Taiwanese manufacturers are beginning to attack the gaming market with some serious product. David Snook investigates...
The status quo in suppliers to casinos in the Far East should perhaps look over their shoulders.
If the GTI Expo in Taipei (May 8-10) is anything to go by, then they are in for some stiff competition. A significant trend of the exhibition was not just the number of casino slots on display, but the number of exhibitors in that sector who either have raised substantial funding on the Taiwanese Stock Market, or are planning to in the short term - just to fund an attack on that market.
Companies like Astro Corporation are already there. A stock market float two years ago has given the company the resources to expand rapidly. New technology and plenty of fresh ideas have already seen the first 100 of its triple-screen Paradise games going into Macau after winning GLI approval. The company has made no secret of its intention to broaden this influence into other markets in south-east Asia and beyond.
IGS of Taipei similarly went to the stock market two years ago and also has a background in the street market. It enabled the company to capitalise on what is now a three-year project to perfect a range of casino slots which are about to be subjected to GLI approval procedures.
There may be plenty of scope. Quite apart from Macau, the Singapore openings will provide opportunity; there is the glittering prize of Japan on the horizon and Thailand is only a matter of time; and there is of course the distinct possibility of an opening up of the local Taiwanese market to casinos. The established markets in Korea, Cambodia, the Philippines and Australia/New Zealand are also on the agenda of Astro and its compatriots.
And who are the compatriots? A walk around the GTI show illustrated the depth of activity. Taiwan - either directly, or through its inevitable contacts on the Chinese mainland - is driving much of the components business in casino slots as it is. Cabinets, monitors, buttons, power supplies, PCBs and game design are all strongly entrenched in Taiwan and aimed determinedly at the casino sector. It is built on a long history of supplying the street market with PCB games and in particular the video poker business globally.
The technology is unquestionably there now and from the look of some of the spectacular displays of casino slots and overhead signage for jackpots and progressives, so is the ability to marry together software and hardware.
Borden Technology at Kaohsiung in the south of the country has a background in PCB gaming software. Next year president Tsai-Li Hsieh plans to take the company to the market to "broaden our base by expanding our line of video slots."
Huai I, which makes slots under the Weiya name and is a major supplier of monitors and cabinets to the industry, will go public "within the next two years." General manager Robert Lin said: "This will enable us to widen our manufacturing base with other products."
Paokai, also from Kaohsiung, has a strong background in crane machines for the street market, but has always also designed and supplied gambling PCBs. It has bought a new factory next door to its present premises in order to have the space to build complete machines for the casino sector for the first time. It also has its first game through the testing procedures for Macau.
The story was repeated around the show floor - an awareness of the growing opportunities in Asia and the abilities of the Taiwanese in terms of technology and capacity, to cater for it. Almost every stand at the show had its blend of fun machines and serious gambling devices, built to a surprisingly high standard.
Perhaps nowhere else in the world would it be commonplace at an exhibition to see children’s rides sharing a booth with the most sophisticated slots. To the Taiwanese developers they have obvious overlaps. It is a lack of preconceived ideas that the industry should view with some apprehension.
