Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING | December 2010 42 MEI T he growing integration of bill acceptance and soft count processes in the digitally networked management of casinos was graphically illustrated at MEI’s booth during the Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas. Among the products on display were the company’s latest bill acceptor, the SC Advance™, and the radio frequency identification (RFID)-enabled EASITRAX® Soft Count system. “In developing MEI SC Advance, we took our current CASHFLOW® SC bill acceptor and we improved some of the features, including acceptance rate and security, to bring extra value to the operators,” says JeanMarie Decker, Marketing Manager. “When someone wants to integrate SC Advance into their casino, they don’t have to buy all new products because SC Advance can work side by side with CASHFLOW SC. All you have to do is replace the head. It can be interchanged throughout your units,” she explains. Standing out In a competitive market with a number of bill acceptor suppliers vying for casino operators’attention,MEI stands out. It has the world’s largest installed base of unattended payment systems, handling more than two billion transactions per week in more than 100 countries. MEI also hit on the idea of what it calls ‘value added trials’ or ‘VAT’ for short. This is where the company invites an operator to run a trial of MEI’s note validator product in a bank of six to 12 slot machines alongside a bank of slot machines using the casino’s existing bill validator system. “We can talk ‘til we’re blue in the face about the advantages of SC Advance, but what operators really want to see is more cash in the cash box,” says Andy Reichlin, Director of Marketing. When VAT tests were done on another ADVANCE Notice shows off its latest and greatest bill acceptor and integrated soft count system MEI product, the CASHFLOW SC 83, at the Regency Casino Thessaloniki in Greece a few years back, it led to the casino management specifying MEI in all its new slot machines. “We believe there’s really three basic things that lead to more cash in the cash box. First, what’s your acceptance rate? It’s extremely frustrating as a casino customer if your bill doesn’t get accepted,” states Mr Reichlin. SC Advance™