Abbiati Casino Equipment is expanding its presence in Asia with a portfolio of table game technologies designed for regional appeal
This spring, Abbiati Casino Equipment completed a delivery of chips and plaques for the opening of Solaire, Manila’s new US$1.2 billion integrated resort. It was one of Abbiati’s largest orders ever and one that clearly signifies how entrenched this family-run firm out of Turin, Italy, has become as a major supplier to Asia of quality table game equipment and technologies.
But then Abbiati’s reputation was already well-established in the Philippines, as it is in Macau, Singapore and Vietnam, where its distinctive currencies can also be found. Still, CEO Georgio Abbiati professed himself duly “pleased” with the high-profile placement, noting with justifiable pride that “More and more Asian casinos are putting their faith in our products.”
Premium chips and plaques of the kind prized by leading names such as SJM, The Venetian and Solaire are leading the way for Abbiati’s expansion in table games markets across the region. These include jetons in the European style and a wide range of American- style chips, both available in an array of colors, diameters, styles, finishes and unique security features. Plaques like the ones you’ll see in Solaire’s new VIP rooms are richly crafted in traditional mother of pearl and fitted with UV-sensitive links for extra security and serialization. The chips on the main floor are designed with the same attention to detail, manufactured under a computer-controlled CNC injection-molding process that ensures state-of-the-art consistency and durability, each one carefully ground on its face to just the right thickness for smooth handling and uniformity, and along its edges to guarantee that size and diameter never vary.
Solaire’s Senior Vice President of Gaming Dennis Andreaci will tell you that Abbiati was selected both for its “leadership position in quality chip supplies” and for its ability to supply currencies with the best and latest design and security features. The topflight service the company provided was important as well—“crucial,” in fact, as Mr Andreaci recalls, “in ensuring the chips were delivered in time for our opening.”
Premium chips and plaques of the kind prized by leading names such as SJM, The Venetian and Solaire are leading the way for Abbiati’s expansion in table games market across the region.
This is thanks in large part to the office Abbiati opened in Singapore last year, which finds the company positioned better than it’s ever been to service and support a growing demand for its products across Asia, and the big show at The Venetian Macao this month finds it armed with innovations developed specifically for a region which in Mr Abbiati’s words has come to play “a very significant role in our company’s business”. The goal, he says, is a more collaborative relationship with the customer, for which a more regionally focused R&D strategy is seen as key. So one of the highlights of Abbiati’s stand at G2E Asia this year is an RFID-enabled baccarat table designed and manufactured exclusively for Walker Digital Table Systems’ Perfect Pay Table Network.
The selling point of Perfect Pay, as the name implies, is the ability of radiofrequency identification to flawlessly track bets, game results and wins and losses. For Abbiati, sophisticated RFID has assumed increasing prominence as a strategic investment, the foundation of its Chip Inventory System, which is built around a 13.56 MHz PJM-enabled microchip, or “tag”. Embedded in the game piece the tag works like a DNA marker, making it possible for a system like Perfect Pay’s not only to confirm the identity and location of all the chips played at one of its tables but to monitor their movements from vault to table to cashier. On Abbiati’s Perfect Pay tables each tag is transmitting its unique data in real time to special high-frequency antennae concealed beneath the layout— antennae capable of reading chips at an amazing 800 pieces per second— which combined with special monitoring software provide a completely integrated solution for tracking, accounting and game management.
The show also will see the debut of the company’s New Generation Baccarat Table, also designed specifically with the Asian operator in mind and incorporating the best of Abbiati’s quarter-century of experience as an artisan of casino furniture. This is a table designed to complement the VIP room experience with a choice of solid woods—mahogany, oak or cherry wood—with leather, alcantara, skai and carbon fiber trim features known for their aesthetics and resistance to wear, finished with layouts woven from the best wools and micro-fine cloths and incorporating a package of advanced ergonomics and security features.
“Table games is a core business, very high end,” says veteran industry marketer Christophe Leparoux, whose Golden Cathay Consulting has helped open some big doors for the company in Asia.
But the fact that its products are found in more than 120 casinos on four continents is the best testimony to the trust operators place in them. It speaks to a commitment to quality that is synonymous with the Abbiati name.
