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Table games offer something slot cabinets can’t easily duplicate: social interaction and a sense of camaraderie. Tables physically group people together—whether they like it or not—allowing alliances and rivalries to grow and add excitement to the game.
But what about those meddling problems that make tables a pain to add to the slot floor—slower play, staff to man the tables, cards and chips needing counting and sorting?
DigiDeal Corp. founders Dave Krise, Mike Kuhn, Larry Martin, and Randy Sines sought to address those and other problems when they founded their privately-held company in 1998. Starting with blackjack, the group developed the Digital Card System (DCS), which now features an increasing library of games that include virtual cards, slots and, most recently, dice.
“We can put any kind of game you can imagine on the system, because what we really developed was a system for playing casino-type games,” said Krise, vice president of design and development.
DCS features 10-inch LCD displays for seven players, digitized cards and live chips. So far, games include baccarat, two versions of poker, two multi-player slots and three versions of blackjack.
“But one of the main things that we’ve always tried to maintain—and our patents are kind of based around that—is a live dealer or host, because we really wanted to keep the table game feel, not become a video game,” Krise said. “That was kind of the founding idea: eliminate the problems associated with paper cards, but keep the same feel and play as a traditional game of blackjack.”
Advances in flat screens and software-along with the public’s comfort levels with such technology-have allowed electronic tables to enter the market, DigiDeal’s difference, Krise said, is in the way the tables look and feel like a traditional game.
A live dealer helps with that. And with the grunt work from the game taken over by software, the host can focus more on the players themselves. “They have a lot more time to interact with the people and make it a fun experience,” Krise said.
Dealing with limitations
Heavily-regulated markets sometimes completely forbid table or paper card games. Regulators cite accountability and security issues as crucial. “On a paper card table, the casino can be cheated, or the dealer can be working with somebody, or there’ll be groups coming in and marking cards, or in collusion with the dealer,” Krise said of regulators’ concerns. “And they’re stealing money from the casino, which is stealing money from the state.”
In the United States, the situation can be complicated by differences between neighboring states’ regulatory laws. Casinos forbidden from operating table games may border states that allow them. “So they’re competing with these casinos that have pits of table games and craps and roulette and everything else, but they can’t compete because all they’re allowed to have are slot machines,” Krise said.
DigiDeal’s table games aim to make accountability and security easier so operators have a viable alternative to traditional table games. And customers don’t feel they’re missing out, Krise said. “After five minutes of playing at our tables, people forget that the cards are digital.”
The company’s new Digital Table System (DTS) goes even further in accountability and security. Featuring 12-inch screens, the DTS also offers the option of virtual chips and has full network capability, compatible with back-end SAS management systems. When the DTS completes GLI testing and commercial installation, DigiDeal’s table games will be able to go into markets that otherwise allow only slot machines.
“All the new jurisdictions are kind of leaning that way—requiring electronic games that can be accounted for,” Krise said. With hook up into centralized systems, “They have control over the casinos, whereas with paper card tables, they don’t really have any control,” he added.
Popular demand
For casinos, being able to offer table games can be critical, particularly with the popularity of poker, the resurgence of which has contributed to people’s interest in social interaction in games.
And the DCS format helps address another gambling trend—increasingly complex wagering. Multiple side bets resolving at different times can be cumbersome and confusing, but with an electronic system, the computer figures everything out almost instantly.
“Every day we’re getting phone calls from people saying, ‘I have this game that would be perfect on your system,’” Krise said. “And the reason it’d be perfect is because it’s a very complicated game to play with paper cards.” DigiDeal has partnered with companies and bought rights to games that are greatly simplified through the speedier, more accurate electronic system.
And that’s another plus to the DCS and DTS-speed. “Once you promote it and (the table) is full, then it’s going to make twice as much as a regular table, because one of the features of our table is the speed,” Krise said. “The players really hate waiting while the cards are shuffling, hate waiting for the cards to be dealt-those kinds of things we do in just a matter of seconds,” he added.
Training time and effort with the dealers is also reduced, along with the requirement for fixed-cost for items like cards, card shufflers and chips (with the DTS), and all that helps boost the bottom line. But if patrons are afraid to play, cost savings are moot. DigiDeal’s tables alleviate that, Krise said, by making it easier and less intimidating for novices to learn table games. Some casinos have, for example, designated DCS tables for thriftier gamblers.
“In so many of the casinos now, you can’t find a five or a $10 blackjack game,” Krise said. “They’re all $15 to $25 to $50 a hand. So what they’ll do is they’ll take our tables, and they’ll make them a low-limit table.”
Beginners also benefit from strategies displayed on screen, an optional feature for operators. With the computer dealing with the complicated parts of play automatically—and offering tips to players—gamblers can pick up unfamiliar games quicker and easier.
“Someone who’s never played before can play very good blackjack, as an example, the very first time they play,” Krise said.
If operators want to mix it up on the casino floor, changing a blackjack table to poker or a multi-player slot, DigiDeal systems offer a degree of flexibility. “Really the only thing is the software is different, and the top with the name of the game on it, basically, which can be changed in just a matter of minutes,” Krise said.
Expanding horizons
In the future, the company hopes to reach into new markets, especially those with strict regulations, using the new DTS, which will ultimately replace the DCS. Game titles are already lined up for the system, Krise said. “We’re hoping to have our approval by the end of (September) on World Poker Tour™, and they’ve already got several casinos lined up to put those into.”
A World Series of Poker® game will be showing at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas in November, and more titles are planned. “The system has kind of proven itself, and the new system is very robust, so what we’re trying to focus on right now is getting as many game titles as we can out,” Krise said.
DigiDeal is also developing a variation on the system called DTS-X. The table will be configurable for four to 10 players and operates without a host. “We’re not going to stop doing our DTS basic table with a dealer, but it is something new for us that we’ll be showing at G2E.”
Although the table will start with Texas Hold ‘Em, Krise said he was excited about the potential for other games. “We could see putting a craps game on there, or a roulette or a dice game of any kind,” he said. “It just opens us up to all the different games that we’re developing, and it gives us a platform that we can put those games on.” |
