A number of casino industry equipment suppliers say they have observed a trend of casino players in Asia shifting their interest from traditional live-dealer tables to electronic table games (ETGs) amid the pandemic.
Possible factors include the relative ease of cleaning ETG play surfaces, and the ease of maintaining social distancing rules by keeping alternate ETG terminals switched off. A number of Asian casino operators has reported on the challenges posed by getting players at live-dealer tables to adhere to social distancing rules.
Jim Preston, product director of electronic table systems – Australasia at Scientific Games Corp, suggested in the firm’s recent online event for its customers, SG Asia Summit, there were signs of players having “moved across from live tables to the ETGs”.