You don't have to be a high roller to like your gambling stakes high. Slot machines manufactured for the Asian market are designed to have less frequent pays, but a better chance of big wins. International Game Technology Asia's managing director John Gomes said there was no doubt Asian gamblers preferred the idea of big payouts. 'In North America it is more about having small frequent pays,' Mr Gomes said. 'But Asian gamblers are different and the machines are built to accommodate what they like.' Not only are the payouts different in Asia, but the graphics on some slot machines are designed to appeal to the local market. Chinese characters, lucky symbols and numbers are all popular. Mr Gomes said the concept of yin and yang, the Chinese philosophy of mutually correlated opposites, was another major draw card. 'We obviously do research and examine what things will be attractive to particular markets,' he said. 'Recognition of the graphics and the name of the game are all very important. Symbols and icons are extremely important.' Commonly used images include the lotus flower, goldfish, lucky coins, the Great Wall of China, good luck characters and the eight immortals. With many slot machines adapted from models used in Australia and the United States, careful attention must be paid to making sure the detail is correct. 'There are a lot of different meanings to the same character and if you place a character a particular way it can totally change the meaning,' Mr Gomes said. 'We have Chinese people who are specialists in this area to help with the process.' Aristocrat Technologies' Asia-Pacific general manager Ken Jolly said showroom focus groups were held with a range of different machines to establish player preferences. Mr Jolly said there were two basic mathematical packages used in his company's slot machines, aimed at the emerging and established markets. He described Macau as an emerging market with many players new to slot machines and said jackpots were 'extremely popular'. 'In Macau there is a definite attraction to machines that have a jackpot function,' he said. 'The gamblers chase that style of game, instead of games that have smaller returns, so we tweak the maths packages so players get what they like.' Not all machines in Macau's casinos are aimed at the Asian market, other popular themes include Egyptian, African and water scenes. Many of the games designed for the Asian market are also popular in other places including Las Vegas and Australia. Mr Jolly said there were generally two styles of gamblers, those who did not mind the group atmosphere of gaming tables and those who did not want to spend a lot of money and want their experience to last a long time. 'On the tables you can spend a lot more and not everyone has the money to do that.'