S.Korean slot maker KL Saberi eyes Macau market

South Korea’s KL Saberi slot machine brand is aiming to be a fresh face in the Macau casino equipment market, says a manager for its electronic gaming machine development team, in an interview with GGRAsia.

“We want to sell linked progressive and standalone progressive machines to the Macau market,” stated the person, who asked to be identified simply as Ms Kim (pictured).

She added, referring to the Macau casino regulator, the Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau, that if the company can “apply [for] and obtain DICJ approval of gaming machines this year, then we will set the sales strategy for Macau”. The company was not able to give a specific time frame for such application for approval.

KL Saberi is the slot machine business of Kangwon Land Inc, operator of Kangwon Land, the only South Korean resort with a casino that is open to locals. GGRAsia spoke to Ms Kim at the gaming equipment brand’s headquarters, a short drive from Kangwon Land resort.

She explained KL Saberi’s expansion goal regarding the Macau market was aligned with the Kangwon Land resort’s own plans for exploring customer markets overseas, as well as the venue’s expansion of its gaming space.

One of its latest game themes is “Jade Dragon Boost” (also pictured). A single game-theme development “takes eight months,” on average, she noted.

Ms Kim stated regarding Jade Dragon Boost: “The mystery jackpot… is earned on five levels with five jackpot boosts or four bonuses at once, rather than a single level or single bonus.”

It will be among the products the company will show at Global Gaming Expo (G2E) Asia, a casino industry trade exhibition in Macau next month.

There the firm will demonstrate four game themes on its G-Cube cabinet: Jade Dragon Boost; “Shen Shuo Wan Fu” – a Chinese-themed game with a name the firm says translates as “God Says Hail Mary” –; another Chinese-themed game, “‘First Emperor Star Link”; and “Maya Pyramids Star Link”.

A further four themes will be presented at G2E Asia on its Cube-S2 cabinet: “Divine Horse”; “Moon Fairy”; “88 Mystic Fortune Hot Pick”; and “Scent of Geisha Hot Pick”.

In March 2023, KL Saberi opened a sales office in the Philippine capital Manila.

Ms Kim told GGRAsia, referring to a casino cluster at Clark on the Philippines’ main island Luzon, where KL Saberi has had sales success: “Casinos in Clark have demand for high-roller” slot play, “therefore we have been developing slot machines with a minimum bet of KRW1 million [about US$731,”] and with “higher volatility”.

KL Saberi is also looking to sell slot product in Cambodia and Vietnam.

It additionally makes customer-service kiosks, supplying 14 to Kangwon Land, and is looking to complete another domestic-market deal for such equipment: with Daegu Casino in the southeast of the country.

KL Saberi has also sold slot machine product to Grand Korea Leisure Co Ltd, one of South Korea’s foreigner-only casino operators that runs three venues under the Seven Luck brand.