When Resorts World Las Vegas opens, Paul Steel will have designed the largest casino in the history of the Las Vegas Strip.
Paul Steelman’s Competition Interactive has been approved by the Nevada Gaming Commission to sell skill-based gaming machines in Nevada. Competition Interactive was approved by the Nevada Gaming Control Board on February 8.
Competition Interactive is a subsidiary of Steelman Partners, best known for its work in casino architecture. Steelman said he wants to delve into the skill-based gambling industry, because he wants to “surprise the youth in all of us with new experiences.”
Social, Multiplayer, Competitive, Skill-Based
In a statement, Paul Steelman said, “Our casino games are social, multiplayer, competitive, and skill-based…[players] compete against one another as well as the ‘house'”.
Nevada Legislature Passes Skill-Based Slots Law
Skill-based slot machines became a possibility in 2015, when the Nevada State Legislature approved skill-based gaming for Nevada casinos. The new law was a response to concerns from Las Vegas casino companies, which had begun to take notice of the fact millennials do not enjoy traditional slot machines.
Because they grew up playing interactive video games, computer games, and social games, the millennial generation find games of chance like slot machines to be boring. They also seem to have realized that the house edge on slot machines is not good, so a significant number of millennials simply have no interest in casino’s most lucrative form of gambling.
Paul Steelman’s Interactive Racing
Though the law was designed for skill slots, Paul Steelman is taking the games in another direction. The first release by Competition Interactive is a racing game. The interactive race uses virtual reality to provide several race courses. Up to 8 players compete in the race, as they compete for cash. Meanwhile, spectators can bet on the driver they think will win.
The details of how betting operates are still sparse, but the player-versus-player aspects are apt to intrigue potential players and bettors. The player-versus-casino aspect might not sound intriguing, but it is required to make the game worthwhile to the casinos.
A Gaming Machine Revolution
The 2015 law has been a boon for alternative electronic game designers. Inspired Gaming is beginning to fill downtown casinos with its virtual sports machines. Unikrn founder Rahul Sood is backing eSports studios in some of the same boutique casinos. Las Vegas Sands is experimenting with live-dealer electronic baccarat and roulette gaming machines at the Sands Bethlehem in Pennsylvania, and similar machines are certain to appear at the Venetian Las Vegas if those trials are successful.
Then there are the skill-based slots. Early releases have been rough, but some of the new slot machines are expected to have skill-based bonus games based on Candy Crush, Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Angry Birds. Then there are the fully interactive games like the ones Paul Steelman envisions.
Profile of Competition Interactive
Paul Steelman’s full statement on his new gaming technology company included, “I founded Competition Interactive to create and build new forms of casino entertainment to surprise the youth in all of us with new experiences. Competition Interactive has built a whole new world of casino competitive interactive games.”
Steelman’s latest business venture is a departure, as he has focused heavily on architecture throughout his long career. Steelman Partners was rated the 56th-largest architectural firm in the United States in 2011.
About Paul Steelman
Paul Steelman has designed a variety of casinos in Las Vegas and Macau. The list of casinos he has designed includes the Sands Macau, the Mirage, Treasure Island Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, and the Four Season Hotel (Macau).
Steelman also designed Resorts World Las Vegas, a $4.2 billion development set to open in 2018 on the Las Vegas Strip. Resorts World Las Vegas is owned by the Genting Group and, once opened, will be the largest and most expensive casino ever built in Las Vegas.
He has built in the entertainment and leisure industries, too. In 2014, Paul Steelman designed a $6.2 billion tourism development in Ho Chi Mihn City, Vietnam.
Forbes’ Matthew Miller once suggested Paul Steelman has rare insight into the minds of gamblers. In a 2006 article, Miller wrote, “Steelman is wiser than most when it comes to the logistics of moving gamblers through sin dens…Steelman has, over the last 20 years, come up with 70-odd design rules to keep visitors in a gleeful state as they evenly spread their dollars among betting tables, shops, theaters and restaurants.”
If that is the case, then the famous architect’s interactive skill-based games could become a critical and commercial success.
