Operator News
Japan – Slots and blackjack to play bigger part on Japan’s gaming floors
By Phil - 23 May 2017
The future gaming floors of Japan will give a much bigger slice over to slot machines according to consultancy group Global Market Advisors (GMA), who also claimed that Japanese table players will prefer blackjack to baccarat.
Titled White Paper: Japan Integrated Resorts, the paper states: “The single greatest misconception a casino operator can make is to assume that Japanese gamers will play the same games as those players that frequent Macau. The Chinese have a table game-centric gaming culture and have long embraced Baccarat and Sic Bo. While the Japanese enjoy Oicho-Kabu, they have a long-established history as a machine-centric gaming culture, as they are enthusiastic Pachinko players. Pachinko in turn spawned Pachislots, a hybrid product that combines the convoluted wagering/redemption system of Pachinko with the entertainment value of modern slot machines.”
The authors of this white paper believe that casino operators will initially allocate 45 per cent of their gaming floor to slot machine gaming, five per cent to electronic table games and 50 per cent to table games.
GMA added: “It is also expected that those ratios will change with slot machines gaining an increasing share of the casinos’ square footage, at the expense of table games.
“While table games are expected to be popular, slot machines will have a far more prominent place in Japanese integrated resorts than other Asian markets. The Japanese enjoy electronic gaming and Japanese slot machine manufacturers already understand the kinds of themes, symbols, music and game math that are appealing to Japanese players. One can expect that slot manufacturers including Aruze, Konami and Sega Sammy will research and develop slot machines that will appeal to the adult population.”
“Blackjack is expected to be a popular table game,” the white paper stated. “Baccarat tables, with their large footprint, are not expected to dominate the gaming floor as they do in Macau. Rather, games such as Mini-Baccarat, whose table footprint matches Blackjack, will allow operators to quickly adjust their game mix to match the needs of the market.”
