Cashless gaming has proven its popularity with players and operators alike throughout the globe. Nevertheless, this great gaming solution has had its potential limitations in the past – either in how it is operated or how it is implemented.
- Jurgen de Munck and Michiel van Dam from DR Gaming Technology
The rule of thumb has been that cashless gaming goes hand-in-hand with new machines and can be operated either via ticket-in, ticket-out or by a card system.
Cashless gaming has proven its success in international gaming markets again and again.
However, there has been a sizeable market that has not been able to benefit from cashless gaming. The barriers to entry are potentially high as cashless gaming has up to now required major operator investments in the system itself and new machines to operate cashless gaming on.
There is a clear market for cashless gaming that often includes older gaming machines. Smaller operations would also benefit from cashless gaming but have not been able to capitalise on this as the return on investment has been mainly calculated on a larger machine park.
DR Gaming Technology (DRGT) provides the new cashless gaming answer. DRGT is the ideal partner to introduce cashless gaming on a current machine park regardless of the machine number or age.
The major new innovation in cashless gaming is via the ibutton. The ibutton serves as the player identification and accesses the player account details. It is simple to upgrade the slot machine park with –
regardless whether the slot machines are mechanical or video-based with one or two screens. The three individual solutions are tailored specifically to such slot machines – drFast for reel-based slots, drTouch for video-based slots with a single
monitor and drTouch² for video-based slots with two or more monitors. DRGT focus their solutions on being as practicable as possible for both operators and players.
Therefore, the complete account information is shown on the monitor. This saves costs (no further player tracking screen is required) and allows the information to be displayed in a very clear fashion.
Mr. Jurgen de Munck, CEO and co-founder of DRGT, explains the simplicity of the iButton, “The iButton opens up cashless gaming to the complete gaming market. And I really mean the complete gaming market.
It is simple and cost-effective to install. Our cashless system can be connected to any number of slot machines, thus it is just as home in a small gaming parlour as in a large casino.
We have already installed this system in four casinos in Belgium. They are running very well and the players accepted this system very quickly. Operators benefit completely from cashless gaming at a price that will surely open up many new sections of the market to cashless gaming”.
DRGT appreciates the popularity of ticket-in, ticket-out and thus offers a system that incorporates cashless ticket gaming with or without the iButton. “The challenge has been to take this a step further”, notes Mr. Michiel van Dam, COO and co-founder. “That is why we have developed drTicket Serverless Ticketing and drSideBox”.
drTicket Serverless Ticketing does precisely what the title says – it allows ticket-in, ticket-out without the need for central server validation.
This is an ultra-secure and reliable system that has the advantage that the slots machines are no longer dependent upon one server (as if this fails, then all the slot machines fail). Furthermore, keeping with the company strategy of making cashless gaming viab
le for the entire gaming market in operation, the drSideBox allows a ticket printer to be bolted securely on to a slot machine if there is no possibility to integrate it within the machine.
The focus of DRGT is completely on cashless gaming. Operators that wish to make use of the video-based information but have reel-based slot machines can integrate the drReel Screen solution where the upper printed screen is repl
aced by a LCD monitor that replicates the win table and can be used to show all account information. Rounding off the product portfolio, the drCARM is a fully automatic machine that serves as both a bill breaker and cashless redemption machine.
Mr. De Munck sums up the feedback from the ICE Totally Gaming exhibition, “We are very pleased with the ICE as we had a busy stand with lots of enquiries. We believe that we are contributing in an important way to cashless gaming
by
opening up cashless gaming to operators who have smaller and older machine parks just as much as major operators looking for a simpler, more cost-effective cashless gaming solution”.
