Which of Interblock’s electronic table games is most popular at the moment?
Our most popular segment at Interblock is probably our Universal Cabinets, along with our Stadiums and Pulse Arenas. So those different products cater to two different demographics. Our Universal Cabinets are going to be catering to the player who wants that individual experience, and then Stadiums and Pulse Arenas is going to be catered to that customer who's looking for a more communal experience, fun environment, something similar to that.
Do you think an industry-wide dip in table game revenue is benefiting electronic table games (ETGs)?
For those properties that are struggling with table game revenue, I would say absolutely yes, we’re filling a void. A lot of operators are having trouble finding labour these days, so they turn to an electronic solution and an ETG solution fills that gap. We’ve got a wide variety of offerings that can fill those gaps from stadiums to standalone units, to communal games like a MiniStar Roulette or something where six to eight people could play at one time. So absolutely, it’s helping operators to be able to fill the void and also helps to grow their business. For those operators that may not be struggling, it’s also helping to increase revenue in their casinos overall.
How do Interblock’s games cater to both an experienced player and then your more first-time player?
From an experienced player's perspective, we’ve got a variety of different products that customers would find. They’re going to see roulette on the floor as an automated roulette, and they will fall into that game just because they’re familiar with the game itself. From a Smart Pit perspective, it’s another product that we’re now introducing into Interblock’s line of games. Those games are actually in the pit, so you’ve got experienced table game players that are looking for games in the pits and now those players are actually finding the Interblock hybrid product, which is our Smart Pit, that now caters to the more experienced player. From a non-experienced first-time player, I think I mentioned the Universal Cabinets earlier, it’s a game you can walk up to and is very unintimidating; you can go play by yourself, make mistakes, do whatever you want, nobody’s really going to care because you’re playing in your own environment and you’re not affecting anybody else, so first-time players enjoy that experience.
How key is the tribal gaming market to Interblock?
I think the tribal gaming market is as key as any other casino in the world; there are a number of tribes out there that are looking for a variety of different solutions. Some of them may be handcuffed by regulations as to what they can do and what they can’t do. Interblock offers a wide variety of products to be able to fill those gaps. So tribal gaming a lot of times turns to Interblock because they don’t have any other solutions; they may not be able to offer live card games, live craps games or live roulette and we’ve got solutions to be able to help their casinos. Whether they are fully automated or not, there are solutions that are going to benefit those tribes.
In terms of the casino floor, what further innovations do you see taking place?
One of our key innovations right now is our Smart Pit. We are introducing a lot of AI into our Smart Pits. For example, we’ve got a hybrid live dealer assisting craps game right now. We’ve got the dealer manually entering in the result of the dice after each roll, so what we will have in the very near future is camera technology, AI technology, that will actually detect the roll of the dice and automatically record what the result is. This eliminates any manual entry that the dealer may mistakenly do and now it puts it as 100% reliability with dice detection, and it also eliminates the possibility of any collusion that might happen with the dealer.
What do the next few months hold for Interblock?
We’re growing rapidly. We’re getting into every segment of the business; I mentioned our Smart Pits earlier, we’re now starting to bring automation into live pits, so by trying to help table game operators be more profitable, we’re penetrating that area of the business. Eventually we’re going to be going online with our products. So we’re looking to expand in every facet of the business.
