Traditionally, a typical night of casino play could involve a lot of side trips. You visit the player’s club booth to enroll in the loyalty program, showing ID and filling out personal information. Then, on to the ATM—or, if you wanted to access other funds, to a cash-advance kiosk, then a trip to the cage to sign a cash-advance check. If you’re already a loyalty member, you may want to check a club kiosk to see what points and perks you’ve earned.
If those perks include sweepstakes entries, you’d print them out or fill them out and put them in a physical drum. Then, after you play slots or tables, it’s on to a redemption kiosk, or to begin the cash-access process all over again.
Everi Holdings, the leading supplier of casino cash access, payment and financial technology solutions, is on a mission to simplify all that. The company has built a network it calls the “Digital Neighborhood,” a system using digital technology to enable self-serve promotions, instant cash access and other capabilities, tucked into the same network through which Everi has traditionally provided fintech services from check verification to anti-money laundering protections.
Everi has always had a rich lineup of fintech products that simplify functions on the casino floor, from its CashClub software platform that streamlines check warranties and credit/debit card transactions to Jackpot Xpress and its mobile jackpot processing, to super-fast note recyclers and cash dispensers, and Everi Compliance AML anti-money laundering software. ATMs, the main product of Everi legacy company Global Cash Access, have morphed into advanced full-service kiosks like the CXC 5.0 / 5.0 L line.
But the completion of Everi’s Digital Neighborhood has come thanks to two tuck-in acquisitions. Last year, the company acquired assets of Atrient Technologies, producer of the feature-rich self-service PowerKiosk, which incorporates self-service player rewards. This month, the company announced the acquisition of assets from Micro Gaming Technologies (MGT), another producer of self-service player loyalty software.
With each acquisition, Everi also inherited a portfolio of customers using Atrient and/or MGT solutions, many of which were already key Everi customers.
“The Atrient acquisition and now the MGT acquisition really align with our directive to provide our operators with the ability to drive more funds to their gaming floors efficiently and responsibly, while providing guests with a premium entertainment experience,” said Darren Simmons, executive vice president and fintech business leader for Everi, in an interview with GGB News. “And the loyalty component is a really important part of that directive.”
“The loyalty piece connects to the systems that are already on the casino floor,” added Everi President and CEO Mike Rumbolz. “We feed directly into and out of host systems with the player loyalty modules.”
Those modules are designed to relieve the player of mundane and time-consuming tasks like waiting in line to enroll in a player’s club, to check on points, or to gather comps and other rewards. Players will no longer have to insert credit cards into a kiosk and then wait at the cage to sign a cash advance check, either. In Everi’s Digital Neighborhood, everything is there in the kiosk.
“The enrollment kiosk allows the casino to either downsize or not even have a player’s club booth where you have to show ID and talk to somebody to ultimately get a (loyalty) card,” said Rumbolz. “Normally, that card goes into a machine and then is read by the system, which then applies points your account. Then, you have to interact with another casino staff member to exchange the points for some sort of a gift or free play. In this system, the enrollment kiosk really is the place that begins that whole process for the player.”
Simmons adds that the Everi fintech products give players the option to interact with the casino “in terms of the technology that they’re comfortable with. Our desire is to cast a very wide net to cater to the different types of players out there, and offer them those technologies they are comfortable with. Promotional kiosks have been in the casino space for a long time, and there is a lot of comfort among players using that technology, so we will continue to support that. But obviously, mobile is the future, so we’re investing heavily into this technology as well.
“We’re looking at how this integrates with our digital wallet strategy as well. Bringing those two together is a key directive for us.”
Everi’s Digital Neighborhood is system-agnostic—the functions can be tied to any legacy casino management system. “When you look at all of the components, we are tapping into the casino management systems to pull data and manage a number of functions for the player,” says Simmons. “It’s what could be called a system on top of a system.”
MGT’s products, software and technologies for casino operators represent a complementary addition to Everi’s portfolio of fintech products and services. “They’ve got a really strong promotional platform, and are known for their excellent customer service,” Simmons said. “We’re excited with their technology footprint, and they do some things that are unique, and different than our current platform. And, they have moved forward in terms of bringing some of their promotional and loyalty programs to a mobile platform.”
Rumbolz said Everi is currently working on integrating the former Atrient and MGT assets into the company’s digital network. “That will end up with the Everi loyalty platform having the best of breed from both of those acquisitions,” he said.
“The whole goal is to give the operators a more holistic, 360-degree view of their patrons. As we integrate other products and services, including our digital wallet and AML compliance tools, it becomes a very powerful tool for a marketing department to see all activity through the platform we provide to the patron.”
Call it knowing the people in your neighborhood.
