A long-awaited trial for cashless gaming technologies in New South Wales (NSW) kicked off September 8 at the Wests Newcastle casino. The three-month program will test to see if technologies are ready for widespread implementation, which officials and regulators hope will drastically cut down on instances of money laundering and fraud.
200 Wests Newcastle rewards members were given access to the new prototypes, which were developed by Aristocrat Gaming, IGT, Utopia Gaming and Light & Wonder.
The trial was inspired by the slew of recent regulatory inquiries throughout Australia, in which the country’s two biggest operators, Star Entertainment and Crown Resorts, were found unsuitable for casino licensure in numerous states, including NSW, Victoria and Queensland, among others.
As part of their remediation processes, both companies have agreed to implement cashless technology once it becomes available in order to ensure better compliance moving forward. Cash deposit and loss limits have already been mandated in most jurisdictions.
Kevin Anderson, the NSW minister for hospitality and racing, told Inside Asian Gaming that the trial “is part of an exciting new era where innovations such as digital wallets offer customers greater convenience and control over their spending and help venues and authorities identify suspected cases of money laundering.”
Anderson noted that digital wallets, which is what cashless technologies rely on, are much safer for both patrons and operators because they require “a person’s identity to be confirmed before they can play and they are linked to that person’s debit card or bank account which means authorities can identify where those funds have come from if needed.”
