Raving Consulting President Dennis Conrad* was with associate Steve Browne in the Philippines recently and saw the machines you describe. He also witnessed the same kind of devices at Turning Stone, a tribal casino in New York, during a time when the tribe was having compact problems with the state. "All gaming credits were stored on a downloadable card that was inserted into the machine (and which produced 100% player tracking!). It has since gone to a TITO-based system," Conrad reports.
One Philippine casino, City of Dreams Manila, is employing this player-card system, using technology from the good old U.S. of A. International Game Technology cashless software is piggybacked onto Global Cash Access money dispensers. "The guest has the choice to get a ticket or they may load cash onto their player’s club card directly," says GCA Vice President Luigi Mastropietro. He adds that his company has other international clients using this IGT hybrid. "ATM companies are trying to get credit cards and bank cards to be able to be used right at the machines, but have gotten quite a bit of pushback from problem gambling activists," he adds.
Global Gaming Business editor Frank Legato says he has no word of the Philippine system coming to the U.S. "TITO is working fine, and no one sees a reason to push for changes in regulations that would be required in the major jurisdictions to implement a totally cashless system. Besides," he adds, "U.S. players love cash."
In Nevada, Sightline Payments has introduced what’s called a "prepaid access card," a form of debit card that sounds very much like what’s being used in the Philippines, but with some critical differences. You load a cash amount onto the card from your bank account and can either use them for casino play or like traditional debit cards. If you’re doing the latter, you can accrue reward points from the casino. In some cases, you have to set your own limit. But, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports, the cards "are governed by the U.S. Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. Many banks also have cash limits on the cards," In addition to Nevada, the cards are also legal in Atlantic City.
Sightline has also promised that, when customers are loading up the card, a message about the dangers of problem gambling will appear. You can’t go into debt when using this debit card. Your gambling is cut off when your balance hits zero, requiring you to load more funds onto the instrument.
Compared to carrying around large amounts of cash, "It would provide an enhanced level of safety and security," said United Coin General Manager Steve Des Champs, whose company manages innumerable slot routes in Nevada. Other supporters of the technology include MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment, and Station Casinos, an especially vocal proponent.
*As an aside, many thanks to Dennis for the totally unexpected tribute he paid recently to publisher Anthony Curtis, who he profiled in the latest issue of Casino Journal for his contributions to the gaming industry. You can read the feature at LVA in the Media.
