IAG MAR 2023

IAG MAR 2023年3月 亞博匯 30 research including entry and exit surveys on player experience, player spend both pre- and post- trial, and various other data. “We’ve gone about it the right way – we’re instituting the solution across the entire venue, not just a subset of the venue, so the evaluation can be as close to a real player experience as possible,” Van Waard explains. Meanwhile, Aristocrat’s CEO of Gaming and Chief Transformation Officer, Mitchell Bowen, said the company’s Wests Newcastle trial was aimed at finding ways to help patrons manage their play via the inclusion of additional gameplay tools. “Aristocrat believes that enabling cashless payment solutions is an innovation that may help enhance the long- term sustainability and vibrancy of our industry,” Bowen said when the project was first announced. “Aristocrat will continue to bring forward innovations that are practical, enhance customer choice and have the potential to help reduce problem gambling without unduly impacting choice and amenity for the majority of recreational players. We look forward to learning from the results of the trial.” While both companies are at the forefront of cashless gaming technology globally, Van Waard warns that the success of cashless gaming in Australia will depend on how the product is introduced to the market. “If it’s full steam ahead with no phasing period and we go 100% cashless, there is going to be a pretty big impact because people don’t like change and that abrupt a change won’t be good for the industry,” he tells IAG . “But if we phase it in, provide players options, tell them they can continue doing what they’re doing or start to change to this new technology, then people will adjust. I mean, there was uproar when they were going to remove coins. They thought it would destroy their business but what venue has coins in it today?” Asked why some factions of the industry might be reluctant, COVER STORY