Two tribal gaming executives said cashless gaming hasn’t been well adopted in Indian Country. Casinos haven’t felt comfortable with it as they consider two distinct strategies to target higher-value and lower-tier players.
Colton Barlow, chief information officer at Viejas Casino & Resort in San Diego, and Lon O’Donnell, vice president of gaming strategy and head of gaming at Grand Casinos Minnesota, gave a presentation Monday on cashless wallets to kick off the TribalNet Conference & Tradeshow in Reno.
“There’s a lot of confusion amongst all the regulatory bodies and a wait-and-see attitude, which is why there was a lot of interest in (the session),” said Barlow, whose property added a wallet in 2022 and is in the midst of implementing another cashless system of direct funding. “By coming to talk about this, I hope we’ll see more people adopting it. A lot of people at this year’s G2E will want to test out these solutions. I think with direct funding to machines, there will be more adoption. It’s much easier for the guests.”
O’Donnell said it seems like the industry is trying to run before it can walk — creating wallets that are interchangeable through any department.
“That’s probably more than we need right now,” said O’Donnell, whose casino hopes to roll out its cashless gaming in the first quarter of 2026. “A lot of vendors have stepped back and gone direct funding and Apple Pay at the game. They’re starting to get people used to using credit or debit cards at the game and then grow into a more stored-value strategy.”
Successfully introducing a cashless wallet to a tribal casino is far more complex than simply installing an out-of-the-box solution. Cashless creates a need for changes in operations, system interfaces marketing, and customer- experience education, the panelists said.
Mike Day, executive director of TribalHub, the conference sponsor, polled the audience and found that about one-third have adopted cashless wagering, one third are considering it, and one-third plan to do so at some point.
“We work with tribes across the nation and I think that talks to where everyone is at,” Day said. “Some have already jumped in a bit, a bunch are wondering if there’s really value, and some say they’re going to do it, but want to make sure they’re prepared.”
O’Donnell’s tribe has two hotel-casinos in central Minnesota about one hour north of Minneapolis with about 3,200 games and 50 tables. They’re in the process of going cashless, but have to finalize a state compact first.
“We’re pretty far along with the state to let us do debit cards at the game,” O’Donnell said. “Right now we’re trying to figure out if we want to do wallet, direct funding, vendor based, or Apple Pay. We’re working through all of that.”
O’Donnell said some people still ask why it’s necessary to go to cashless gaming, since there’s nothing easier than putting cash into a slot machine, taking out a ticket out, and redeeming it at a kiosk. That’s true, but he said he struggles to think of another industry that’s only cash.
“We’re behind the curve on some level,” O’Donnell said. “We used the analogy of forcing everyone to go to get tickets and it worked great. But I don’t think that’s the landscape we live in anymore.”
Barlow said there’s a difference between what vendors and operators say about cashless. The promise from the industry is that it enhances the guest experience and that it’s seamless and frictionless, improves efficiency, and enhances loyalty.
“They cite the risk of walking away from the guests who aren’t getting up to go to the ATM and that’s all fine, but what’s the reality after it’s been implemented?” Barlow wondered. “The reality is somewhere in the middle. It can cause a poor guest experience. There are operational hurdles and regulatory complexities and friction, especially when they pertain to a wallet. Everybody needs to consider that when they’re implementing and testing it.”
O’Donnell said that other industries have adopted cashless and wallets and casinos should too. One reason is the enhanced guest experience, like Apple Pay at the gas station. But the complications in gaming are the problems. Guests also need to have a smart phone.
“We’re making this huge complicated infrastructure for folks who don’t want to think about that,” O’Donnell said. “They just want to put money into a slot machine. We’ll think about how to make that easier in the decisions we make over time to get past that.”
A study from Canada reported that if customers get up from a slot machine or table game to go to the ATM, there is a high percentage that they’ll walk out the door, O’Donnell said.
Barlow said people are excited to see what new technology is unveiled at G2E. He said their experience is limited to a wallet and direct funding to the machine.
With the wallet, the guest funds it with cash at the cage or a cash advance. The problem is returning cash from their account back to the bank, which can take up to five days depending on the financial institution, upsetting the guest. Guests will take it out in TITO format, which he said defeats the purpose of the wallet.
“Negative feedback always falls back on the operator,” Barlow said. “Quite a few vendors say they’re handling it, but when it has the operator’s name on it, it will always be associated with you.”
The advantage of the wallet is for higher tiers with a 20% adoption rate in the highest two tiers. That has resulted in an increase in revenue, Barlow said.
“It made it worthwhile just for that demographic,” Barlow said. “We didn’t see an adoption from the lower tiers. We didn’t have much of an advantage for a resort-wallet-style solution. The challenge we saw with the cashless model is if you’re the only operator in your jurisdiction using that wallet solution from that third party, it’s an advantage for guests to leave cash in it and go to the next property. They don’t have it. If everybody in your jurisdiction used it, then it would be advantageous to use a resort wallet and keep it in the wallet and use it for everything. For top tiers using it to handle large sums of money, it’s really good.”
The direct funding of machines works the opposite way, Barlow said. The lower tiers have the advantage with direct funding from a bank account or Apple and Google Pay. Those players are dealing with ATM limits.
“It is going to appeal to the lower tiers for the most part and it makes it easier to get money to the machine faster,” Barlow said. “The problem is your upper tiers aren’t going to like it, because they are dealing with larger sums. They’ll hit limits more quickly and can’t use cash advance or credit cards, but just debit transactions. With the two together, you have a pretty good cashless system. Having one or the other isn’t a full solution. We’re going to find out in the next few months.”
O’Donnell said they’ve also learned there are two tiers of customers that are attracted to each of the models. He said they’re worried about customer interaction and acceptance, especially with a lot of card declines by banks. Simplicity drives action, he said.
