Interblock G2E Preview: The next evolution
Gaming America speaks with Interblock Global CEO John Connelly on how G2E 2025 is set to represent a new era for the supplier – and the trends he expects to take center stage at the show.
What type of feedback or public response will Interblock be integratinginto its showcase for G2E 2025?
At last year’s G2E, we introduced what I describe as the fourth category in gaming called Amuse. We accelerated the development and did our best to get certain products ready for the show, but we received tremendous industry feedback and from customers that attended the conference from around the world. So, heading into this year’s G2E, we’ve doubled down and will have close to 14 different products for the Amuse category.
Personally, in 30 some odd years, I have never seen so many major operators willing to remove sections of their floor to design out Amuse sections without even having the product released yet. With no data, they believe so strongly in the concept and the product offering that we are designing over 15 Amuse sections and areas of casino floors in Las Vegas alone.
In parallel, Interblock is launching our first HHR product into the US market shortly and, while I never thought I would say this again after being an executive of a major slot company: due to the acquisition of Aruse and Zuum, we find ourselves with both a very impressive ETG cabinet and a great slot content studio. This G2E will be a new chapter in the evolution of Interblock from the pure fact that we’re going to have over four new categories we’re entering and, at the same time, we’ve had a record Q1 and Q2 in our core business. It’s a little busy these days, but we’re excited for the Vegas show this year.
What products will Interblock be featuring as part of its “next evolution” at this year’s conference?
I don’t want to show favoritism towards any category, but we have some very new innovation relative to ETGs and the subcategory within electronic table games that resonates on a global scale is roulette.
When you think about baccarat, craps or blackjack, it’s more regionalized around the world. The roulette product is global in nature, and we’ve invested heavily the past five to seven years on innovating new forms of the mechanical roulette to really take the industry to the next level; and we will be doing that at G2E this year.
Amuse, as I mentioned earlier, will have close to 15 products in the booth, several of which will have been approved for entering onto the Las Vegas Strip, and several more being newly introduced. Also, we’ll have slot machines, which again, I’m more surprised than anybody in the booth. We’ll be introducing additional Class II and HHR games besides roulette, including craps, bingo and some other products in those categories that I don’t believe people will be expecting. This is probably one of the most diverse new product offering shows I’ve ever been associated with, but definitely the biggest for Interblock.
As G2E celebrates its 25th anniversary, how will the conference continue expanding in the years ahead?
It’s interesting, when you go to the ICE show in Barcelona, there’s definitely a greater concentration of online gaming. I go back and think about the lottery industry, the casino industry and how they were so segregated. But now you fast forward to decades later and, in many ways, at least from a supplier’s perspective, the lottery and casino industry have merged. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the online concentration in Barcelona versus the traditional gaming concentration in Vegas integrate more rapidly in the years to come.
What do you expect to take center stage at G2E 2025?
I think the development efforts of the traditional gaming suppliers is primarily focused, at the moment, on taking their landbased content and optimizing it in the online space. We may start to see some of the online gaming companies take some of their products and try to get them down on casino floors. That’ll be very interesting.
That may be something new, but I think it’s a little premature to see something radical, where all of a sudden you’re going to see across every supplier, some sort of online/traditional gaming product offering. But I’m wrong every day! I’ll be as interested to see what happens as you are…
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