Alfastreet’s slick new terminal, dubbed the Wiky, boasts a generous 32-inch display that enables players to bet on up to four games at once
Slovenia is an international hotbed for manufacturing cutting-edge multi-terminal gaming machines, and at the forefront of the industry is Alfastreet, which this year is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Initially focused on the European market, for much of the past decade the company has been involved in intense research and development to gear its products to the Asian market. It has excelled in that effort. In Singapore, where the company competes on a level playing field with other suppliers, its products have proven a clear favorite among players and operators alike. At Resorts World Sentosa, for example, Alfastreet terminals make up nearly 500 of the property’s 2,400 gaming machines.
An enhanced version of the classic eight-station R8 roulette, which performs particularly well in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
It’s a different story in Macau, however where despite the enthusiastic reaction to Alfastreet’s eye-catching offerings at G2E Asia held last month at The Venetian Macao, the company has struggled to gain traction in the city owing to patents held by local gaming machine manufacturer LT Game that have effectively kept out all other suppliers of competing products. That patent is being persistently challenged, though, which could eventually pave the way for Alfastreet to greatly increase its share of what is sure to become Asia’s most lucrative multi-terminal market.
Elsewhere in Asia, the company has been going strong in Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Cambodia, according to Sales Director Albert Radman. The company’s top sellers region-wide are its roulette products. On display at the show was an enhanced version of the classic eight-station R8 roulette, which comes in a distinctive square shape and performs particularly well in Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos.
In other markets, including Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines, players prefer single terminals, and the versatile SL has fit the bill perfectly over the past few years. Whereas Alfastreet’s previous roulette products had all been fully automated, the SL was its first semi-automated offering, with a live dealer spinning the ball but all bets and payouts made through electronic terminals.
Also on display at the Alfastreet stand was its big wheel product, available in both automated and live game formats.
Asian players from Singapore to Macau have eagerly embraced the live-dealer multiterminal concept. In Singapore, roulette is the game of choice, but in Macau baccarat reigns supreme. Although Alfastreet has installed successful live-dealer multiterminal baccarat units at Casino de Genting in Malaysia, it is barred from selling them in Macau, where LT Game has 100% share of well over 3,000 such terminals across the city with that number set to soar further as the new resorts on Cotai open over the coming years.
While Alfastreet patiently awaits its chance to have a shot at entering Macau it’s been busy developing a slick new terminal with futuristic looks and superior ergonomics. Dubbed the Wiky, it features a 32-inch display—a lot bigger than the SL’s 23-inch screen though, according to Mr Radman, both terminals occupy the same footprint on the floor. Furthermore, while the SL debuted the unique feature of allowing players to bet on two games simultaneously on the same screen, on the Wiky they can bet on up to four games.
“Asia is always looking for new products,” remarks Mr Radman. “If it’s new it’s good. Even if it’s not better sometimes, it has to be new.”
Though Alfastreet feels the commercial pressure to continually roll out new or enhanced products, it obviously strives to ensure the changes it makes are positive ones. And the Wiky clearly appears to enhance value.
“Baccarat players in particular always like to play several tables at once. Providing them a product that allows them to bet on four tables at once on one terminal seems to be a sure hit,” Mr Radman says.
At the show, the games displayed on the Wiky included sic bo, roulette, double spin roulette and semi-live baccarat. “We have many more games, but we selected these particular ones for Asia,” he explains.
“Definitely, as I said, baccarat and roulette, those games rule the Asian market.”
Though Mr Radman is confident of his games’ superior value, aesthetics, technology and robustness, he is mindful they can still be held back by the region’s unique regulatory hurdles, including delays in product approvals by the fastidious Casino Regulatory Authority in Singapore and the Macau patent issue.
Alfastreet is instead concentrating on diligently gathering market feedback and constantly striving to develop the best products to cater to the evolving needs of Asia’s rapidly maturing electronic table gaming market. And in the process it’s creating some beautiful machines.
