do the things that today ’ s consumers expect . Our games are too simple . Our loyalty programs are too simple , too much oriented towards entitlements . We can ’ t make any rapid changes in our technology and our offerings . And so , our industry has run tired . Our costs are too high and our revenues are too low .”
Acres is addressing the challenges of modern loyalty systems as CEO of his latest company , Acres Manufacturing , along with son Noah Acres , the company ’ s chief operating officer . The company is currently preparing for an initial public offering that will occur in the coming weeks , proceeds to be used to expand the company and to maximize the benefits of the product Acres says will effectively address the problem of the antiquated CMS , a system called Foundation .
Foundation is not a traditional casino management system , but a technology that super-charges any existing system by collecting data directly from each slot machine — according to Acres , 1,000 times the data collected by a traditional CMS , a richness of data that frees slot officials to court , reward and retain players in ways they ’ ve never done before .
“ The casino systems we have today are closed ,” says Acres . “ They ’ re proprietary . The system supplier refuses to allow you to share your own data with third-party vendors . With Foundation , just about all the data is shareable . And we think that revenues will rise because of that .”
Direct Data Access
“ We call it a GMI , which stands for gaming machine interface ,” explains Noah Acres . “ You plug this directly into the slot machine and it extracts all of the SAS data in real time . Every single event , every meter that ’ s reported on the game , comes across this in real time . And we present it to the casino in the manner where they now control and own the data in the way that they want .
“ This is really big in terms of learning player behaviors , and adjusting to player behaviors in real time . And this can can actually write credits directly back to the game .”
One of the advantages of this last fact is that Foundation is a perfect system addition for adding cashless functionality , as Penn National is currently doing using Foundation in combination with systems from both Everi and Scientific Games at some of its properties nationwide , using the Acres Wallet cashless module to transfer funds brought in from outside sources by the CMS and translate them instantly into credits on the player ’ s machine .
But it ’ s also perfect for rewarding bonuses that are precisely the right player perk at precisely the right time . John Acres notes that Foundation records not only how much people are wagering , but the manner in which they ’ re wagering . “ We can record how long people pause between button presses — whether they started with $ 100 or $ 10 , what their credit meter balance is ,” he says . “ We ’ ve got a very rich data set , and we have that data in real time .”
The other benefit is the freedom the operator has to use that data in a way not possible with traditional proprietary systems that control the disbursement of data and shut out other systems . “ The data is free to the casino to use in any way they want ,” says John Acres . “ There are all kinds of third parties out there with lots of capability for analytics and decision-making that are unable to couple to the existing CMS systems in ways that can bring brand new capabilities , brand new profits to casinos if they can utilize this data .
“ We ’ re providing the bridge through which they can access that casino data , as well as the building block upon which they can build cashless functionality .”
He adds that the ways of drilling down this data to benefit the player / operator relationship are practically endless . For instance , Foundation can merge data on the credit meter balance with the time between wagers —“ whether or not you ’ re slowing down your wagers or speeding up , whether or not you ’ re increasing or decreasing your wagers ,” John Acres says .
“ With those hints , we can start to ascertain what your satisfaction level is . Are you becoming tired of the experience ? Are you disengaging ? And if we can time a bonus or a challenge to you at that exact moment of discouragement , when you would otherwise get up and leave , we can transform the gaming experience .”
“ It ’ s more than just the segment of data that we gather ,” adds Noah Acres . “ It ’ s also the real-time nature of it . If I go to the casino today and I sit down and I play , the casino has no way of monitoring my experience in real time . Therefore they , they have no way of adjusting or modifying my experience .
“ We collect everything in real time , giving the casino the ability to see if the player is having a good experience , a bad experience — perhaps , even , if an experience is going to jeopardize the person ’ s loyalty . ( The operator ) can then jump in and respond with either a bonus , a message or some type of incentive or personalized communication .”
It ’ s the kind of personalized experience to which customers — particularly younger customers — have become accustomed thanks to the internet . “ The success of the internet cannot be ignored ,” John Acres says . “ The combined revenues of Facebook , Google and Netflix are 48,000 times bigger than 20 years ago . Gaming industry revenues have increased by a factor of 2 , just barely keeping pace with inflation . Why is the rest of the world exploding while we ’ re thrilled to death to have a 20 percent increase in one year ? It ’ s because of personalization , mobile interactions and social connectivity . These are all facets the gaming industry has ignored .”
He says Foundation and the technology coming behind it is all about “ resetting expectations ” among operators . “ It ’ s about getting casinos to realize that it ’ s way better if we all take a smaller share of a giant pie than the majority share of a little tiny pie . That ’ s the difference between open and proprietary . Open has worked in every industry it has been brought to , and we ’ re really excited about bringing it to casinos .”
Changing the Game
Beyond changing the way casinos marshal all the data that could be at their fingertips , Acres Gaming is looking to change the slot experience to better fit the emerging younger player demographic .
“ We ’ re stuck in the same basic game platform we ’ ve had in the 50 years since I ’ ve been in the business , which is basically spinning reels that spin and stop , and you win or you lose ,” John Acres says . “ Our next step beyond Foundation is what we call Coherence . That ’ s where we create an entirely new gaming machine .”
He says this new machine will have no bill acceptor or ticket printer , and will be built from scratch for cashless play only . “ But it also will combine the loyalty information with the random number generator at the same time ,” he says .
“ So , when you sit down at the game in our vision of the future , you ’ re going to hold your palm up against the machine . It will recognize who you are , your funds will transfer , and the game that you see will change to match your personality .”
Acres says this will apply regardless of the casino you ’ re in , as long as it is equipped with Coherence . “ You ’ ll go to any box anywhere in the casino , sit down , hold your palm in front of it , and you ’ ll see the game of your preference , the game that we believe is most likely to fit you .”
He adds that Coherence will fit the mobile , social media world in which today ’ s consumers exist , with opportunities for side wagers and other interactions with players you know , instant replays of your wins on social media , or even to identify someone across the casino who is winning and wager on
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