Casino floors are evolving as patron profiles get younger and consumer preferences shift across generations, say representatives of gaming suppliers, speaking during a session at the MGS Entertainment Show 2023, a casino industry trade exhibition and conference taking place in Macau.
Suppliers of electronic gaming machines (EGMs) may benefit from this market shift, as they appeal to a demographic of people that had grown up on sophisticated video gaming experiences.
“You chat with these operators [in Asia], it seems like they [the customers] are about five or six years younger” than the market had experienced previously, “but that’s very consistent with what we understand to be happening in the Western world as well,” stated Lloyd Robson, general manager Asia, at Aristocrat Gaming, the casino equipment business of Aristocrat Leisure Ltd.
“So, casinos seem to be really in the competition for another demographic,” he said, adding such shift could aid the “rise of the electronic gaming segment”.
Jim Preston, vice president of global innovation at electronic table game specialist Interblock dd, also noted the opportunity for suppliers, due to a cap on live gaming tables in the Macau market.
“In IRs [integrated resorts] here in Macau… you see the price point of the live table game creeping up and up. Obviously, they’ve got to [get] yield [from] their tables because there’s a cap in the market,” said Mr Preston.
“For us, as an electronic table game manufacturer, it just presents an opportunity because not everyone can play at that [traditional table] level,” he added. “So, we’re seeing the trend of the electronic table games growth, there’s growth throughout.”
Mr Preston also observed that the Philippines was “leading the way” in terms of development and licensing of new products.
Growing markets
In terms of EGMs, said Aristocrat’s Mr Lloyd, the Philippines is “the largest market in Asia, it’s got the most machines, it’s got the most expansion activity happening”. As a result, “everybody wants to be a part of that” growth story, he added.
Trevor Ross, sales director for Asia at casino equipment provider Light & Wonder Inc, noted that the various gaming jurisdictions in Asia were at different stages of development.
In the Philippines, the regulators were in the early phase of their current term, under a Philippine president who has been in office since May 2022. “We’re still very much in the infancy stage of building relationships, so, it’s really about dialogue and education,” said Mr Ross.
In Macau, since the relaxation in January of Covid-19 countermeasures, the market has seen “pent-up demand”, which “creates enormous opportunity for the industry,” noted more than one speaker during the panel on “Future opportunities, challenges and trends for gaming suppliers”.
Eddie Au, chief operating officer at LT Game Ltd, a Macau-based provider of electronic gaming equipment and management technology for casinos, suggested that suppliers should have “more frequent” exchanges with the local regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.
“As a local company, we are always trying to show them [the regulator] what’s happening in terms of development in the region, for instance related to cashless, remote gaming,” said Mr Au.
LT Game’s COO also noted that the company does not rely on a “single strategy” when it comes to developing new games, as such products need to cater to various markets and different generations.
“We just try to shorten the production cycle so that we can be more flexible in terms of our offerings and game titles,” he stated.
