Skill-based video gaming machine innovator GameCo Incorporated has revealed that it hopes to launch its products in Nevada casinos as soon as next year after last week receiving a first license from New Jersey’s Division Of Gaming Enforcement regulator.
According to a report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper, GameCo Incorporated is planning to site up to 21 of its Danger Arena first-person shooter games in Bally’s Atlantic City, Caesars Atlantic City and Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City by early-November before moving on to casinos Nevada.
“We’re just finishing up our Nevada application,” Blaine Graboyes, Chief Executive Officer for New York-based GameCo Incorporated, told the newspaper. “Our first game is called Danger Arena. It’s a first-person action game. You’re fighting danger-bots or robots and the game lasts 45 seconds. If you take out six or more robots you’re in the money, ten robots for the highest payout.”
Graboyes explained that GameCo Incorporated holds a patent on its maths model and game design while Danger Arena will be able to offer the same return-to-player ratios as more traditional slots. Aficionados will see returns of 89% to 92%, which means a hold percentage for the trio of Caesars Entertainment Corporation casinos in Atlantic City of 8% to 11%.
Unlike in New Jersey, GameCo Incorporated will not be alone in Nevada should its license application to offer skill-based video gaming machines be approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission. The regulator endorsed Gamblit Gaming in 2014 while the Californian firm announced last month that it had inked a deal to bring two of its games, which more closely resemble traditional slots, to Caesars Entertainment Corporation properties in the western state.
“Typically slot machines are a very solitary experience,” Eric Meyerhofer, Chief Executive Officer for Glendale-based Gamblit Gaming, told the Bloomberg news service. “Our games are designed to be played in groups with friends.”
Meyerhofer told Bloomberg that his firm’s games are designed to create a series of small wins rather than one large jackpot with payouts that should also average those of traditional slots over time.