Casino operator Hard Rock International (HRI) is claiming a world-first gaming innovation through online slots played live from its Atlantic City casino.
On Monday, HRI announced that it had teamed up with Israel-based gaming tech firm Softweave Ltd to offer Live Slots from its Hard Rock Atlantic City casino. The product, which Softweave has dubbed Winafar, is being offered by HRI’s New Jersey-licensed online gambling site HardRockCasino.com.
Live Slots involves cameras and microphones trained on physical slot machines in a designated room at HRI’s AC casino that currently features 12 machines offering five slots titles. Softweave says its Winafar tech can be incorporated into any slot machine simply by plugging in the Winafar box and setting up the cameras and microphones.
New Jersey-based customers can access Live Slots via their computer or mobile device and will be presented with a visual row of physical slot machines. If there’s a downside to Softweave’s tech, it’s that individual slots can only be enjoyed by a single player at a time, unlike the other gaming options available via the traditional live casino format, so you’ll have to wait patiently if someone decides to bogart a particular machine.
Kresimir Spajic, HRI’s senior VP of online gaming and sports betting, said Live Slots represented “an entirely new way to play floor favorites without being there.” Spajic said the online casino sector had been “lacking innovation” and that Live Slots represented “the next big thing after live dealer.”
Softweave CEO Roy Greenbaum said his group’s partnership with HRI created “optimal settings for the delivery of the Live Slots product.”
HRI’s New Jersey-licensed online casino has performed solidly since its launch in June 2018 although its monthly revenue has yet to challenge any of the market’s traditional frontrunners. The market’s online casino vertical has proven infinitely more popular than online poker, and HRI has previously taken the lead with introducing live online slots tournaments courtesy of its Gaming Innovation Group technology partner.
