THE AGENDA
Ghosts in the Machine
By Roger Gros , Publisher
While I was writing this month ’ s feature on the live dealer phenomenon in iGaming , I was reminded of a time when I was at the cutting edge of live dealer technology . It was around 1981 and I was working as a blackjack / baccarat dealer at Caesars Atlantic City . My cousin ’ s girlfriend at the time , Dawna , worked as a receptionist in the hotel offices . One day she fielded a call from a man who wanted to recruit dealers for a somewhat unusual assignment .
He was planning to create a slot-machine type of device that would feature “ real ” dealers dealing the cards , announcing the totals and congratulating the winners . More than a decade later , a Japanese company , the video game developer Sega , came out with a ready-for-market version of this live dealer game on a much larger machine that could seat up to seven players . That scenario has currently been perfected by Interblock in today ’ s casino environment .
But no one at Caesars at the time was interested in helping this gentleman , so when Dawna told me about it , I asked for the name and contact info , figuring I might make a quick buck arranging something . After talking to him , he was very grateful that someone had responded , so he wanted a group of six good-looking , well spoken , diverse dealers , which I could easily come up with . It didn ’ t include me because I didn ’ t qualify under at least one of those qualifications — and I didn ’ t ask which one .
So the deal was , he ’ d fly us from Atlantic City to Boston , put us up at a hotel , feed us at some very nice restaurants , arrange for some entertainment — which turned out to be a night at a Red Sox game , my first visit to Fenway Park — in exchange for filming the dealers saying all the catch phrases of dealing blackjack — things like “ dealer has blackjack ,” the numbers from three to 21 , “ player busts ”…. you get the idea . That turned out to be more grueling than you might expect . They actually paid us all extra to stay another day to complete the shoot . For some reason , Caesars never asked whey seven dealers all called in sick on the same day .
The actual product had a mockup of a screen inside a standard-sized slot cabinet so they could see how the shoot would look in that limited space . And we ’ re not talking about the 62-inch curved screen behemoths we see in today ’ s casinos . This screen was around 12 inches from tip to tip ( think the early Si Redd video poker games ) with the silent movie flicker to them because it hadn ’ t been edited . I knew almost instantly this wasn ’ t going to work because the technology just wasn ’ t there . In a later version they showed me — maybe the beta version — it had only improved a small amount , and in the lag between when the player hit the button and when the decision was made , you could have ordered a drink from the cocktail waitress — and had it delivered .
But what did intrigue me were the “ human ” dealers and how they made the game fun . Now , these people were my friends , so I knew what they were like and their real-life personalities , but somehow I could imagine total strangers getting caught up in the game and developing a strange relationship with them . And these were just filmed people , not live and in person .
That ’ s why I ’ ve been so fascinated with the live dealer , an actual person that you can chat with , someone who does have a personality that interacts with the players . The executives I spoke with for this story tell me that there are players that wait for certain dealers on certain shifts because they have developed a relationship with them . It doesn ’ t sound creepy or like they are stalking ; it just seems like they like the personal interaction when they recognize the dealer .
But again , we come back to technology . The product that my dealer colleagues were working on in Boston all those years ago didn ’ t cut it , not because it wasn ’ t a good idea , but because it was ahead of its time . The live dealer we see today is really only scratching the surface with its potential . What happens when you can match players with certain “ type ” of dealer ? Or maybe the camaraderie that develops between a group of players can turn into a kind of “ weeknight poker night ” for those players ? And to stretch it even further , we ’ ve been teased about the possibilities of immersive virtual reality , with or without the headsets , where you could waltz into a virtual casino , dressed to the nines , and sit down at an elegant baccarat game or a high-limit blackjack game and make a night of it .
Technology is a wonderful thing , but there are plenty of things we haven ’ t even imagined that can be delivered instantaneously to our best players . But even with this remarkable technology , nothing will beat the human touch , even if they ’ re just a group of sad-sack dealers from 1980s Atlantic City .
Vol . 21 • No . 9 • SEPTEMBER 2022
Roger Gros , Publisher | rgros @ ggbmagazine . com twitter : @ GlobalGamingBiz
Frank Legato , Editor | flegato @ ggbmagazine . com twitter : @ FranklySpeakn
Jess Marquez , Managing Editor jmarquez @ ggbmagazine . com
Monica Cooley , Art Director mcooley @ ggbmagazine . com
Terri Brady , Sales & Marketing Director tbrady @ ggbmagazine . com
Becky Kingman-Gros , Chief Operating Officer bkingros @ ggbmagazine . com
Lisa Johnson , Communications Advisor lisa @ lisajohnsoncommunications . com twitter : @ LisaJohnsonPR
Columnists Cait DeBaun | Frank Fantini
Contributing Editors Dave Bontempo twitter : @ bontempomedia Julia Carcamo | Marie Casiasl | Chris Irwin Marjorie Preston | Bill Sokolic twitter : @ downbeachfilm Bill Zender __________________
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Rino Armeni , President , Armeni Enterprises
• Mark A . Birtha , Senior Vice President & General Manager , Hard Rock International
• Julie Brinkerhoff-Jacobs , President , Lifescapes International
• Nicholas Casiello Jr ., Shareholder , Fox Rothschild
• Jeffrey Compton , Publisher , CDC E-Reports twitter : @ CDCNewswire
• Dean Macomber , President , Macomber International , Inc .
• Stephen Martino , Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer , MGM Resorts International , twitter : @ stephenmartino
• Jim Rafferty , President , Rafferty & Associates
• Thomas Reilly , Vice President Systems Sales , Scientific Games
• Michael Soll , President , The Innovation Group
• Katherine Spilde , Executive Director , Sycuan Gaming Institute , San Diego State University , twitter : @ kspilde
• Ernie Stevens , Jr ., Chairman , National Indian Gaming Association twitter : @ NIGA1985
• Roy Student , President , Applied Management Strategies
•
David D . Waddell , Partner Regulatory Management Counselors PC
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4 Global Gaming Business SEPTEMBER 2022