Foxwoods Resort Boosts Casino with 13.56 MHz RFID Technology
05 December, 2007
category: RFID
Progressive Gaming International, a provider of diversified products and services used in the gaming industry worldwide, and Gaming Partners International, a casino currency and table game equipment vendor, announced today that Foxwoods Resort Casino has selected the Paulson chip embedded with high-frequency RFID tracking technology along with the Chip Inventory System (CIS) table management system.
Foxwoods plans to incorporate the Table iD table management system with full RFID functionality on approximately 250 of its table games over the next two years and fully implement CIS throughout all of its cage operations by May 2008. GPI will supply approximately 1 million 13.56 MHz High Frequency RFID gaming chips to Foxwoods for use with the Table iD and CIS table management systems.
Foxwoods Resort Casino Selects 13.56 MHz RFID Technology for Its Casino Operations
Foxwoods Plans to Integrate Progressive Gaming’s Table Management Technology into Approximately 250 Tables at their Connecticut Properties
Casino to Purchase Approximately 1 Million RFID chips from Gaming Partners International
Progressive Gaming International Corporation (NASDAQ:PGIC), a leading provider of diversified products and services used in the gaming industry worldwide, and Gaming Partners International Corporation (NASDAQ:GPIC) (“GPI”), a leading provider of casino currency and table game equipment worldwide, announced today that Foxwoods Resort Casino has selected the Paulson chip embedded with high frequency RFID tracking technology along with the Chip Inventory System (CIS) table management system for the majority of their table gaming operations. Foxwoods plans to incorporate the Table iD™ table management system with full RFID functionality on approximately 250 of its table games over the next two years and fully implement CIS throughout all of its cage operations by May 2008. GPI will supply approximately 1 million 13.56 MHz High Frequency RFID gaming chips to Foxwoods for use with the Table iD and CIS table management systems. The RFID technology is licensed by Progressive Gaming through its strategic partnership with Magellan Technology, the providers of the RFID products and the PJM protocol used for item level identification systems that provide reliable high speed processing of items including stacked gaming chips. Foxwoods Resort Casino is planning to go live with the RFID chips implemented with Table iD and CIS at the anticipated May 2008 opening of MGM Grand at Foxwoods. Foxwoods Resort Casino is the largest single-property casino in the world.
Bob Parente, Executive Vice President – Americas, Progressive Gaming, commented, “Foxwoods’ plan to implement Table iD and CIS in North America is a meaningful step forward in the rollout of the industry’s leading table management technology and further validates RFID as worldwide standard. The Table iD and CIS offerings are designed to provide leading RFID and table management technology to address a large number of its table games. We look forward to working with Foxwoods Resort Casino to deliver the latest table game management and tracking technology and additional innovations and features as we develop and bring them to market for this world class resort and its highly anticipated MGM Grand at Foxwoods expansion.”
Kevin O’Sullivan, Senior Vice President of Gaming Operations for Foxwoods Resort Casino, said, “As the largest casino in North America, Foxwoods requires the most robust table management technology in the market to ensure we have the tools to optimize our operating efficiencies and deliver an unparalleled gaming experience to our customers. The Table iD and CIS systems represent the leading edge of table management and chip tracking technology and through the utilization of their comprehensive RFID enabled functionality, Foxwoods and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods will provide our managers and players with the most secure, comprehensive, entertaining and convenient table management technology available.”
Gerard Charlier, President and CEO of GPI, added, “Foxwoods Resort Casino has traditionally been at the forefront of adopting leading technologies that provide them with tools with which to further their growth. We look forward to supplying them with our industry leading RFID enabled gaming chips and to fulfilling their gaming chip needs on an ongoing basis.”
Through automation, the Table iD system virtually eliminates most traditional “pencil-to-paper” tasks, allowing floor supervisors and their support staff to manage more tables, focus on game protection, and increase interaction with guests. Table iD can be installed on new or existing tables, adding additional automation, accuracy and profitability with each of its three modules and enabling a “phased” implementation approach to meet a wide range of budgetary and operational needs. Table iD’s three modules consist of Table Manager, Chip Manager and Game Manager.
Progressive Gaming’s Chip Inventory System (CIS) employs RFID-based capabilities to provide casino operators with the tools necessary to maintain an accurate real-time inventory of their entire stock of chips and securely and efficiently transfer gaming chips to each table across the casino floor, cage areas and all other validation points.
About Progressive Gaming International Corporation®
Progressive Gaming is a leading supplier of integrated casino and jackpot management system solutions for the gaming industry worldwide. This technology is widely used to enhance casino operations and drive greater revenues for existing products. Progressive Gaming is unique in the industry in offering casino management and progressive systems in a modular yet integrated solution. Products include multiple forms of regulated wagering solutions in wired, wireless and mobile formats. There are Progressive Gaming products in over 1,000 casinos throughout the world. For further information, visit www.progressivegaming.net
About Foxwoods
North America’s largest casino, Foxwoods Resort Casino® is located in the rolling hills of southeastern Connecticut and is easily accessible from Boston, New York, Hartford and Providence. Owned by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation, Foxwoods features six casinos with 7,200 slots, 380 table games, the only WPT World Poker Room™ in New England, High Stakes Bingo and The Ultimate Race Book. There are 1,416 guest rooms and suites in three hotels, more than 30 restaurants, a luxurious spa, more than 50,000 square feet of premium meeting and event space, 24 retail shops and five entertainment venues, including the 1,400-seat Fox Theatre. Conveniently located adjacent to Foxwoods is Lake of Isles™, featuring two, 18-hole championship golf courses designed by Rees Jones and a state-of-the-art Golf Academy. In spring 2008, the highly anticipated MGM Grand at Foxwoods® will add 825 luxurious guest rooms, 115,000 square feet of meeting space, a 4,000-seat Performing Arts Theater, 21,000-square-foot spa as well as more dining, retail and gaming facilities, bolstering Foxwoods’ preeminence as the East Coast’s ultimate casino resort destination. Foxwoods supports responsible gaming, and plays a leadership role in the Connecticut Council of Problem Gambling, of which it was a founding entity. For more information, call 1-800-FOXWOODS or visit www.foxwoods.com.
About MGM Grand at Foxwoods
The highly anticipated MGM Grand at Foxwoods will feature 825 luxurious guest rooms, 115,000 square feet of meeting space, a 4,000-seat Performing Arts Theater, 21,000-square-foot spa, celebrity chef restaurants, high-end retail and a state-of-the-art casino when it debuts in May 2008. Adding another distinctive gaming and entertainment destination, the new MGM Grand at Foxwoods will be Connecticut’s third largest resort casino, evocative of the Las Vegas landmark: grand in every sense; classically elegant and refreshingly one-of-a-kind. The must-see MGM Grand at Foxwoods will enjoy the same amenities as Foxwoods Resort Casino, including access to Lake of Isles™, featuring two, 18-hole championship golf courses designed by Rees Jones and a state-of-the-art Golf Academy. The property is easily accessible from Boston, New York, Hartford and Providence. For more information, call 1-866-MGM-0050 or visit www.mgmatfoxwoods.com.
About Gaming Partners International Corporation
GPIC manufactures and supplies (under the brand names of Paulson, Bourgogne et Grasset and Bud Jones) gaming chips including low frequency and high frequency RFID chips, jetons and plaques, low frequency RFID readers, wheels, table layouts, playing cards, dice, gaming furniture, table accessories and other products that are used with casino table games such as blackjack, poker, baccarat, craps and roulette. GPIC is headquartered in Las Vegas, NV, with offices in Beaune, France; San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico; Atlantic City, NJ; and Gulfport, MS. GPIC sells its casino products directly to licensed casinos throughout the world. For additional information about GPIC, visit our web site at www.gpigaming.com.
About Magellan Technology
Magellan Technology is a technology developer, manufacturer and licensor of advanced read and write 13.56MHz RFID systems. They design and offer RFID chip inlets and a complete reader portfolio using Phase Jitter Modulation (PJM) technology, which complies with the International Standard ISO/IEC 18000 Part 3 Mode 2. PJM technology is more than 10 times faster than other existing HF technologies. The PJM StackTag® is unique in its capability to identify, read and write RFID tags even when they are deeply stacked together. PJM products are optimized for applications where many hundreds of tags are stacked tightly or need to be identified reliably in fast moving dynamic situations where tags are presented in all orientations. Magellan licenses its PJM technology worldwide. For additional information about Magellan, visit www.magellan-rfid.com.
Safe Harbor Statements under The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the timing and rollout of TableiD and CIS at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods and Gaming Partners International Corporation’s provision of RFID chips in connection with that rollout, the opening of the MGM Grand at Foxwoods and offerings at that facility and the Company’s ability to develop and deliver new table game management and tracking technologies. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, and actual circumstances, events or results may differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to differences include, but are not limited to, the risk that the opening or rollout of TableiD and CIS at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods will be delayed or precluded, risks related to delays in the approval, introduction, installation and customer acceptance of new products, the status of the Company’s strategic partnerships with third parties, risks related to the Company’s ability to enforce and develop its intellectual property rights, including rights licensed from third parties, the risk that patents may exist of which the Company is not aware, or that existing patents may provide benefits to third parties beyond those anticipated by the Company, the Company’s ability to meet its capital requirements, relationships with casino operators, the overall industry environment, customer acceptance of the Company’s new products, further approvals of regulatory authorities, adverse court rulings, production and/or quality control problems, the denial, suspension or revocation of privileged operating licenses by governmental authorities, competitive pressures and general economic conditions as well as the Company’s debt service obligations. For a discussion of these and other factors which may cause actual events or results to differ from those projected, please refer to the Company’s most recent annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company cautions readers not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake, and specifically disclaims any obligation, to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new circumstances or anticipated or unanticipated events or circumstances as they occur.
This press release contains statements that are “forward-looking statements” of Gaming Partners International Corporation such as the expected future supply of casino currency to Foxwoods or other casinos, within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements are inherently subject to material risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those currently anticipated. Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from these forward-looking statements include: any patent infringement issues, the development of competing technologies by our competitors, the failure of any supplier to timely deliver key raw materials for any of our significant products, any customer cancellation of a significant order included in our backlog, any domestic or international terrorist incidents, and any unexpected taxes, regulatory, charges, costs or difficulties in the operations of our business in multiple jurisdictions or the manufacturing of our products, as well as other risks and uncertainties referred to in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, as well as other subsequent reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company undertakes no duty or obligation to update any of the information contained in this press release.
