G2E 2009 - Field trip report

[ian]

I head off for my annual pilgrimage to the Global Gaming Expo tomorrow morning and reports from the the desert metropolis will be posted here during the 10 or so days of the trip.

As is very much the trend these days I intend to use the full armoury of video, images and text available.


There'll be updates on Twitter and via Twitpic.com
http://twitter.com/Gamingfloor

Video will be uploaded to YouTube - without edits @
http://www.youtube.com/user/Gamingfloor
No guarantee on the quality however

Images on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gamingfloor


Plus I'll be posting here when time permits.


As you know there's something of a recession* in Las Vegas at the moment and nothing could illustrate that better than the hotel rates I'm paying - €38 for 5 nights downtown and €89 for 5 nights at the Orleans.

The flight at €541 from Germany is around what I normally pay. Booked on Expedia the stopovers are pretty tight so lets hope that my luggage also arrives


Ian


*How many houses available on Realtor.com for under $50k ?
Lets have a look...
http://www.realtor.com/realestateand...price-na-50000
1,532

[ian]

Presently in the Press room of G2E sorting out badges and whether or not i'll be allowed to video on the show floor. New rules in place this year with a threat given that those filming without permission will be escorted off the premises. Not the best attitude to have IMO but hey it's their show.

I arrived yesterday evening after an uneventful trip - boring is perhaps a more appropiate word. Picked up the rental car from Alamo and ended up with a Chrysler Sebring convertible. I'd only booked an economy - Not complaining though.

Las Vegas has a central car rental terminal that houses all the big companies under one roof and a shuttle takes punters there every 5 or 10 minutes or so. Very efficient.

Some tips on booking online, Thrifty and Dollar are the same company (as are Dellta and Northwest airlines). Because there are so many accidents in Las Vegas CDW is expensive (circa $20 a day) so shop around. I ended up using Alamo.de and it was cheaper than the .com

Went straight to the Hotel - Big room but as one would expect for less than $60 for 5 nights, the Plaza has seen better days. I've got a view of the Pool though

http://twitpic.com/prc8c

Wish I could get a similar deal for IGE in January !. There's a snowball's chance of that happening in London.

I spent the remainder of the evening on Fremont Street which as most of you will know is struggling in the present US economic downturn. A glimpse of gaming revenue reports from the NGCB website shows a gaming win constantly declining. I haven't studied them too closely but at a guess casino win is now back, or even lower than early 2000 levels. It would be interesting to check them pre Fremont Experience.

http://gaming.nv.gov/

Three of the four casinos visited had scantily clad go-go dancers in the middle of the pit. I'll get back to you with more on this phenomenon with Caesar's Palace (Pussycat Dolls) and Planet Hollywood (Pleasure Pit) on the Strip having perhaps the most famous versions.

A couple of quick links - there may be better examples online

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zEuRYNcUtwE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wwAFkSjpkA


Being a traditionalist gamer I have mixed views on this development, as I have on the hiring of dealers based on surgical enhancements or unatural physical assets. But after all this is Las Vegas and it's supposed to be an adult playground. When I was on the floor it was more important that dealers were quick, efficient and could win - today it's a different game.

Time to check out some of the early conference sessions and tonight there's the G2E welcome party at Paris.
Type to you tomorrow.


Ian

[Cannalyzer]

Originally Posted by ian

When I was on the floor it was more important that dealers were quick, efficient and could win - today it's a different game.
Ian

I can spin sections mate, come over to my gaff and I'll help you out...

[ian]

It's almost noon here on the first day of G2E 2009.

The problem with filming has been sorted with a pink sticker placed on my badge. I qualify for one because of GF's trade out agreement with the show. Trade out's for those not aware of them are agreements where related media operations and trade fairs agree to co-operate publicising each others products and no wonga changes hands either way, and such arrangements lessen the burden on marketing budgets.

Early this morning I was at the press briefing given Frank Fahrenkopf from the AGA. It was pretty poorly attended but at 8.15am it really isn't the most attractive of times.

Some of the numbers to emerge from the briefing were that the show has shrunk from 335,000 sq ft in 2008 to 258,000 this year and the AGA, along with their partner Reed, are hoping for 25k attendees - last year it was 26.8k.

Right now I'm on a PC in the Networking Lounge situated in the corner of the floor and it's approximately 60 or 70 yards from the far wall. Last year the show went almost right up to it - so that's where the missing 77,000 sq. ft. is.

News from the US gaming markets for September indicates a 1% dip in revenues from September 2008. GGR for the 3rdQ of 2009 was $7.94 billion which was approximately 5.5% lower than in 2008.

I get a number of email publications emailed to me daily and the AGA, as you may have read, also has it's own electronic newsletter - the AGA Smart brief. The publication presently goes out to some 6,500 recipients world-wide.

The AGA recently conducted a survey on a number of issues including what would be the major story in 2010. The possible passage of Internet gaming legislation in the U.S. led with 39% of the vote. Looking from a more International standpoint I would personally rank the opening of the two IR casinos in Singapore as No. 1. It all depends of course what your stand point is and how you look at the world.

As you walk the floor here one could be forgiven for thinking Internet gambling doesn't exist. There's no IGaming Zone like in London - what you now know is that there's certainly plenty of room for one to be introduced should the political climate change


I have an assistant helping me this year so there should be an abundance of images from the floor and I'll hopefully be back later with a few links to enhance your browsing pleasure.

Ian

[ian]

Attendance yesterday looked pretty decent on the exhibition floor and here"s a quick twitpic taken from the Bally stand facing IGT.

http://twitpic.com/pzqge
Hopefully I'll have some better ones but it gives an indication of the atmosphere.

Bally actually have a larger stand this year than IGT with 300 machines on display compared to IGT's circa 220?. It's also a mightily impressive presentation and upstairs yesterday there was a carvery with the Playmate of the year posing for photo's and handing out signed publicity shots. Cool.

Logistically staying at the Plaza downtown wasn't the best choice for easy access to the LVCC. The Hilton of course is the most strategically placed and last year I was at the Riviera which is only a 10 minute walk away. It's the first hotel I've ever stayed at that has a parking area for rentable mobility scooters and last evening 5 were spotted in use on the Gaming floor as I walked from the parking garage to hotel elevator.

I can see a time when server based gaming arrives that some slots will have no chair in front of them so that the users of these devices can simply park right in front without having to get out. Of the 5 scooters in use 3 of the occupants were dangerously obese.

Last night after leaving the show I chilled out downtown once again. 4 or 5 different op's were visited including Boyd Gaming's California and the Spiegel Group's Gold Spike. The latter was formerly a very run down operation but it ain't now. Very tastefully renovated with a small pit full of good looking young dealers. I immediatly thought they had recruited them from eastern europe but they were American and dealing just for a few months. I'll certainly be visiting there again.

http://www.siegelcompanies.com



At the California I had the good fortune to hit 4 Deuces on Deuces wild poker which pays 200 to 1 and that certainly helped. I found a couple of Queen themed slots from Aruze which I'd seen at G2E in Asia and my $5 was turned into $14 after hitting two very entertaining bonus features. Cracking machine IMHO

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-relea...-68850387.html

Next stop was the Hogs & Heifers bar which was full of Firemen who are taking part in the World Firefighter Combat Challenge. Entertaining place and respect to the chap I talked to from Texas who at 37 had 10 kids with the oldest one about to join the Navy Seals.

http://www.hogsandheifers.com

800, 7 man teams so it makes for an impressive spectacle on Fremont Street.

OK, back later with some additional news and information from the conferences and show floor.

Ian

[ian]

Struggling at the moment to get images and video online as the PC's in the press room are not recognising the USB card reader that I picted up at Fry's a couple of days ago. Forgot mine and also the cable to finalise the mini-DVDs on my camcorder.

Well organised, not.

As mentioned earlier the show floor is around 20% smaller than last year so visitors are less spread out than usual but the impression so far is that attendance may be down slightly but it's not going to be alot - single figure % wise is my guestimate.


Time to talk about a few of the products seen on the show floor. Shufflers and playing card reading shoes are the table games assessories that over the last few years have become almost standard on the world's gaming floors over the last decade. If they are so neccessary of course how did casinos ever win money in the circa 150 years before their arrival on the scene

Shuffle master through their acquisitions over the years have the almost total domination of the shuffler market but their is an asian product available. Link and company name to follow.

Looking at card reading shoes that are presently used mostly on Baccarat at the moment the market leader by some considerable distance is the Angel Eye from Angel Cards and they have some 90% of the market in Macau. The other two are from the American Playing Card Co. and IGT.

http://www.angelplayingcards.com/index_en.php


An interesting stat given to me was that the casinos in Macau get through 300,000 decks of cards a day, a figure that I will have to do a little time and motion number crunching on to see if there is a zero two many in the number.

TCS John Huxley chose to exhibit their products in the Ghost Bar atop the Palms hotel so I headed over there yesterday afternoon. Some of you will remember that I commented on the Swedish Touch Table Roulette at IGE that could also be switched over to Sic Bo. The interesting development is that they can now switch the screen over to Craps and the AR layout becomes one half of a craps layout.

Even more amazing is that the players can grab virtual dice and throw them. This is achieved by taking an image from two dice in a shaker and incorporating the graphics onto the virtual craps layout. You have to see it and I'll have a few seconds of footage in my YouTube videos when they're edited and posted online.

Steve Yeung the inventor of Casino Hold'em Poker was there and he tells me that though the distribution agreement with TCS JH that he now has over 100 tables placed around the world. He lost a number when Russia closed down
. He also has agreements with several of the major gambling software suppliers so it's in some of the big name Internet casinos.

http://www.casinoholdempoker.com


Continued...

[ian]

Yes the gaming floor is ever changing - and should change. Tastes change over the years and without the introduction of new games to the casino going public there will be no casino going public in a few years time. Why should punters go to a casino where they only have the choice of two or three table games and some old slots when online and in the street market the choice is often far better.

Change or go the way of the dinosaurs - but of course make sure you choose wisely.

Earlier in the day yesterday I talked to Geoff Hall who's Blackjack Switch is now being distributed by Shuffle Master. Doing a quick count up he told me that he's got 28 tables in Las Vegas (including at Wynn & Encore) and circa 60 acoss the U.S.. He also has 20 tables in the U.K.

I asked him if he's now finding it easier to get his games onto the floor now he's had success and he said it certainly helped to have build up the contacts over the years and his next game Power Blackjack starts field trials shortly.

http://www.blackjackswitch.com


It's good that along with Derek Webb, Britain has three table game developers who'll be making their mark on casinos around the world for decades to come.

After the show closed yesterday I headed over to the Wynn where Michael Gaughan who had that morning been inducted into the gaming hall of fame was guest of honour at the Chairmen's cocktail party held this year in the Penske-Wynn Ferrari dealership.

http://www.americangaming.org/halloffame/index.cfm

http://www.penskewynnferrari.com

A few years ago I used to get an invite but not any more Press weren't allowed access so Ian was unlucky. As I headed back to check out Encore Mr Wynn himself was arriving arm in arm with his new girlfriend. Pity, I'm obviously going to have to work alot harder to get back on the A list.

I was impressed by Encore and the two properties are seemlessly connected by a high end retail corridor that also contains the entrance to the Le Reve Theatre. It's very similar in decor to Wynn Macau with butterfly motifs on carpet and mozaic and red being the dominant colour. I'll be down there in the day over the weekend so I'll do my best to get some decent snaps.


Continued...

[ian]

It's now heading towards 10am and the doors to the exhibition floor for Day 3 will be opening.

Before I log off I must comment on the table game limits at the Encore. I sat down and played Pai Gow on a $10 to $5,000 table. Next door there was a BJ at $25 to $10,000 and another at $100 to $10,000. Both these tables were shoe games with the dealer standing on Soft 17. That's certainly a cracking deal for serious BJ punters and it's very rare to see such generous betting spreads.

The floor person informed me that the limits were higher in the Prive areas.

http://www.encorelasvegas.com


Hopefully there'll be some multi-media for you to check out shortly.


Ian

[Brazen]

These pleasure pits are on obscene example of how these casinos seemingly have to copy one another in everything. It makes sense for Caesar's, Hard Rock and Palms to have a pit full of sexy women to deal blackjack. But they also have them downtown and in local casinos in North Las Vegas. What attractive woman is going to deal cards for minimum wage and $50 in tokes? The obvious answer is they won't and don't.

Is there another city in the world that is more reflective of the ending of the gender war than Las Vegas? Here, you don't necessarily have to be a young and attractive female to receive hiring preferences over others, it is enough to just be female.

[ian]

G2E ended yesterday and I will post more on the third day later.

Right now I'm at the IAAPA trade show that's also on at the Las Vegas Convention Center. It started on the Tuesday and this is the fourth and final day. In a couple of hours it'll be broken down and I've swopped my G2E press badge for a new one here.

http://www.iaapa.org
International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions

I'm glad that I attended as there's certainly some interesting exhibits and again when I get my act together there'll be 5 or 6 minutes footage posted on YouTube.


Back on the topic of Party Pits, scantily clad dealers and go-go dancers behind the tables they were very much in evidence again downtown last night. I returned to theGold Spike and it turned out to be a highly entertaining as well as minimally profitable experience. Cant complain when you've $3 - $200 BJ, pretty dealers, Heineken's for a buck tip and a bunch of fun guys from the IT world playing almost perfect basic strategy.

The dealers like those in other party pits work and are recruited by an agency. Link to follow as the name presently escapes me. The girls seem also to have at least one other job so dealing is just a part of their schedule. They keep their own tips, tell jokes and certainly interact with the players far more than a seasoned vet would and I can understand the attraction of such a deal for operators wishing to generate additional footfall.

What does concern me though is the fact that they don't really care if they lose. Why should they ?. That's the problem, so it's perhaps OK on small stake games but obviously not when there's serious money on the table.

Today I move to a new Hotel - The Orleans.

The Plaza was certainly a good deal at the price but the property as well as the majority of the clientelle are showing their age. More slots were being wheeled in as I left this morning and a Horseshoe of tournament machines were being wired in by the properties tech's.

On Fremont Street the World Firefighter Combat Challenge continues with races of two individuals going off every five minutes. It was the girls turn this morning - tough and extremely fit ladies.

It's live on the web at
http://www.firefighter-challenge.com
http://www.livestream.com/ffcc


The next post will have details of the most interesting new table games seen at G2E.

Yesterday evening I went shopping on Sahara and at an Office Depot came across a Laptop offer for $319 - normally $480. Unfortunately they sold out on the first day of the offer at every branch in LV.

Proves that although there's a recession on here the punters know when there's a bargain to be had. Looks like it might have to be Fry's again this evening and I'll be filming on the Strip over the weekend.

Ian

[Brazen]

Went to see 2012 and I can never seem to walk by a Fuddruckers without partaking of the healthy cuisine. This place seems to do a brisk business; it's always full of the local Vegas fauna: cabbies, valets, cooks, dealers, strippers, et cetera...testing their luck. If anyone wanted to do a field study on problem gambling, this would be a great place to set up shop.

[Mzamba_Slim]

"What does concern me though is the fact that they don't really care if they lose. Why should they ?. That's the problem, so it's perhaps OK on small stake games but obviously not when there's serious money on the table." - Ian

I'm not sure I understand your point here Ian - what exactly is the 'problem'.
I've got a feeling you might set me off here! Good luck!!!

[ian]

Arrived not so bright eyed and bushy tailed in Hamburg about an hour ago and I'll be back at my desk tomorrow.

Mzamba,

I don't have a problem punting on tables with low stakes, liberal rules, pretty girls and Heineken's a dollar a pop. But if I had a few points in such an operation I'd also require a few of the team with some firepower.

That's why you can't open with all trainees. If you do you might as well not bother using drop boxes because smart players have got an excellent chance of kicking you're butt.


Further reports and images to follow. Promise


Ian

[Mzamba_Slim]

Ok.

So the 'they' that 'don't care if they lose' are the operators.

I thought for a minute you were suggesting that dealers should have some vested interest in their own win-loss statistics.

I'm pretty sure these gimics are just to drive traffic thru the doors - to break-even would be a result.

Still, "I'll have another Heineken please Bambi!"

[ian]

Four or five videos completed and they've been on YouTube now for a few days. The City Center one having almost 1,000 views already.


Here they are in the order of YT posting.


G2E 2009 - Opening ceremony and Day 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8BUqPxQbnY





G2E 2009 - Part II Days 1 & 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rX0g0bzWwb0





G2E 2009 - Part III Days 2 & 3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqRV4T7r5C8




Continued...

[ian]

IAAPA 2009 - Las Vegas Convention Center
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQfxnq5xqYM





City Center Las Vegas - November 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWjW-1LAVzg





Golden Nugget Rush Tower Grand Opening
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlwQ0B9wRok




Ian

[ian]

The attendance press release from G2E/Reed is now out and I've also done a comparison of the 2009 numbers with the 2005 Expo. press release.

You can read the thread @

G2E 2009 attendance and 2005 comparison
http://www.gamingfloor.biz/forum/showthread.php?t=3567


In short...

2009 G2E Attendance: nearly 26,000
International visitors: 4,249
Floor space: 257,922 sq. ft.
Exhibitors: 571


Ian

[alfie]

Originally Posted by ian

The next post will have details of the most interesting new table games seen at G2E.

Ian

Ian, I cant seem to find the post on those new Table Games.

[ian]

Hello Alfie,

Maybe it didn't get posted. I'll have to have a look at my notes. Trouble is at the moment I'm running out of time in the run up to Christmas and there's a bundle of paperwork to do before the end of the year

Three games on the following websites and as you can tell from the YouTube videos above Shuffle Master had a selection.


http://www.fortunetellergaming.com
http://www.doublebackjack.com
http://www.rocknrolldice.com


Ian

[alfie]

Thanks Ian, No problem if you find and post after xmas. Will look at the videos etc.