Hit Utopia hands control of jackpots to the operator.

Casino International speaks to Dennis Korthouwer, CEO and founder of Hit Utopia – a jackpot system that gives genuine control to the operator and promotes higher spend and longer play.

Higher spend per player, and longer play – Hit Utopia might just give an operator both, from existing players, and also the means to attract new players to the game. Sounds too good to be true? Dennis Korthouwer, CEO and founder, Hit Utopia, explains the many strengths of his system to Casino International.

Casino International ("CI"): What is Hit Utopia?

Dennis Korthouwer ("DK"): It is a promotional and side bet jackpot system for gaming tables that allows an operator to offer customized promotional and side bet prizes to attract new guests, turn them into players, and to encourage more play. In short, to increase the casino’s bottom line as a whole.

CI: How does it work?

DK: A lot depends on the involvement of the casino, but we have the technology for the them, together with our input and advice on the prizes and offering, to achieve the goals of each company. If a casino has no budget for marketing, you cannot start by focusing on attracting new players; we usually attract these new players with very unique “Experiences You Can’t Buy” prizes. These cost money and you need a marketing budget for that so it is more attractive for bigger casinos and groups of casinos.

If you have a small, independent casino you might first focus on how to turn your guests into players, how to extend the playing time of those players, and how to make them bet more. This is what we do with Hit Utopia, by offering a combination of promotional and side bet prizes.

“We have extensively analysed all promotional and jackpot systems for table games and decided to place 25 units [of Hit Utopia] in our property. Most units will be installed to boost performance of our Baccarat tables.” David Lawrence, General Manager for Thunderbird Asia.

CI: There are a lot of side bets around, a lot of promotional products – what’s different about Hit Utopia?

DK: Normally you have a side bet then some promotional prizes are thrown in, but people don’t really think about these prizes; they just give away whatever they can get their hands on.  They don’t think, ‘if I give away this prize, what is the result of offering this prize?’ If the prize costs €10, how do they know they will get €20 back from it? Research shows that 85% of promotions is lost money because people do not track and cannot see the results of their promotions.

We do it in a specific combination; we don’t just say, there is a side bet and here is some promotional stuff; we have promotional prizes so that anyone that starts playing the original game, say blackjack or roulette, are always entered into the Hit Utopia system. So, you sit on the blackjack table and you automatically participate in some small promotional prizes. These can be very small, or something bigger that hits infrequently -this is to get people in the system. When you start to play for this free promotional prize, the bigger side bet cash prizes can also hit on your position – but if you don’t play the side bet, you won’t get the prize. So, we have the promotional prize to get people to play Hit Utopia, and the big side bet for the bigger cash prize because nobody wants to lose out on the big prize by not playing. They don’t come to play for it, but they play it because it can still hit on their player position and they don’t want to be that player that gave up $10,000 for the sake of a $1 side bet.

We have smaller cash prizes too, which we guarantee hit in a very short time frame – so we present on screen, “in this hour someone will win $500”; it’s an incentive for people who are not in Hit Utopia seats to sit and start playing, because they know this prize is coming.

Additionally we have smaller promotional prizes to extend play time, like non-negotiable chips, before and after peak hours; you can use those experiential prizes to attract new players within this system, it all depends on how big the casino is and how many systems they have et cetera.

CI: It sounds so simple!

DK: I think the great, unique part of this system is that all of the progressives are basically a passive jackpot system. Because of the game math, the prize is determined and the hit frequency is determined.

The chance to win with a Royal Flush is about 650,000 to 1, but how do you know that that is the ideal prize for your casino? I’ve seen over my years of research that this is not the ideal prize trigger, and definitely not the ideal hit frequency. Most casinos prefer a lower-value prize that hits more frequently. But with traditional jackpots you have nothing to set; it is linked to the outcome of the game. Hit Utopia is a random jackpot system where the operator determines the prizes and the hit frequency. And the added positive is that because it is random, the more the player bets on the side bet, the higher the chance to win the prize. If they see that someone will win the €5000 at midnight and it’s 11:30, people will not bet the minimum but will likely bet €5, €10 or even more for a greater chance to win.

“Every prize that we put up is there for a financial reason; other systems have prizes there because of the game mathematics. It has nothing to do with the market, the players, or profitability.”

CI: It uses simple psychology – FOMO, fear of missing out – but the idea the side bet game is happening regardless of whether you have put the bet on. It’s a clever twist.

DK: We did many tests all over the world and traditional jackpot systems either work, or they do not. Players evolve, things change. With Hit Utopia, the casino can change it. Big players coming in? You can put a big prize on, on the fly. You want to have a prize in the next half an hour because you have a special promo on? Easy. Other systems have prizes there because of the game mathematics; these prizes have nothing to do with the market, the players, or profitability. Every prize that we put up is there for a financial reason.

CI: There is a new aspect to Hit Utopia isn’t there – expanding the system on slots…

DK: Correct. The way I initially invented the system is to increase the market share for a company. It was developed initially with slots in mind because that is the biggest market. The initial problem was the integration of our technology into the slot machine; the problem there is you have to get co-operation with all of the manufacturers, and you need to re-certify all of those machines.

Last year we changed our technology and are now on Raspberry Pi and have managed to decrease the cost of our hardware by 80%; it also means we can now have our software on very small screens and stick those onto any slot machine. Then we invented and patented a transparent foil which we can stick on a button that triggers the Hit Utopia system when someone presses that button; on some new slots where you don’t have buttons any more, we invented and patented a screen-reading foil and it reads when a new game is being played and used that signal to play Hit Utopia.

We now have the only jackpot system in the world where you can have it on any table with a dealer, and you can have it on slots. Not or – and. That means the prizes can be higher and more attractive, or the hit frequency can go up – you have to find the right balance. With this technology the operator is in charge, not the supplier.

“Fairplay Casinos looks forward to this slot machine add-on for the Dutch market. Hit Utopia has proven to create innovative products and enhance the player experience.” Jan Schiffelers, CEO, Fairplay Casinos.