What is TITA, from JCM Global? TITA is a table game system that allows for ticket or cash in and out at the casino table.
Now that may seem straightforward, but these days in a hyper-competitive casino environment, the level of technological sophistication aimed to create a more convenient experience for the player makes all the difference.
Basically, with the TITA system, the player comes to a table, buys in with cash or TITO, the dealer will give them chips and they sit and play. When they are done playing, rather than walk away with the chips, the dealer will issue a TITA ticket. The player can either cash out at a redemption kiosk walking out the door, or go play slots, or go to another table. Or they can cash out at the cage with the ticket rather than taking chips over. So, the chips remain at the table.
“It’s way more convenient for the player, rather than standing in line at the cashier to trade in their chips,” said Cliff Buckley, Director of Business Development, JCM Global.
“Convenience” is the operative word for the player – cashless, faster. And that ticket might be an enticement for them to keep playing elsewhere in the casino. There’s no downtime. It’s relaxed. There’s way more peace of mind.
“I think in California in particular, if you have a certain period of time that you’re looking to gamble, and you know that you have to get on that freeway before rush hour, now you’re looking and saying well it takes me 30 minutes to cash out at the cage, I have to get out of here now,” Buckley said. “Whereas if I get a ticket, I can either put that ticket in my wallet and go home, and when I come back the next day or two days from now, I can use that ticket again. Or I can hit the redemption kiosk on the way out and get my cash and be gone in minutes rather than standing in line.”
By making it more convenient and enticing them to stay longer, TITA technology boosts the bottom line of the casino (factoring in the transactional fees with the POS Debit option, another layer of revenue, as well).
CountR’s TITA is ticket in, ticket out at a table, whereas a standard TITO is ticket in, ticket out at a slot machine.
“TITA just makes it easier for the player because they’re familiar with the TITO ticket,” Buckley said. “They’re familiar with that barcode. They’re familiar with how it works. Being able to transfer from a slot to a table or table to a slot seamlessly is enticing to a lot of players. You get those advantages.
“The technology is basically taking a redemption kiosk through CountR [a European manufacturer], that’s shrunk down to a table format. So, they print and redeem TITO tickets at a table.”
TITA has been out there for a few years and is still getting traction at casinos in the U.S. (it is being used in two casinos currently). One of those is fully up and running (Cache Creek Casino Resort in California) with the technology offering a fully cash free option at every table at the casino.
“They’ve seen a great response from their players,” he said. “The players absolutely love it. They went live on a Thursday with no announcements or anything else, and had people immediately come in and start buying in, taking tickets from slots and coming over and playing tables. It was pretty unique.”
Buckley said they didn’t expect the level of cross play between slots and tables because, typically, slot players mostly play slots and table game players usually only play at tables.
And what about the security of the transaction? It’s an 18-digit barcode, based on a ledger system, indicating the barcode is worth a certain amount of money, and when the player puts a ticket in, all they’re doing is transferring the 18-digit number off the ticket to the system. The system then comes back and tells the game how much to credit, in the case of TITO.
They’re doing the same thing at the table.
“So, you validate the ticket, the system comes back and says that ticket is worth, say, $100 and so the dealer gives the player $100 worth of chips. It’s basically just a ledger system that’s been around for almost 20 years.”
JCM is also able to customize the solution. Due to security concerns with systems hacking, Cache Creek increased their passwords significantly, and it was taking too much time for dealers to type in an 18-digit passcode to access the system at a table, so JCM came up with a way where the dealer could swipe a badge to log in.
“It’s not a one size fits all,” he said. “It’s an adaptable solution. We can customize to individual casinos, what they need, and what they are used to. Everyone has a unique way of doing things. It keeps us on our toes.”
