LAS VEGAS, Nevada – (PRESS RELEASE) — Technological advancements and the international expansion of gaming dominated
the discussion at Wednesday's G2E keynote panel as international industry leaders gave their
insights on what will define the next generation of global gaming. Moderated by American Gaming
Association (AGA) President and CEO Frank J. Fahrenkopf, Jr., the panel also discussed the
continued importance of responsible gaming initiatives in the industry's ongoing evolution.
Panelists for the keynote session included Peter Dean, CBE, chairman of the British Gambling
Commission; Terry Lanni, chairman and CEO of MGM MIRAGE; T.J. Matthews, CEO of
International Game Technology; Paul Oneile, CEO of Aristocrat Technologies; and Mark Yoseloff,
chairman, president and CEO of Shuffle Master, Inc.
From server-based games to RFID tracking technology to Internet gaming, the industry leaders on
Wednesday's panel agreed technology is changing the way customers enjoy gaming entertainment
and the way gaming companies conduct business. They emphasized, however, that new technologies
on the gaming floor will not be adopted and become pervasive unless they can offer an improved
entertainment experience for the customer.
"With server-based gaming, we're moving from a stand-alone [slot machine] environment to a
network environment," said Matthews. "New technologies such as this need to take into account
what customers are looking for and how this new environment can deliver an improved
entertainment experience."
Oneile pointed to multi-player slot machines as one of the new products that is designed to integrate
into the new network environment. "Community games are much more than just an experiment," he
said. "We're already seeing more community involvement in general, and I expect that will
continue."
New technology also is changing the way table games are played, according to Yoseloff, who
expects table games to experience explosive growth in the coming years, from 47,000 legal gaming
tables today to 66,000 five years from now around the world. While new electronic and interactive
table game products now on the market have not yet seen widespread adoption in the U.S., Yoseloff
stated that both the Australian and Asian gaming markets have embraced them. Particularly in
Macau, which experts predict will gain approximately 8,000 tables in the next few years, electronic
table games could help to ease the enormous staffing needs the added tables will create, he said.
When asked how the international expansion of gaming will affect the U.S. market, Lanni offered
positive news.
"I think international expansion is going to add to our industry here," he said. "As the industry
becomes more global, we're going to see an increasing number of international visitors here at
home."
Fahrenkopf pointed to Britain's approval for its first "super casino" in the country as an example of
the international expansion currently under way. According to Dean, the U.K. has created a panel to
determine where the new casino will be built; the panel's decision will be reported in January. Once
the location has been decided, a competition will be held to determine what operator will be selected
to build and run the property.
Dean also touched on Britain's efforts surrounding Internet gambling.
"We firmly believe that the way to move forward [with Internet gambling] is to regulate," he said.
After pointing to the contradictions in the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006,
which was signed into law by President Bush in October 2006, Lanni added that regulated Internet
gambling might actually have positive implications for problem gamblers.
"We will probably be better able to identify problem gamblers online because of the registration and
identification processes," he said. "It's harder to identify these people at properties because they can
move to different machines."
All the panelists asserted their continued commitment to responsible gaming initiatives and talked
about the role of those programs in fulfilling their responsibility to all their customers.
"We have a responsibility to problem gamblers," Yoseloff said, "and we also have a responsibility to
the remaining 99 percent of people to provide a great entertainment experience."
G2E is the leading trade event for the worldwide gaming entertainment community, attended by
more than 26,000 industry professionals from around the world. The event will run through
Thursday, Nov. 16.