Poker machine maker Aristocrat Leisure has denied claims it faces a struggle to increase machine sales in Macau because gamblers prefer to play the card game baccarat.

Speaking from Asia’s biggest gambling conference in Macau this week, chief executive Paul Oneile said gamblers visiting the former Portuguese enclave were acquiring a taste for machines and were expected to become regular players.

Turnover from poker machines accounted for 5%-6% of the total turnover in Macau, but was set to grow to as much as 20% within five years, he said. The remainder of turnover comes from baccarat, which is the most popular game, the Age reports.

Aristocrat is the top supplier of machines in Macau, with more than 60% of the market, giving it about 6000 machines.

Some in the market have said that the total number of machines will grow from 10,000 to 35,000 in three years.

The projected increase in poker machine patronage was revealed during presentations made by two of the world’s biggest casino companies, Wynn Resorts and the Las Vegas Sands, at the G2E gambling conference this week.

Mr Oneile made the comments about the potential for increased sales in response to comments by Mark Yoseloff, the head of rival poker machine maker Shuffle Master, who was reported to have said he was concerned that some casinos had been removing poker machines from their gaming floors.

“I don’t know if it’s a short-term issue or a long-term issue,” Mr Yoseloff said. “If we were only in the slot machine business, I’d be concerned.”

Crown Macau, in which James Packer has a significant stake, is one of the casinos that has removed at least 350 machines to make room for baccarat tables to lure more VIP gamblers.

But Mr Oneile said the comments from Mr Yoseloff could be dismissed because, while some casinos had poker machines unused in warehouses, demand had now “caught up” with supply.

He said the Venetian Macao, which has the world’s biggest gaming floor, and Wynn Macau had recently dusted-off unused surplus machines and put them on gaming floors to meet demand.

Mr Oneile said some bullish market players had said poker machine turnover could grow to account for as much as 30% of Macau’s gaming turnover — a figure that was not that outlandish, given that Las Vegas makes 80% of its turnover from machines.

Mr Oneile attributed Aristocrat’s success to developing games specifically for Chinese gamblers’ tastes.

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