“ I ’ m very excited to start migrating and moving all of our properties to Moolah
Play . Currently where we have Moolah Play available , it ’ s been great . The credit line usage is up 300 percent , the payback improvement by 350 percent . The abandonment rates within the application process have improved . Lots of positive feedback from our players .”
— Charlie Skinner , President , Marker Trax
these deployments demonstrate our confidence in our products ’ value and reliability . We ’ ve built a tremendous amount of loyalty and trust with our customers over the years , and we have debuted Marker Trax and Koin innovations at Ellis Island with the confidence that we ’ re improving our customers ’ experience .”
This arrangement not only saves money , but it also allows for a degree of experimentation that other providers simply don ’ t have in the development stages . In this way the property could be seen as a tangible edge in a competitive field , akin to a private basketball court for a star forward or an in-house recording studio for a budding virtuoso .
In Koin ’ s case , the pseudo-laboratory is just another competitive advantage in a sector that has become increasingly tight as far as adoption and implementation .
“ It ’ s a big advantage — I don ’ t know of any of our competitors that have that to the degree we do ,” Larkin says . “ It lets us do things that others can ’ t in real time , to learn quickly and pivot . It ’ s also helped inform the company a little bit on how we operate with not just Ellis Island properties and Village Pubs and others , but with all of our casino partners that are truly partners and not just clients .”
The additional nuances of cashless credit make it so that Marker Trax ’ s development in particular might not have even been possible in the same way without the help of a partner casino like Ellis Island to help work through the aches and pains of changing an analog process that has operated in the same way for so long .
“ It ’ s such a unique product because there ’ s underwriting , you ’ ve got KYC , you have to kind of put it out in the wild to see what works ,” Skinner says . “ Nobody , even the large-scale CMS operators , have the ability to do wide-scale testing on all sorts of different games and locations that have spotty Wi-Fi and all these different nuances to deliver cashless . So we are really fortunate that we have that property , and we continue to make Ellis Island the first property when we come up with a new feature set to test it out , and make sure it ’ s working right . We ’ ve been very fortunate to have that .”
Onward and Upward
In the next 12 to 18 months moving forward , both companies will look to expand their presence and build off of their respective foundations while also working together to get the most out of each other ’ s resources .
Larkin explains that Koin has “ some very unique offerings that we ’ re in the process of bringing up and rolling out now for large destination Vegas Strip properties , as well as some very interesting products for tribal and specifically the route industry .” More than that , the company ’ s litany of financial experience will also continue to bear fruit .
“ I think the big differentiator for Koin over companies competing for attention in the cashless environment today is the fact that we ’ re steeped in payments domain expertise ,” he asserts . “ Our leadership is unquestionably sound , proven , experienced and capable of bringing change .”
For Skinner and Marker Trax , the big driver moving forward is the launch of its B2C brand Moolah Play , which was announced late last year and will continue to be a focal point moving forward . Previously , Marker Trax allowed partners to brand the product to their property , but as the company continues to evolve and grow , Skinner feels that an established B2C brand in Moolah Play is the logical next step . Existing partners may also now rebrand their products to Moolah Play .
“ I ’ m very excited to start migrating and moving all of our properties to Moolah Play ,” he says . “ Currently where we have Moolah Play available , it ’ s been great . The credit line usage is up 300 percent , the payback improvement by 350 percent . The abandonment rates within the application process have improved . Lots of positive feedback from our players .”
In the short- to intermediate-term , Skinner says he ’ d “ like to be live with all of the CMS operators and their versions ” for Moolah Play . Now that a lot of the initial tech and regulatory hurdles have been cleared , the team is ready to hit the ground running .
“ The other thing in 12 to 18 months that we would like to see is to have the product have enough data coming in that we really have this thing on hyperdrive where we can put the gas on and scale this thing , and get locations live very quickly ,” he says .
A lot has changed in the years since Ellis and his team first began the journey to digitize the casino payment and credit ecosystem , including the industry overall as well as Ellis Island itself , which in early April announced a new development plan that will add more than 6,400 square feet to the property by expanding the gaming floor and carving out additional back-of-house space . The project is expected to debut in early 2025 .
But despite these changes , the mission has remained the same : to make things better , simpler , more efficient and more enjoyable — in other words , to continue to give the people what they want .
“ Our aim has always been to lead the cashless revolution , but that ’ s driven by customer demand rather than mere technological advancement ,” Ellis says . “ As we move forward , we ’ ll continue to refine our technologies to align with consumer preferences and operational efficiencies . Our goal is not just innovation for innovation ’ s sake , but to truly improve the customer experience .”
22 Global Gaming Business JUNE 2024