Automated Systems rides Macau boom

Automated Systems Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed information technology services provider, said its revenue from Macau would increase 20 per cent to 30 per cent this financial year, boosted by strong demand for baccarat scoreboard systems.

'We have deployed a baccarat scoreboard system to more than 1,000 gambling tables, an estimated market penetration rate of over 50 per cent,' said managing director Lai Yam-ting.

The company had set up 800 baccarat scoreboard systems in the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and 100 in the Sands Macao casino, both of which belong to Las Vegas Sands Corp of the United States. It also set up 200 systems in the Wynn Macau casino, controlled by US-based Wynn Resorts and will supply the Crown Macau casino with scoreboards.

'The most profitable part of the scoreboard projects is our software which was developed by only three Macau-based engineers within several months,' Mr Lai said. 'We will continuously receive revenue from the casino operators by charging a maintenance fee or upgrading fee for our software.'

He said the casino sales marked a shift in the customer base for the company which did most of its Macau business with the government, schools and banks. 'In the past two years, the number of customers from the gambling industry has increased significantly after Macau opened its market to foreign casino operators in 2002,' he said.

Mr Lai said the company also was setting up a human resources management system for the Sands operations and would develop software to take records of the disposed playing cards in the Wynn casino.