Table Gaming – a Move into the Future

A speech prepared for the Casinos and Gaming Conference, on the Development of Table Gaming Technology to prevent continuing deterioration of facility market share.
By Andrew MacDonald
Casino Manager, Conrad Jupiters, 1997

What is happening to Casino Table Games?| Will this be allowed to continue till the eventual extinction of table games? Is a Casino still a Casino if is doesn’t offer table games? | Well you don’t have to be too bright obviously to use such an arbitrary system to your advantage. The more you bring the more you get and you don’t have to play any differently. | For high rollers on table games the same is true, although we certainly don’t advertise it as “Cash Back” for this group. | With a broad based accurate table rating system offering real benefits to customers the same could occur with table game players. | That may also be extended to ensure all systems within the facility may be interfaced to enhance service delivery to our customers. The future might be something like this… | A list of the issues which might be looked at include the following | Service delivery is obviously critical in today’s market place but knowing what to deliver and implementing change quickly to meet new needs is even more important. |

I don’t believe table games will disappear totally. In part because if Casinos become nothing more than a gaming machine venue then it would be extremely vulnerable to direct competition. Table games are still an important point of difference and are a product which has a specific target market and level of appeal. Gamblers are superstitious and enjoy the level of skill and control afforded by table games as well as the mechanical rather than computerised nature of the equipment involved. What will most likely happen to table games is that they will be transformed using technology into hybrid games incorporating many of the interesting features of gaming machines. This will mean more games like “Caribbean Stud” and “Let It Ride” which already incorporate jackpots and tournament features. Multi-station Blackjack and Roulette gaming machines already exist and it won’t be long before we see our first electronic table gaming pit with service personnel and instructional areas.

Animatronic Dealers and themed situational settings may also be used to create a “West-Worldian” type table gaming experience. For example, we could have Bart Maverick dealing Blackjack with Wild Bill Hickock “playing” and live players entering and exiting this Old West movie scene. In another part of the same Casino other themed fully interactive experiences may be created using both live actors and computer driven robotics.

Thus, the Casino complex of the future will be more dynamic with diversionary architecture and interior design used throughout to trick the mind into believing they are part of something which they are not. This means more experience and escape driven properties and thus we will see a multitude of everchanging themes within the Casino properties.

A single facility may include such diverse themes as “The Old West”, “Ancient Rome”, “The Roaring Twenties”, “Galactica”, “Outback and Adventure”, “The Fabulous Fifties” and many other zones featuring horse and car racing, sports, and other adrenalin linked endeavours.

The creation of new interactive table games to fit such themes will be an interesting evolution and melding of technology with personal contact so as not to lose the human and social aspect of Casino gaming.

But the actual games themselves are only one aspect of the operation. Years ago Casino Managers decided that they could stimulate play by offering; “free” trips, room, food and beverage deals to specific customers. They “knew” they held between 20% and 40% of the average front money or bankroll brought by a customer. So if a player was willing to bring $10,000 to gamble they based their decision on how much to provide in complimentary benefits on that basis. So depending on the policy of the Casino they might have given 10% of the players bankroll back to them in complimentaries. So, if you bring 10 grand we might have given a $500 airfare, 2 nights accommodation and paid for their food and beverage during the stay.