With the layers of slots looking increasingly similar, casinos seeking the latest popular games are using customized jackpots, another tool to lure gamblers.
Park Place Entertainment, which has been offering its own customized jackpot games for years, upped the ante by revealing its latest addition to the growing slot niche on Apr. 9. The “Park Place Million” slot developed by Alliance Gaming will debut in the Park Place casino before the end of this year and will offer incremental jackpots starting at $1 million.
Progressive machines pour a certain percentage of each bet into the growing central jackpot over time. Over the past few years, major Nevada slot manufacturers International Game Technology and Alliance Gaming Corp. have created progressive jackpots that connect games within a particular casino or between multiple casinos they own the same company. This strategy is different from the progressive games offered to casino companies, including popular titles such as IGT’s “Megabucks” and “Wheel of Fortune” as well as Alliance Gaming’s “Popye.”
‘Blondie’ progressives.
In contrast, Marcus Prater, senior vice president of Alliance Gaming marketing, said, “Park Place Millions” games will be built to meet the company’s specifications, from the look and feel of the game to the number of connected slots, the probability of the game and the frequency of payment. In a note to investors, Deutsche Bank casino analyst Marc Falcon said such systems are not new, but could be a “new trend in the industry.” Falcon said, “We think that as games spread and casino floors become more and more commercialized, the biggest operators will develop unique products using a national scale to offer customers.”
He said Park Place is an important group that makes exclusive game development worth the Alliance, with about 50,000 slot machines throughout the casino. Additionally, the two companies generally share the cost of game development, helping to reduce some of the R&D costs. Additionally, the Alliance said it will share it with revenue sources as well. They will be offered at 17 Park Place casinos with separate links planned for Nevada, New Jersey, and Mississippi. “The ability to offer dedicated multi-regional progressive games gives us a competitive advantage in our major markets and gives slot customers another advantage to play games on our properties,” said Dave Lyons, senior slot executive at Park Place. Park Place already offers “Payday,” a customized progressive game at Alliance
Park Place Millions of dollars will not replace or hinder the other jackpot games offered by the company, said Robert Stewart, a spokesman for the park. The games will compete against IGT’s popular Megabox jackpot games, which are connected to casinos across Nevada and offer jackpots starting at $7 million. Megabox is one of several brands offered in the company’s “MegaJackpot” series, including jackpot games such as “Wheel of Fortune,” “Elvis,” and “I Love Lucy.” A 25-year-old software engineer from Los Angeles won the largest slot jackpot in history when he hit the nearly $40 million megabox swimming pool at the Exalibur resort. 바카라