Gaming & Entertainment Touch Technology has unveiled its newest campaign that bears its name – “GETT Customers Happy” – and for the Las Vegas-based gaming parts company, that means keeping slot machines up and running in casinos.
Started in 2012 by Trent and Karla Looney, GETT says it provides their customers with the best value on the slot machine parts. The company’s motto is SPARK – Selection, Price, Availability, Responsiveness and Knowledge.
GETT provides cutting-edge technology for the parts of the slot machine that receive the most wear and tear. It carries parts of the major slot manufacturers such as IGT, Konami, Aristocrat, Bally’s and others. There’s everything from tiny light bulbs and wires to bill validators, CPUs and video cards.
It previously launched a series of free tech training classes for their many customers around the globe and is now expanding upon that.
This training has helped many of GETT’s customers find and train new staff for the critical roles that many casinos have had trouble filling in the slot tech industry.
GETT has a YouTube presence in a series of informative videos called “GETT Educated”. This library of information helps casinos find and train the talent they need to keep their games running, Looney said.
“If you’re a casino operator, the question is this,” CEO Trent Looney asked: “How do I get customers happy and most importantly keep them playing? That’s what it comes down to. You better have staff to put the parts in, better have the parts available and better have some training.”
The slot machine is the bulk of the revenue for most casino operations, and during the pandemic it became difficult to find quality employees because so many people left the business, Looney said. Technical labor is the hardest to find.
“There’s about 15,000 tech jobs that cover all of the casinos in North America and of those 15,000, there are 5,000 jobs unfilled,” he noted.
Two years ago, when they evaluated their customers in various jurisdictions, Looney learned from casino executives that they didn’t have enough staff to put the GETT parts on their slot machines. People were opting for other jobs given the boost in pay during the pandemic without thinking of the long-term possibilities of career advancement in the casino and tech industry, he explained.
“The opportunity came to us as such and why we started generating and producing and almost ready to launch our Y1T series of training for the year one slot tech. But more than that, we’ve been making free videos on the replacement of key parts,” said Looney. “It’s not enough to be a parts company if no one is available to put them on.”
GETT currently has over a dozen of the short format video training sessions and will soon release Y1T, or Year 1 Tech.
“We’re invested in education and value it and there’s not a lot of it on the slot machine side, which is surprising when you consider how much revenue they are responsible for in terms of cash and percentage share,” Looney said. “For there not to be formalized tech training that focuses on the customer experience being the best it can be is kind of surprising. We’re hoping to fill that niche.”
The Y1T training is part of a subscription package of $199 for the course and $259 that includes a tool kit.
The Y2T will be announced later this year with a Y3T to come after that.
“We’re more than qualified to teach this training, and we go over this piece by piece in the five-week modular training that’s everything from customer interactions to technical training, the history of machines, how slot machines work and function, cleaning tips, personal safety, how to keep control of the keys, and how to notice when someone has a problem having too much fun,” Looney said. “It’s more than just a slot machine technical course. It’s an introduction to being a floor-level casino employee specializing in the repair of slot machine electronics.”
GETT will be discussing its program at the Indian Gaming Association conference and tradeshow in Anaheim in April.
“From the casino standpoint, finding good quality happy engaged people is so difficult in some of these locations,” Looney added. “These people are responsible for your longevity.”
