Las Vegas — Blackjack. Keno. Roulette. Slot machines. Sports betting. It was all on display last week at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas. Also called G2E, it is the world’s largest convention for the gaming industry.
Many of the biggest gaming companies had giant displays including Aristocrat, IGT, Konami and many others. They showed off their latest slot machines and allowed attendees to try them out.
Cashless gaming is rising in popularity. Players simply load funds onto their smart phone app then scan a QR code to begin play on a slot machine or table game. German company CountR showed off a machine that does ATM services, ticket redemptions and cashless gaming.
“The customer would approach with a smartphone,” said Rainer Seyer, CEO of CountR cash systems. “He would redeem from his e-wallet, he selects the amount he wants to redeem, confirms the amount. Then, moves to the kiosk. The system will generate a QR code. That QR code needs to be scanned with the camera. Once it is scanned, the system is talking to the banking server making sure the transaction is valid. Once it has been confirmed, then the payment is taking place. Then, the customer will get his cash.”
U.S. Thrill Rides introduced its Unicoaster roulette-style ride for casino properties. It’s being promoted as the game you can ride! They’re trying to get young adults off of their smartphones and into casinos. The Unicoaster costs about $1.5 million.
“We are presenting this industry with the concept to take a typical amusement attraction and theme it to this industry,” said Charles Bingham, sales director at U.S. Thrill Rides. “The industry can draw people in the door, a new attraction at the entrance and also it brings in young people. The industry is looking to increase that type of occupancy. It will pay for itself in one year.”
SCA Gaming debuted their ‘Win Gas For Life’ promotional kiosk. It is very timely as gas prices are at all time highs here in the western U.S. The company also showed off its giant three-wheel promotion game.
“With the way the economy is and gas prices and energy prices, we came up with a promotional concept for casinos to promote and advertise Gas for Life,” said Kirk Hadsell, senior account executive at SCA Gaming. “The guest would be instructed to select the three (fuel) grades. If the Gas for Life logos populate, they would win Gas for Life that my company would actually insure. If it hits, I’ll pay for the prize. If not, the guest would win a guaranteed prize that the casino would like to award.”
Remember those claw machines where you could win a teddy bear as a kid? There is a new Go Go Claw game from a company called Aruze Gaming. This one is only for adults and features cash and other prizes. It won the award for product innovation of the year at the Global Gaming Awards.
Circa Resort & Casino repeated as winner of the North American Property of the Year. Owner Derek Stevens and his team were on hand to accept the award in-person. Circa recently opened its all-new convention space with 35,000 square feet of space for meetings and other events.
Other winners of the 2022 Global Gaming Awards include: Hard Rock International for Land-Based Operator, FanDuel for Digital Operator, PeakBarTop with Sports Betting for Land-Based Product, IDComply for Digital Product, Aristocrat Gaming for Land-Based Industry Supplier, Evolution for Digital Industry Supplier, Wild Wild Buffalo for Slot Machine of the Year, Kambi for Sports Book Supplier, MGM Rewards for Customer Loyalty Program, and Baha Mar (Bahamas) for Property-Latin America.
There were educational sessions all week long. I attended one that was called “Navigating the World of iGaming.“ Casino properties can use their online and smartphone games to draw customers to their properties and increase their revenues.
“If you listen to the folks at BetMGM or the Golden Nugget folks talking about it, that brand new online player that’s never ever been to a land-based property,” said Cath Burns, executive Vice President of customer experience at Aristocrat. “Now, because of the loyalty, the rewards, the ability to transact from digital wallets, is now going, ‘Hey, I’m going to go to that MGM property.'”
The Global Gaming Expo (G2E) will return in 2023. For more info, go to www.globalgamingexpo.com.
CountR showed off their new kiosks that do ATM transactions, ticket redemptions and cashless gaming. 
SCA Gaming introduced their ‘Win Gas for Life’ promotional kiosk 
The new Go Go Claw by Azure Gaming 
AmericaJR’s Jason Rzucidlo with the Zonk mascot from TV’s “Let’s Make a Deal” 
Kambi won Sportsbook Supplier at the Global Gaming Awards 
Evolution won the Digital Industry Supplier at the Global Gaming Awards 
U.S. Thrill Rides premiered a concept of their new Unicoaster roulette-style ride for casinos