Koin’s commitment to modernizing the way the gaming, hospitality, and entertainment industries approach cashless payments was validated most emphatically last month with the appointment of banking, casino gaming, and fintech industry leader Beth Carpenter to the position of Chief Revenue Officer.
Her depth of knowledge and experience makes Carpenter eminently qualified to lead the gaming industry into what she describes as “less product centric and more consumer centric”.
“I’m really excited about where we are going with Koin and how we are going to drive this industry to what I call the ‘real world’,” said Carpenter, who joined Koin from JPMorgan Chase, where she served as executive director and head of global sales for the casino gaming industry.
This fresh perspective on gaming payments and rethinking the status quo requires stepping outside of traditional strategy. Carpenter brings that fresh perspective in the wake of establishing a new commercial division for JPMorgan Chase focused on driving the gaming industry into the company’s ecosystem.
“When you look at some of the statistics on how everything outside of the gaming vertical works, it is very evident that we are behind. It really is all about the consumer experience that exists outside of the gaming industry.
“How we pay and how we transact outside of gaming is completely different. Guests that participate in gaming do not live in just one vertical. Gaming has evolved from a destination activity to becoming embedded in the convergence of gaming, sports, and entertainment. Consumers think in moments, whether it is watching a game, attending a concert, or staying at a resort.”
Carpenter’s 35 years of experience in gaming and payments includes bringing live the first debit transaction in gaming in 1996 and opening Borgata in 2003 as one of the first casinos to operate a fully coinless gaming floor. She is passionate about the industry as she takes on leadership in enterprise growth and strategic partnerships for Koin.
“I look upon my position with Koin as an opportunity to put an end to the traditional focus in the gaming industry and have payments become part of a blended experience,” she explained. “We are solely focused on merging the guest experience and driving forward transactions responsibly.”
Carpenter, whose resume also includes two decades in senior leadership roles at Global Payments Gaming Services, possesses knowledge of industry needs and how operators can modernize payments without compromising the integrity and compliance required in regulated gaming.
Designing its payments platform around real consumer behavior and not antiquated legacy systems requires strategy outside of gaming according to Carpenter. It requires building a new ecosystem to deliver full experience in lifestyle, entertainment, and other ‘fun’ activities.
Acknowledging that modern day casino resorts have a variety of verticals, including a gaming floor, hotel, food and beverage, and retail establishments, Carpenter reasons that consumers should have the ability and convenience to make payments the same way they do at home and everywhere else.
Her keen situational awareness of the gaming industry allows Carpenter to view the industry through a different lens. For example, consider the consumer who is not a regular gamer. She describes the existing norm as “clunky” by having that consumer pay one way here, one way there, including leaving your seat on the casino floor to go to an ATM or the cashier cage.
“What Koin does is leverage the ability to tie all of the verticals together and give consumers the convenience to transact payments fluidly rather than having to pay one way in retail, another way in a restaurant, and yet another way on the gaming floor,” she said. “If the consumer can do it all one way, that is what they will choose. It has been proven in the retail world.”
Carpenter’s grasp of the true beauty and real-world applications of Koin can be summarized into a centralized payment ecosystem that unifies the guest experience across all the verticals.
“Essentially I can use my Koin account in the restaurant, I can use my Koin account in retail, or I can use it to book a helicopter tour,” she explained. “If I want to go on the gaming floor, I can use it to fund my play. When I go home, I can use it to attend a concert or a sporting event.”
Carpenter envisions the next chapter of gaming payments as not being all about transactions, which she said is the traditional way the industry has thought about payments.
“It isn’t about payment transactions,” she said. “It is about integrating ecosystems that reflect how people live today. This is very important to me. We must get gaming up to par, to the point of having an experience of how people live today and not how they lived 20 years ago.
“This ecosystem is going to be driven by consumers,” she concluded. “And that really goes back to making certain the consumer experience is safe, clean, and easy.”
