Multi-hand Games a Steady Hit

(2005-04-18) Las Vegas Sun

LAS VEGAS -- Any video poker player knows that the more hands you play, the greater the chance for a winner.

And any casino knows that the more hands that are played, the more revenue there is to be generated, since the house always has the edge.

So why did it take so long for the concept of multiple-hand video poker machines to take hold?

"Our chief executive, Ernie Moody, who was a stockbroker in Boulder, Colo., sat down with several decks of cards and came up with the idea, had it patented and took it to several gaming equipment manufacturers," said Mike Fields, executive vice president of Las Vegas-based Action Gaming Inc.

But the manufacturers passed on it -- several times.

Finally, International Game Technology took a chance with Moody and his concept and hit a home run. Today, about a decade after Moody walked in the door, there are 16,000 Triple Play machines on casino floors in North America, the second most successful slot machine game behind Wheel of Fortune.

Today, Action Gaming, a tiny, tightly held company that specializes in video poker variations, operates with IGT as its exclusive distributor.

The company's most popular titles are in more than 300 locations, from convenience stores to the Strip. Games titles like Spin Poker Deluxe, White Hot Aces and Trade Up Poker are staples in most of the locals casinos in Las Vegas. Action also has the franchise on the Austin Powers series of games.

"We're always trying to find new ways to play video poker and freshen up the game," said Fields, a former IGT executive.

Moody, now a Las Vegas resident, shuns publicity and prefers to work behind the scenes, conceptualizing new games for distribution and enjoying his success.

Action Gaming has six employees in a small office near McCarran International Airport and contracts with about four game inventors. The inventors crank out between 10 to 12 games a year. Fields said about one-third of them become licensed.

There are 32 different versions of Action games in play in Nevada in various denominations. Most of them incorporate some element of video poker. Among the most popular are the Triple Play, Fifty Play and Hundred Play Draw Poker machines that allow players to play multiple hands at one time.

Machines have different game variations, including Jacks or Better, Deuces Wild, Double Bonus, Double Double Bonus, Bonus Poker, Bonus Poker Deluxe, Super Aces Bonus and Super Double Bonus.

The game deals from one deck to a main hand and players select cards to hold in the main hand and all the active hands on the screen. On the draw, the player is dealt cards from up to 100 different decks. Winning combinations are displayed in boxes on the screen next to the primary hand.

"It's more exciting to play three hands or more at a time," said video poker expert Bob Dancer, who teaches and writes about casino games.

"It's a smoother ride for both the player and the house," Dancer said. "Players like the fact that you always win something. If you play 5 cents a hand on 100 hands, you bet $5 and you may get back $2.35, for example. It feels like a win because you get money back."

Dancer said in the 20,000 hands he's played in Hundred Play Draw Poker, he's never had a zero hand.

Fields said the multiple-hand format of Action's poker machines extends play.

"If someone plays two hours a day on a Triple Play machine, it's like playing six hours a day," he said.

While players seem to enjoy the multiple-hand format, casinos aren't as enamored with Action Gaming's insistence in its contracts that it be paid a royalty instead of a percentage of the handle as in many other slot machines.

Action makes between $15 and $20 a day per game in royalties. The company does not disclose its revenue figures and IGT said the company's agreement with Action is proprietary information.

Several published reports say the arrangement has paid off handsomely for Moody. Sources say some casinos have tried unsuccessfully to get Action and IGT to reduce or eliminate the royalty fee. But Dancer said casino managers who do that aren't looking at the big picture.

"There are casino managers who look to the short term, that they have to pay out $10,000 to Action Gaming and it's a bad thing," he said. "A more enlightened casino executive would look at how much the games bring into the house. If the house averages $100 on a game and Action brings in $150, it certainly is worth paying $15 a day to have that game on the floor.

"Casinos work better taking small nibbles over a long period of time than taking big gulps in a short period," he said.

In addition to manufacturing new game concepts, Action maintains an Internet site -- www.actiongaming.com -- at which players can see how games operate. Fields also publishes a newsletter through IGT, The Inside Straight, discussing video poker games and trends.