Jurgen De Munck, DRGT: “Jackpot technology and cashless gaming will form the key pillars of our showing in ICE London”

DR Gaming Technology™s CEO, Jurgen De Munck,  MD: Africa, Allwin Language, MD: Austria, Andreas Duller and MD: DRGT™ Online, Jean-Michel De Busscher talk ICE 2022 and the 2 key pillars of their upcoming showing in London.

Interview.- The world’s fastest growing independent gaming systems supplier, DR Gaming Technology™’s CEO, Jurgen De Munck,  MD: Africa, Allwin Language, MD: Austria, Andreas Duller and MD: DRGT™ Online, Jean-Michel De Busscher, sat down in an interview to share their thoughts on the company upcoming showing at ICE 2022.

Jurgen, at the last edition of ICE in 2020 DR Gaming Technology™ received a 10-year exhibitor award – that’s quite an innings?

Jurgen: Yes, I suppose it is. When we were contacted and asked by Clarion (ICE event organisers) to be at our booth a little early on what I think was the Wednesday of ICE 2020 I wasn’t sure why – and to then be told we were 10-year veterans and to be presented with a trophy and some other goodies was quite special.

I think one often gets caught up in the business of doing business and at times forget to celebrate the milestones along the way, and this was one of them. A nice surprise, one that reflects directly on our sustainability; a position we are thankful to be in, and one that is reflective of the great partners we have and our relationships with them. 

You mention partners, and I suppose with regards to systems specifically that is even more the case; as whether you like it or not, you’re in for the long haul?

Jean-Michel: We commenced operations back in 2005 ‘at home’ in Belgium and have over time been fortunate enough to expand globally to almost every continent on the planet; I think that talks volumes in itself to the relationships we have and how integral they are to both our and our partners’ joint successes. 

Allwin: Indeed, and I think under the current circumstances these are more relevant than ever. If our customers struggle, so do we, so working together becomes paramount. We have spent quite a bit of time and effort over the last 20 months or so engaging with customers and doing our best to assist where we can in driving efficiencies and developing solutions that remain relevant, and cost-effective.

I’ve read of late of DRGT™ making some inroads into both Albania and Ukraine, can you tell me more, and perhaps with which products?

Andreas: Of course! At Grand Casino: Tirana, Royal Eagle:Tirana and Royal Eagle: Durrës in Albania, it’s pretty much our entire suite of products. From our ‘standard’ Management System with its associated Cash Desk and Cage functionality, to Player Registration, Cashless gaming offering both TITO and RFID Cards, Tables Management, Mystery and Wide-Area Jackpots as well as Access Control, Reception Desk and Player Registration and the management of all jackpot and other signage via our drMediaManager. 

Whereas at Golden Gate: Poltava and Golden Gate: Dnipro in Ukraine it’s a little less extensive; that said, both operations are entirely Cashless as legislated, and as such our Player Tracking and Player Registration are key. Here too the Eifer Group have opted to make use of our linked wide-area jackpot technology in order offer their players the best experience possible. 

As an aside, something extra special was the entire translation of our User Interface to Russian and Ukrainian to better accommodate players and their ability to interact with our system.

To ICE London specifically now; what can we expect to see in February from DRGT™?

Jurgen: Andreas just mentioned our jackpot technology, and it will form one of the two key pillars of our showing in London. Any business owner worth their salt is always after the most efficient way to run their operation, and casino operators are no different; this is even more relevant considering the current pressures we are all under.

Jean-Michel: What we believe sets us apart, as specifically a jackpot developer, is the fact that: our jackpots can be installed as an ‘add on’ or ‘on top of’, if you like, existing EGMs; and they are able to be driven, and configured, directly ‘out of’ our management system… All that is required is the enabling of the jackpot feature on our drSMIB and ‘off you go!’

I was part of a recent presentation by Lucien Wijsman where he specifically referred to your technology as ‘system-driven jackpots’. Can you expand on this a bit?

Allwin: Thanks, it’s always good when one is on the positive side of a case study. What Lucien was alluding to, I have no doubt, is the fact then when your jackpots are driven by your system, as opposed to being ‘standalone’, they provide a significantly wider set of configuration options to you as an operator, along with some significant cost savings.

Imagine the kind of player experience you can affect when you’re able to tailor jackpots to specific players or groups of players based on what they play, how they play, and when they play, and do all that as and when you see fit from the comfort of your office chair

Andreas: Add to that the power of our drMediaManager that allows you to design and theme the jackpot too, and it becomes an extremely formidable and cost-effect way to continually enhance and vary the player experience. The limitations are almost endless.

Jurgen you mentioned two pillars, when referring to your showing at ICE 2022. Jackpots as we’ve discussed is the one, what is the other? 

Jurgen: The second key pillar of our showing at ICE 2022 is cashless gaming, as we believe it goes hand-in-hand with our jackpot offering, sitting ‘front and centre’ at driving operator efficiencies, and player engagement.

In a previous interview in respect of specifically cashless gaming we noted the following three key drivers thereof as:

• Reduced costs and security concerns for operators, as they no longer need to provide or manage a ‘hard count’ team or a count room/s;
• Reduced ‘hard cash’ pay-outs and cash-outs resulting in ease of player movement between slots and tables and back again without the need for hand-pays; and
• Enhanced player tracking and data capture resulting in the ability to easily assess a player’s value and then reward them appropriately for their custom

Jean-Michel: Jurgen’s Point 3 then talks directly to our jackpot technology, and specifically the ability, with a system-driven jackpot, to tailor jackpots based on specific players’ or groups of players’ game play activity. As was said earlier, a very powerful set of tools indeed. 

We chatted quite extensively about how integral the player experience is ahead of the last ICE London; which can you believe is now almost 2 years ago,  and you mention it again – is it more challenging to deliver that experience now? 

Jurgen: I don’t think that delivering a great customer (and in our case player) experience should ever be easy, but it should be a pleasure; that said, with the correct combination of effort, attitude, and tools it is made a lot simpler.

What we as a technology partner provide are the tools to help drive the experience, but the key ingredients remain the effort and attitude of the staff delivering that experience; without them, no matter how efficient and cost-effective the technology is, the ball will be dropped. So here again, I re-iterate our partnership with our customers, we need to work together to ensure our joint sustainability and growth.