Zona de Azar USA – Ten Slot Trends for 2021
USA.- December 15th 2020 www.zonadeazar.com With an unprecedented year behind us, here are some developments in the slot sector to follow for 2021
Now that we’re finally at the end of what has been a miserable year for our industry and just about every other, it’s time to mercifully look ahead to a new year for the slot machine business. Gaming suppliers kept on trucking with game development in 2020, despite the industry’s two-and-a-half-month hiatus, so we’ve been able to identify 10 trends to be on the lookout for in 2021.
Of course, this year’s trends are inevitably influenced by the pandemic, and several of the ten identified below directly reflect the changes necessary to have a chance at succeeding amid Covid-19. Most of the others are trends that have been developing for years.
Here’s what to watch for next year.
Cashless Acceleration
The industry’s system and slot suppliers have been moving for years to incorporate new ways to pay for gaming that reflect the world’s general consumer purchasing habits – in other words, using cards and mobile phones instead of cash. The pandemic has accelerated that move. People are wary of handling cash, and as a result are seeking contact-free ways to pay for their gaming experience. IGT, Scientific Games, Konami, Aristocrat and a variety of independent payment technology suppliers (Everi is one such company) will use 2021 to introduce a variety of mobile wallets, cashless wagering accounts, and other technology to allow players to use smartphones to pay for slot play.
iGaming Content Explodes
Another direct result of the pandemic – and more specifically, of casinos being shut down – has been a surge in the popularity of online gaming. New Jersey’s iGaming revenues have been its casinos’ salvation, and Pennsylvania, Michigan and other states are not far behind. Coupled with the spread of internet gaming is the rapid expansion of legal sports betting, which occurs overwhelmingly online. Thus, even if a vaccine effectively ends the pandemic, slot-makers will be porting their games to online sites more than ever before.
Distributed Gaming Expands
Expect more states to go the route of routes next year. Pennsylvania and a few other states are seriously looking at video gaming terminals or video lottery terminals in bars and taverns, using Illinois, and its 30,000-plus VGTs, as the model. Pennsylvania already has added VGTs to truck stops, and several groups are lobbying lawmakers to enact a VGT provision to put the machines in bars and taverns as well. Expect the same in a few other states that currently have so-called “gray area” gaming machines in bars.
The “Skill” Factor
Another direct result of the pandemic is that several states are looking to shore up their tax revenues by legitimizing so-called “skill games” that have widely been considered unregulated, illegal machines. These games incorporate a dubious “skill” factor and use it to claim they do not fall under the regulated gaming category. While casinos were shut down during the pandemic, these games continued to operate in pizza shops, convenience stores, even laundromats. But this year, revenue is revenue. Virginia already has legalized skill games for at least a 12-month period, and lobbyists from the skill manufacturers are using the mountain of revenue they make from not having to pay state taxes to fuel a lobbying effort to legalize them in Pennsylvania, Wyoming and elsewhere. Expect the casino industry to continue its fierce opposition to these games, which operators rightly view as unfair competition.
Pods, Plexiglas, and Prevention
The pandemic has spawned a new cottage industry among suppliers to the slot floor. The new normal on the slot floor for 2021 is Plexiglas dividers, UVC light sanitation, and a reconfiguration of the slot floor in pods, rather than rows and rows of machines. This last one was already under way, as fewer people were playing slots than in decades past and casinos responded with pod configurations that opened up the floor plan. It turns out those pod configurations naturally promote social distancing, so expect more of those configurations as an alternative to turning every other slot machine off.
Hold-and-Re-Spin Domination
The “hold-and-re-spin” game mechanic is ubiquitous in the game libraries that will unfold over the next year. Manufacturer after manufacturer is following the recipe first established by Aristocrat’s Lightning Link series, with a variety of games including some form of the mechanic, in which coins or other icons with credit values land on the reels and hold in place for a set number of free re-spins, usually three. When another coin lands, the free-spin meter goes back to the beginning, and the feature continues until no spins remain or the entire reel array is filled up for a jackpot. This feature was hot last year and, if anything, is hotter this year.
Homegrown Brands
One way slot manufacturers are keeping costs down this year to make up from coronavirus losses is by moving away from the high-profile brands. Instead of paying hefty licensing fees to offer new brands reflecting popular movies or music, we’re seeing a wealth of additions to each manufacturer’s popular proprietary brand franchises – for example, Aristocrat’s Buffalo, IGT’s Cleopatra, and Scientific Games’ Dancing Drums. Licensed brands are still being used, but typically, suppliers have banked on the licenses they already have, like IGT’s Wheel of Fortune and SG’s Wizard of Oz. One notable exception is Crazy Rich Asians from Aristocrat, which is on the massive new Neptune Dual cabinet.
Still More Cabinets
Speaking of cabinets, the fact that all the slot manufacturers kept R&D at full speed during the pandemic shutdowns means that most of them are launching new form factors next year. Aristocrat’s Neptune Dual is an immersive new cabinet that is the sequel to the Arc Double. IGT is launching the PeakSlant49 and PeakSlant 32. Scientific Games is launching Kascada, the next generation of the popular TwinStar J43 cabinet. Konami is introducing three new cabinets in its Dimension series. Everi has the Empire Flex, AGS has the Orion Rise and Orion Portrait, and on and on. New cabinets have become just as important a part of the product libraries of the slot suppliers as the games themselves, and this will continue for the foreseeable future.
Back to Basics
Mechanical reel-spinners show no signs of fading away. Look for new versions of this most traditional style in steppers from a variety of manufacturers, most notably Everi, IGT, and Scientific Games. Everi and IGT specialize in the classic three-reel format, while Scientific Games combines this style with a variety of five-reel stepper formats offering a classic twist on games that otherwise could pass for multi-line video.
Progressives Rule
If there is one aspect of the newest slots coming from the manufacturers this year that all share, it is the multiple progressive jackpot at the top. The typical format you’ll see this year includes two or three static jackpots (“Mini,” “Minor,” etc.) offered beneath two incrementing progressive prizes (typically “Major” and “Grand”). They’re not your father’s progressives either – relatively few games these days offer a traditional progressive triggered by a line combination. More and more, the collection of progressive and static jackpots is worked into a bonus feature – either a pick bonus, a wheel spin (new games this year often feature multiple spins of bonus wheels that can result in more than one jackpot) or that widespread hold-and-re-spin feature we discussed earlier. Typically, the top progressive prize in those games comes when all reel spots are filled with the special icon that is the center of the feature.
Frank Legato, CDC Gaming Reports
Edited by: @MaiaDigital www.zonadeazar.com
