Paying It Forward
Payment technology has successfully met the challenges of today ’ s gaming industry
By Dave Bontempo
Here ’ s the sector that literally pays . Perhaps nowhere has the gaming industry met customer demand better than in payment options . Innovation spans several realms over the years — from payment access to funding methods , from mobile to wallets — all timely unveiled to match escalating customer demand .
Enhancements tied to payment options include marketing , player retention and recruitment areas . The newest upgrade is a responsible-gaming niche hailed by players , operators and gaming regulators . Players can put money back in their wallets as easily as they withdrew it , avoiding the temptation that comes with excess cash in one ’ s pocket . Responsible-gaming innovation matches the casino philosophy of not wanting players to gamble away their last dollar .
This is a good time to be in the payment sector . It ’ s a star performer in the gaming industry .
The Payments Potpourri
The drive for convenience and speed in payments remains prominent , according to Victor Newsom , senior vice president of product management , payment solutions for Everi Holdings .
“ A buzzword that you ’ ll probably hear more and more in our sector is ‘ embedded finance ’— it ’ s already big in the fintech space ,” Newsom says . “ Along with what we deliver with banking as a service , the next evolution is trying to make payments as transparent as possible . ‘ Embedding ’ them in the customer journeys is going to be an ongoing focus . It ’ s more about choice and omnichannel access , because otherwise it ’ s not transparent .”
Newsom says the company has been successful giving customers a choice of channels and instruments . That includes multiple self-service kiosks , cage , tables , slots , mobile , retail , and web channels with cards , check , Apple Pay , PayPal , PayNearMe , RTP , crypto and more .
“ We ’ re giving consumers an option of when and how they want to access it ,” he says . “ In our sector , we ’ re seeing a healthy economy . So , it ’ s even more critical for us to be able to provide our services in a way that is value-added , both for the casino operators and for the patrons .
“ We had record quarters , as heard on our earnings calls , and I would like to suggest that some of that is because of how we ’ ve come to the market .”
Newsom says cash remains king , and that Everi is able to provide more access points than its competitors .
He also touts the company ’ s continued success with QuikTicket as the best performing product in the space . It is cashless and doesn ’ t require an account to sign up . Players are able to get a TITO ticket with a point-of-sale ( POS ) debit transaction on a self-service device . Patrons don ’ t have to wait in line at the cage as they would with a debit card cash advance .
It allows operators to bring in new patrons who never tried this type of transaction , according to Newsom . This is part of a regular PIN debit purchasing-type transaction flow .
Part of why it ’ s successful is that it ’ s available to anyone who is doing a card-based transaction , and that purchase goes through as a gaming credit purchase , Newsom indicates . That convenience gained more focus during Covid , with customers worried about handling cash at ATMs .
“ Debit transactions overall have been trending positively anyway ,” he says , “ but with QuikTicket we see a natural attraction , without marketing incentives . We ’ ve seen over 30 percent on average of debit volume will move to this product , operators will see a lift in new net users , and people who find this convenient will use it more and spend more .
“ We ’ re very pleased with it . It fits in with the cashless narrative , but it doesn ’ t require a mobile account or wallet to use .”
Newsom promotes a significant product enhancement that makes it even more valuable . “ Visa has allowed us to take that same anonymous Quik- Ticket purchase with their debit card and do it in reverse ,” he says . “ We were the first and only current land-based , card-present , non-account-based choice for this because we were uniquely positioned to deploy the controls that card schemes require to be in place behind the scenes .
“ So when patrons cash in a TITO ticket , they have a choice of sending it back to their bank using the same debit card they purchased the ticket with , and they can do so without having to sign up for any account .”
Newsom believes that patrons may consider an amount like $ 1,000 going back to their bank instantly , in real time , more attractive than putting that cash in their pocket .
From a responsible gaming aspect , the ability to send money back to one ’ s account instantly is ideal . One innovation leads to another .
“ In addition to QuikTicket introducing a full cashless , account-less , in person , self-service life cycle , one can ‘ prime the pump ’ for the bigger digital transformation that we see emerging in the industry ,” he says .
“ That lends itself into the company ’ s CashClub Wallet product well , as far as being able to do many of those same things , and it lends itself into other use cases across the family of cash flow products , whether they ’ re at the
42 Global Gaming Business DECEMBER 2022