— Andrew Cardno , Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer , Quick Custom Intelligence
Pay ticket-in / ticket-out system ), it was the tribal casino market where it occurred . “ The first time I ever saw a cash-out ticket was in tribal casinos ,” Knudson says . “ I saw it in Southern California , I saw it in Oklahoma , I saw it in Florida . And it obviously changed the manner in which casino floors are managed .”
Electronic table games ( ETGs ) are another product area that matured in the tribal casino market , in states such as Arizona , Minnesota and others that initially prohibited live table games . Tribal casinos were among the first to host ETGs , in the early days utilizing video of dealers that were the precursors to today ’ s live-dealer ETGs .
“ From the start of Indian gaming to the present , tribal governments have been leaders in the use of gaming technology ,” says Knudson . “ This tribal innovation has been driven by tribal government ’ s desire for economic self-sufficiency , and by the lack of preconceived thoughts on what worked in the past in traditional gaming .”
Buddy Frank , the longtime slot executive who last month was inducted into the EKG Slot Awards Hall of Fame , agrees that tribal casinos have always been among the first adopters of new technology . After establishing himself as a slot executive in Northern Nevada , Frank capped his career in Indian Country in California , first with Viejas Casino and finally as vice president of slot operations at Pechanga Resort & Casino .
Frank says his time at Pechanga brought many pioneering innovations , beginning with the move to electronic communication among the slots on the floor — from serial cable to Cat 5 , Cat 6 and ultimately Ethernet highspeed transmission between slot machines . “ That opened the door to everything else , from the video screens you see on machines today to the live bonusing and electronic tournaments ,” he says .
These days , tribes are more likely to be pioneers in adopting business intelligence , data visualization and the use of artificial intelligence in host programs . There again , says Frank , Indian casinos such as Pechanga led the way . “ Pechanga was a leader in first working with EMC and then Dell to build the hardware necessary to have a good artificial intelligence environment ,” he says , “ and then hiring people skilled in data warehousing and data analytics .”
Quick and Agile
There are any number of inherent reasons tribes have embraced new technologies . “ I think it ’ s a mixed answer , to be honest ,” says Victor Newsom , senior vice president , product management and payment solutions for Everi
Holdings . “ In some cases what we ’ ve seen is for specific initiatives , they are better positioned to be more agile . If there ’ s a tribal initiative , and the council is supportive and working with appropriately qualified partners , yes , they tend to move faster .”
That speed increases once a new technology catches on , he adds . “ If in a market where you have many competitive properties , such as Southern California , when you start to see something catch on with patrons , then there ’ s a fast-follower mindset that takes over , and I absolutely will see it move much more quickly across the regions .”
Knudson says the absence of a large corporate structure , in which there is a quarterly drive to produce results for shareholders , also helps tribes move quickly to new technologies . “ It ’ s much easier for them to make decisions ,” he says . “ At IGT , we ’ re in every market in the world , and we ’ re in regulated gaming segments — the scale of everything is quite large . With that , we inherently have more process when implementing new ideas .
“ Tribes , on the other hand , in many instances have been through the battles to get where they are today , and had to be innovative and may be more agile when it comes to new ideas .”
When cash-out tickets were first deployed in a cashin / ticket-out setup ( to be followed by IGT ’ s EZ Pay ticket-in / ticket-out system ), it was the tribal casino market where it occurred www . tribalgovernmentgaming . com 35