GGRAsia – Konami horse race game Fortune Cup in Macau debut: APE

Konami horse race game Fortune Cup in Macau debut: APE

Mar 05, 2019 Newsdesk Latest News, Trends & Tech

Casino equipment brand Konami’s horse racing machine “Fortune Cup” (pictured) is installed and operating in “two of the most prominent casinos” in Macau, said Hong Kong-listed gaming machine distributor Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings Ltd - known as the APE group – in a Monday announcement.

The horse racing game is developed by Konami Australia Pty Ltd. Asia Pioneer Entertainment Holdings is the parent of Macau-based Asia Pioneer Entertainment Ltd.

The announcement did not specify the number of units of Fortune Cup that are being installed in the city’s casinos, nor the names of the venues in which the games are being installed.

Fortune Cup is described as a “multi-station” horse-racing game that combines the mechanics of traditional arcade horse-racing games with the sophistication of digital technology for betting and game presentation. The game is equipped with a race track 274 centimetres wide (108 inches wide) accommodating eight horse figures. The game has 12 touchscreen terminals for players to place bets and view horse odds and race statistics.

The horse-racing game is also equipped with a “large LCD screen” to offer spectators what the game’s makers call real-time sports broadcasts. Chinese-language commentary audible during the game’s racing phase is said to be jointly produced by APE and well-known Hong Kong horse racing commentator Samuel Hung.

“Macau is a market we have been eager to expand into. Konami Australia is very excited to partner with our Macau distributor APE to install the Fortune Cup machines in these two casinos. I look forward to rolling out Fortune Cup to more casinos in future,” said Hideo Goto, international sales manager at Konami Australia, in prepared remarks included in the Monday announcement.

As cited in the Monday announcement, Herman Ng, chief executive and executive director of the APE group, said that he believed Fortune Cup would be “one of the most popular” casino games in Macau in 2019.

“Fortune Cup is an electronic table game that is the only one of its kind in Macau. We are getting a lot of positive feedback from operators of this arcade-style horse racing game from casino floors,” said Mr Ng in prepared remarks as included in the Monday release.