What are you exhibiting here at G2E? And what is the product that has got the best reaction so far?
We have several products that, this year, have resonated within the industry, which makes us very proud of the team. The Smart Pit is a new product category from our company and I think one of the reasons it’s resonating with the industry is that there are no chips. That means the ability of a dealer to make a mistake and overpay someone is eliminated.
Now the Holy Grail has been solved because we can rate players, by the second, by the dollar. So when you spend marketing dollars, you can target that marketing spend more effectively. We’ve also introduced live dice recognition, which is another technological advancement.
Interblock’s Smart Pit won Table Game of the Year at this year’s Global Gaming Awards Asia-Pacific. How did you come to create this innovation of a blend between traditional table games and futuristic technology?
With the Smart Pit, again, there is the other component to it which is the live dice recognition: something that the industry has been searching for a solution to for decades. They have tried RFID technology – numerous attempts – and we have finally come up with a solution at the show that is resonating with a lot of the operators; as we can now effectively protect craps with one dealer.
From an integrity perspective, it is one of the bigger takeaways from the Smart Pit. But also the fact we can integrate an entire pit through technology, generate more handle, higher house advantage, eliminate collusion or mistakes by dealers, have live dice recognition and all of the interactive benefits that go along with that. These benefits include rating your players in real time and that transcends into a more effective marketing spend.
The Smart Pit is also one of the top three takeaways from Interblock at this year's show. With that said, we also have Aruze in our booth, which is always something exciting. The acquisition of Aruze's table games division was unexpected and in many ways one plus one is equalling far more than three.
Not only because of its product innovation and synergies, but the team that came with Aruze. If you ask all of my employees at Interblock about the Aruze acquisition, the first things they would say are about the people, not the products.
The people are just so innovative and have given some incredible contributions already inside of the organisation. As I think about 2024, having both Aruze and Interblock’s portfolio and teams working together is a major strategic advantage that was unexpected, so I’m happy about that.
Do you foresee any future M&A?
With the acquisition of Interblock by Oaktree Capital, which is one of the largest private equity firms in the world, it opens a lot of doors for us; a lot of opportunities we can investigate and look at.
The answer is yes. Both Interblock, constantly looking for potential acquisition opportunities, and Oaktree Capital itself should continue to acquire assets within the gaming industry.
This would be where we see if there are synergies between those organisations that would be beneficial. I hope that continues and I hope we find other synergistic deals in the future.
Tell us about your new products?
The blackjack officially gets released at the end of the month, so we will see how that does, which I am excited about. Out of roulette, blackjack and craps, we have baccarat, as well. The blackjack at this year’s show, and the way we designed our own table, really caught people by surprise.
There’s a lot of very unique attributes to that product and we will have to see how it performs when it enters the field or the market but, generally speaking, the technology in the Smart Pit is revolutionary.
When you think about it, two, three decades ago when someone said we are going to remove coins from slot machines I think a lot of people around said, “That’ll never work.” Fast forward to today and here we are.
At first I think the reaction, when we explained we were going to remove chips from tables, was similar. However I also reminded people that when you play online, there aren’t any chips and there are hundreds of millions of people, on an annual basis, that are playing table games online.
Quite frankly I think that, as an industry, we need to start bridging that gap between online casino play and the casino floor, and I think the Smart Pit is going to be a step in that direction.
What about the ever-growing impact of AI?
In 2023, we have taken the first step towards preparing ourselves to enter the AI realm. We are tracking our data on machines in a much more detailed fashion, enabling us in 2024 to hire some very skilled AI executives and provide them the tools and data they need to begin innovating.
Our vision is that by the end of 2024, maybe even at G2E next year, we will introduce various forms of AI on our products in real-time tied to players. We are focused and implementing the necessary steps to be in AI by 2024.
How about the secret fortress you have with Interblock’s VIP stand at G2E?
The layout of our booth, at all shows, is primarily to protect the hard work and innovation my team has done over this past year. Unfortunately, many people prefer just to take pictures and videos of our products and try to simply mimic it.
I think I owe it to my team and my employees to protect what they have created, and only give access to those people that are partners and customers from around the world.
You can never solve every potential problem relative to companies wanting to steal or copy or infringe, but we are doing our best with the fortress of Interblock to really protect what I consider to be one of the best innovative teams in gaming.
Finally, what are your ambitions for 2024?
First and foremost, with the momentum we have seen at this year’s G2E, there is a lot of work to be done to implement and execute upon all of the products at this year’s show. After the show, we are going to be very busy executing on the expanded portfolio we have launched here at G2E.
From there, we have a product roadmap that extends far beyond 2024. In our minds, we will definitely be entering new forms of periphery gaming such as HHR, Class 2, VLT and other areas that we find are synergistic with innovation that already exists today in Class 3 environments; and extend that into other distribution channels; that is definitely an initiative.
On top of that, I have intentionally, over the past several years, buffered Interblock from the online space to allow it to focus on the hyper growth we have seen within the organisation. I felt it was premature to lay an online gaming initiative or strategy on top of the existing growth rate and skill ability of the organisation.
That being said, the company has now reached a size I think can sustain both the quality and innovation within the core business while entering the online space. So we are taking the necessary steps, as we speak, to launch online by Q2 next year.
