Alphaslot’s COO Albert Yu gives an insight in the future of the gaming industry, discussing how the increasing prominence of blockchain ecosystem will help bridge the gap between game developers and casino operators.
Casino Review: From a technological perspective, what does the future hold for land-based gaming?
Albert Yu: Our steady-state gaming industry is growing in a slow speed, and the numbers are telling. Thanks for the expensive investment on marketing and the building of new attractions by the casinos, 42.9 million customers visit Las Vegas and 32 million more coming to Macau creating 129 billion revenue for over 2000 casinos worldwide, but the spending on the casino floors has dropped from 70 percent in 1990 to less than 35 percent in recent years.
As the modes of entertainment grow more inventive and more convenient (e.g. mobile games, eSports, social gaming), the actual offerings on the casino floors is not catching up. When the next generations are demanding an interactive gaming experience, the casinos and their game manufacturers need to respond to them.
However, there is a disconnection between the game makers and casino operators. Casinos do not have the ability to make games based on what they want for their business, while game makers are not able to interact with players directly on the casino floor to receive feedback on what they like.
CR: In your view what will be the impact of blockchain on the sector?
AY: To solve the problem of disconnection between operators and game makers, this entertainment value can be built on an interactive blockchain ecosystem and involve the participation of existing service providers (e.g. game designers, casino operators, regulators) and new types of providers (e.g. distributed gaming technology companies). A blockchain ecosystem can make the long-needed changes to begin.
CR: How do blockchain technology and digital assets contribute to the creation of a new gaming eco-system and create fresh opportunities for the casino industry?
AY: We believe casino gaming, and more broadly the casino entertainment value, should be appreciated like all other entertainment modes on the internet age today — interactively, securely, globally, and responsibly.
Digital Assets (in-app avatars and accessories purchase) is now the leading revenue from new generation gamers. A blockchain powered general ledger is uniquely positioned to achieve that stage as a decentralised trustful layer to record the ownership of the digital assets, that directly bridges casinos and customers for increasing incentive to play on the casino floors. Game utility tokens and other accessories can be minted by betting with fiat currency on the casino floors based on the amount of time spent, speed of play, and other gaming-related circumstances. Casino customers will be able to unlock digital accessories that aren’t available for direct sales, creating compulsion and additional in-game boosts to enhance the gaming experience. Players will be better equipped with more control while playing, allowing in-game strategy and potentially position themselves with higher chances of winning (in selected jurisdictions). These features will engage players for longer time-on-device and drive up revenue from the casino floors.
CR: Could you tell us more about Alphaslot, what does your company offer and what can it do for operators?
AY: Every new ecosystem starts with a chicken-and-the-egg problem: the supply won’t join the system unless there’s a demand. And, demand is challenging to prove without real supply. As these ecosystems flourished, efficiencies increased, with greater returns achieved and experiences improved exponentially. Alphaslot Ecosystem is the ultimate “farms�? for the chickens-and-eggs to meet.
To map how Alphaslot can get there, let’s start by identifying the actors. When we evaluate how casino entertainment work, casino operators invested in expensive buildings to attract customers and created loyalty program with costly expense to maintain, but ultimately customers require good games to play, to stay, and to return. As discuss earlier, there is a disconnection between the game makers and the casino operators. Casinos are not having the ability to make games on their own desire. Game makers are not able to interact with players directly on the casino floor to provide what they like. Then, in Alphaslot’s ecosystem, casino operators and game manufacturers for the first time having a compatible channels (Alphaslot API) with encrypted data working together to provide a competitive environment for visitors and gamers, who now have more incentive to spend for casino gaming. Alphaslot’s API (Application Programming Interface) is designed as a public protocol for the integration of players’ digital wallets with the gaming products on the casino floors.
CR: What’s in it for casino operators?
AY: Alphaslot offers an entirely new, rich customer segmentation of next generations. Alphaslot increase customer retention rate which casinos spend millions to acquire them. The “Alphaslot-ready�? gaming machines (operating by casinos) can add new features to interact with the gamers via related digital assets, offering competitive products to attract new customers and prolong their gaming activities on the casino floors. The encrypted customer data on the blockchain network also ensure their investments are preserved.
CR: What’s in it for game makers?
AY: Alphaslot offers, for the first time in history, the directly access for game makers to interact with casino gamers thru the Alphaslot ecosystem, making modern gaming elements available from within the games themselves. As the gamers data are encrypted and anonymous on the blockchain, casinos are more willing to open the customer gateway with game makers for product improvement. Game makers will be able to offer digital assets for gamers to acquire, making them to stay longer on their games and increase revenue for both game makers and casino operators. These unique characteristics present new business opportunities for the industry to compete with upstarts.
In summary, the new distributed gaming technologies (blockchain) is acting as a bridge between gamers, designers, operators, and regulators — so data will move across systems and parties with the most transparencies and the least friction possible, and so all participants and the industry can benefit from the economies of creativity at scale.
Alphaslot is a team of casino authoritative experts and scholars and we are in position to revolutionize the gaming industry by bringing new gamers and generating revenue growth for casino entertainments worldwide.
