Will advanced payment technology ever completely take cash off the slot floor?
The idea of taking cash off the slot machine floor is nothing new. Aside from ticket-in-ticket-out technology on the machines themselves, casinos like the Oneida Nation’s Turning Stone in Verona, New York, have been operating without cash for more than a decade.
Although Turning Stone converted its slot floor to accept bills in 2004, its game operation even before provided a model for what is increasingly the preferred method of cashless slot play — players create an account, withdraw credits at the machines, and cash out the revised amount after play — or leave it on their cards.
Pretty soon, those cards will be optional in the system. Big suppliers like IGT, Scientific Games and others offer technologies that eliminate the plastic player’s club card. Bally’s cardless solution from Scientific Games allows customers to begin play sessions by entering a code and PIN using the iView system or by scanning a QR code with a personal smartphone. IGT’s Cardless Connect system allows the player to tap to activate a loyalty card for a play session and tap again to disengage.
Suppliers of payment technologies, whose systems often interact and communicate with the major casino management systems, say it’s only a matter of time—and not that much time, mind you—before the same options are available to fund a slot session.
Digital wallets are the latest buzzword in emerging technology for cashless slot play. Many even predict that digital payment accounts funded through debit cards are only a step along the way to placing a debit card directly into a slot machine to draw funds—once the industry is educated on the security and controllability of digital payment ecosystems.
“I’m starting to see this quick convergence and movement toward an omni-commerce offering that ties back to utilizing a financial instrument on gaming floor,” comments Joseph Pappano, senior vice president and managing director of Worldpay Gaming, one of the leading providers of alternative payment technology.
“There are a number of operators and system providers that are engaged in initiatives tied to providing an integrated wallet for a land-based casino,” says Pappano. “A number of operators are engaged in an initiative that creates that consolidated wallet that connects the gaming side to the non-gaming side.”
Worldpay serves as the engine behind many of the new digital payment technologies offered by the big suppliers, according to Pappano. “Think of us as the last mile in terms of allowing and accepting that financial instrument,” he says.
Pappano says payment technology is “the single driver” behind the effort to create a seamless experience to players using a digital wallet to fund slot play. “There are system providers that are already working to add this integrated wallet support within the slot system,” he says. “You are already seeing movement of PIN debit accepted at the table games, and obviously, a number or initiatives surrounding the cashless gaming at a table game and/or within the slot system. That includes both operators and the system providers.”
He says regulations are being modified in many jurisdictions to accommodate such slot funding, with Nevada leading the way. “Nevada is in the final stages of addressing the technical standards that will allow the PIN-based debit transaction to occur at a table game, without having to open a deposit account,” Pappano says.
Pappano says he views the integrated wallet as “phase one” in an evolution that will ultimately lead to the ability to withdraw money from a debit or even a credit card placed directly into the slot machines. “I do believe the opportunity to leverage a financial instrument into some sort of electronic gaming device is inevitable,” he says, “but right now you are seeing strong movement toward that consolidated wallet—you open up the account, you’re funding it, and then allowing money to move seamlessly in and out of that electronic gaming device.”
These methods are beginning to be built into the existing payment structure, according to Darren Simmons, senior vice president of financial technology for Everi, one of the leading suppliers of complete payment ecosystems encompassing ATMs, kiosk, credit and check-cashing.
Everi is adding an e-wallet system to the payment technologies it already offers operators. “What we call our CashClub Wallet under iOS or Android is a fairly dramatic shift for our casino customers, in terms of the experience they provide to their consumers in how they access cash,” says Simmons. “Making mobile payments available through one’s own personal mobile phone is an important part of where we’re going.”
Like Pappano, Simmons feels digital wallets are likely to be the next step in the regulatory process related to funding slot play. “As we pivot toward digital wallet technology, certain jurisdictions have embraced the ability to fund a wallet, and through integrations with a property’s casino management systems to be able to effectively push funds down into the wagering accounts that the players are able to have access to,” he says, adding that this access can be at a table game, slot machine, sports book or even a non-gaming outlet.
Simmons says Everi’s digital wallet uses the company’s more than 30 money-transmitter state licenses. “That’s a huge asset for us,” he says. “This asset gives us the ability to hold funds on account for payments and doesn’t require the patron to have to sign up for a prepaid card. This is actually an FDIC-insured account that we hold through our money-transmitter licenses.”
Crawl, Walk, Run
There are various opinions on where we are in the timeframe leading up to digital wallets. Simmons predicts there will be serious penetration of digital payment in the gaming industry within two to five years.
“I think we’re very early on,” says Simmons. “There are some dependencies on technology investments by the operators to be able to introduce it.” He says Everi has been working with customers who are “obviously very cognizant” of the end customer experience being and will proceed according to their abilities to invest in new technology.
“Being able to log in with a mobile phone as a player to a slot machine and making the digital wagering accounts available are the enhancements that many operators will have to make,” Simmons says. “Those are sizable technology investments, so it’s probably going to be more jurisdictionally focused. We believe it’s a two-to-five-year runway before the industry begins to see real penetration.
“Everi is using a crawl, walk, run strategy with this, because we want to ensure we’re delivering a technology that creates a premium experience not only for the end patron, but also for the casino employee.”
Worldpay’s Pappano agrees, but feels things are going to move a bit faster. “I think within the next 24 months, you’re going to see some very brisk movement toward cashless acceptance on the gaming floor,” he says. “I’m a little more bullish than others. Over time, there will still be velocity controls, but those (regulatory) restrictions will decline as the gaming industry truly begins to understand the payment ecosystem, and the inherent controls that exist within the payment ecosystem—and how consumers are already protected when using a financial instrument like a credit or debit card.”
Pappano adds that digital payment through debit and even credit cards carry inherent protections supporting responsible gaming. “You have an audit trail,” he says. “As these two worlds converge, payments and gaming, both highly regulated and highly complex, I am of great confidence the restrictions on using a debit or credit card will be minimized, because of the controls implemented by the issuing bank.” For example, he says, a credit card company many only allow a maximum of $5,000 tied to the merchandise credit code for gaming.
Everi’s Simmons says he is “cautiously optimistic” that funding play directly to a gaming device through a direct debit or credit card will appear soon. It is possible that “more progressive jurisdictions” would adopt it first, but he says he’s confident the digital wallet system will take hold sooner. He also agrees that a responsible gaming message will be integral to the process.
“We believe in responsible gaming and want to ensure patrons also access their funds responsibly,” says Simmons. “We integrated tools that enable the operator the ability to limit transactions and deliver real-time responsible gaming messages if they choose.”
Mainly, he says, vendors will always need to take care to keep the customer in mind when tailoring digital payment systems. “Consumers want to feel they are secure in what they’re doing, that we’ve taken into account their privacy and built in a loyalty component, so they feel there is in moving towards the digital transaction,” says Simmons.
“We want to empower consumers and offer them a choice. Now, they have the choice to go digital within an infrastructure they’re using today.”
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