When operators study how to engage and excite players, back-of-the-house systems such as TITO printers and CMS are seldom front of mind.

With coordination among those back-end systems, however, operators can offer immediate and tangible incentives and conveniences that will drive revenue, while attracting and retaining customers, panelists said at recent AGS GameON discussion.

For example, a TITO with a special offer gets 100 percent “eye share,” said Tracey Winslow, chief revenue officer for TransAct Technologies, a global provider of software-driven technology and printers. “Why do you want to market to your player after they left your property? You want to market to them while they’re at your property to really build that relationship.”

Winslow was on a June 4 panel titled “Come Together, Right Now: Systems and Their Future” at the invitation-only Game-ON conference at Encore Boston Harbor. Chad Hoehne, CEO of CasinoTrac management software, and Charlie Skinner, president of Marker Trax, also were on the panel. Steve Walther, AGS vice president of game development, moderated.

Skinner and Hoehne said operators can also generate revenue by focusing on player conveniences available with agnostic casino management systems and by increasing digital transactions on the gaming floor. Customers who switch to using markers to fund their gambling raise their incremental play “substantially,” said Skinner, whose company provides first-of-its-kind digital markers. Marker Trax’s sister company, Koin, provides cashless casino transactions.

Hoehne said the increasing cooperation between CMS makers and providers of complementary technology has improved not only improved methods to incentivize customers, but can also spot when someone at risk of problem gambling might need a distraction. “Offering them some other activity that provides a cooldown period could be a gentle intervention that is going to help that customer and, over the life of that customer, help the operators gain more value through that responsible use,” he said.

Winslow said TransAct implemented such a system at London’s Hippodrome casino, so the operator could prove to regulators that it had a method of interacting with players to avert problem gambling. This was part of an effort to gain approval for more games on the floor.

Hoehne also told of adapting a CMS to allow a host to print a ticket awarding a comp to a valued player who doesn’t use an app or mobile device. The host can approach the player at a machine and have the award produced like a TITO. Most innovations begin with a suggestion from an operator, he said, predicting continued improvements in mobile apps and ticket technology.

Skinner said he expects the use of cashless technology to show steady growth in the next three to five years, with omnichannel gaming strengthening as well. “Our two companies are working to develop technology, so a player can move from a CMS to the sports-betting platform to a table system and (we’re) tracking all those funds in a compliant auditable fashion,” he said.

Winslow agreed that cashless is a growing trend, but a digital wallet’s ability to interact with other systems is vital. “The open-system concept, for systems companies to be less stubborn about interacting with other companies, is extremely important,” she said. “That stubborn element of existing systems companies really is not going to play going forward, because operators and players are going to be requesting more.”

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