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Company Profile |
Vision and Innovation: The Shuffle Master Story
In 1992, Shuffle Master, Inc. dared to take one man’s dream and turn it into a million-dollar success story. Today the company’s Utility and Entertainment Products enjoy world-wide popularity, its commitment to quality and customer satisfaction make it respected among peers and clients alike, and the creativity and forward thinking of its management team and staff ensure its continuing growth and development.
In 1982, after reading an article describing Atlantic City’s frustration with blackjack card counters, truck driver John Breeding envisioned a device that could shuffle cards between games and prevent card counting. After developing a wooden prototype to show to potential investors, he began working with engineers to make his idea a reality. After struggling through design flaws, changes and financial setbacks, Shuffle Master’s first shuffler, the BG-1, went on field trial in 1992, and in the months that followed, the BG-2 and 3 were licensed in Nevada and began being used by casinos.
Although innovative, the BG series’ use was limited and it took almost five years to place 500 units. To increase demand, Shuffle Master invented Let It Ride®, a poker-style game that incorporated a shuffler into game play and the company’s two core product categories-Utility and Entertainment Products-were born.
Automatic shufflers and other Utility Products are designed to increase a casino’s productivity, profitability and security. As placements of the BG series increased, Shuffle Master expanded its first-generation shuffler offerings by introducing the MD1TM, the industry’s first multi-deck batch shuffler, and continued to innovate by developing additional features that enhanced the shuffling process. With the introduction of the Ace®, a quicker, more versatile alternative to the BG-3, and the King®, the company’s first multi-deck continuous shuffler, Shuffle Master’s second generation shuffler replacement cycle began, and the industry rapidly welcomed the advanced productivity and security features the second generation shufflers provided.
Today, Shuffle Master offers shuffling solutions for nearly every card game including the third-generation one2sixTM continuous shuffler or the Deck Mate®, a groundbreaking product used for hand-pitched games like poker and blackjack. As the industry’s leading Utility Products supplier, Shuffle Master continues to innovate by developing cutting-edge technology enhancements like card recognition, a key feature of the MD2® batch shuffler and the i-DealTM third generation single deck specialty shuffler. Card recognition is also an important part of the company’s intelligent shoes that minimize dealing errors and cheating and will be incorporated into the Table iD System currently in development with IGT and Progressive Gaming.
Shuffle Master also offers other Utility Products including the Easy Chipper® roulette chip sorter and the MD2 WorkstationTM which rapidly performs back-of-house deck checking and verification. Valued for their high-quality, reliable performance, the company’s Utility Products are used by casinos all over the world, and have helped drive a table game revolution by paving the way for new table games whose performance and game play is dramatically enhanced by their use.
Today’s savvy casino visitors demand more excitement from their gaming experiences, and Shuffle Master’s Entertainment Products have been instrumental in broadening the pit beyond traditional games like blackjack and poker. Offered both as felt-based games as well as electronically on the Company's electronic content delivery systems, Shuffle Master’s Entertainment Products are rapidly growing in popularity, especially among players within the 21 to 45 age range who want an interactive casino experience beyond that offered by slot machines.
Featuring popular titles like Three and Four Card Poker®, and appealing side bets for blackjack, pai gow poker, baccarat and craps, the company’s Entertainment Products attract a broad range of players and are demanding more and more floor space as casinos realize the financial benefits of adding them to the pit. In fact, there are over 8,000 specialty table games in the market today compared to less than 1,000 fifteen years ago, making specialty games the fastest growing segment in the casino industry, and Shuffle Master leads the pack with four of the top five titles.
But Shuffle Master doesn’t stop there—it continues to broaden the specialty table game market with constant innovation that enables the company to consistently introduce new Entertainment Products that are in-line with public demands. A new felt-based game, Ultimate Texas Hold’emTM, takes traditional hold’em into the pit by transforming it into a house banked game filled with exciting game play and an appealing side bet. Featuring an interactive video dealer, Table MasterTM’s electronic platform provides casinos with the ability to offer their lower stakes players today’s hottest games at a fraction of the live table cost, and makes it possible for Shuffle Master’s popular game content to be offered in industry segments like racinos and video lottery markets where live tables are not permitted.
Shuffle Master also expands the reach of its table game portfolio by offering live tournaments like the Three Card Poker World ChampionshipTM where players from all over North America have a chance to compete for a million dollar grand prize and the chance to be part of a television program featuring the tournament.
About the extraordinary success the company has enjoyed, Mark L. Yoseloff, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive officer says, “We bring more to the table by providing products that help our customers with productivity, security, cost savings, and we give the public innovative table games that they really want to play. This has made us the industry leader in table games and related technology, and as such we play an integral role in the success of the gaming industry, we will continue to innovate, continue to create new products and continue to lead these categories by developing new and better ways to enhance the gaming experience.”
As the gaming industry continues its rapid expansion, Shuffle Master is well positioned to capitalize on this growth by providing both the popular game content and the delivery systems that ensure secure, efficient game performance. As Shuffle Master continues to bring more to the table with its Utility and Entertainment Products, it looks forward to continued success that will ensure the vitality and growth of the company.
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