Having a local presence is "critical" when working with operators in the Asian market, Shuffle Master's Adrian Halpenny said.

Shuffle Master has been present in the Asian market for five years now, having reacted quickly to the opening of Macau’s market to international operators. The company has built an experienced team headed up by Ken Jolly as executive vice president for Asia.

"Because Asia is so vast," Halpenny told InterGaming, "distributor networks are often necessary to reach all key markets. In Asia, relationships are everything and distributors can be a powerful tool in building and maintaining them. It’s essential we treat our distributors as our partners and educate them as to all of our product solutions and services as well as provide them with proper product support."

Having people on the ground is therefore essential. "Customers truly appreciate the face-to-face contact and local representation," Halpenny continued. "It’s critical to have representation on the ground to feel the pulse of the Asia market and respond to market trends.

"Although technology has enabled the world to become a much smaller place with so many means of communication, nothing is a substitute for face-to-face contact."

At the forthcoming G2E Asia show in Macau, Shuffle Master will be showcasing some of its well-established utility products, such as the One2six and MD2 shufflers. It will also be demonstrating many of its progressives for speciality table games, like Fortune Pai Gow, Blackjack Switch and Ultimate Texas Hold’em and its new Equinox slot machine cabinet.