Summary

In this episode, Nick and Dan sit down with Mahesh and Eshan Jituri of Adept USA. Learn how a contracted software project for an American casino group pivoted the company toward becoming a premier innovator in gaming dispatch solutions. Listen-in as father & son discuss their diverse application portfolio, their experience supporting both resort and route operators, and the emerging trends set to redefine the dispatch landscape. Also in this episode, the Iran conflict and delays at Al Marjan Island.

Transcript

Nick Hogan:

Good morning, Dan. How are things in Sin City today?

Dan Cherry:

Wonderful, Nick. Good morning. It’s good to see you.

Nick Hogan:

Yeah, likewise. I’m heading over next week. Took a peek at the weather forecast today and was shocked to see it’s already hot as hell. This is odd for May, is it not?

Dan Cherry:

Summer is arriving for sure.

Nick Hogan:

My Lord. Yeah, it’s over 100 degrees today?

Dan Cherry:

I hope not.

Nick Hogan:

Okay. Well, that’s what I’d read, it said. Yeah, whatever, 38 Celsius. That’s definitely 100 degrees. All right. Well, Dan, we have two guests with us today, so we’re going to keep the pre-interview short. Just one quick news item. We’re recording on May 8th and Wynn Resorts held their much anticipated Q1 conference call yesterday. So CEO Craig Billings announced that there’ll be some modest delays in their Al Marjan project due to the regional conflict. Billings explained that the central issue is shipping and logistics, which considering that they’re literally just around the corner from the Strait of Hormuz there, this makes perfect sense. Nonetheless, he stated that their resolve is unwavering. They’ve already deployed a billion in capital. More than 22,000 workers remain on site and the logistics teams are busy rerouting shipments and securing alternative materials and things of this nature. Although he didn’t provide a revised opening date for obvious reasons, analysts suggest that it may slip from, let’s say, spring of ’27 to something like Q4 of ’27, but obviously it’s pretty much anybody’s guess as to how and when this whole mess is going to end.

So Dan, I was thinking about this and I suppose that one of the more complicated aspects of this actually relates to insurance in that there’s obviously political risk policies that are routinely purchased in volatile regions and stuff. But I believe that most standard policies, most insurers and reinsurers as well, disclaim damages due to war or political upheaval, things of this nature. So I’m doubtful they… I even wonder if they’d cover anything beyond physical damage and destruction, like taking a missile in the porto or something like that. And it’s hard to imagine that delays and elevated costs are covered. So I know that the US government and Chubb put together some kind of backstop for the maritime side of things, but do you know how this works? Does it cover just the vessels or… Yeah, I don’t know. I see you smile on that.

Dan Cherry:

Nick, I have absolutely no idea. I was terrified you were about to ask me a question completely out of my element here, so I can’t help.

Nick Hogan:

Well, yeah, it’s just such a strange thing. I mean, it’s just this whole thing is such an incredible mess and without a doubt, when we were talking before we started recording, it’s obviously impacting tourism just generally and not to mention the flow of goods. So yeah, I have to say my heart really goes out to those guys because they are dealing with one hell of a mess there, that is for certain.

Okay. Well, Dan, we’ll move into today’s guest because we have quite a few questions and quite a bit to jug through today. So this is a father and son team, Dan, our first ever, and we’ll begin with dad. So he grew up in India where he received his engineering degree, then immigrated to the US where he did his MBA at Temple, then a master’s in mechanical engineering at Villanova. And after working as an engineer with FMC, he started a custom software development company that entered gaming when it landed a custom dispatch development project with SugarHouse in Philadelphia, now Rivers Philly.

As for the son, he’s a relatively recent graduate of NYU Stern School of Business. He spent the first part of his career in financial services, having done VC hedge fund and investment banking work with various firms, including Rockefeller Capital Management. Earlier this year, he joined the family business where he now serves as head of growth. I’m referring, of course, to Mahesh and Eshan Jituri of dispatch solutions provider, Adept USA. So, good morning, gents. Thanks for joining us today.

Mahesh Jituri:

[inaudible 00:04:37]. Thank you for having us.

Nick Hogan:

Absolutely. Lovely to have you. So, Mahesh, in the intro, I mentioned your engineering background and that a contract software development group you started in the ’90s landed a project with what’s now Rivers Philly. So can you walk us through how you came to establish that company? It was called Adept Consulting Services, that SugarHouse project and what it was about casino work that made you decide that gaming would be your primary focus.

Mahesh Jituri:

Yeah, it’s a great question. But before I get to that, I wanted to say that the gaming industry is such a rich and interesting space, but it doesn’t always get the coverage that it desire, I mean, it deserves. So what you guys have built with ReelCast is really great and we are excited to be here and be part of this conversation. So thank you, Dan, Nick, again for having us here. Like you said in the intro, yes, I born and brought up in India, got my bachelor’s degree in engineering in India. I came here for greater opportunities, did my master’s in engineering, specialization in CAD/CAM, got a job with FMC Corporation, which is a very large conglomerate at that time, and handling all the software development for the engineering space. So we would build software to assist or aid the engineering department to do things much faster.

So when I was doing this, I did it for about seven years and I said, “Wait a minute.” I mean, it was like mid ’90s and things were really picking up in the software computer space. So I said, “Why not offer this