Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd opened on Monday a new low-denomination slot machine area – Duo Fu Duo Cai World (pictured) – at its flagship Galaxy Macau resort on Cotai. The aim is to attract more play by “medium-level” customers, said the firm’s director of international premium and mass market development, Raymond Yap Yin Min.
There is a total of 128 slot machines allocated to the new slot area. It features the series of Duo Fu Duo Cai slot games manufactured by U.S.-based casino equipment and lottery services firm Scientific Games Corp. There are four denominations of bet offered by machines in the area: HKD0.05 (US$0.01), HKD0.10, HKD0.20 and HKD0.50. Each bet denomination offers the chance to win a linked jackpot.
“We want to target the medium-level customers with the range of denominations that appeal to them,” Mr Yap said on the sidelines of an opening ceremony for the slot area.
“If this new area is successful, we’ll launch more [games] with higher denominations in the high limit area.”
By “medium-level” customers, Mr Yap said he was referring to those players that make minimum slot machine bets of HKD0.50 or below.
Currently there are 3,400 slot machines at Galaxy casino resort, including 128 Duo Fu Duo Cai gaming machines, Mr Yap noted.
City-wide, Macau had a total of 14,297 slot machines by the end of the first quarter this year, according to the latest available data from casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, also known as DICJ.
Galaxy Entertainment said in a filing to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on April 27 – giving selected highlights from its first-quarter results – that electronic gaming handle, the amount wagered in slot machines and electronic table games (ETGs) combined, rose 52 percent year-on-year during the period, with net win up by 21 percent year-on-year.
Asked about the reason for the robust performance, Mr Yap said: “Compared to [Galaxy] Phase 1, Phase 2 has an addition of a considerable number of new slot machines. We have always conducted market research to meet clients’ demand, and chose slot machine products favoured by them.”
Mr Yap declined to disclose the relative contribution of ETGs compared to slot machines, in the first quarter figures. But he noted that the firm has seen “satisfactory” performance of slots and ETGs at Galaxy Phase 2 in the second quarter.
The firm is looking to launch a “new zone of ETGs” next month, Mr Yap added.
