Extraordinary reversal

Editorial

Uncovering the Gems

Casino Journal's Top 20 competition presents opportunity for discovery

By Jamie McKee

It's easy for those of us who have been in this industry a long time to forget what an opportunity it can be for aspiring entrepreneurs, and what an opportunity they can be for us.
For example, take our annual fall convention. The layout of the show floor during September's Global Gaming Expo was typical. The heavyweights, those slot machine manufacturers who already have lucrative contracts with major casinos signed, sealed and delivered-companies like Aristocrat, Bally, IGT, Mikohn and WMS, to name a few-were, as usual, making the most noise. They always take a lot of space right up front so you can't miss them. And just to make sure you don't, they utilize all kinds of other enticements to keep you in their massive makeshift showrooms-plush carpeting, comfortable lounge areas, free refreshments, dancing girls, celebrity impersonators-even, in a few instances, actual real live celebrities.
To be sure, these companies are very important to our industry. They are our bread and butter, providing the equipment casinos need to stay in business. We write about them, sell advertising to them, and count on them to keep coming up with creative ways to keep customers happy and add new ones to the mix.
There's no disputing the fact, though, that they've made it. They're now household names in the gaming industry, as well known and successful as the operators they sell to.
At the shows, gaming's undiscovered jewels are farther away, in no-man's land, down the less populated aisles, hawking products most of us have never heard of.
Granted, they're not easy to find in a 200,000-square-foot exhibit hall. But it's worth it, if you can get past the hoopla up front. Because these vendors, many of whom have nothing more than an idea and the conviction that it will work, may very well be the Aristocrats, the Ballys, the IGTs of tomorrow.
That fact is being driven home here at the Casino Journal offices as we prepare for our annual Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming competition.
Each year around this time we send out an industry-wide call for entries, which we then send to five judges who are carefully selected by our editorial team for their industry knowledge and objectivity. The judges use a grading key we provide to evaluate each product. The results are published in the January issue of Casino Journal. The Top Three winners will be chosen by attendees of the American Gaming Summit and featured in the February issue of the magazine. This year's AGS, sponsored by Casino Journal, GEM Communications, Lionel Sawyer & Collins and Deutsche Bank, will be held at the Rio Suite Hotel Jan. 9-10.
By the deadline at press time, we had received more than 40 entries for the Top 20 Most Innovative Gaming Products. While some were new games submitted by the larger vendors mentioned above, many were from those companies hidden in the back of the G2E exhibit hall.
Which is one of the more important reasons we continue to hold this competition. We see it as a way to put those vendors at the back of the exhibit hall on the same footing as the industry giants. In our contest, it's impossible for the more established vendors to gain an advantage. They can't lease a bigger area in a more advantageous location. They can't install high-end flooring, or host a cocktail party, or hire entertainment.
Some of the most interesting entries we've received, in fact, have come from small companies most of us are not yet familiar with. A backrest for slot players. A chute that makes it easier for winners to get their coins from the machine into a cup. Neon playing cards. A mini craps table. A hook to hold women's handbags while they're playing the slots. A Miller Lite-trademarked slot machine. A paperback business plan for casinos.
The caliber of Top 20 entries this year indicates that there may be a lot of important new products out there just waiting to be discovered. If we can help that happen, our contest will have been a success.
The entries went out to our esteemed judges this week. They have a lot of work ahead of them, but we think they'll find evaluating this diverse group of products both an interesting and rewarding task.
Who knows? They may uncover a gem that proves to be as important to its future as the slot machine has been to its past.

Jamie McKee, editor and associate publisher, can be reached at 702-735-0446 or at .

The winners of Casino Journal's Top 20 Most Innovative New Gaming Products Awards have been announced. Attendees to this year’s 9th Annual American Gaming Summit will vote for their favorite products and services from the Top 20 finalists. Platinum, gold and silver medals for the Most Innovative New Gaming Products for 2003 will be awarded to the top three vote-getters, and the three winners will be featured in the February edition of Casino Journal.