In the cutthroat world of online casinos, companies need to do all they can to attract more customers than their competitors in a saturated market. One way that this is being done is through the use of arcade games. Arcade games are extremely varied and have so much potential for expansion and innovation that they are bringing gambling to a much wider audience.

The modern generation of potential new casino users have been brought up on computer games and PlayStations, rather than the card and dice games of old. So it makes sense that when they make the transition into gambling these people would find computer-style games more appealing than games like craps and blackjack.

Gavin Isaacs, President and Chief Executive Officer at Scientific Games, and Ken Jolly, Vice President of Scientific Games Asia, spoke to Peter White during G2E Asia

“Stronger Together” is a slogan that fully encapsulates the amalgamation of what is now Scientific Games. How would you describe the combining of these companies?

Jeff Lande, Founder of Lucky VR, chats with Damien Connelly

I’m in the bonus feature. I need to collect eggs. Dinosaur-sized eggs. It’s even more challenging because I also need to beat a T.rex. I can see it, I can hear it, I can feel it. If my smell sense was triggered right about now, I would also think I could smell it. My brain is telling me the T.rex is real and that it’s right in front of me. My heart has started to beat faster. A Pterodactyl flies overhead, making me duck. “Wow!”

Gambling in all its forms has long been a pastime enjoyed by significant numbers of Australians. Whether it’s horse racing, sports betting or casinos, the sums wagered in Australia annually are thought to be in the region of AUD$18 billion (USD$12.87 billion), which is about AUD$1500 (USD$ 1073) for every man, woman and child in the country. Around 70% of all Australians are estimated to take part in a form of wagering activity every year.

By far the most popular form of wagering in Australia is slot machines, or pokies as they are called locally (derived from ‘poker machines’). These first arrived illegally in the country not long after their first appearance in the US in the 1890s, although it wasn't until 1956 that they became legal when they were sanctioned in New South Wales.