How do downloadable jackpots work? Two gaming-machine industry experts - BARRY CROSSLEY, general manager of IGT, and TONY STOLLERY, managing director of jackpot-controller manufacturer Fortune Corporation - help KAREN PHELPS demystify the technical details and discuss the implications of the potential changes.

Jackpot technology is complex, and many in the industry are confused over the proposed changes.  IGT general manager Barry Crossley says there is no single-stage system currently available for the New Zealand market.

Tony Stollery, managing director of Fortune Corporation.  says all jackpot-controllers in New Zealand currently operate on a pulse-based system.  This is where the jackpot controller receives electronic pulses transferring information from gaming-machine hard meters.  The controller does not connect directly to the machine's game software or access data via QCOM 1.6.  Venues with a non-downloadable jackpot would have to replace that with a new downloadable one, he says.

The SINFO protocol is the only option in the New Zealand market that allows the rapid transfer of the jackpot win.  A one-way communication protocol that downloads the jackpot win to the gaming machine, it is hard-wired from the jackpot controller to the gaming machine.

Stollery stresses that the vast majority of machines in New Zealand are downloadable ready.

"They have the required SINFO software attached to the game software - this just has to be activated."  Crossley says some older machine models may require SINFO hardware to allow the machine to be connected to a downloadable system.  Both Stollery and Crossley see SINFO, used as a one-way protocol, as an interim measure and not the final answer.  Ultimately, they say, the industry will have to change to a two-way serial communication system as this is where the technology is heading.  A two-way system is where the machine and jackpot controller essentially "talk" back and forth to each other.

Stollery says Fortune Corporation has already developed a two-way serial protocol that uses software to collect the data.  It is also developing a system that will collect from the QCOM information instead of from the hard meters.  This would require a simple hardware and software change for people who have already brought downloadable, two-way systems that collect information from the hard meter.

Crossley thinks the first step should be to move away from data collection via hard meters.  He says IGT is conducting a field trial on Paltronics' new QCOM downloadable jackpot, which collects data by "sniffing" the QCOM loop.

"This means that jackpot controller extracts the data from the EMS fibre-optic loop.  For example, the same data that is collected by EMS is collected by Paltronics' QCOM downloadable jackpot controller."

If the DIA decides to investigate a $600 lock-up mechanism, this technology does not currently exist and would have to be specially designed to work with either the EMS system or the jackpot controller, says Crossley.  Stollery thinks this measure is unnecessary and would achieve a negligible harm minimisation.  He says Fortune Corporation research indicates that most players cash out when they receive a win, regardless of the type of jackpot system, rather than continue playing.

Crossley says the New Zealand market is probably 10 years away from upgrading to two-way-communcation, downloadable jackpots using QCOM 1.6 gaming machines without forcing people to buy new machines.  Stollery agrees that any dedicated QCOM jackpot system is many years away, but thinks changes to introduce a two-way serial protocol using a SINFO/QCOM combination would be a perfectly adequate and logical compliance for New Zealand market requirements and would be very cost-efficient for operators.  It could be introduced onto every gaming machine in just a couple of years once the department decides which way it wants to head, he says.

But what will the cost be to venue operators? Depending on the specifications the DIA decides on, some machines may be able to be upgraded; some may not.  Stollery estimates the cost for venues with existing downloadble Fortune equipment three years old and less could be a few thousand dollars.  And up to $30,000 for venues with much older hand-pay equipment that require full system replacement.

"We hope the submission process can be undertaken quickly and the department can give the market some direction and certainty as to what way they want to go," says Stollery.  Says Crossley: "The key factor is the time frame as to when the department imposes changes.  It's a long-term, not a short-term vision."

(Source: Karen Phelps, Page 18, GamingNZ Vol 8, Issue 1, 2010)