This article first appeared in the Jul/Aug 2011 issue of World Gaming magazine.
Every year The Tiger gets his moment to shine brighter than his fellow gang members. G2E Asia is an annual Macau gaming industry exhibition where manufacturers showcase new e-gaming designs and concepts to the casino operators. When you see a new electronic game in a casino, it’s a safe bet it was on display at the previous G2E exhibition. The Tiger stalks the exhibition each year looking for new ideas to sink his teeth into.
E-gaming has been making a lot of noise around Macau and the Asian gaming community because it makes excellent use of space and can offer fun games to all players, no matter what level of betting they like to play at.
The concept of e-gaming being more than just a row of slots kicked off with the e-gaming lounge at the Sands. Now StarWorld and other properties have launched similar areas. We’ve also seen the introduction of the ‘massively multi-player’ Imperial Stadiums at the Venetian and the Sands, where 100 or more players can sit at terminals betting on games dealt by a live dealer.
One company looking to the future is the Inspired Gaming Group who promoted their new product ‘Sabre’ at the G2E conference. The Sabre terminal took a team of around 50 people about a year to develop.
Sabre brings a major innovation to electronic table gaming terminals: ‘real touch’. Gone are the days when you accidently placed your bet three times on the one number. Now every time you place a bet, the touch screen sends you physical feedback to let you know your bet is on. Not only does this make for safer betting, it also diminishes the need for intrusive audio.
Sabre places high importance on making the player feel special. Each high quality terminal is finished off with leather and wood panelling. The 26-inch wide main screen allows a panoramic bet layout, giving the player a wide range of bet types and information. This is delivered in widescreen high definition, providing a visually sharp gaming experience. There is a second smaller screen below the main screen for even more information, such as analysis of recent winning results, hot and cold numbers, and so on.
The other great feature is that Sabre can display up to four games at once, and players can switch between four roulette games and four baccarat games. This is the sort of game play that e-gaming players are increasingly demanding.
This technology is versatile and can be customised for different casinos. What may be allowed in one country might not be allowed in another. The terminals can allow betting on live streaming games (where a camera films action from a live gaming table), automated roulette wheels (a physical wheel with no dealer where the ball automatically spins) or fully electronic versions of roulette or baccarat.
Silver Heritage Limited, one of Asia-Pacific’s most diversified casino gaming companies with operations in seven different countries including Macau, has exclusive distribution rights to Inspired’s casino products including Sabre.
Mr Mike Bolsover, CEO of Silver Heritage, said, “We continue to be impressed with Inspired’s development team and their new Sabre roulette product is evidence that the company is at the forefront of the electronic casino table gaming industry. Together with our casino products division Gaming Concepts Group, we are excited to bring this market-leading product to Asia-Pacific and are expecting great things following the successes of Inspired’s previous products here in Asia.”
We can’t yet tell you where you’ll be able to find the ‘Sabre’, but don’t be surprised to see it turn up in casinos in Macau, the Philippines or Singapore soon.