Inside Asian Gaming

December 2008 | INSIDE ASIAN GAMING Technology IGT, when this card is plugged into a slot machine, the stored cash value is instantly altered with each play, deducting cash value with each loss and adding sums with each win. This eliminates the need to take winnings on TITO tickets for cashing at teller stations or automated kiosks, he noted. Values are moved with the card from machine to machine, and the card maintains the value even during power outages, Rader explained. “An advantage of the EZ Pay Smart Card is that it offers an extra level of security to players,” Rader said. “With ordinary credit and debit cards, the magnetic numbers are transferred in an online link, and thus can be copied by anyone willing to invest in the technology. But the Smart Card only moves funds in an offline link,so magnetic numbers only move to the game and back.” Another advantage for players using the EZ Pay Smart Card system is the ability to send bonuses and rewards directly to the card. These can include both points toward extra play or even rewards such as forgiving your parking fees. IGT in July installed its first Smart Card system at the Suncoast Casino in Durban, South Africa. The company also secured regulatory approval in October to test its smart card technology in the US and is seeking a US casino in which to perform a pilot program. Casinos employing IGT smart cards will be able to offer customers two types of cards, Rader said. One will be a Day Use (or Casual User) card that infrequent customers can obtain at cashiers cages or by feeding banknotes into an ATM-like kiosk.For $100,a player will get a smart card loaded with $97,with $3 held as a deposit that is redeemable when the card is returned at the end of the day; not unlike the system that once encouraged customers to return milk and soda bottles, Rader said. Returned cards will be wiped clean of all data (after players have cashed them out) and reused for future customers. The cards can be used for up to 30,000 transactions; a minimum of about five years of normal use. The other type will be the Permanent Player Loyalty Card that regular players can take home and use again and again on future trips to the casino.To use these cards, players will have to enter PIN (Personal Identification Number) codes as a security feature to limit use to the card owner. On activation, the card will verify how much cash or points are left from the previous visit, and players can reload and cash out the card thousands of times during its useful life. If this card is reported lost, a casino can look into its system to determine when it was last used, then block the old card from that date, and issue a new card with the last recorded balance (stored in the casino’s computer) added to the replacement. Most likely a thief or an unscrupulous person finding a lost card won’t be able to use it without the PIN number. And if they try, as the card is activated by sending a signal to the system’s dedicated computer, five inaccurate attempts will trigger a return signal wiping the lost (or stolen) card clean of all embedded information. Permanent cards can help build “brand loyalty”with customers, Rader added. “If you still have $25 on your card, you’ll definitely want to return to that casino to either wager with it, or visit one of their restaurants,”he noted. Rader admitted that the North American gamingmarket lags behindother parts of the world in embracing Smart Card technology. The main reason Smart Cards have caught on sooner in Europe is that European banks, who have had had greater problems with miscreants engaging in cash card fraud, demand the higher security provided by smart cards. They even require the microchip-embedded credit and debit cards with which no transaction can be completed until all data including up to 10-digit PIN numbers are electronically verified. Elsewhere, the lack of adequate communications links to verify mag-stripe cards or, simply limiting the handling of currency to secured areas to remove temptations for thieves, has prompted casinos to adapt smart card/cashless gaming technology. Perhaps no casino currently goes as far as the Gaborone Sun Hotel & Casino in Botswana in bragging on promotional materials that they have an all Smart Card gaming floor that frees customers from having to lug and handle coins. Another reason, said CardLogix’s Bushong, is that US casinos are comfortable with the current mag-stripe card-enabled system and see no reason to pay the extra cost to upgrade. Smart Cards cost about four times that of mag-stripe cards. But because Smart Cards are access controlled, they can be used for more than simply to store cash values for gaming, he noted.They can be adapted to servemultiple purposes, including doubling as a room key, as a means to pay for things at on-premises restaurants, order entertainment tickets, and The Suncoast Casino in Durban, South Africa 39