Does “going online” with your terminals really make the difference when it comes to cash box results? InterGame finds out…

There is no question that online gaming is continuing to grow in popularity with gamers. Opening up new opportunities to play against their peers in real-time, place a bet on the next big football match or have a quick game of poker from the comfort of their own home, on their way to work via their smartphone and now from their favourite bar or entertainment location.

While certain areas of the pay-to-play industry have been somewhat unwilling to accept the benefits of going online with their product, the music industry has been one step ahead and embraced the technology and all its benefits.

Sound Leisure’s most recent jukebox VenueHub, for example, is full of innovative features taking the sector in a completely new direction. It uses the internet in a completely different way to any product the UK-based manufacturer has ever created. It can be updated with V-Apps via the internet, which allows new software to be used by the operator and customer. Third-party V-Apps allow the end-user to sign in and drag tacks simultaneously from their iTunes account directly to the bar they’re sitting in…Their own private jukebox playlist in their local bar.

Sound Leisure’s Chris Black comments: “The online connectivity of the VenueHub means the product can evolve organically. We have taken features from websites, such as the capability of suggesting tracks to customers. By using a third party and connecting to their server, our customers are able to take advantage of information gleaned from millions of other online music lovers.

“The internet allows immediacy and this is especially useful for jukeboxes. We are able to put content onto our boxes that is relevant for a particular day or week. Recently our partner Soundnet released free playlists for our jukeboxes in response to events as they unfolded in the news. For example, we ran a Michael Jackson playlist, a Beatles re-mastered one and one following the sad death of Any Winehouse. We are able to tweak the content to minimise the effort required by the operator but maximise the cashbox returns. The fresher the content the more the customer is likely to spend.

This feature can be read in full in our December 2011 issue of InterGame magazine.