When TableTrac announced late last year that it had completed a first-of-its-kind integration project with TransAct Technologies, a bold new world of operations and customer experience potential was revealed.
The collaboration gave birth to SlotSUITE, making CasinoTrac the industry’s first casino management system to provide a single-wire, on-demand printing and communications solution.
According to Jeff Baldi, senior vice-president of commercial strategy, the true beauty of the technology is giving operators the ability to create a voucher using a printer that is already installed to create high resolution graphic promotional coupons, pre-filled drawing entries, and even taxable W2G events directly at the game.
“From a feature perspective, that in and of itself stands alone in the industry,” Baldi said. “What makes it so special is that because these systems have been around for a while, we are the first casino management system to integrate it in such a way so that we are using our existing network to integrate specific, targeted communications with the player and operational enhancements to the operator.”
In the past, Baldi noted, operators would have to nearly double their network infrastructure to deploy the technology that was created with SlotSUITE. SlotSUITE is an umbrella of features, combining the 6.2” PlayerLINQ player tracking interface, the high-speed, IP-based slot network, and the Epicentral platform with TransAct printers.
TableTrac president Chad Hoehne, and the company’s development team, innovated the one-wire solution that combines CasinoTrac’s in-game hardware platform with TransAct’s Epicentral SE designer and print server. Eliminating additional in-game hardware and multiple networks streamlines the operation.
SlotSUITE can be deployed with Epicentral through CasinoTrac’s 6.2” PlayerLINQ with Epic Edge and/or Epic 950 printers.
Leveraging the cutting-edge features of the Epicentral platform, Baldi says, enables CasinoTrac SelfPay, which keeps players in action by keeping track of accumulated credit payouts, jackpots, and even taxable W2G events in less than 60 seconds.
“CasinoTrac SelfPay is an application that casinos can offer patrons who enroll with acceptable identification and whatever other documents are needed to meet the requirements of the property,” Baldi explained. “Once verified, if the player wins a taxable jackpot, PlayerLINQ initiates the payout and the player will acknowledge that it is a SelfPay.
“Then, utilizing the touch screen interface on the game, the player acknowledges tax withholding, if any. Once complete, the jackpot credits will transfer directly to the meter of the game and a W2G form to the known player, from SlotSUITE.”
Baldi said that the entire process is taking what would normally be a 10 or a 15-minute taxable jackpot situation and condensing it to less than 60 seconds so that the player can get back to the game much quicker.
“It is really incredible,” he said. “Depending upon the internal controls and the standard operating procedures of the property, we have eliminated more than 90 percent of the time it takes to issue a hand pay jackpot. It is a self-service feature that increases satisfaction because the guest typically wants to keep playing.
“Also, guests are taking control of their own destiny as far as the ability to pay themselves and continuing without interruption. The casino appreciates the efficiency because the guest is getting back to the game and increasing time on device.”
Baldi also factored in the labor savings of not having to call upon a security guard, floor person, and supervisor to complete the transaction, noting “all of these human resources are better deployed for customer service activities”.
“There is better rapport with the player because you don’t have a group of people walking through the casino with tax forms and stacks of money,” he continued. “The privacy of the player is also preserved, which enhances security.”
SlotSUITE is available currently; yet due diligence should be conducted regarding jurisdiction and minimal internal control standards.
“We are rolling it out into one of our larger clients with about 600 of 2,600 games converted to SlotSUITE right now,” Baldi revealed.
With all the never-before features and advantages that the SlotSUITE solution brings to operators, there is one that Baldi identifies as the “uncarded hot player”.
“This is the guest who plays without a card, but marketing knows from the accounting system that the guest is a highly valued customer based upon their play,” he explained. “The frustration comes about because there was never a way to communicate with this guest.
“What the SlotSUITE does is create the ability to put a coupon in that person’s hands as a way of communicating with them regardless of their carding status. They could even have the incentive to go and sign up for a card, or to take their coupon to a casino host for a complimentary at one of the property’s restaurants or other resort amenity.”
The creation of a pathway to communicate with an anonymous high valued player has been impossible to be achieved up to this point without serendipity and manual intervention according to Baldi.
“Now we can use technology to communicate with that player even though they are not known to the property,” he said. “Their right to privacy can still be respected, but at the same time they deserve to be rewarded. That is the point. We can increase the opportunity of making them a known player by interacting with them through SlotSUITE.”
