A cashless payment system for the UK’s adult gaming centres and bingo locations has been developed by Agile Gaming in partnership with The Gambling Business Group.
Source: LinkedIn
The use of debit cards in gaming machines is currently prohibited under British law, so there is an urgent need for a system to process a debit card through a kiosk.
Rob Wheeler of Agile Gaming developed the system, which involves changing card payments for game play tickets, using a contactless payment technology already used in the vending industry.
Said Wheeler: “Prior to completion, all transactions are authorised with the cardholder’s bank to ensure that the debit card used has not been reported lost or stolen and the transaction value and card usage falls within limits set by the banks. Additional checks by the ATR [answer-to-reset] ensure that there has been sufficient time and information provided for an informed purchase decision, with the individual able to stop the transaction right up to the final confirmation.
"Game-play tickets purchased at an ATM can only be redeemed at gaming machines with the TITO system typically supporting anti money-laundering detection preventing digital cash from being immediately converted to physical cash.”
Peter Hannibal (pictured), chief executive of the GBG, said: “Contactless transactions have increased by 150 per cent year-on-year and are set to increase four-fold over the next decade. It is against this backdrop of exponential growth that GBG has been working on a solution to take the machines sector through to a time when the prohibition of debit card with machine use is eventually lifted by the DCMS (the UK ministry responsible for gaming).
“It is within the secretary of state’s power to rescind this prohibition once the DCMS accepts that debit card payments actually carry more responsible gambling controls than cash can ever do. Until this time we have to process debit card transactions via an ATR."
He added: "This method of processing cashless transactions is already proving to work well in AGC and bingo environments and is being rolled-out by operators right now. It is vital to the long-term health of the sector that the DCMS lifts the ban on the use of debit cards with gaming machines. There is clearly a misplaced nervousness around the use of bank cards with gambling but everyone needs to realise that even the basic controls and information that such a change brings is a huge step on from anonymous cash transactions.
"Using an ATR as a temporary solution does not suit all environments and the Industry, the Gambling Commission and the DCMS need to work together to secure a long term solution before gaming machines become a marginalised feature on the high street.”
