For a casino handling $6 million worth of markers and front money in four days, accuracy is Job One. Getting those chips to players quickly ranks a close second.
An early adopter of Everi’s PitXpress platform reported that the mobile technology handled that demand so efficiently that players were noticeably impressed with how easy the process had become, said Adam Fong, Everi’s senior vice president of product management, Casino Solutions. Rather than facing a mountain of paper forms, players sign documents electronically and pit workers complete the procedure on a tablet in little time.
“Utilizing the technology just makes it a pleasant experience” for players and gives them another reason to patronize that casino, Fong said.
PitXpress is Everi’s newest offering for back-of-house solutions designed to streamline money-handling while minimizing the possibility of errors. It came out on the heels of Entegrity, a web-based AML product that automates data collection for large cash transactions. Both have been installed at numerous locations.
The patented PitXpress handles credit, front money, and marker life cycles, with pit workers using mobile tablets – iPads or Android, according to an operator’s preference – for documentation, filings, and signatures.
“Today’s experience with paper markers is really horrific,” Fong said. With PitXpress, “it becomes a very expedient process, and that ultimately leads to the guests getting their money faster and keeping the energy on the table. It becomes a big tool for the casino and ultimately a great player experience.”
PitXpress also can provide detailed bet-tracking for top VIP players. Instead of relying on estimates of average bet and hands per hour, a PitXpress module enables a pit worker to provide “100 percent precise” ratings by inputting the amount a player bets on each hand. A “shorthand” function allows the worker to input bets for multiple seats at a table. With players who bet $100,000 per hand or more, “undercomping or overcomping becomes a very costly endeavor for the casino,” Fong said. PitXpress can be used as a stand-alone application or integrated with existing casino management systems.
In response to player feedback, Everi is working on an update that will enable repayment of a marker with funds in the casino’s CashClub Wallet, Everi’s digital payment solution. Fong said that will enhance efficiency and give players another way to reduce the amount of cash they have to carry. “Giving them the flexibility with their wallet not only allows them to have another payment method, but it also gives information about their play and their activity, and (provides) reminders about when a marker may be due. Having that digital experience was something that a lot of players requested.”
Entegrity, which works with any existing CMS, uses web-based technology to speed the processing of large cash transactions that must be reported to authorities and offers several options requested by AML professionals.
Fong said Entegrity’s connector technology eliminates the need to input information twice when handling multiple cash transactions by a single customer, such as a cash advance from credit card. That saves a few minutes per customer, and “when you have a busy line on a Friday night, those minutes really add up,” he said. In addition, the automated process means virtually 100 percent accuracy. Entegrity also incorporates links to public records or other external sources to verify guest information such as income sources, occupation, and property ownership.
Entegrity is designed for domestic gaming markets and several international gaming markets.
Everi works with each operator to ensure the security of data within PitXpress and Entegrity. Fong said Everi encrypts all the data the platforms collect, during both transfer and storage. Screen displays of sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, required for cash transaction reports, are masked throughout the products. The company also recommends steps the operators can take to increase security of their firewalls. The Entegrity platform updates for changes to tax forms or regulatory compliance guidelines.
Fong said the two platforms allow hundreds of customizations based on operator preferences and regulatory differences among jurisdictions. Even though neither application has high visibility among casino customers, Fong said they enjoy benefits along with the operator.
“Players have noticed the speed and improvement in guest service, especially at the cage and at the pit, where a lot of the stuff had to be double entry with the old methods,” he said. “It enhances the guest experience.”
