p24-27 IGT interview.qxd 3/28/07 9:37 am Page 35
INTERVIEW
with PGIC and Atronic. What does that mean to an
operator? Our EZ Pay customers can have an Atronic
or PGI system running on the floor and we can
interface that system to run with our ticket solution
for the customer. It’s a good solid product that fills a
need in the marketplace.
CI: What's the difference between your R&D
budgets for slots and for systems?
JB: As a company, IGT is very much in a transition
phase. We’ve brought additional resources on board
with great expertise and we’re restructuring ourselves
domestically. Were gearing up and refocusing the
company to move forward on server-based (sb). Our
ratio in terms of what is spent where on R&D is
probably going to change as we move forward, with
our increased focus on sb and as the demand
increases. We’re going to be very proactive, as well as
reactive, to the needs of the sb market.
CI: Now, the whole Big Picture concept, what’s the
core of that idea for the customer?
JB: The Big Picture is not just showing what’s
available today but showing a bit of the future as well.
It’s sharing our vision of the future with the
customer. For example, we had server-based gaming
on our stand at ICE. We didnt just show normal
server-based downloadables. Everybody can do that
today. We showed in private sessions a little bit more
of the special sauce, that added value we can offer
operators. We just didnt show it on an IGT product
either. We had a WMS machine on our stand and a
Above: James Boje
Novomatic machine. not a complicated concept and people love it. Also
Next spread: IGT product
The core of sb moving forward is using open TITO is innocuous and its in no way associated with
wowing crowds at ICE 2007
protocol, being a member of GSA, which we are and player tracking.
were working all together. At the end of the day, it's
to the benefit of everyone – developers, casinos and CI: In terms of growth and development of IGT in
ultimately the player. Europe, what do you see as potential obstacles?
JB: Our obstacles for future growth mainly come
CI: IGT were behind the birth of TITO (Ticket In, from Eastern Europe. Where technology has not
Ticket Out) but do you think that in certain always been readily available, they sometimes hesitate
countries smart cards have the edge? For example, in to step out there.
the UK Chip and Pin cards are everywhere, so smart We have some key operators out in the market
cards may have that added recognition and trust over place that love to work with IGT and we love to work
ticket-based solutions. with them. They have the infrastructure. We respect
JB: With any new technology, you’ve got to find their operational skills and they appreciate the
countries that pick up technology quicker than quality of the IGT product, so we have very good
others and with time, those customers will start working relationships. We have the Olympic group.
grasping that technology. Without going into a lot of We have the HIT group. We have the Portuguese
detail, therere good arguments both ways. At the end casinos and we have SBM in Monaco. These are
of the day, EZ Pay’s easy – it’s proven – it’s successful customers that drive us to find new technology and
– it’s in the market place. The smart card in Europe? push us into directions we haven’t been before. These
It’s out there but it seems to continuously under are the kind of customers that really help us
perform, from what I’ve seen. overcome territories where people are not open-
I come from a market in South Africa where Sun armed and welcoming technology rapidly. That takes
International developed a smart card technology a little bit longer. When technology-driven companies
which took that market by storm. However, to IGT like Olympic go into a new market, they expect to go
Africa’s credit, one of the biggest casinos in Africa in with products like EZ Pay and MLPs. Their needs
with 1700 machines has decided to go TITO. help us drive technology into the market. Obviously,
In a market where smart card has been we also have an aggressive sales force but its more
predominantly king, there is a place for TITO. It is challenging for them when a market is not
easy. It is very simple. It has marketing potential. It is technology-driven.
APRIL 2007 25
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