— Steve Neely , General Manager , Rolling Hills
Frank says the other factor that has placed tribes at the forefront of technology is the use of private testing labs like Gaming Laboratories International ( GLI ), BMM Testlabs and Eclipse Compliance Testing to certify new equipment , getting new products to casino floors ahead of many staterun labs .
“ Almost every tribe subscribed to ( the private labs ),” Frank says . “ Everybody says the Nevada lab was the model and the best , and they ’ re very good . And then Atlantic City came along and did their own , and they were decent . But GLI got input from everybody . Plus , as opposed to being government , they were for-profit and therefore they attracted better talent ... Tribes got ahead of commercial casinos in technology , and some of it was really beneficial .”
But most of all , leaders of tribal casinos have been very open to new ideas , says Andrew Cardno , co-founder and chief technology officer of business software supplier Quick Custom Intelligence ( QCI ). “ Tribal casinos have always been innovative , and among the very diverse tribal nations , I see real innovation leaders ,” Cardno says . “ Certainly for QCI , the tribal business partners have been right at the front of our business all the way through and are definitely willing to jump in , be great business partners and to innovate with us .”
Hot New Tech
Tribal leadership as first adopters of new technology has continued to manifest itself in today ’ s fast-moving tech environment , as operators across the industry examine alternatives to cash in the form of digital wallets and other new payment solutions . Business intelligence for marketing purposes has been another huge growth area , as efficient data collection solutions merge with artificial intelligence to create new efficiencies for player development executives in casinos .
John Fernandez , director of player development at California ’ s Morongo Casino , is one tribal operator known as an early adopter of new technologies — like the QCI Host module , which has streamlined the casino ’ s player development efforts .
“ I ’ ve got a pretty good-size VIP services team , and it ’ s a very data-driven sales team ,” Fernandez says . “ But I know that most of the time , not all hosts are willing to accept the technology because they ’ re salespeople first , and they ’ re not analysts . I don ’ t want to turn my team into a group of analysts . They need to be salespeople first .”
The business intelligence software , in this respect , has simplified the process of utilizing data . “ They like the QCI product because it tells them things like , ‘ I haven ’ t talked to Frank in two months . It ’ s time to .’ And it will send them an email that Frank is here playing and , and it gives you where he is ( in the casino ). You ’ re able to go out there and see your customer right away .”
The system also provides actionable alerts in direct response to realtime play . “ Without a tool like that , we have over 4,000 machines out there ,” says Fernandez . “ In the old days , the host would just walk around . How do you figure out who ’ s playing , and what they ’ re doing ? This tool gives you all that . It tells me one of my hosts has a customer that has played 15 hours and is down $ 37,000 right now . A host can go out and talk to that player , and intervene ( with a comp or a bonus ).
“ And here ’ s an unhosted guy that ’ s played seven hours and is losing $ 10,400 . Either my host or my VIP agents , who are in the VIP lounge , will see that and assign a task to the host to run out there .”
One of the hottest new technologies these days can be found in the Acres Foundation system , which not only provides a gateway for cashless play through a digital wallet , but can draw real-time data from every slot machine on the floor , alerting marketers in real time for any number of interventions to keep the best players playing , while ensuring that they return again and again .
While some major commercial casino operators like Penn Entertainment are spreading the footprint of the Acres Foundation system , there are plenty of first adopters of the technology in Indian Country as well . One of the most recent adopters is the Rolling Hills Casino and Resort in Corning , California .
“ Over the last several years , we ’ ve really put an emphasis on trying to leverage every ounce of technology we can get to make us better and make us more efficient ,” says Steve Neely , general manager of Rolling Hills . “ Acres really personifies that . What ’ s available today is really just the tip of the iceberg for what Acres will be able to offer us as this evolves . Foundation really does represent an ever-evolving solution to a wide array of challenges we have at the operations level .”
Neely says Rolling Hills is in the pre-installation phase , and in the coming months will begin installing Acres hardware on its 840 slot machines .
“ A number of marketing benefits are in front of us ,” he says . “ Imag-
36 TRIBAL GOVERNMENT GAMING 2023