hi and welcome to our instructional video
that is designed to make you smarter gambler my name is Steve Bourie
I'm the author of the American casino guide which is the number one
bestselling book in the US
on the subject of casino gambling and travel and the
only book that comes with more than one thousand dollars in casino coupons
if you want to know more about the book be sure to visit our website at
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American casino guide this past october we went to Las Vegas to visit the Global
Gaming Expo
which is the world's largest trade show for the gaming industry and while we
were there I had the chance to interview
frank legato who is the editor at global gaming business
which is the leading magazine for information on the casino industry
Frank is a nationally recognized expert in slot machines
and during the gaming show he conducted a panel discussion on server based
gaming
which most gaming experts think it's the way all slot machines will work in the
future
in this video Frank explains what server based gaming is
how it works how it benefits casinos and how it benefits players
now here's frank legato frank you're the editor at Global Gaming business and you
write about
to the casino industry from the casino side
and you conducted a seminar here on the server based gaming
can you explain what server based gaming is and how it differs from most slot
machines in a in a casino how they operate traditionally slot machines were
Analog Devices stop she's a computer's now they're all digital devices
and what server based gaming does is as a central computer
central computer server houses all the game cart as the graphics that's the
the game programs themselves the pay-back percentages
everything and the random number generator and everything
is sent via ethernet to the the slot machines
the content his sights set with it does for the operator
is it allows them to change our content instantly they can change
games from video poker to to real bass lots or from
dollar machines to penny machines depending on who's going to be in the
casino at the time and it gives them more flexibility
now what are the benefits for the consumer
for the consumers the benefits are still
a unfolding at least in the US because
a of operators are dabbling with it but in general
a with server based gaming allows a casino to do
issues the data in the a a player club
which tells you what a player's preferences are what they've played
their play history
and use it to a give them stuff that's a
thats that that that they're gonna like and it's another player loyalty
device for them for instance the
the latest applications that are being added to the system's
a will allow a casino operator
to offer player has five favorite games when he sits down
%ah you know from the from the game library it'll allow an Amazon type
where if you like this game you might like this game yeah
so it will allow them to actually serve the customer call us: preferences
basically the other aspect cuss for customers
server-based gaming is being %ah is being
played out on a more marketing basis it there are
events that could be beam through the system
lawyerly base events there's a valley has a virtual racing
a where and everybody that earns five points
or up 50 points set by the casino on a machine
qualifies for virtual horse race or page virtual NASCAR race
will show you hate courses or
8 cars and you pick one and everybody in the casino
sees a virtual race either on a picture in picture others
machine or a small monitor and everybody you pick the winning
force in the winning or splits a cash prize that's just one
%uh many bonus games that are based on player loyalty that are coming out he
said
okay how many casinos have is how widespread is
%ah the that the traditional server-based that there's only
a few that are set up that they're basically
in the US there testing the water still you'll see them on certain banks have
machines
a the the loyalty base bonuses are spreading rapidly
they have them they have them in travel they have them at to a lot of the Indian
casinos
in California have implemented bally's up
lawyerly base bonuses %uh the South Point here in Las Vegas has it to
so it's it's starting to spread right now pretty rapidly
okay so it's it's still not that widespread now what protections are
are therefore the player cuz players always say you know I was went on a slot
machine all the sudden
the must've been somebody flipped the switch I couldn't win anymore
so people are going to be a little suspicious at this that the player that
the casino can flip a switch and change the programming in the game so what
protections are there for the players
well the kiss first of all the casinos don't want to do that they don't want to
anger their players
you know that's that's their bread and butter specialist la players they don't
need to their already getting a ten-percent edge
on the house K on the %uh how set on the slight gains they don't need to but
they're also regulations a place
they're not allowed to change a game at all while it's being played
they have to I have to have prior approval from the
from the regulatory authorities so you know at a machine has to be idle for a
certain amount of time it varies by jurisdictions
before they can change anything but what their changing our denominations and
game styles other they're not changing pay back percentage is just not
happening
okay Frank the gotta thank you very much for spending time with us today thank
you
don't forget that you can see more of our educational gaming videos on our
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