Implementing a National Casino Monitoring System in Austria

The Federal Computing Center of Austria (BRZ) was given the task to connect and monitor all electronic gaming machines and video lottery terminals within the country. Using Comtrade Gaming’s casino monitoring system and technology expertise, a joint solution was created, the Central Control System, which is able to connect and monitor thousands of gaming machines using industry-standard protocols.

SCore cental control system graph grey diagram.

The Challenge

At the time, a considerable number of gaming machines and video lottery terminals in Austria were running in environments such as bars that are, unlike casinos, practically impossible to control and thus their taxation was previously done via a flat-rate model. The authorities wanted to achieve a per-revenue model and be able to supervise what is happening at a single machine level for various reasons (to help vulnerable groups of players, to prevent money laundering, etc.)

The Solution

For communication between electronic gaming machines, as well as video lottery terminals and the central control system, the usage of the G2S (Game to System) Message Protocol of the Gaming Standards Association was chosen. Comtrade Gaming’s role in this project was to deliver a protocol engine to support connection of up to 15,000 electronic gaming machines and video lottery terminals. The G2S Protocol Engine is implemented in such a way that it is able to maintain operation via the gaming machines completely independently without any interactions with further modules of the central control system.

The Benefits

By means of a casino monitoring system the operation of electronic gaming machines can be monitored to operate within the scope of legal requirements. The regulator now has direct insight into the functioning of all connected machines. They are able to continuously monitor everything that is happening on the electronic gaming machines and video lottery terminals, including money transactions, gameplay, winnings and payouts, cabinet door opening, etc. By analyzing collected meters, they can verify if gaming operators are properly fulfilling their tax obligations.