The Australian state of New South Wales has today commenced trials of cashless gaming with the help of Aristocrat Gaming.
Certain player protection measures are hardwired into the tech, such as session length limits, frequency of play oversight, total net expenditure calculations and maximum total bets allowed in a specific timeframe.
Kevin Anderson, Minister for Hospitality and Racing, said: “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 also mentioned where the Aristocrat tech is installed: “Technology developed by Aristocrat Gaming has been installed on 36 of the Wests club’s gaming machines using Bluetooth to connect patrons’ mobile phones to machines.
“The technology will allow for a Bluetooth connection between a patron’s mobile phone and the machine. This will let patrons transfer money directly from the gaming wallet on their phone onto the machine.
“The digital wallet can be used to fund gaming machine play and players can set spending or time limits, access real-time spending data, take a break or self-exclude from gambling and access other responsible gambling tools and services. Patrons cannot load funds into the gaming wallet from the gaming floor.
“The digital wallet requires 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.”
Hosts of the new tech trials Wests Group Australia also released a statement, in which the group’s CEO Phil Gardner called them “a long-standing commitment to patron choice and welfare”.
“We know many of our patrons want the convenience of digital payments, which is part of this trial. The trial also allows us to offer a powerful new suite of digital tools to empower our members and allow them to set limits, speak to a staff member, or even exclude themselves from the club if they choose,” Gardner concluded.
