Smart Tables are taking APAC by storm, with operators seeing operational advantages, security improvements and ease of regulatory compliance. The Angel Group has been working on the new tech for 10 years and is rolling it out to highly interested IRs from Macau to the Philippines, Singapore and Australia.
The group mixes Artificial Intelligence and RFID tech in the smart tables, with different solutions available to scale to operators’ needs and regulatory requirements. This encompasses everything from bet and float chip balance information, to bet attribution (linking chips to a player’s image, only available for certain markets due to regulations), invalid chip detection and game win/loss data.
These can be used individually or together, giving real-time information to dealers, security and even patrons – speeding up the flow of play, improving security and understanding customer behavior.
Newest kid on the block
Angel already has deployed its smart tables in Macau, Singapore and Australia, while it expects that “within this year,” its Angel Smart Technology products will be “in leading IRs here in the Philippines,” JY Teo, Chief Operating Officer of Angel Technology Philippines told AGB.
The executive notes that “the majority of the IRs here in the Philippines are already operating with “partial smart tables”- either RFID or Artificial Intelligence cameras”, noting that “this is definitely on the wish list of every regulator”.
The trend to shift to smart tables also “has made it a “basic or should have” requirement for new IRs opening in the Philippines,” notes the COO.
Must-have for Macau
Asuka Kurahashi, President and COO of Angel Macau notes that as of early May it had deployed “around 230 tables of “Angel Eye Complete”- having started the roll-out in 2019.
The group is “now in the process of expanding to all Baccarat tables across multiple casinos, which will be done over the next few quarters”.
Macau regulators, authorities and operators have praised smart table tech – with the most recent introduction of a Baccarat variant (Small 6/Big 6) highlighting the flexibility of the hybrid system.
“This AI component is why it is so seamless for our customers to trial a new game, or even a new layout with an existing game, without requiring any hardware changes.”
Asuka Kurahashi
To Singapore and beyond
Angel has seen strong interest in Singapore, with Yusuke Urata, Senior Manager of Product Sales for Angel Singapore (Asia) noting that “we have deployed over 110 tables and are currently working with one operator for live operations”.
The executive furthers that “across Southeast Asia, we have some others in discussion about trials at the back of house”.
Urata notes that, in Singapore, operations have only implemented “a partial solution of our full suite […] in the next step, with an additional module to be implemented soon in the market, we are going to achieve a solution that no one has ever introduced to date”.
Looking ahead, Urata notes the possibilities of new markets – such as Thailand and the UAE.
“These countries will have newer regulations and it is possible for them to adopt new technologies as a new standard […] we believe what we are developing will become a new standard in the market,” states the executive.
Highly regulated Australia
All it takes is looking at recent news to see how Australian authorities are pushing regulatory compliance. Bryan Jenkins, Managing Director of Angel Australasia notes that “our market is under considerable pressure from a changing regulatory environment” and that “proper compliance requires vast amounts of accurate data which simply is beyond the old regimes of manual data collection.”
The executive notes that “our smart table technology fits perfectly with this need and is now considered as integral to performance improvement, player rating accuracy as well as compliance with new regulatory controls”.
Jenkins notes that Angel works “with a number of operators and properties in Australia and have done so now since 2020”.
Currently the group has “over 100 tables across Baccarat […] with further installation by the end of this year and expansion into other games to proceed after approvals are achieved”.
What are the benefits?
“Being a new technology, I believe there will be future applications that have not even been thought of yet. This level of data has not been available traditionally to casinos, and I think as operators get more familiar with it, they’ll certainly find innovative ways to capitalize on all this knowledge,” notes Angel Macau President Asuka Kurahashi.
For now, the benefits are clear, notes Kurahashi. “It enhances game security by detecting counterfeit chips, chip theft or past posting (placing or moving a bet after the game starts)”, similar to the Savannah move, “it optimizes table games operations by reducing supervision requirements, as well as enabling understanding real time turnover, revenue and occupancy of each table”.
And from the marketing side, it helps by “enabling operators to truly understand each patron’s betting behavior and value”.
But Angel isn’t content to rest on its laurels. “We look forward to continue working on further developments and expanding our product line,” notes Kurahashi.
