For Everi and Atrient, the National Indian Gaming Association tradeshow served as something of a reintroduction.
Last month, Everi Holdings, a Las Vegas-based cash access operations company and gaming equipment provider, announced it would spend $40 million to acquire several casino gaming-related assets, including self-service kiosk and marketing platform technology, from Michigan-based Atrient, a casino loyalty and marketing products company.
“This is sort of our coming out party with Atrient,” said Darren Simmons, executive vice president and FinTech business leader with Everi. “Atrient is a loyalty platform and a hardware, software and mobile platform that really weaves well into our overall strategy of connecting more with players and operators on the gaming floor.”
Everi’s NIGA booth featured gaming technology solutions for Class II and Class III tribal customers, including state-of-the-art cabinets, new games, enhancements to its financial technology solutions, and its expanding interactive capabilities.
The company also highlighted its self-service kiosks and cash handling solutions, including the CXC 5.0 and CXC 5.0L kiosks, the award-winning Jackpot Xpress software platform, and the Everi Compliance AML solution.
“A big part of our platform is self-service. We’re putting our new CXC 5.0 full-service kiosk on the market right now,” Simmons said. “It provides ATM functionality, ticket redemption, bill breaking functionality and extensions into our wallet functionality.”
Fittingly for a new partnership, the Everi booth at NIGA faced the Atrient booth, where convention goers could learn about Atrient’s self-service kiosks and marketing platform and see demonstrations of its PowerKiosk.
“We are looking to connect loyalty (to) the FinTech business and expand the player experience from the financial transaction side to loyalty,” Simmons said. “A simple use case would be something like a player enrollment option that gets players into our wallet functionality and (turns) player enrollment into potential credit and marker activities (within) this platform.”
Another option Simmons mentioned was bouncebacks for incentives through financial transactions. If you need an ATM transaction, for example, and the ATM fee was $5, there could potentially be an incentive on the loyalty side to get that $5 back in a bonus – free play or some other incentive, he said.
Simmons said Atrient’s team works well operationally with Everi’s product management, development and operations teams, calling the synergies “fantastic.”
“Here’s a great example: we’re working with a major customer out East implementing FinTech solutions and were able to roll Atrient components in seamlessly. The hardware platforms are not dramatically different from our kiosk platforms. From a service and support standpoint, it fits fantastically.”
The intent is to ultimately connect all of Everi’s FinTech platform to the Atrient loyalty platform, and they’re continuing to extend the operational efficiencies and patron experience with their overall product offering.
“We’re trying to move more toward mobile and increase loyalty to our wallet technology,” Simmons said.
Tribal gaming is an important strategic business for the company, which has a “significant footprint” in the FinTech business with tribes across the U.S. and Canada.
“This is an important show,” Simmons said. “We have made a big commitment to tribal gaming… NIGA is big (for us.)”
Everi also showcased Jackpot Xpress – an award-winning software platform that enables floor staff to securely and efficiently process jackpots using either the Jackpot Xpress Mobile device at the player’s gaming machine. The company is also introducing a JackpotXchange Lite kiosk.
“It is a way for the operator to service their customer at their seat (and) experience the win with the player,” Simmons said. “It provides a much better player experience and makes completing all the tax forms more efficient.”
Everi featured a number of linked banked themes on its Empire MPX (“E43”) cabinet, including the MoneyBall Series, Fu Stacks, and Lazer Lock. Lazer Lock utilizes multiple progressive pools and offers a player selectable multi-denomination option. Country legend Willie Nelson is behind the newest installment of the E43 game series for the premium segment of tribal casino floors.
Some of the financial technology solutions outlined at NIGA included CashClub Concierge – a personalized cash access cage service for VIPs, as well as table game and high-limit room players – that integrates mobile tablets and point-of-sale devices through Everi’s CashClub software. The concierge program eliminates the need for a player to leave their gaming position to access additional funds by bringing the cage to the player.
