Legend says the most famous “eureka” moment came when ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes stepped into a bathtub and noticed the water level rise. His resulting buoyancy principle eventually led to scientific calculations that allow giant ships to float and planes to fly.
Anthony Rabito Jr.’s less celebrated eureka moment came in a sauna. And it is helping players and casinos shift from cash to cashless when making bets and payouts.
“We’re changing the way casino and sports betting is done,” says Rabito, founder and CEO of FABICash, based in suburban New Orleans, and one of the leading cash access providers in the gaming industry.
FABI, short for First American Bankcard Inc., started in 1996 by providing ATMs in a variety of locations. Rabito says he was in a sauna that year when he read a Wall Street Journal article about nonbanks being able to own ATMs and process their transactions.
Rabito recalls his first thought about the news: “My God, if I get a thousand machines out there, and every time somebody does a transaction, I make a couple bucks….”
The former owner of an office products supply business, Rabito quickly set up meetings to pitch his concept to the presidents of ATM manufacturer Diebold and ATM processor RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland). He soon had his new business up and running.
Rabito says FABI was the first nonbank company in the United States to set up ATMs in locations such as convenience stores and shopping malls; at one point, he had all the ATMs in the New Orleans French Quarter and all the city’s hotels. His first gaming customer was Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, now owned by Churchill Downs, which also is a FABICash client.
“Over the years (FABI) evolved into being the leading provider in cash access, Title 31 compliance, sports betting, and now cashless solutions.”
About 250 casinos throughout the country contract with FABI, he says. Products include:
- FABITrack, a Title 31 compliance and anti-money laundering data analytics program
- FABICash, a casino cash access platform
- FABICashless, a mobile wallet that can be funded directly from the player’s bank account, or by a debit card, credit advance or e-check. It works with all gaming platforms.
- FABISport, which bridges on-premise and online sports betting platforms such as PokerStars, FanDuel, and William Hill to allow online and on-premise funding via credit or debit advance, electronic fund transactions, or ticket or chip redemption.
- A kiosk that processes ticket redemptions, breaks bills, works as an ATM, handles e-checks, prints tickets, makes jackpot payouts, and funds e-wallets.
Rabito says FABICash programs are built to each customer’s specifications. The system’s architecture has allowed for no downtime in six years, and updates can be installed simply by closing and reopening a browser window.
“We own all the code,” he says. “And we don’t give (customers) ‘kind of’ what they want; we give them exactly what they want.”
When FABI replaces a competitor, he says, the reliability of FABI’s platform can increase monthly transactions by as much as 23 percent. A casino that was doing $10 million a month in credit, debit, and check transactions could see that rise to $12 million.
And once casinos sign on with FABI, they stay. Rabito says the company has a 99 percent contract renewal rate over the past five years.
Studies have found that ATMs have provided about two-thirds of the cash gambled on casino floors, but Rabito expects that rate to fall as cashless transactions gain regulators’ approval and players’ acceptance.
He says FABICash delivers about $200 million a month to casinos that don’t fill their own machines, but that could drop by about 75 percent over the next couple of years as cashless transactions grow.
“We are excited to have uniquely created the only true omnichannel solution for this ever-changing industry,” Rabito says. “The casino and its players will always be the big winner with FABICash.”
