Casino International March 2011

The basic rules of play may be many decades old, but table games are continuing to evolve in order to attract customers and maximise profitability for casinos. And there are even a handful of entirely novel
games, as Barnaby Page reports

Table games are by far the most venerable form of gaming on offer in the casino - Roulette dates back two centuries - but they continue to develop, with many manufacturers now incorporating digital elements into traditional games, some adding new twists to old favourites, and others creating entirely
fresh forms of table entertainment. …

Many believe that, while a totally automated table game is perfectly possible from a technology point of view, the dealer adds a social element that players find appealing; another supplier of table games, DigiDeal, goes so far as to argue that automating some functions not only helps speed up play and minimise dealer errors, it also means that dealers' technical skills become less important, so "casinos can hire for personality and sociability", the dealer in effect becoming less the enabler of play and more the genial host.

Looking Good

Visual appeal is another prominent consideration for casinos buying table games today - how well does the
table stand out on a crowded floor and attract players? …

And many other vendors are also enlisting large screens and lighting effects to add an extra dimension to their table games - taking advantage not only of the innate human tendency to notice movement, but
also of the extra visibility that screens provide. On any casino floor the tables themselves are largely hidden from distant viewers by other tables and bodies; screens, however, can be high above them. …

Your Way

Flexibility is also a vital factor for casinos choosing table games today, in both spatial and operational terms. Spatially, because tables occupy more square footage per player than do slots, and so it's imperative that they are physically configured in a way that maximises use of floor space; operationally, because they are comparatively expensive to run, with traditional table games requiring a live, salaried
dealer. Partial automation helps reduce dealer mistakes and increase speed of play, but doesn't actually cut down on the head count; total automation eliminates the employment overhead, but as we've seen some believe that it also reduces the customer appeal of the tables. Where's the happy medium? …

Another approach, championed by the likes of DigiDeal, is to create tables that can be operated either automatically, during quiet times when the level of betting doesn't justify a dealer's presence, or by a human when the floor is busier. DigiDeal table games also offer casinos a choice between physical and virtual cards and chips, and one- the DTS-V -has intriguingly been designed so that it can be classified as either a table game or a slot machine, depending on jurisdictional requirements. That helps casinos in Macau, for example, where authorities recently imposed a limit on the number of table games in each location.