top of mind for all participants in the market.”
The Japanese casino gaming market “is expected to be a major [business] opportunity”, TransAct stated in the filing. It said it forecast the initial licensing of “up to three large-scale integrated casino resort properties; two in large cities and one in a regional market”, with the first properties opening as early as 2021.
Legislation making casino gambling legal in Japan in principle came officially into effect in December 2016. But the arrival of 2017-end without the passage of an anti-gambling addiction bill – a statute seen as a precondition of de facto casino industry legalisation – has pushed the casino development phase further down the track, a number of industry commentators have said.
TransAct reported casino and gaming equipment sales of US$5.1 million for the third quarter of 2017, down by 8.9 percent from the prior-year period. This was the third consecutive quarter of casino and gaming equipment sales decline for TransAct as measured in year-on-year terms.
