POKIE MAKERS WORKING ON NEW MACHINES TO TARGET GAMER GENERATION
Here’s an interesting article from Saturday’s SMH by Nick Toscano talking about skill-based gaming. The article appears to have been prompted by a current application from Wymac and somewhat sensationally claims “If the applications are approved, it would mark the most radical overhaul of gaming machines since they were legalised in Australia in the ’90s and, arguably, since their inception more than a century ago.”
What the article fails to mention is that since its introduction in the United States, skill-based gaming has struggled to gain traction with gamblers and its youthful target audience. Caesars’s Entertainment properties removed skill-based games from their floors after a six month trial because they failed to generate enough money to even cover the rights fees.
However, many people in the industry still believe skill-based gaming will be key to attracting millennials and that it needs to be a long-term view. It seems that companies are banking on marketing theses skilled based games to a “non-slot” gamer – which is going to be a big hurdle in both time and return on investment.
So, if it is hard in the US market where there are no gambling stigmas and you can openly market these products, it’s going to be nigh impossible in the restricted Australian market.
Anyway, an interesting read. All feedback welcome.
Here’s a video from Gambit Gaming showcasing some of their skill-based machines called ‘TriStation‘ which is a pod that has 3 interactive gaming stations. Gambit Gaming supplied the machines in the Caesars Entertainment trial.
