James Boje, Managing Director IGT-Europe, spoke in Amsterdam with Ricki Chavez-Muñoz about the development of server based gaming in the region, and to clear up the difference between downloadable games and games hosted in their own cabinet servers.

The rapid spread of technological developments, plus the appearance of gaming devices in the market place claiming server based capabilities, especially in regions like Latin America, was something that I had to get clear from the horse’s mouth, so to speak, when I visited James in his Amsterdam base. This disquietude had come to my attention after years of travelling the region and talking to operators who had the desire to engage and operate gaming’s new technology.

It had been difficult for me to put the record straight in several occasions when asked to differentiate between downloadable games and server based games, with special reference to International Game Technology’s revolutionary sbX® system.

As language and neologisms go by, the term ‘server based’ had some facile translations into Spanish, and whereas it was easily understood by bilingual speakers well versed in modern Spanglish, Castilian speakers were somewhat miffed by the misuse of noun, verb, or both. This, of course, may not be of interest to the Anglo language speaker, but it is here to help the single language speaker bridge cultural and technological barriers.

Not being a total ignoramus on server based gaming, on account of a previous undertaking on behalf of a Korean company selling a horse racing digital system, I was familiar with the system where the game software is hosted in the central CPU, and the game content is communicated to interconnected terminals where players can bet on the images projected, also from CPU software, on to giant screens. The terminals are software free and house, at most, a currency transaction unit in the form of coin, bill acceptor, or smart card reader. In a word, the terminals are dumb.

In dumb terminals, the game software is housed in a central CPU site anywhere but within the slots machine cabinet, and without a direct gaming support data system to service and find solutions during play controversies. All technical and software support is housed where the CPU is installed: away from the machine; and this is also referred to as server-based. Sometimes game content is communicated to the terminal via online signal with access via open Internet public providers.

Server based gaming content is part of gaming device
The difference between one and the other is that, while systems like IGT’s sbX® are endowed with game content as part of the gaming device and have the full support of cutting edge technology within the machine’s environment; other systems have their gaming content travelling any distance from a few yards to a few time zones, with operators experiencing support that amounts to correspondence school tutorials with all the complications that distance learning entails.

At IGT’s Amsterdam headquarters, which boasts a bespoke showroom that has been created to replicate a slots gaming room, Boje said: “The concept of server based gaming is to have the ability to remotely install each game in any machine that you see here. It’s not just a matter of downloading a game to a terminal which is unable to service any problem that may arise. In other words, each one of these machines has all game data installed in the server to which it is connected, but it is downloaded to each machine along with all the other software necessary, allowing for each unit to stand alone, too. Additionally, as you see here, sbX® is capable of delivering an interactive display directly on the game screen – we call it the Service Window – with program applications available for operators to better service their players directly at the machine.”

What this means is that when the operator wishes to change a game that is on the way out, so to speak, and wants to roll on to the next hot game, all he has to do is to download the game from his server using sbX® Floor Manager, the game management application of the sbX® system. A few minutes later, the new game is ready for play in the machine with all the bells and whistles, design and interactive support available from IGT, but the game is controlled by the machine, and not from a server somewhere else on planet Earth.

Boje added: “Our system uses the open protocols set up by the Gaming Standards Association, which means that sbX® applications can interact with existing games and cabinets from other gaming manufacturers that also have adopted the GSA open protocols that allow this communication. Actually, all this is a response to operators’ needs, because the technological developments are operator driven.”

sbX® installed around the world
As IGT treads the cutting edge of technology, its sbX® system has already been installed in the casinos of Las Vegas such as ARIA in CityCenter, and the Monte Carlo Casino Resort, The Orleans Hotel & Casino, as well as the Ameristar St. Charles Casino Resort, Barona Resort and Casino, Colusa Casino, FireKeepers Casino, MGM Grand Detroit Motor City Casino Hotel, IP Biloxi Casino Resort, and in other parts of USA. In Europe, IGT has installed the server based system at properties such as Casino d'Evian in France, Casino di Venezia, and Casino de la Valee, in Italia.

In Amsterdam, Ali Civile, sales director for IGT Europe, commented, " sbX® provides operators with a library of more than 100 international game releases and includes multi-denomination and multi-percentage capabilities. Because new game releases are continuously sent to the customer and several games can be downloaded simultaneously into one cabinet, operators can keep their floor fresh at all times."

At the end of June, following a thorough training programme and a smooth installation, Grand Casino Helsinki experienced a flawless go-live on approximately 20% of its gaming floor with IGT’s sbX Experience Management System. Grand Casino Helsinki is part of RAY, Finland's Slot Machine Association. All of its profits are distributed to support health and welfare work. As Finland's sole casino, Grand Casino Helsinki operates 300 slot machines of which more than 65% are manufactured by IGT.

“We were pleased with IGT's installation and go-live. The system provides us more flexibility on game configuration, and the large game library allows us to give our players a wide variety of theme choices. With access to the game library, we're able to quickly optimize our floor to offer players even more of their favorite games," said Heikki Rinta-Panttila, casino general manager for Grand Casino Helsinki.

Civile added, "The integration of the IGT Casinolink management system, EZ Pay ticketing and IGT's sbX® Floor Manager at Grand Casino Helsinki simplifies their operation, and allows the casino to maximize the benefits of each of these three successful management resources."

During the past few years there have been server based games on offer from manufacturers the world over. However, in gaming jurisdictions that had demanded laboratory certification some of the games have retrenched to more acquiescent territories. As there is a clear difference between downloadable games, sometimes with software relayed through Internet, and server based games with gaming content installed in the machine’s own server, like IGT’s sbX® system, operators must be aware whether they prefer the games based in their own cabinet servers in their own properties, or somewhere else altogether. (E-10.15.10)

© 2010 Ricki Chavez-Munoz

© Copyright 2010 CasinoCompendium



>>> return to archives
>>> return to frontpage