Getting people to give up their cash is never easy – unless they find value in doing it.
That’s one reason U.S. customers have been slow to adapt to using virtual wallets for casino transactions, or even taking the smaller step of using their phones to hold their players’ club card information, executives of three major vendors said Wednesday at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas.
“A number of casinos around the world use cashless functionality,” said Nick Khin, chief commercial officer for IGT. “The reason it’s not more popular than it is today is the way it’s been implemented… We haven’t made it easy for the player.”
Khin spoke as part of a panel discussion titled “The Evolution of Cardless Systems: Where are We Now?” at G2E on Wednesday afternoon. Also on the panel were Sina Miri, vice president of research and development for Scientific Games, and Andrew Crowe, vice president of lottery market development for World Pay Gaming. Andrew Zarrnet, managing director of Deutsche Banking, moderated.
With cashless systems, customers using a casino’s app can load money into a virtual wallet and spend it throughout a resort, at slots and table games, in a restaurant, and for hotel bills and other amenities. Winnings can be transferred to a player’s virtual wallet instantly, although slot jackpot payouts still would require IRS paperwork.
Even without a virtual wallet, a casino app can replace the traditional plastic players’ card, allowing gamblers to easily sign themselves in at a machine or table game.
From a casino standpoint, an app provides a plethora of data about players and potentially opens a new line of communication with them. The app can personalize offers, promotions, and recommendations for games or services based on the user’s history, in much the same way Amazon or Netflix utilizes data collected from customers to recommend additional products.
“This isn’t just about the technology,” Crowe said. “We have to deliver products and services that improve the consumer experience, that reduce friction and make things seamless across the resort and add value to the consumer. If that isn’t there, they won’t adopt it.”
Miri, who also spoke at a Wednesday morning panel discussion on mobile innovations, said a unified wallet could be used for social gaming, electronic games, sports betting, lottery, table games, and retail purchases.
However, money held in virtual wallets on one company’s app wouldn’t be usable at another company’s casino.
Panelists agreed that less than 35 percent of casino patrons will adopt cashless and cardless systems by 2020.
Hurdles besides consumer reluctance include regulations governing casinos and payment processors, concerns about a rise in problem gambling tied to the ease of using cashless systems, and resistance from casino management.
Crowe noted that casinos and payment processing are two of the most stringently regulated industries in the world and that casino regulations vary by state. He said cashless systems can increase the ability to monitor potential problem gamblers.
“It’s not anonymous cash anymore,” he said. “You know what these consumers are spending, where they’re spending, how often they’re spending.
“You have to start taking responsible gaming seriously. You can talk about putting controls on deposit levels, or even loss controls on gaming.”
Khin said buyers of a cashless system see a “very strong” return on investment because of the marketing and communication possibilities, and because some players might decide to leave their winnings in the virtual wallet instead of cashing out – with no guarantee of their returning to the casino.
Miri also said that such systems can generate additional incremental revenue by offering the ability to, for example, message a player on the way out to his car with an offer to eat at the steakhouse.
During the morning discussion on mobile innovations, Jim Abbas, senior vice president of casino operations for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, offered another reason to consider cashless: people use it a lot.
“(They) lose the concept of excessive spend,” he said. “People tend to spend more.”
The advent of sports betting beyond Nevada might help virtual wallets gain popularity, members of the afternoon panel said. Mobile sports betting operations can help users become familiar with the technology and ultimately build their trust.
Crowe said regulators and the industry have an “almost once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to combine the establishment of sports betting rules with an update of payment-processing standards to allow casino operators to use the latest technology.
But customers ultimately remain the most important factor, panelists said.
Casinos who adopt a cashless or cardless system should make a point of offering players a choice of methods. Some people will eagerly use mobile technology, while others will want to continue using folding money and slot tickets.
“It’s not forcing a consumer to pay a different way, it’s enabling choice for the consumer, giving them a better entertainment and gaming experience and letting them pay the way they prefer,” Crowe said.
“Technology by itself doesn’t make a better player experience… you really (need to) start with the player.”
