Operator News

G2E Las Vegas – JCM to host live eSports tournament at G2E Las Vegas 2017

By Phil - 25 September 2017

“Esports is a global phenomenon and is slowly making its way into the casino industry. However, there are operators, regulators, and even some suppliers, who still need more information how esports works. That is why we are hosting this live esports tournament – to help G2E attendees connect with and gain a better understanding of this gaming spectacle,” said JCM VP of Marketing Tom Nieman.

Esports consultants Spawn Point is producing the event, which will feature 16 nationally ranked players from the Las Vegas area.

The competition takes place Tuesday, October 3 from Noon to 4 p.m., and Wednesday, October 4 from Noon to 4 p.m., with the final round taking place 3:30 p.m. It will be live casted on Twitch TV, extending the viewership to Twitch’s global audience.

Spawn Point’s Co-Founder Kevin Mercuri said: “Our goal is to enable integrated resorts and racetracks to harness the energy and excitement of esports. Esports is more than a new entertainment option, it’s a powerful channel by which casinos and racetracks can attract an entirely new generation of players. This live demonstration at G2E will help attendees gain a direct understanding of this emerging opportunity.”

Some casinos, such as Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino, are already hosting esports events on a regular basis, and are accepting wagers on esports events in their Race and Sports books.

Seth Schorr is CEO of Fifth Street Gaming and Chairman of Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino and a Director of the Nevada Esports Alliance (NVEA). He said: “The media consumption of esports is on a remarkable trajectory. If that trajectory is in fact a trend, then in 10 years from now, esports will compete with major sports in popularity and in revenue generation. It is important for the gambling industry to increase their understanding of esports and its potential.”

Leading the way to the future product-wise will be JCM’s revolutionary Fuzion technology, which stole the show last year in a back-room preview.

Now fully realised, Fuzion is ready to adapt onto any provider of the casino management systems and address any regulatory challenges. When paired with JCM’s iVizion bill validator and Gen5 printer, the transformative FUZION technology unleashes the power of what if. With Fuzion, each slot machine could become a multi-line profit center with the current potential to vend and redeem lottery tickets, vend and redeem race & sports betting, facilitate Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) wagering, the casino’s own or a 3rd parties, conduct cross-enterprise promotional couponing for carded and uncarded players, enable real-time currency exchange with exchange rates that could be preset or could be real-time and streamline tax forms processes by printing system-generated tax forms and deliver required documentation to the customer while the back-end system stores the signature forms and data that needs to be delivered to the IRS.

Powering Fuzion is the iVIZION bill validator, the foundation of intelligent validation. iVIZION is field-proven globally with more than 250,000 units shipped to date. Its CIS technology scans the entire note or ticket, reading more than 9.5 million data points on every note, more than twice that of the nearest competitor, plus it has a unique capability to read 2D barcodes, and its intelligent bezel enables mobile connection for additional Fuzion functionality.

Fuzion’s capabilities come to life when paired with the GEN5 printer. Field-proven, the GEN5 builds on the successful foundation of the universally successful GEN platform and has a faster CPU and faster print speed, resulting faster customer connections. It has the flexibility to print TITO and promotional tickets, plus various wager tickets and templated promo coupons.

Fuzion integrates with JCM’s ICB® 3.0 drop management system, which is field-proven to save operators 100s of 1000s of dollars annually. Fuzion takes ICB to the next level by providing real-time health monitoring data and predictive drop and maintenance scheduling to dramatically increase operational efficiency.

Next, JCM’s PromoNet 2.0 is the field-proven, floor-wide couponing solution that delivers the right promotion to the right customer at the right time. It allows operators of all sizes to identify high-value anonymous players, direct promotions to most valuable players, enhance player experience, and maximize results using business analytics. PromoNet increases amount of play, decreases un-earned awards, and lets each individual operator control levels of compensation.

Last, JCM will demonstrate the latest in PixelPro technologies. With completely configurable PixelPro Max displays, operators can deliver their message their way anywhere across the property – casino floor, bars, entertainment venues, sportsbook, bingo hall, convention area, and more. PixelPro displays are lightweight, have low energy usage, no noise, and ultimate flexibility. PixelPro FLEX empowers operators to unleash video creativity because each panel can flex convex or concave by 30 degrees for incredible displays anywhere you can imagine them. PixelPro Cubes have a flexible modular design that allow operators to configure video cubes to into interesting 3-D shapes.