If there is one word that explains the growing success of South American gaming company Ortiz Gaming, that word would have to be bingo.
The manufacturer specializes in electronic bingo—and bingo-style lottery games, a mainstay of its game lines and features. It’s a mainstay that has powered the company’s move into the U.S. and Asian gaming markets since late 2012.
Ortiz Gaming entered the Asian market in 2013 and now, less than a year later, the company has machines installed and partnerships with more than 25 Asian gaming industry operators.
The company’s growth in the U.S. has been just as impressive. The company sees a natural fit between its bingo games and tribal gaming in the U.S., which, of course, has strong ties to the games going back decades.
And they may have a point, as the 20-year-old company is having one of its best years ever in 2014.
“In terms of company growth, this has been one of the most successful years in the history of Ortiz Gaming,” says company President Maurilio Silva. “The Ortiz Gaming concept is such an innovation for raising the standards and expectations of a casino, that it has fueled unprecedented excitement from operators in every sector. Our phenomenal growth can be attributed to more and more markets, such as the U.S., beginning to adopt the ‘Ortiz Standard’ for raising their revenue expectations.”
The Ortiz Standard
The Ortiz Standard is to increase win per unit beyond the floor average. The idea is to generate higher time in-chair through Ortiz features such Extra Bonus Ball, which allows players to increase their bet during a bonus game, and Sky Paper, which announces Jackpot winners with a shower of confetti. Yes, confetti.
But the standard is more than exciting game features. Ortiz Gaming delivers the Ortiz Standard through games with math that re-conceptualizes how a machine should perform, says Silva. The standard represents an evolution not just of games, but of the very thinking of revenue metrics.
The standard doesn’t just increase win per unit, but redefines the expectation of game average performance. “Not to be compared to stepper reels, video slots, or their outdated business models, the Ortiz Standard allows operators to totally rethink slot floor metrics,” says Silva.
All of the Ortiz EGMs allow for four or more games to be played at once, in addition to the Extra Bonus Ball function, which allows players to increase their bet during the bonus round. These features allow for maximum coin-in beyond the basic reel game.
“As the standard becomes more well-known, we anticipate that our growth curve will continue upward,” Silva says. “As we continue to introduce the Ortiz Standard, more and more operators have begun to compare the rest of their games to the superior performance they have come to expect from Ortiz Gaming. For the remainder of the year we are seeing increasing demand, both from operators and players.”
Towards that end, Ortiz Gaming has been hitting most tribal and U.S.-based trade shows in 2014, and plans to make a big splash in Las Vegas at G2E highlighting its newest technologies and products.
Among the “surprises” the company expects to unveil is a variety of new cabinets featuring Sky Paper. The flashy win feature “gives a whole new meaning to community gaming, and goes beyond ‘bells and whistles’ to generate excitement at the machine by announcing a jackpot winner with a shower of multi-colored paper,” says Silva. “There’s something about the effect that just draws other patrons to the spot and creates an on-floor excitement hard to duplicate.”
New Bingo Games
Game themes to be featured include bingo-style Class II and Class III games, ranging from Ortiz’s world famous “Triple Bonus” to a new soccer-themed game, “Goal Mania.” The game is a Latin bingo game with a soccer theme and a goalkeeper as the main character.
Goal Mania consists of a three-by-five bingo card with 15 numbers each. Players can play up to four cards at once. Thirty balls are drawn from the bingo globe with up to 10 Extra Bonus Balls offered for purchase. A bonus game is triggered when the player wins the Double O prize.
In the bonus game, the player is prompted to select soccer players on the screen. Each soccer player has an associated credit award. Selection ends when a referee with a red card appears. The player will be awarded the total amount of credits selected before the red card. Goal Mania has 17 prizes plus the jackpot.
The company will also feature its newest lottery-style game, “Better Touch,” which allows players to play up to four cards at once. If a player draws a green or purple lottery ball, the win is multiplied up to three times.
Game play begins after a player chooses his or her favorite six numbers on each lottery ticket. The lottery balls are then drawn, highlighting winning numbers on each card. All the numbers in the appropriate order will win the jackpot, triggering gold sequins to light up the screen while gold coins rain down.
The bonuses in the Better Touch game are triggered by different colored balls making up the lottery number combination. If a player draws a green ball as part of the lottery winning combination it will multiply the winnings by two, and a purple lottery ball in the lottery winning combination triples the prize.
With these extra bonuses, and the ability to play additional lottery tickets at once, the game constitutes a new take on lottery. The game also features crisp sound and high-definition graphics. Better Touch is available in Class II and Class III formats.
Company officials are playing some of their new game themes close to the vest, promising a lot of surprises. Some of Ortiz’s most popular bingo games include Ace Mania, Six Bingo, Fiesta Bingo, Locomodin and Bingole.
“Our biggest focus is our customers,” says Silva. “We are focused on delivering products which enhance the casino floor over the long term, and creating partnership with casinos to be the foundation to a profitable relationship.”
