As the casino industry continues to expand across the globe, supporting industries are also raking in the profits. TransAct Technologies, a provider of software and printing systems for both casinos and consumer businesses, reported a 69% year on year growth for 2018, reports GGRAsia.
Overall, the company reported net profits of $5.4 million, despite net sales dropping 3.1%. The big 69% increase was on the back of increase sales in the gambling industry. CEO Bart Shuldman said, “During the 2018 fourth quarter, global casino and gaming sales grew 21 percent year over year as we further expanded our share of the global casino market.”
Overall, sales to the gambling industry increased by nearly $8 million. Sales outside the U.S. had incredible growth in Q4, with a 223% increase.
Despite that growth, they look be focusing on a different sector in 2019: hospitality. Shuldman sees that industry as a “very large sales opportunity.” They won’t be expanding into it aimlessly though; it appears they will leverage the casino relationships they’ve already built.
“While devoting resources to the development of the Boha (food and beverage) solution suite, we simultaneously leveraged our strong position in the global casino and gaming industry throughout the year to drive further sales growth,” Shuldman said.
This emphasis was influenced by one of their major investors, Grand Slam, who has demanded a bigger focus on the restaurant business as well as more restaurant industry managers on the board of directors.
It’s not a bad plan though. Using Macau or Japan as examples, the casino industry is increasingly investing in integrated resorts and diversified attractions. Smart operators know that getting repeat casino visitors is a lot easier if you give the whole family something to do, and great places to eat is definitely part of that. A recent Macau study showed that a majority of repeat visitors cited good food and shopping as the reason for coming back.
TransAct already had part of that equation worked out: they’ve established the casino operator relationships they need. The next step is to lock down the restaurants that are soon to pop up, and they’ll have years of growth ahead of them.
