Electronic table game (ETG) supplier Interblock dd is seeing a “steady double-digit growth” in terms of demand for ETGs in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) market post-Covid, says Vincent Tang, the firm’s sales director for APAC.

A need by operators to reduce costs, challenges associated with hiring employees, and the evolving preferences of a younger generation, are some of the factors behind such growth. “All these factors are driving casino operators towards ETGs,” he said in an interview with GGRAsia during the latest edition of the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia in Macau.

“When you visit a casino [in the region], you will simply see ETGs everywhere compared to 10 or 15 years ago, when ETGs only occupied a small portion [of a casino floor],” Mr Tang said. “In the past decade, whenever a new casino opens in any given jurisdiction [in the APAC region], there is always demand for ETGs.”

The manufacturer has seen a spike in demand after the Covid-19 pandemic. “Casinos have difficulty in finding manpower, and sometimes it’s too expensive. Also, skilled workers are not easy to train,” the executive explained, adding that ETGs help solve some of the challenges that operators face nowadays.

To entice younger players, casino operators have also been deploying new products and rearranging their floors, observed Mr Tang.

“The younger generation [of players] that casinos want to attract right now is different from the conventional, more traditional players,” he suggested. “They don’t have the need to sit by the [gaming] table or to hold the chips.”

“ETGs have become something that mass players will go [to],” he added.

Interblock showcased an extensive portfolio of products at G2E Asia 2024, including its “BlackPearl” roulette cabinet.

The “BlackPearl Golden Ball Roulette”, in particular, “features the basic traditional roulette and also a multiplier game, so it’s a two-in-one selection game in one cabinet,” the sales director explained.

The new product was launched last year and could “hopefully” be introduced in the Asia-Pacific market, including Macau, Singapore, the Philippines, by the end of this year, stated Mr Tang. “It has passed all laboratory tests and only needs to go through the approval procedures of different jurisdictions,” he added.

Other products on display included “Dragon SicBo”, “Shoot to Win Craps”, and “Lucky Roulette”, part of the ETG assets acquired last year by Interblock from Aruze Gaming America Inc, after the latter filed for bankruptcy.

According to Mr Tang, Interblock is in the process of updating and optimising the hardware and software of the assets acquired from Aruze.

“From the outlook, they look almost the same, but we have enhanced the hardware modules, software, and others … to make them more stable, reliable, and durable,” he indicated. “Because of our production capacity, we will focus on [the updates] one by one. The first one is Dragon SicBo, and then it will be Craps and Lucky Roulette.”

The updated Dragon SicBo product will be gradually installed across some Macau casinos after G2E Asia, the sales director told GGRAsia. “SicBo is popular in Macau because Chinese [players] just love it, [as] it is a fast game. In the Philippines, [players] are more into craps,” he added.

According to Mr Tang, the assets of Aruze and Interblock are aimed at different market segments. “We are more [focused] on stadium products … while their [the Aruze] product were more standalone, eight-seat [products],” he said.