hello I'm Stephanie and this is the Huddle and today we are talking to John Connelly who's the CEO of interblock and the first question we have is how was g2e for you this year we caught up there in person at what we were calling the interblock Fortress at the time what has been the biggest thing to come out of the conference for you in interblock so far well it was a great show um have to say I think this was one of the better ones we've had in quite some time um you know we launched uh as you and I discussed at g2e we launched some new technology um called the smart pit which is really a fourth segment of our company we had three product areas uh preg g2e we added a fourth since then that's really resignated with the industry um and as a result we're we've been running ever since trying to keep up with um you know material planning and and production capabilities and capacities heading into next year so we can we can meet the demand so excited about that um I think that's going to be a primary driver of growth for our company through 2024 and then luckily on top of that we had a lot of new uh roulette craps uh play actions that we released at the show uh which are resonating and starting to go on the Las Vegas Strip and and doing quite well and finally the the obvious acquisition of aruse uh continues to be a an amazing Catalyst and feeling a lot of the I would say the the weaknesses or deficiencies we had as a company in certain product segments um nicely and the the demand is is I think since we've acquired a ruse only uh increased now that people really I think understand the future of the company and what's going to be happening with that team um and as we discussed you know we we opened an office in Tokyo acquired the aruse uh team and brought them within the interblock organization and they are as we speak busy busy coding and and preparing new products for 2024 to add to our portfolio so you know lot going on but but exciting and and uh still still somewhat recovering from g2e and have you been to Tokyo then since Las Vegas has it been a whirlwind of travel for you uh no I'm due to be actually interestingly enough I was just working on my agenda so I'll be there in a couple weeks and doing my my 2024 budget planning process and locking that down here in November um so I'll be in Tokyo shortly hopefully with a team and and um and really trying to end the year strong and prepare for next year great uh the launch that we specifically talked about happening just after g2e so between the last time we spoke and now was the smart pit Blackjack offering and you said that's been resonating well with the industry yeah so that so there's three components well there's four there there's the craps the roulette bakra and blackjack um uh we've officially released the craps and the roulette um with several customers the Blackjack as we speak is getting installed um within the Caesar's organization uh Treasure Island uh Stratosphere several properties in the next couple weeks uh was just approved so we're excited to see the results of that blck it will be a five seat the five seat product um however the three seat product will come out in March April uh and then we'll I'm more excited about the three seat product to be honest with you than the five but um but yeah we'll launch that here shortly so we'll have a complete smart pit um that will tie together as we demonstrated at g2e and we're finally ready to to go to market with that and and as I stated the the support from both the largest operators in the world and and some of the smallest casinos in the world that you would you would uh enter has has been been resonating for different reasons I think the larger operators see this as an amazing opportunity to attract new players and try to drive more profitability on a large scale because they have hundreds of tables within their organizations the smaller operators because of Labor shortages and labor costs um and just pure efficiencies are starting we're in discussions with casinos that I believe are going to go 100% smart pit uh technology with their live table games I don't think you're going to see a traditional historical live pit that's not going to be a smart pit um which is fascinating I can't wait to see how before and after results um uh perform when we when we convert these casinos uh to True technology across the casino floor so so yeah very exciting um I think we'll know much more in a few months when we talk but the the craps in the rouette at least for now are continuing to explode and then aruse also has a live crafts product um which is a little bit different demographic that is that continues coming out of G2 to do incredibly well so um so yeah let's see that is fascinating just a quick question what makes three seats better than five in your opinion you know me I love the love seats you know uh I love the ability no pun intended to put love seats in front of uh three T three monitors on a blackjack table um not to mention the fact that there's a lot of Statistics that suggest having three seats versus five is more profitable um and then obviously several other facets we saw at the show where with a larger monitor three seats I can split the screen and do a lot of fun things uh that that's never been done before and and a live pit so um we'll see how that evolves going into Q2 I'm not quite there yet we'll start with the five seat product but yes I am I am excited about the love seat capability excellent EXC I'm sure the players will be too speaking of g2e we talked there about the potential for interblock to launch some online gaming capability and I know that you said that that would be next year after seeing the focus on I gaming at GTE has that sort of influenced you to speed up a bit more or what does that launch look like still yeah I think um you know we're still uh 100% uh focused on entering the online Market globally uh in 2024 um from both a a live streaming and a remote gaming server perspective um we have a partner company that we're working with on that initiative as we speak and are in some interesting negotiations with some of the larger operators um around the world uh currently so from G2 till now in the past month things continue to move quite aggressively but I do not see us really entering uh the market much before the end of Q2 just because there's a certain certain product offering and strategy we we believe in uh and we want to make sure that when we enter the market we enter in in in a in a in a in a different way uh I'll leave it at that I don't want to spoil the surprise but um so sometimes taking a little longer is better to to have the end result you're looking for so that's that's probably around the time frame you'll see us I hit the market most likely most likely us first and then entering the international market shortly there after interesting to hear definitely got to keep the strategy going for the long term then and uh always try and do something different and not let it out of the Fortress just yet yes not out of the Fortress yet yes exactly did you notice any particular trends at g2e that you weren't expecting to see this year in the gaming industry or did everything sort of confirm exactly where you thought the industry was headed I wish I was that smart I mean I I never know surprises we're going to experience a G2 each year because there's so many you know Innovative gaming companies around the world and top talent and um I think you know you're always surprised by some things you know you know obviously being in block and and a lot of attention focused on that and online I think where where I'm spending a lot of my attention at the moment is just keeping an eye on the integration between the traditional gaming sector and the online gaming sector and how those are evolving both independently and uh in a combined fashion and integration fashion so I think what's surprising me is the rate by which we're seeing Innovation and Concepts and player acceptance and quite frankly The Operators uh focus on integrating the casino floor uh and the casino environment with the online environment and I think there's a a healthy I don't want to say battle but I think there's a healthy discussion going on right now as to is the online world going to come down into the casino floor and really dictate whereas as the casino floor and the casino you know Decades of experience going to go into the online space and and really proliferate um the next the next phase of growth um probably more a combination of the two but who can figure that out first is going to be in a great position and we're we're working hard to to position ourselves to be part of that um and I think at the show that's really what what I was watching the most uh most closely um from the traditional gaming perspective you know the feedback I heard not as much Innovation lately uh because I think a lot of people are just so focused on online you know I think the traditional gaming sector is really focused on online automation payments um and and really emphasizing how to catch up or or uh be more relevant in those spaces and therefore there perhaps has been a little bit of um a pullback on on the attention we see in the traditional Casino for historically the historical mindset but I don't think that is an indication of lack of innovation I just think the Innovation is evolving into new areas um and uh and and I think it's exciting to see the industry how quickly it's evolving so yeah that is great um and speaking of different areas and the evolution of possibly traditional casino games one of the games I personally noticed at g28 was the sibo table game and we know it's really popular in Asia but do you ever foresee that game or table games in general jumping up in popularity in North America at all so two two components to that the SBO is uh because of the acquisition of aruse we overnight became an incredibly strong player in the sibo product category on a global scale um in combination with the fact we had just launched a universal cabinet SBO in Asia that that was taking off at the same time so from a international perspective SBO is quickly becoming one of the fastest growth areas of our company um from a domestic North American perspective it's very regionalized I mean I think where you find a a larger demographic of Asia Asian player base uh such as you know bclc California New York um we do see SBO uh growing um however it is a far distance second to bakara and I don't see SBO catching up anytime soon to the bakara demand and and potential that being said um it definitely on a global scale is growing because I think technology and Innovation is facilitating that but North America you know I think North America is going to it's going to be while before sibo uh is in the top three or four products we see from an ETG perspective would be my my current position great and uh the second component of the question I know it might be slightly controversial to say to a table games man but slots seem to dominate a lot in Las Vegas casinos while table games are more uh preferred by Asian players in uh casinos across the world what do you think about bakara catching up and table games taking off more in the US the way they are in Asia so that that's that's a very that's a very interesting question um so my background is in slots believe it or not so I'm a converted man um and uh you know spent the past seven eight years really focused on table games and Technology I think to your point when you when we when you look at the online demographics and you look at the online propensity to play without question the younger demographic um and I'm getting older now but the younger demographic which I used to when I said that years past I meant you know in your 20s and 30s now it's more 30s and 40s their propensity to play table games is astronomically higher than what we saw you know a decade two decades ago so we know the younger demographics have a higher propensity to play sports betting um table games then slots however that being said there's still a huge population globally that enjoys the slot component both online and the traditional sense so um so there's a demand for both that being said from a percentage statistical perspective I think we're seeing a much higher growth rate in sports and table games um because it started from a much lower Point um over the past five years and I see that continue to Trend up even when you look at casino traditional Casino floors you look at online play um table games are becoming something you can't ignore um and I think when you think of table games what's fascinating you know when we launched the smart pit as we talked about people were in some cases going you know you're a little crazy to take chips away and and I remind everybody that you know for the past 10 years or more there's been billions spent online without chips people don't have chips when they play online it's virtual um so I think the traditional Casino knows and their their mentality is evolving rapidly because when you look at New Jersey Michigan Pennsyvania some of the data coming out of these states online is the growth and online's growing without a lot of the traditional mindsets we've had of the past you know there aren't chips um you know there's there's a a different rate of play there's a different interaction there's a different interface um a different expectation so I think we have to start bringing some of those back practices down to the traditional casino floor and electronic table games I think is one of the closest distribution methods uh to do that quickly and and efficiently so hence the smart pit taking off so um great question and I think at least as interblock we're very optimistic that our at least segment of the Cino floor is continuing to grow and we don't see it Plateau we think it's actually just the tip of the ice thank you very much for talking to us today John and we'll look forward to seeing uh what the rest of the iceberg has before us later on uh next year perfect looking forward to it great talking to you as always and uh hopefully see you soon see you soon