Sightline, a leader in providing digital payments and developing mobile applications for the nation’s sports betting and casino gaming markets, is uniquely positioned to be at the forefront of applying modern solutions to a traditionally cash-based industry that is expected to grow to more than $150-billion in the next few years.
Joe Tingson, Sightline’s Vice-President of Mobile Strategy and Innovation, acknowledges that because virtually everyone has a smartphone, Sightline understands that having some type of mobile solution for a casino operator is critical.
“At Sightline, we pride ourselves in deep integrations throughout the property. Anyone can take an operator’s website and make it mobile responsive, but we truly believe understanding what types of systems and technology they have on premise and accounting for the various customer journeys.”
The numbers speak for themselves. Sightline’s suite of mobile solutions includes 1.5-million Play+ accounts, three-million loyalty platform downloads, and more than 100 partners across sports betting, lottery, racing, and online and brick-and mortar casinos.
Tingson reminded that when Sightline rolled out cashless at Resorts World Las Vegas, it was the first cashless solution on The Strip. He said that it required the patron to be on-site to sign up for a cashless account to enable the CWA that was being used for the property’s resort wallet.
“Fast forward seven months ago to when we released our second generation of cashless at Resorts World,” he said. “We worked closely with NGC to apply the ability to offer remote enrollment for cashless wagering accounts. It was a game changer.”
This second generation of Cashless technology has updated functionality to include remote identity verification, biometric authentication (finger print and facial recognition), and a single digital wallet within the Resorts World app, the gaming industry’s first omnichannel wallet to include these features. Mobile + and Play + technology is available across the property.
“I call it Resorts World 2.0, the second generation of cashless,” Tingson said. “It provides the ability for someone not on site at Resorts World to download the mobile app and sign up for loyalty, enroll in cashless and fund through their credit card, debit card, or PayPal.
“Additionally, whereas before there were two wallets, now there is only one. Sightline created a seamless approach. The confusion of having two wallets in motion is eliminated. There is a metric that we use, TTP (time to play), which is significantly reduced with these enhancements.
“Our goal is to take players through all of the steps to enroll and be able to go to the tables or slots in less than three minutes. We want to build on the elevated experience of a cashless journey we have introduced to players at Resorts World.”
Tingson, aware that both commercial and tribal properties have loyalty programs, believes that for Sightline to interface with the proprietary CMS (casino management system) is critical.
“For someone to see their account balances, track how much free play and offers they have accumulated, and look at the non-gaming side as well, including hotels and dining, complements direct marketing and email strategies in real time.”
Having marketing experience in the casino industry gives Tingson insight into the value of mobile apps, observing that it “kind of opens up a playbook for the casino marketing team to evaluate and market to a mobile patron”.
“This component really resonates with me,” he said. “For me, it’s all about the user. Once you are logged in you can essentially see all account balances, offers in the form of gaming, dining, and hotel. When location services are enabled, you can actually send real time notifications with real rewards, gaming or non-gaming, based off location.”
Tingson emphasized the use of mobile applications as a “prospecting tool” for marketing divisions. Driving play based upon locations with real time push notifications, he maintains, is an analytic that is important.
“I’ve said that Sightline takes pride in deep integration,” he continued. “With cashless, we understand the wallet can be used at table games and slots. It is just as important that we understand that outside of gaming, retail spend is very important.
“To use a mobile app to spend for retail, hotel, and entertainment both on and off property, and using the application’s payment method across all those channels, helps marketers see a 360-degree view of the player in evaluating the player’s entire spending behavior for both gaming and non-gaming.”
He also brought to light the fact that the ability for guests to review hotel bookings and to modify them as needed, or to look at offers in real time is something that separates Sightline from the competition.
“We work with all different third parties,” Tingson said. “If a property has X, Y, or Z system, we don’t want to dictate to them to pivot and purchase a new system. Sightline integrates fully with any third-party system. This lends a cohesive approach to mobile applications revolving around gaming and non-gaming integrations, versus an operator having multiple apps for what Sightline can accomplish in one single solution.”
Tingson said that Sightline is always aware of its “road map” and that tipping team members is very important in both gaming and non-gaming departments. He affirmed that “cashless tipping” has not been forgotten within the guest’s cashless journey application.
In addition, Sightline has always advocated for enhanced regulation to improve the customer experience. The company’s suite of mobile solutions gives consumers a safe, secure, and responsible way to fund their online and in-person gaming activities while enabling properties to offer cashless wagering and personalized loyalty options across the entire property.
“Responsible gaming is important to us,” he said. “We work closely with the regulators of every gaming jurisdiction.”
Tingson, acknowledging that while Sightline’s mobile solution is patron facing, there is the understanding of the need to create apps for the operators themselves, the team members, and the casino hosts.
“Our roadmap concentrates on listening to the operators,” he maintains. “We always want to be the leader. With this in mind, creating mobile apps that are employee facing for team members and casino operations is important. They are not just for the consumer. We are also taking into consideration the operator as well.”
