Electronic table games (ETG) are starting to become more prevalent in the United States, as casino officials look at them as a way to grow new players.
“Imagine playing blackjack when your strategy isn’t perfect,” said Debra Nutton, executive vice president of casino operations at Wynn Las Vegas at a G2E session Wednesday morning,. “An ETG gives you the opportunity to not have to listen to someone else at the table getting into your head.”
Only about 0.5 percent of slot floor space in the United States is devoted to electronic tables, as opposed to 5 to 10 percent in Asia and Europe. Part of the reason is that traditional slot machines carry about a 10 percent profit, compared to only a couple of percent for the electronic blackjack, craps, baccarat and roulette.
But John Connelly, CEO of Interblock Gaming, naturally made a case for adding ETGs, by having operators remove the lowest-performing slots.
“You’ll still have profitability on your main slots but you’ll have new players,” he said, using data from online gaming to support his argument.
“If they are 50 or older and playing online, over 90 percent are playing slots,” he said. “For those 40 and under, 90 percent play table games.
“They’re very accustomed to touch screens and they’re very accustomed to solitude.”
Nutton added that ETGs can offer lower-stakes play, while saving on labor costs. She also noted that for Wynn’s property in Macau, dealers are hard to find.
“Macau has a zero percent unemployment rate, so sometimes it has been hard to find dealers,” she said. “So ETGs are a way to capitalize on that short labor pool and let them bet less than they would on the floor.”
She also said she learned Asian players didn’t love the random number generator in slot machines, “but ETGs introduced them to a game and gave them a better feel for what a slot would feel like.”
Wynn has no ETGs on its Las Vegas floor but plants to offer an entire section when its Boston casino opens.
Donnelly said Interblock is expanding its monitor to 27 inches to allow side bets, calling them “opt ins.” Technology also now allows for multiple game play, such as one person working two roulette wheels at once.
“So that increases the handle without making it too complicated,” he said.
The panelists also compared the communal feel of regular table games vs. ETGs.
“Gamblers have huge egos,” Nutton said. “So we’re really here on the table game side, to be a captive audience. We laugh at their jokes, ask about their kids. When they walk up it’s our job to know who they are, know what they drink.”
“Young people have egos like everyone else but they want to make sure we treat them with respect. When we talk to them like they don’t know what they’re doing, we turn them off.”
