internationalcasinoreview
2012 Report
Cammegh with its eye on the ball - and the cards
Cammegh is on a roll: the company known for its superb quality roulette equipment is piling innovation on innovation, adapting technology developed for one area of table gaming and putting it to stunning effect in another.
tabletechnology CAMMEGH
It used to be a truism that all the biggest technological advances were happening on the slot side of the gaming floor, but over the last few years technology for the tra- ditional tables has been quietly catching up. One of the key requirements at the tables is to use technology to enhance the game without dominating it. Roulette was the obvious prime candidate: a game that was susceptible to several unwelcome variables that could disrupt the maths and therefore the casino’s return is now plugged into wheel analysis systems and, most obviously, into winning number displays fed by ball tracking technology.
Rim-mounted cameras
that provide the data have now largely been super- seded, in Cammegh’s case with in-rim sensors, for example, in its Mercury 360 wheel range, and by the stun- ning EyeBall, an overhead mounted camera-based system that can detect the ball and wheel speed accu- rately enough to call no more bets and to provide an instant result to the system. Now it has taken the same
technology concept and applied it to the card table. The EyeCard system uses a camera, mounted on the multi-media display for example,
to identify
upturned cards on the black- jack or baccarat table for perfect game tracking. “It’s very, very quick,” said director Richard Cammegh.
“In blackjack it instantly spots the dealer’s card and even offers strategy tips on the display. In baccarat, it will identify when cards need to be drawn and which side wins. The system knows the rules the of the games it has been programmed with and provides comprehen- sive tracking of the play, analysis of the dealer per- formance and will give an alert if a mistake is made.” He continued: “It doesn’t
even have to be an EyeBall camera - any IP camera that can be integrated into the system will work. We have already sold the system to Crown in Australia.” The EyeCard removes the
need for special shoe, and it works with any make of playing card. A soon-to-be released version will use a
directly overhead mounted camera able to track all the cards on the table. Perhaps one of the most
visually attractive products available anywhere is Cammegh’s Mercury 360 Aurora wheel, with a central section that changes colour. “It’s a truly innovative
interpretation of the roulette wheel, using colour to glamorous effect,” said Richard Cammegh. Powered by Cammegh’s
Mercury 360 Game Engine, with standard features including electronic level sensor, Ethernet port for remote access and game event and data log, it also brings a colourful random dimension to the game, exploiting the Mercury 360’s ingenious PowerPlay Bonus Number feature and
Andrew and
Richard Cammegh with beautiful Aurora wheel
the BillBoard system for side bets and mystery prizes. “The jackpot can be set
by the casino to hit at what- ever frequency it wants,” said Cammegh. “It has four settings: Solid Colour mode, showing a selected colour to match the casino décor or branding; Colour Change mode, where it changes colour at no more bets for added impact and security; Bonus mode, where it random selects a winning colour for side bets; the Mystery Prize mode, which is the configurable random mystery prize option.” In a similar vein, the
company was also showing Double Shot Roulette which uses PowerPlay to generate two additional numbers that combined provide side bets with odds up of up to 80:1.
Developing for the digital environment
touchingpace 3M TOUCHSCREENS
3M Touch Systems took the opportunity to demonstrate its out-of-home visual atten- tion service at the show. This innovative piece of software produces a heat-map from still images and can help casino operators pinpoint where customers’ eyes are drawn.
The firm’s Neil Brown
explained: “An eye-tracking study is far more expensive, and our visual attention service homes in on the details of any gaming room’s instinctive noticeability. Any still digital image, so long as it is a minimum of 800 x 600 pixels, can be scanned at a cost of $15 and instantly reveals a room’s ‘hot spots’ - in other words illustrating which products or services are being drawn to the eye,
40 March 2012 •ICEreport
3M Touch Systems’ Flex film senior field application engineer, Sascha Goerner
and those which aren’t. Operators can then analyse their gaming offer and redesign or reshuffle their pack accordingly. Brown explained: “While
we’re known for our touch- screens, we’re a solutions
company first and foremost and in the US alone we have thousands of scientists in our R&D department. We ask ourselves what can be done in the digital environment. We help companies who are trying to stand out and dif- ferentiate in the display world.” To this end, 3M has intro- duced sequences of screens
that physically move in addi- tion to displaying video footage. “We’ve found that brands are looking to create an experience for people in all types of public space environments.” 3M supplied Wynn Las
Vegas’ enormous 40 metre- high iconic billboard, which won the Billboard of the Year award in 2005 and 2006, and is to supply a shopping venue in the centre of Taipei, Taiwan with a rooftop display from February 14 onward. Touchscreen-wise, 3M
showcased its Desk Top Series - a multi-touchscreen that can support up to 20 touches at once and pro- vides a simultaneous multi- user experience. The firm can also supply three 32- inch integrated displays that can support up to 40 touches. The company’s
Sascha Goerner told Inter- national Casino Review: “Just like the iPod Touch and the iPhone, users can pinch, expand and rotate in addi- tion to the standard touch- screen gestures. While single touch usage was the norm for 25 years, the future is def- initely multi-touch and it will be driven by Microsoft. The next Windows Operating System, Windows 8, will feature a five-touch inter- face.”
The gaming sector has
always been an interesting and lucrative market for 3M, accounting for roughly a third of its business, and to this end it has been working with Bally of late to elimi- nate the use of buttons on some of its gaming products. “Multi-touch is still in its infancy, but we think that many markets will follow this path,” said Brown.
VNE
allchange VNE
VNE of Italy showcased its complete range of cash handling products, from simple note-to-coins change machines such as Compact Change, Mini Secure Change, Full Change and Mega change to its latest video lottery terminal solutions including Super Change VLT and Queen Change. “We currently have 14
different products catering to all operators’ requirements,” said Valentina Santarelli, international sales manager for the Lucca-based company. “From simple change machines to more sophisticated machines which change coins to notes and VLT-orientated machines with ticket-in, ticket-out capabilities.” According to Santarelli, VNE currently holds around 80 to 85 per cent of the change machine market share in Italy, and that the group was using international events such as ICE as a platform to expand its presence in new territories. “We sell mainly in Italy, but step by step we are moving into different European countries, including the UK, Spain, Bulgaria,” she said. “At ICE 2012 new possibilities have opened up in markets such as Greece, Sweden and Austria. Our products are installed in many different types of venues, from pubs and bars to arcades and casinos. Our machines can be set to accept different countries and comply with market requirements.”
expands its
horizons
Valentina Santarelli, international sales manager for VNE
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