Global Payments Gaming Solution has launched VIP Mobility, the industry’s first mobile solution, “enabling true cashless casino gaming,” at the Viejas Casino & Resort in San Diego.
Las Vegas-based Global Payments Gaming Solutions’ VIP Mobility is unique within the industry. It operates seamlessly, from funding through cash-out, according to company president Christopher Justice. Casino guests create digital TITO tickets on their mobile devices by scanning an existing voucher or via their VIP Preferred e-check accounts. They can then pair their mobile device to any slot or table game by simply scanning a QR code, reloading from their phone and retrieving their funds once playing is complete. “Play is never interrupted to get cash,” Justice said.
Consumers are increasingly going cashless in their daily lives, from the coffee shop and the gas pump to the grocery store, and they want that same level of convenience to extend to their gaming experiences, Justice said. Casino operators, in turn, stand to benefit from the adoption of cashless gaming, which provides a more cost-effective and secure payment method on their gaming floors.
There’s been a growing interest in cashless gaming since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What Global Payments through VIP Mobility has sought to do is add cashless gaming into the patron’s general gaming experience without having to completely redefine what that patron experience looks like,” said Josh Swissman, founding partner at the Strategy Organization, a company consultant. “They virtualized the TITO ticket.”
Viejas Casino & Resort Director of Treasury and CFO Erich Hans said they’re excited to be the first Southern California casino to offer the benefit to their guests and are confident it will enhance their gaming experience.
“Our adoption of VIP Mobility will provide additional convenience and increased transaction security for our guests,” Hans said. “By allowing our players to bypass traditional funding sources such as ATMs and the cage, we have significantly improved optionality and expediency.”
The Viejas Casino & Resort, which was built in 2013, is owned by the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians. It has 203 rooms.
In July 2020, Downstream Casino Resort in Quapaw, Oklahoma, hosted the trial of VIP Mobility that was first showcased at the 2018 Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.
“The guest experience is what we’re doing,” said Justin Sprague, vice president of marketing at Las Vegas-based Global Payments Gaming Solutions. “Social distancing is obviously important and fits timely into cashless contactless touchless gaming. Those are great, but what it comes down to is the overall improved customer experience.”
Swissman said the difference between VIP Mobility and other solutions in the industry is that “VIP Mobility is the only truly cashless and contactless product that’s out there. There aren’t any others where you can move money out of your bank account into VIP Mobility and then from VIP Mobility onto a slot machine or table game and cash out your winnings and get them back on your mobile device and back to your bank account. Nobody else can do all of that without requiring a customer to touch cash in some way, shape, or form throughout that process.”
Testimonials from customers at Downstream said they were impressed by how they could go from machine to machine and no longer have to wait in line at the cage. They said the application was easy to use and they liked that they could stay at their slot rather than go to the ATM and draw out more money.
“You can do all of that from the seat of your favorite slot machine or your table game of choice,” Swissman said. “All of those things create this super-intuitive and easy-to-use interface. That wasn’t the usual early-tech adopter segment trying VIP Mobility at Downstream. This was the group that would be some of the last to adopt technology. They were able to use VIP Mobility with relative ease and see the value proposition right off the bat, which to me is a testament to how easy this product is to use and how simple it is to fit into people’s normal gaming and visitation patterns.”
“Global Payments spent a lot of time streamlining the interface on mobile devices to make it intuitive,” Swissman said. “It’s one thing to have someone hold your hand and walk you through the process, but another to easily use it on your own.” He added, “That is what Global Payments has achieved — that Amazon-like superuser interface that is easy to navigate.”
Justin Sprague said not all cashless solutions are created equally. “Most expect consumers to master different experiences at every gaming touchpoint, but customers can’t be expected to learn different methods of payment at various points in the transaction,” he said. “Casino employees would have a hard time helping them too,” he said.
“VIP Mobility is a solution that incorporates electronic accounts, omni-channel solutions for physical and digital funding, igaming solutions, and ease of use for funding and redemption,” Sprague said. “It applies to kiosks, slots, tables, prepaid cards, food and beverage, retail and hospitality.”
Swissman said the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted operators to have an increased interest in VIP Mobility and what it offers. Sprague added that it will be installed at a number of clients this year across the country, primarily in the Midwest and West.
“A huge number of calls — sales, fact-finding, and due-diligence —lead to a deal flow for Global Payments in the months to come and into next year,” Swissman said.
“Global Payments has long offered VIP Preferred, which allows casino companies not to have to underwrite check cashing at cages. Over the last 20 years, it has become a fund-management solution for casino patrons in the brick-and-mortar and online gaming space,” Swissman said.
“For someone signing up for VIP Preferred, Global Payments offers a generous limit on approval that’s quick and easy and casino patrons can draw against that limit,” Swissman said. “Since that’s been in place around the country for a couple of decades, customers are already familiar with that network and the value it brings that they’ve come to know and love. VIP Mobility has taken that collection of services and mobilized them from the casino cage to end users’ mobile devices.
There’s a built-in familiarity because it’s built on the backbone of VIP Preferred that has significant market presence in online gaming and sports betting.”
VIP Mobility is available for Android and iOS devices.
