Wynn boasts high-tech slot floor

By Jeff Simpson (contact)

Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2005 | 11:04 a.m.

One of the biggest advantages enjoyed by a brand-new casino is the opportunity to offer fresh gaming products, particularly on the slot floor.

Wynn Las Vegas will be no exception, Wynn Resorts Chairman Steve Wynn said.

When it opens on April 28, Wynn Las Vegas bosses expect their slot floor to be a generational leap from the floors of recently opened megaresorts.

"We didn't want to do something that was derivative," said Andrew Pascal, senior vice president of product marketing and development. "We've got some pretty neat things."

First, the look of the slot floor is expected to be unique.

Second, slots will offer bonus jackpots through a linked system, now a Las Vegas locals staple with Station Casinos and its Jumbo Jackpots but a first for an upscale megaresort.

Third, the property has a new take on slot cards, one executives believe will simplify things for players.

And Wynn and his executives are working with Aruze, the Japanese company controlled by Wynn Vice Chairman Kazuo Okada, on plans to introduce a totally new platform for casino games.

Wynn expects his table-game operation to do well, as the pits have always been strongholds of his casinos, particularly in the baccarat room.

The property's poker room and race book will have a few innovations designed to lure premium players.

New generation

"This will be a different thought process when you walk the floor," said WMS Gaming Chief Executive Brian Gamache, whose Illinois-based company will have a couple of hundred slots in the Wynn casino. "This will be a very special slot floor."

Gamache said that the design of the floor and placement of the devices will appeal to the big-spending guests a property like Wynn Las Vegas will attract.

"The look will attract the customer who can afford to stay in that resort," he said Tuesday evening.

Pascal said Wynn Las Vegas will offer a Bingo Bonus jackpot to slot players, an award of varying amounts that will be paid every 15 to 20 minutes.

He compared the bonus payments to Station's Jumbo Jackpots and said he thinks the offering will appeal to players.

Slot mix

IGT dominates Strip slot floors, and Wynn Las Vegas will be no exception.

Pascal said 70 percent of the floor's 1,962 slots will be IGT devices.

UBS casino analyst Robin Farley on Jan. 20 wrote in a research note that she expected IGT to get "at least its typical 70 percent" share of the Wynn floor, and she was right.

Marc Falcone, a gaming analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities, said he expects the Wynn Las Vegas casino floor will have a different mix than what historically has been seen in Las Vegas.

"IGT will have a lower share than what we've seen historically, based on what we understand of the slot mix," Falcone said. "We expect the property's connection with Aruze (Wynn's Japanese partner) will result in a stronger-than-normal presence for them."

Falcone said the slot mix would be "an incremental positive for investors."

IGT worked closely with Wynn executives to tailor many of their products to the Wynn casino's look and feel, Pascal said.

Most of the rest of the casino's slots will be Bally and WMS slots, Pascal said.

Bally has about 9 or 10 percent of the slots on the Strip, but will have 15 to 16 percent of Wynn's total, Pascal said.

Alliance Gaming spokesman Marcus Prater said Alliance subsidiary Bally will have 330 slots on the Wynn floor, mostly reel spinners.

"Clearly everyone will be looking at the Wynn floor," Prater said. "It's a showcase, and being a part of the Wynn project is a great thing."

Among the Bally products on the floor will be Wynn-branded Cash for Life games in $1 and $5 denominations, as well as a penny-denominated Millionaire 7's game that will offer a million-dollar-plus jackpot with 150 pennies played.

The company's Blazing 7's and Red Hot 7's will also be rebranded as Wynn 7's, Prater said.

WMS will provide about 12 percent of the Wynn machines, about double its Strip average.

"We're pretty excited about the WMS product," said Pascal. Wynn, in fact, was so excited by the company's offerings and future that he recently bought 4 percent of WMS shares.

"We're delighted and honored to have such a prominent position on the Wynn floor," Gamache said. "We're going to get great visibility."

Wynn-branded slot machines, including an International Game Technology Megabucks game and a Bally Cash-for-Life game, will feature Wynn-specific glass and video.

"Ours are personalized with me talking to the player," Wynn said of the Megabucks offering.

Wynn himself will beckon gamblers from the video screens on the IGT Megabucks games.

"There are some franchise products out there that everyone loves," Pascal said.

Slot cards

Wynn has a different take on slot cards.

"Enough with the cards already," he said Monday afternoon.

Wynn guests will be able to use their room keys, called the Red Card, in the slots to gain credit for their play.

"We said 'Wait a minute,' " Wynn said. "We'll just use one card -- your room key. Simplicity."

Non hotel guests will still be able to get slot cards, but hotel guests won't have to carry two separate cards.

Aruze

Aruze is still working with Pascal to develop a radically new type of gaming device, one that would be more interactive than traditional machines.

The device isn't ready for the floor yet, but will demo at Wynn when it is, Pascal said.

"This will be something totally different," Wynn said.

Poker

Wynn Las Vegas will have a new high-tech waiting list in its 25-table poker room, Wynn Las Vegas President Marc Schorr said Monday.

Instead of making poker players sign up on a paper list or a chalkboard, Wynn's list will be computerized. Players can sign up and wait in their rooms or in the casino for a page telling them their seat is open.

"Why should we have him standing there?," Schorr asked.

The poker room will have a solid VIP section for big-money games.

Canadian poker star Daniel Negreanu has been signed as the room's ambassador; he'll spend at least 200 days a year in the room, Schorr said.

No tournaments are planned for the room's first year, but the property has already stockpiled tournament chips in case a tourney is offered, said Wynn Resorts Executive Vice President John Strzemp, a former runner up in the championship event of the World Series of Poker, who advises Wynn and Schorr on poker matters.

Race book

The race book will have a separate lounge for VIP players, Schorr said.

"We wanted to take care of these guys," Schorr said, noting that the lounge will offer the big bettors a living-room style setting with individual betting stations.

"It will be unmatched," he promised.