Gaming-focused payments provider Sightline Payments announced Thursday it has invested up to $300 million to implement cashless gaming at slot machines across the United States in collaboration with casino loyalty and technology business Acres Manufacturing Company.
The goal of Project 250 is to facilitate digital payments technology at 250,000 slot machines across the country within 36 months, the parties explained. It will allow gaming operators to upgrade existing slot machines via Acres’ Foundation casino management system, offering cashless to their patrons in 16 weeks.
“Sightline’s Mobile+ ecosystem provides for a seamless integration with the operator’s entire casino resort and loyalty program while Sightline’s Play+ digital payments solution rounds out the cashless experience, currently live with all four major casino management systems in the US,” notes a press release.
Sightline explained that, for any payments innovation “to accelerate having an infrastructure base layer of technology is critical to gaining widespread consumer adoption.” To date, casinos in only 10 of the 44 states that offer gaming have launched cashless for their customers.
A significant hurdle towards more casinos adopting cashless is outdated technology that is costly to upgrade, noted the firms. This type of experience was seen around adoption of the EMV chip and contactless technology at point-of-sale devices in retail stores around the country. “Once retailers invested in new technology, customers quickly saw the safety and speed benefits of these devices,” the companies stated.
By investing in infrastructure upgrades for its casino partners, Sightline will accelerate the shift toward cashless gaming, “giving millions of gaming patrons the ability to utilize the safety and security of digital payments in casinos nationwide.”
Omer Sattar, Sightline Co-CEO, said: “It’s the hardware and associated capital expenditures that are often the impediment to the large-scale deployment of cashless payments for gaming operators. This investment by Sightline through the creation of Project 250 will immensely impact the gaming landscape for decades to come. Ubiquity of availability is often critical in broad-scale consumer adoption, especially in payments and this investment will drive the whole industry towards the apex of the adoption inflection curve.”
Noah Acres
Noah Acres of Acres Manufacturing Company added: “We pride ourselves on our ability to provide operators with a scalable option to offer easy-to-implement cashless gaming. Cashless gaming is a great way for casino operators of all sizes to optimize customer relationships and drive enhanced profitability.”
Sightline will be present at the G2E Event, which will take place October 10-13 in Las Vegas, answering questions about Project 250 at booth 4433.
