Well the on-line bingo arena is filling fast with new players. That company Elizabeth mentioned is using the "make money from the advertising banners" business model. If NorAm gets into this, they will probably be doing the more traditional method of charging an ante for the games and awarding prices on a pari-mutuel basis.
However, there's a lot of other companies doing this now. How will NorAm be different? How will they attract market share?
To my thinking, they must offer something unique along with an unusual business model. A quick ThunderBolt game might work, but they would have to break up the client pool into many groups so that everyone feels they have a chance to win. The 90# game, presented on the internet, might be their only hope. It's a very different game and already has some experience in Spain, Europe and South America (see the list of installs on the vaprel site www.vaprel.es). I feel there is a preexisting audience ready for this game.
NorAm has been concerned about legalities, but I would just start off with a 90# game focused on the foreign countries. Go ahead and set up everything to run out of Antegua and push it onto foreign clients. I haven't found a 90#-like game yet on the net.
The other main point is that it must happen fast or forget about it. If we don't have this thing rolling within 4-6 months it'll be too late. Now GZ says he knows everything about Bingo, but I feel I have a pretty good grip on what's happening in Cyberspace. GZ should get experienced internet people to handle everything on this project and should deal only with broader business issues (financing, etc). In fact, the marketing should be done by internet folks as well (I'm not talking about people like us, but companies that provide internet services and marketing).
This is still a huge opportunity for us but NorAm has to act very very quickly. The internet is still a wild frontier populated by a bunch of comboys and Indians. You have to be tough, take risks and move fast. If you don't know what you're doing, don't bother getting involved because you'll just make a fool of yourself. Based on the recent press release, it looks like GZ has already latched onto a good company to help him. He must have felt good about it because he put it in the press release. He's been holding back a lot of stuff waiting for everything to be just right (example, TB in Grove OK').
There are many ways for NorAm to go about this internet project and I can only wonder what kind of business model they will use. At this point, no one watching this stock should be unaware of Bingo.Com. They've done a great job and have attracted a lot of attention (see BIGG). However, we still have a rabbit up out sleeves.
We can put a 90# game on the internet, first directed to foreign markets and then later to Americans, and on the website we could provide video of a Vaprel blower (with a description thereof) calling numbers to the system. This would provide a sense security since playings will feel the site is providing a fair game. Almost all of the gambling sites on line give me the willies because all the games are computer generated and you have no idea how they are picking winners (re: on-line slots, black jack, bingo etc). In Vegas people are used to seeing a lot of games running on electronic random number generators, but in cyberspace it's too easy to screw the players. I have yet to spend a red cent on an internet game because I don't trust any of these sites. NorAm might be able to provide a truly honest gaming site with an unusual game already popular in other countries.
I'm truly excited about this opportunity on the internet, but I really want it to be done right, with truly expert people involved. Presently I have the sense that this is occurring and can't wait for the first press release giving us some substantial news about internet gaming for NorAm. Of course, it'll probably be awhile.
Meanwhile, this past weekend we had ThunderBolt Bingo running in two locations simultaneously (maybe about 60 terminals total). You can only assume that the company made some money during that time. Also, NorAm, WT, Triple Win and others are working every day to finalize contracts in other areas. Based on the last press release, it would appear that these efforts involve Vaprel products, such as 90# and the Keno blower. I also noted that Class III was mentioned which to me means Las Vegas.
We had a nice chat last night on the FAQ's chat line discussing how NorAm has turned things around and has finally shown us that they can implement TB into the marketplace. Things are simply beginning to turn around. Hopefully NorAm will get some good data from the second TB install which can only help the sales and financing of new installations.
I could go on and on, as you know. I'm looking forward to the coming weeks. I'll be in Vegas next week and hope to see the showroom. I still need to speak with Greg Zilba to see if they will be around at that time.
The FAQ has been updated. However, the 90# section is still being worked on. I'm trying to frame out the whole thing but I'm having some trouble. Trying to do it while working on many other projects that I can actually bill people for.
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Good luck to all.
dave tucker |
