Casino Kiosks: The Next Generation of Self-Service
From basic tools for promotion, casino kiosks have become key elements of the user experience.
Once limited to a rather narrow range of operations—the issuance of player cards, offers or cash redemption—casino kiosks now can link multiple operations (loyalty account, payment, gambling, hospitality, entertainment) through one interface. They allow guests to complete routine operations quickly and receive targeted offers and personal service. They ensure transactions that are secure and accurate.
For Azam Husain, CEO of Casino Science and InfiGifts, the biggest change is the evolution of the kiosk from a single-function device to “an interactive self-service platform.”
Integration with casino management and loyalty systems lets the terminal identify the player, obtain tier status and point balance, and deliver relevant offers in the moment. “The kiosk is becoming another touchpoint in the overall client journey,” Husain says.
From Transactions to Self-Service
Aside from card issuance and promotion redemption, customers can use kiosks to sign up for loyalty programs, exchange cards, amend account details, check their balances, participate in drawings, redeem their rewards and conduct cashless transactions.
Eric Cunningham, director of training and customer success for CasinoTrac, notes this shift from ancillary marketing tool to full player service device. Depending on what systems the casino uses, guests can use the kiosk to check in at the hotel, make dinner reservations, buy show tickets or choose winners of football games.
“The kiosk is becoming another touchpoint in the overall client journey.”
—Azam Husain, CEO, Casino Science and InfiGifts
It’s important to focus the interface: a sportsbook kiosk will have other objectives than the one used for hotel check-in. Sapan Pandya, an IEEE senior member, senior software engineer and expert in resilient distributed transaction systems, prefers using shared services with location-specific interfaces.
More Choice at the Cash Point
While current financial kiosks only dispense cash, Everi FinTech has integrated it with other options such as QuikTicket, QuikTransfer, CashClub Wallet and innovative payment solutions, including cryptocurrency-based wherever possible.
“Everi FinTech is focused on expanding its kiosk services from simple transactional units dispensing cash and tickets to a service network for the casino floor,” says Everi Senior Director of Digital Payments Landon Stanfield.
This means the customer can get his money in whatever format he wants, while traffic to the cashier cage is decreased and money moves more effectively to the casino floor. Everi kiosk services also include self-service check-cashing, bill-breaking and charitable giving options.
With QuikTicket, the player purchases the gaming ticket using the kiosk rather than getting cash back. With QuikTransfer, the ticket’s value can be transferred to an eligible bank account or payment card depending on the configuration.
But hardware also plays a role, especially in the case of operators with varying needs in terms of space and budget considerations. The CRX by Everi Gaming is an example of a more compact kiosk which keeps all the features at a cost-efficient price range that works well for smaller casinos and distributed gaming, VLTs and routes. It can also provide a different device mix for properties with large gaming floors.
Marketing Beyond the Players Club
In many cases, kiosks were installed near players’ clubs to relieve queues. Today’s operators locate them all over the casino floor so clients may get their services without having to go back to a centralized location.
Cunningham says these devices help casinos consolidate some of their typical players club activities and those in the cage, thereby freeing up more time for player cultivation. Employees can spend less time on card replacements and routine promotional processes and devote themselves to building relationships with high-value guests.
“Everi FinTech is expanding its kiosk services from simple transactional units dispensing cash and tickets to a service network for the casino floor.”
—Landon Stanfield, Senior Director of Digital Payments, Everi Holdings
Husain feels the same possibility exists when it comes to marketing. The kiosk can give the client special offers, drawing, giveaways and point redemption opportunities depending on loyalty level and qualification.
“Every single aspect of that process that can be moved into an intuitive self-service experience helps casinos’ employees spend more time interacting with the guests rather than processing the transactions,” he says.
Everi FinTech also implements kiosks as another engagement channel. The kiosk topper serves as an attention-grabber and delivers relevant marketing content when a patron is engaged with a device without interrupting the main transaction.
Gifting Without the Inventory Load
Among the latest options for operators is the ability to use kiosks as a channel for gift and shopping activity. InfiGifts is not a kiosk vendor but incorporates its gifting solution into existing casinos’ loyalty and kiosk technologies.
The patron identifies himself or herself by means of the property’s loyalty program, finds the gifts and merchandise offered for redemption using points, selects an item and redeems it via the kiosk. InfiGifts takes care of the rest and delivers the item to the patron.
The model eliminates the requirement of a casino having to purchase merchandise in bulk and stock it, then move it to the gaming floor or have to manage a separate area for redemptions. It also mitigates the risk of buying bulk quantities of merchandise in shades or sizes that patrons don’t prefer.
“The concept essentially transforms the technology that casinos have into a retailing and gift platform without asking the casino to get into retailing or acquire yet another piece of technology,” Husain says.
The same concept applies to mobile applications and online channels, making it possible for casinos to increase their offering without implementing a unique gifting mechanism on each platform. This provides flexibility to the marketing team as well when creating promotions based on tiers of customers.
Hospitality Joins the Journey
Self-service isn’t new to airlines, hotels, restaurants and retail. Casino kiosks also can be used for check-in, allocation of keys for rooms, dining and entertainment bookings.
According to Cunningham, player kiosks decrease waiting time for check-in at hotels, meal orders and ticketing for shows, thus enabling employees to adopt the role of host once again, making contacts and providing personalized service.
What it amounts to is tying up the resort experience. Guests may book a dining table, check out a loyalty program and get directions without switching systems. When these services share accurate data, the kiosk turns from a convenience point to a gateway into the property.
AI, Identity & Personalization
Artificial intelligence can enhance the responsiveness of kiosks, but the application depends on the provider. CasinoTrac is looking at ways insights about the whereabouts and activities associated with a player card could assist in offering relevant recommendations and offers. It’s possible for maps to show the locations of the favorite games of the player as the configuration of the floor evolves. The maps may guide the guest to a reserved restaurant spot or help friends locate each other on the casino floor.
Kiosks are now service hubs that bring together loyalty, payments, hospitality, entertainment and marketing.
Cunningham says biometric identification has been slow in implementation, but could eventually enable a player to be recognized without swiping a card. Upon entering a favorite high-limit slot or table games section, the person could be identified and served a favorite beverage before playing the game.
InfiGifts doesn’t use facial recognition technology, according to Husain. However, it uses casino management and loyalty systems for the purpose of identification, and thus, the apps would benefit when these systems embrace mobile authentication, cardless play and biometrics.
InfiGifts uses Ace, its AI-powered support system, to resolve questions on gifts, orders, deliveries and redemptions, while elevating complex queries to a support desk. Possible future applications may include better searching for products in the catalog and more personalized product recommendations.
Facial recognition or AI hasn’t been used in Everi’s kiosk products to date, according to Stanfield, but the company sees the possibility of using digital identity, biometrics and AI to solve operational problems. Applications can include quicker identity verification, better fraud and risk management, and more efficient service transactions.
Reliability Behind the Screen
Reliability is as important as convenience as the kiosk’s role expands financially and as a customer-facing product. There could be a transaction where money processing, player account, back-end service and hardware like bill validators, barcode scanners or ticket printer is involved. If one part succeeds and the other doesn’t, it’s important for the system to figure out what exactly happened.
According to Sapan Pandya, senior software engineer for Fanatics, Inc., the use of better transaction logs, remote diagnoses and troubleshooting allows operators to differentiate between a general error message and a specific non-resolved situation. A server may indicate that a transaction was successful while a printer did not manage to print a ticket. This means that the client’s problem still needs to be resolved, while software indicated that the transaction was completed.
The same scenario occurs when network communication is lost during a transaction that involved receiving the bill and waiting for account-credit response. Timeout doesn’t mean that the transaction failed. It’s crucial for the recovery process to verify the states of both device and back-end before attempting a second deposit or purchase.
Biometric identification, while slow in implementation, could eventually enable a player to be recognized without swiping a card.
Physical access control, authorized software and maintenance and proper incident recovery are other necessary measures to consider when designing public terminals. Pandya says a kiosk needs to be capable of identifying what was completed, what did not go well and what can be done next.
The importance of these precautions increases when multiple services are integrated into one terminal. Not only must the kiosk be available, but its printer must work and transactions must be reconciled. Remote management should allow users to understand if a problem can be fixed through remote methods, the intervention of a technician or even temporary interruption of one specific process.
The Connected Kiosk
The following phase may define the kiosk as a channel. Husain believes the services will enable connectivity between the kiosk, mobile apps, website and gaming devices. An individual can learn about the promotion via mobile phone, shop using the kiosk, redeem points from somewhere else and get the product shipped at home without accessing four different channels.
According to Stanfield, integration among kiosk, mobile, loyalty, casino management system and payment will be further enhanced. The use of digital identity, driver’s license and digital assets will increase where allowed. CasinoTrac predicts easier transition from kiosk to mobile application and promotions based on player preference. Casino kiosks are no longer only about the convenience of printing a card or collecting an offer or getting some cash from them. These kiosks become service hubs that bring together loyalty, payments, hospitality, entertainment and marketing features. The best solutions will have both personalization and efficiency in a way that will eliminate unnecessary steps for guests and more meaningful contact moments for employees.
