With the upcoming edition of G2E Las Vegas only a few weeks away, Acres Manufacturing Company is eager to showcase its new products and developments at the event, scheduled for October 10-13 at The Venetian Expo. The casino loyalty and technology developer is most excited about the opportunity to present its cashless solution at the major gambling industry gathering, which Noah Acres tells Yogonet is set to blow away all expectations.
“A lot of people are not quite certain what the user experience is going to be with cashless gaming, and I think that we’ve cracked the code and we’re showing exactly how that experience should be,” Noah Acres said in this exclusive video interview.
Additionally, Acres talks about demos available at the company’s booth, opportunities G2E offers the business, and discusses technology in the gaming industry.
What products will Acres be focusing on in this new edition of G2E?
We’re going to have a booth this year, obviously, and we’ll have several products on display. We’re most excited about showing the cashless solution that we have. We’ll have a mobile app that’s available for anybody at the show to download that can be accessed via the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store called Acres Cashless Casino.
It’s the future of gaming because it blends not only cashless transactions with lots of tables, but it also includes points and free play that players can earn in real-time, and real-time bonusing. We have a really special feature that we’re really excited to show off called Double Jackpot Time, where on the players’ mobile app, they push a button and then instantly the slot machine begins to pay double pays for about 30 seconds. There’s never been anything like it in the industry before, and we’re really excited to show it off this year.
G2E is a major industry event. What are your expectations for the expo in terms of networking opportunities, visibility, and potential deals?
I think G2E is going to be really big this year. We’ve noticed an uptick in conference attendance. Obviously, we’re coming out of the pandemic and everybody feels safe and secure to travel. There are very few government restrictions is in place, especially not in Las Vegas anymore, so people are free to come.
We’re expecting the opportunity to meet a lot of people that we’ve only been able to talk to via Zoom and Teams over the past year. And it’s a great opportunity just to give in-person demos and to connect to people personally. We’re really excited. G2E is always a really fun experience because there are people that you only see once every year or so.
Can you describe the demos at the stand? And what will be the attendees’ takeaways when approaching the company’s booth?
They’re obviously going to be blown away. They’re going to love it, especially the Cashless Casino app that attendees can download and immediately proceed to our booth to use. A lot of people are not quite certain what the user experience is going to be with cashless gaming, and I think that we’ve cracked the code and we’re showing exactly how that experience should be. I think that it’s going to be really well received.
Gaming is quite stuck in the past in terms of technology where typically the new technology that we roll out in this industry is quite clunky, it works slow, it’s choppy, and we’re going to show an experience that’s the opposite of that. Everything is connected: as the player plays, the points will scroll up on their app in real-time. They’ll have a bonus button that they can push on the app and cause the game to begin paying double. This is a really cool age for casinos and we’re excited to be at the forefront of it. The demos that we have at the booth are going to be really well received.
The company has been shortlisted in two categories for the Global Gaming Awards in Las Vegas. What does this recognition mean for the business and what do you think explains these nominations?
I think that people see that it’s time for new technology in gaming. And a lot of people, from operators to investors to anybody around the industry, are really glad that Acres’ Foundation is finally bringing modern technology to the casino space. Getting recognized in terms of awards or awards nominations is really fulfilling because it just tells us that other people are sharing our vision and appreciating the work that we put into it.
This has been a year full of developments for the company, from Precision Bonusing to a new Foundation app store. Some of these solutions have been already been showcased at past events. Was the reception the one you expected thus far, and what will be different at G2E?
I think the reception is always really good and G2E presents a really great opportunity because NIGA and other expos are smaller. Maybe they only attract people from certain sides of the industry, such as tribal gaming or regional operators that are local to that area. G2E is a really good chance for us to meet kind of everybody in the world of gaming.
Additionally, NIGA was back in April, and we’ve made a vast amount of progress since then. With our company, things are developing so fast. And I think that even those who saw our demo back at NIGA are going to be blown away by the improvements that we’ve made since then.
What are the company’s plans for the remainder of the year and the coming months? And did you see in 2022 significant steps toward the widespread adoption of new technology in the casino industry that you have long pushed for?
First of all, Foundation probably had the best first-year launch of any casino management technology in history. We are going to finish the year with probably over 30,000 units installed in our first year alone. We installed this year more cashless gaming terminals than all other system vendors combined. The success of Foundation is completely unparalleled.
So it’s far blown away my expectations, but my hope for the future is to continue that growth. I think that we’re really on a path where Foundation is going to become an industry-standard technology. I’m looking forward to making that happen in ’22 and ’23.
