Tribal executives talk about restricted cashless gaming adoptions so far — CDC Gaming

Two tribal gaming executives mentioned cashless gaming hasn’t been effectively adopted in Indian Country. Casinos haven’t felt comfy with it as they take into account two distinct methods to focus on higher-value and lower-tier gamers.

Colton Barlow, chief data officer at Viejas Casino & Resort in San Diego, and Lon O’Donnell, vice chairman of gaming technique and head of gaming at Grand Casinos Minnesota, gave a presentation Monday on cashless wallets to kick off the TribalNet Conference & Tradeshow in Reno.

“There’s a lot of confusion amongst all the regulatory bodies and a wait-and-see attitude, which is why there was a lot of interest in (the session),” mentioned Barlow, whose property added a pockets in 2022 and is within the midst of implementing one other cashless system of direct funding. “By coming to talk about this, I hope we’ll see more people adopting it. A lot of people at this year’s G2E will want to test out these solutions. I think with direct funding to machines, there will be more adoption. It’s much easier for the guests.”

O’Donnell mentioned it looks as if the trade is attempting to run earlier than it may stroll — creating wallets which can be interchangeable by any division.

“That’s probably more than we need right now,” mentioned O’Donnell, whose on line casino hopes to roll out its cashless gaming within the first quarter of 2026. “A lot of vendors have stepped back and gone direct funding and Apple Pay at the game. They’re starting to get people used to using credit or debit cards at the game and then grow into a more stored-value strategy.”

Successfully introducing a cashless pockets to a tribal on line casino is way extra advanced than merely putting in an out-of-the-box answer. Cashless creates a necessity for modifications in operations, system interfaces advertising and marketing, and customer- expertise schooling, the panelists mentioned.

Mike Day, govt director of TribalHub, the convention sponsor, polled the viewers and located that about one-third have adopted cashless wagering, one third are contemplating it, and one-third plan to take action sooner or later.

“We work with tribes across the nation and I think that talks to where everyone is at,” Day mentioned. “Some have already jumped in a bit, a bunch are wondering if there’s really value, and some say they’re going to do it, but want to make sure they’re prepared.”

O’Donnell’s tribe has two hotel-casinos in central Minnesota about one hour north of Minneapolis with about 3,200 video games and 50 tables. They’re within the strategy of going cashless, however need to finalize a state compact first.

“We’re pretty far along with the state to let us do debit cards at the game,” O’Donnell mentioned. “Right now we’re trying to figure out if we want to do wallet, direct funding, vendor based, or Apple Pay. We’re working through all of that.”

O’Donnell mentioned some folks nonetheless ask why it’s essential to go to cashless gaming, since there’s nothing simpler than placing money right into a slot machine, taking out a ticket out, and redeeming it at a kiosk. That’s true, however he mentioned he struggles to consider one other trade that’s solely money.

“We’re behind the curve on some level,” O’Donnell mentioned. “We used the analogy of forcing everyone to go to get tickets and it worked great. But I don’t think that’s the landscape we live in anymore.”

Barlow mentioned there’s a distinction between what distributors and operators say about cashless. The promise from the trade is that it enhances the visitor expertise and that it’s seamless and frictionless, improves effectivity, and enhances loyalty.

“They cite the risk of walking away from the guests who aren’t getting up to go to the ATM and that’s all fine, but what’s the reality after it’s been implemented?” Barlow puzzled. “The reality is somewhere in the middle. It can cause a poor guest experience. There are operational hurdles and regulatory complexities and friction, especially when they pertain to a wallet. Everybody needs to consider that when they’re implementing and testing it.”

O’Donnell mentioned that different industries have adopted cashless and wallets and casinos ought to too. One cause is the improved visitor expertise, like Apple Pay on the gasoline station. But the issues in gaming are the issues. Guests additionally must have a sensible telephone.

“We’re making this huge complicated infrastructure for folks who don’t want to think about that,” O’Donnell mentioned. “They just want to put money into a slot machine. We’ll think about how to make that easier in the decisions we make over time to get past that.”

A examine from Canada reported that if prospects rise up from a slot machine or desk sport to go to the ATM, there’s a excessive proportion that they’ll stroll out the door, O’Donnell mentioned.

Barlow mentioned individuals are excited to see what new expertise is unveiled at G2E. He mentioned their expertise is restricted to a pockets and direct funding to the machine.
With the pockets, the visitor funds it with money on the cage or a money advance. The downside is returning money from their account again to the financial institution, which might take as much as 5 days relying on the monetary establishment, upsetting the visitor. Guests will take it out in TITO format, which he mentioned defeats the aim of the pockets.

“Negative feedback always falls back on the operator,” Barlow mentioned. “Quite a few vendors say they’re handling it, but when it has the operator’s name on it, it will always be associated with you.”

The benefit of the pockets is for larger tiers with a 20% adoption fee within the highest two tiers. That has resulted in a rise in income, Barlow mentioned.

“It made it worthwhile just for that demographic,” Barlow mentioned. “We didn’t see an adoption from the lower tiers. We didn’t have much of an advantage for a resort-wallet-style solution. The challenge we saw with the cashless model is if you’re the only operator in your jurisdiction using that wallet solution from that third party, it’s an advantage for guests to leave cash in it and go to the next property. They don’t have it. If everybody in your jurisdiction used it, then it would be advantageous to use a resort wallet and keep it in the wallet and use it for everything. For top tiers using it to handle large sums of money, it’s really good.”

The direct funding of machines works the alternative method, Barlow mentioned. The decrease tiers have the benefit with direct funding from a checking account or Apple and Google Pay. Those gamers are coping with ATM limits.

“It is going to appeal to the lower tiers for the most part and it makes it easier to get money to the machine faster,” Barlow mentioned. “The problem is your upper tiers aren’t going to like it, because they are dealing with larger sums. They’ll hit limits more quickly and can’t use cash advance or credit cards, but just debit transactions. With the two together, you have a pretty good cashless system. Having one or the other isn’t a full solution. We’re going to find out in the next few months.”

O’Donnell mentioned they’ve additionally discovered there are two tiers of shoppers which can be attracted to every of the fashions. He mentioned they’re fearful about buyer interplay and acceptance, particularly with lots of card declines by banks. Simplicity drives motion, he mentioned.