Slotfocus isn’t the biggest gaming technology company. The Las Vegas-based software solutions business deals with a select number of small- to mid-sized casinos.
What sets Slotfocus apart from competitors is a personalized approach.
“As technology providers, we try to be more of a partner,” says founder and president Will Dunn. “That’s our distinction in the market.”
Slotfocus – also the name of the company’s slot-oriented software – started 10 years ago with beta testing of slot machines at Barona Casino near San Diego, California. Dunn says the process starts with taking data in “a very ugly form” and then mining it for information that will help gaming operators.
Instead of “hooking in and things just happening automatically, we are actually interacting with the data before it gets back to the customers,” he says. “We’re actually running analysis on it.”
Slotfocus analyzes the positions of slot games on casino floors, taking into account spend, frequency of play, and other factors. Dunn and his colleagues then sift through the data, making recommendations.
Dunn says most casinos are able to get “a few cents and win per unit” almost immediately after using the software. But Slotfocus especially helps casinos with premium slot machines.
“We help people figure out what are the premium games they need to have based on player preferences,” Dunn says, noting that Slotfocus helps identify customers who only play the most popular machines. “We really help tailor that and manage that expense pretty well, so you end up a more profitable operation.”
“We try to help them improve the top line and the bottom line,” Dunn adds, “and also increase their leverage with manufacturers.”
Slotfocus analyzes every slot machine on a casino floor, taking into account different variables. Looking at a bank of slot machines, the software can determine which games could benefit from being moved, or if some games are underperforming because they are next to unpopular games. It tracks and grades slot machines, from the superstars that people line to play to the duds that gather dust in forgotten corners of a casino.
Dunn encourages operators to take their cues from retail merchandising when they set up slot floors. As in retail, where shoppers range from bargain hunters to those who whip out credit cards with abandon, casinos a wide range of gamblers.
“I could be a dollar reel player,” Dunn says. “I could be a multi-hand video poker player. I could be a penny video reel player. I want to have a section that appeals to each of those types of players, I don’t want to have a bank of quarter video pokers next to a bank of $5 dollar reel machines next to a bank of penny video machines.”
A new product, Tableplay, is a module powered by Slotfocus software. Used for table game analysis, Tableplay combines accounting and carded player data and is available for casinos using Advantage, Oasis, or Synkros source systems.
Dunn notes that getting theoretical settings for table games has always been tricky because it’s based on determining the house advantage. He cites a casino where Slotfocus worked with that used under-computed theoretical settings because it didn’t have the game speeds right. Using Tableplay helped the casino determine where it was off and on target for its goals.
Dunn admits the complexities and variables of table games can be difficult to quantify. A lot depends on the pace of each game, which players and dealers can both affect. Also, dealers (and sometimes players) move between tables, which can affect a table’s overall pace of play.
Tableplay provides data that enables floor supervisors to make better decisions.
“We can offer something that’s super, super low cost,” Dunn says of Tableplay, adding that for casinos that use Slotfocus, the cost of the new software tool is nominal.
