Cash and credit cards in your wallet or purse, or a digital payments app on your mobile device: Which option fosters responsible gaming more efficiently and effectively?
Dallas Holmes, Director of Customer Care and Training for Sightline Payments, knows the answer, which came through extensive research.
“Sightline is proud that in 2023 we contributed over one hundred million (anonymous) digital payment transactions to the UNLV International Gaming Institute for analysis in this research,” Holmes said. “The goal was to collect data to understand how payment behavior can support responsible gaming efforts. In this particular case, the study found that over 80 percent of customers exhibited patterns of behavior that were not suggestive of any unsustainable harm or behavior.”
Fumbling around with cash at the slot machine, or knowing instantly where you stand electronically: Which option promotes responsibility, safety, and convenience?
Holmes knows the answer to this one, too.
“Sightline’s digital payments solution provides patrons with instant availability of information, including a transaction history,” he explained. “It can give the patron pause to know what they have already spent. It is right there for them to see, which then allows them to make self-identified decisions on whether they want to responsibly gamble from that point forward.
“Unlike stopping at the ATM, which is not going to tell you what you have already spent, our products provide safeguards built into the technology whereby the patron is able to monitor their spending activity themselves in real-time.”
Sightline, the first cashless provider on the Las Vegas Strip (Resorts World), showcases a suite of award-winning cashless, mobile, and loyalty solutions which enables casino resorts and online gaming companies with a customer-centric, omnichannel experience.
The Company’s flagship integrated prepaid product enables players to use a single digital payment method across all gaming channels and throughout the entire resort.
Holmes, in explaining the safeguards built into digital payments as opposed to traditional cash transactions which are fraught with dangers, said that it allows the consumer, the operator, and the regulator visibility into spending behaviors and patterns.
“Digital payments enable the capture of data that would otherwise be lost,” he said. “This in turn allows each party to make informed decisions when it comes to such things as responsible gaming options, limits, and strategy.
“From the patron’s viewpoint, they are able to see their spend and monitor that spend in real time. Operators and regulators, on the other hand, are able to view the data and analyze patron behavior from responsible gaming strategy and policy which ultimately protects the player, our number one priority.”
Holmes acknowledged that within the gaming industry, digital payments providers such as Sightline know that dedication to and protection of players is a key milestone that has been achieved with this burgeoning technology, citing “giving operators more real time visibility into risky player behavior such as a sudden spike or change in play can be impactful”.
“In a cash, uncarded player example, there would be missed opportunities to capture important information,” he continued. “This is how the two worlds of the individual patron and the operator/regulator come together to protect the player.”
In addition to Sightline’s digital payments solutions promoting the efficiency and effectiveness of responsible gaming principles, there is also safety and convenience to factor in.
Holmes gave the example of a casino guest going to the ATM at a property and taking out $500. In some cases, people lose and then they may go back and make another withdrawal. By the third time they probably are not even keeping track.
“Player protection is number one,” he reiterated. “We are coming at this from the standpoint of saying that digital payments are an option that is driven by convenience. And that’s the key…how easy and convenient can we make an entity or a space.
“The driving factor for patrons to use the technology is the convenience factor. Skipping the ATM lines, avoiding fees, both of which have a price for a patron. At the same time, a lot of people do it because of the fact we are transparent at Sightline both in our marketing endeavors and player acquisition.
“Digital payments are a tool for guests to be able to monitor their spend in a transparent and real-time manner. Convenience certainly is a big factor, but there are controls to the convenience, including banking limits.”
Holmes explained that it is a collaboration, with bank approved limits for the patron, as well as controls in place for the operator, who will look at the velocity (spend money coming in and spend money coming out).
“This technology has grown exponentially over the last decade,” he said. “People are becoming more comfortable with this technology. They have grown to trust it.”
“Sightline is proud to be at the forefront of digital payments solutions,” Holmes concluded. “We are also excited about the growth in this space and look forward to being the digital payments provider leader.
“Player protection is a foundation for us and we pledge to do whatever we can to help the industry adopt this technology, all the while making sure that it is in the patrons’ best interest, which is one of our most fundamental principles as we move forward.”
