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Smartphones. Smart appliances. Smart cars. And now, smart casino pits.
Penn Entertainment’s (NASDAQ: PENN) Boomtown Casino Biloxi held a grand opening event and ribbon cutting for its Interblock Gaming smart pit, a game area on the casino floor featuring automated payouts and more efficient game operation.
Boomtown Biloxi is calling the smart pit its “EZ Play Zone.” Boomtown Casino Biloxi Vice President Barry Regula said in an Interblock press release: “We are excited to launch Boomtown’s EZ Play Zone, powered by Interblock’s Smart Pit solution.
The EZ Play Zone offers our guests the convenience and flexibility of wagering electronically on Blackjack, Roulette, and Craps while still having the fun and camaraderie of interacting with a real dealer and other guests.”
Key takeaways
- Boomtown Biloxi held a grand opening celebration for its Interblock smart gaming pit.
- Interblock’s smart technology boosts security, increases game speed, and reduces training time for dealers.
- Boomtown Biloxi’s smart pit includes blackjack, craps, and roulette.
- If Mississippi embraces iGaming, its casinos could generate more than $50 million in monthly revenue from online casinos.
Smart pit makes gaming more efficient for customers and employees
Interblock’s Smart Pit features streamlined operations for roulette, baccarat, craps, and blackjack. Boomtown has implemented roulette, craps, and blackjack.
The company’s roulette product is a good example of the benefits of Interblock’s technology. First, Interblock’s smart roulette provides electronic gaming consoles where customers can place bets and receive payouts. Second, the dealer only has to operate the roulette wheels; no chips or money changes hands.
Additionally, the dealer runs two synchronized roulette wheels that allow him or her to complete up to 120 spins in an hour. On average, Interblock noted, a dealer at a traditional table can only do around 35 spins because they’re busy taking bets, checking the betting board, and spinning the roulette wheel.
This “smart” process provides benefits to players and the casino. Players are ensured their payouts are correct; human error is eliminated. Dealers don’t have to worry about clearing bets from the table or making mistakes when paying winners.
Additionally, there are far fewer rules for dealers to learn because Interblock’s gaming consoles take care of most of the work. The extensive training typically required for table games isn’t necessary, Boomtown Vice President of HR Mandy Ladner said in a statement obtained by PlayUSA:
“Smart Pit opens the door to new potential team members who may have been intimidated by the handling of cash, chips, and the requirement to perform real-time calculations as a ‘live’ dealer.
Now, if you are interested in a career in the fun, fast, and social environment of the casino, you don’t need months of dealer’s school and practice to break in, just a great personality and desire to entertain and delight our guests.”
Overall, Boomtown Biloxi’s new smart pit should increase player participation, boost revenue, and improve security, as there are no physical chips vulnerable to customer shenanigans.
Boomtown and other Mississippi casinos reap huge benefits from online casinos
Boomtown Biloxi’s smart pit highlights a growing trend in gaming: using technology to simplify gaming and maximize revenue.
While it’s a positive sign that the Mississippi casino industry is embracing technological advances on their casino floor, the state has yet to embrace online casinos. Lawmakers’ reluctance to bring iGaming into the state is shutting casinos out from considerable monthly revenue.
Using May revenue data from six US online casino markets, PlayUSA estimates that Mississippi casinos could earn consistently more than $50 million a month from iGaming.
