Flashing lights and jingling bells are the norm on most casino slot floors, but one brand of machines is apparently doing a superior job of catching players’ eyes.
The new standout among machines is made by AGS. AGS games are packaged in a flashy cabinet with 498 LED lights, called Orion. (Orion was a hunter in Greek mythology; the constellation by that name, located on the celestial equator, is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable in the night sky.)
Skyelar Perkins, senior director of slot operations at Choctaw Casinos & Resorts in Oklahoma, was among the first to get on board, and says the Orions are still faring well. Popular titles include Fu Nan Fu Nu, River Dragons, Wolf Queen and Winter of the Dragons. “Even after 11 months, Orion’s Fu Nan Fu Nu is still doing 5X house average,” said Perkins.
AGS statistics show that what Perkins reported is true in many cases – their machines are doing much better than what an average machine takes in at a casino. Officials say Orion has already surpassed performance and sales expectations with more than 350 units currently installed. Nearly 700 more installations are scheduled.
Completed installations include those in South Florida, where Hialeah Park, Calder Casino and Seminole Classic began offering games in the Orion cabinets earlier this month. “They’re just beautiful machines,” said Tony Presutti, director of slot operations at Seminole Classic. “Gorgeous.”
Presutti said the titles are capitalizing on a trend: Asian games have shown an increase in popularity. Plus Seminole Classic players enjoy a must-hit jackpot feature set at $5,000 for the bank of four River Dragons games, set up back-to-back with four Fu Nan Fu Nu games. “When it gets close to that $5,000, there’s a frenzy,” he said. “I walked in this morning and they were all already full.”
The Seminole Tribe’s larger South Florida properties, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood and Seminole Coconut Creek, will have the new Orion machines by August 1.
“We couldn’t be more energized about its performance and momentum,” said David Lopez, President and CEO of AGS. “Orion’s success speaks to our obsession with getting the details right with new hardware and creating games gamblers love to play.”
A team of about 12 hardware engineers worked on it “24-7 for a long period of time,” said Andrew Burke, AGS senior vice president for slot products. That included a field trip to the Coca-Cola innovation lab in Atlanta, the city where the AGS engineers are based.
The company’s roots are in the Class II, Native American market. It has expanded its offerings to include slot games for the Class III commercial marketplace as well as specialty table game products, B2B social casino products, and B2C social casino games.
The Orion cabinet, offered in both Class II and Class III formats, is also available with sign packages and in multiple custom configurations. As the machines rolled out last year, Casino Journal magazine listed the cabinets as one of the casino industry’s top 20 innovative gaming technology products for the year.
