Industry leads search for contactless solution

The industry’s leading trade associations assembled last month to discuss a technology-led solution to the problem of an increasingly cashless society. The consensus on the best approach? An industry-wide phone app.

 

Gambling Business Group and the Bingo Association met to propose a collaborative industry response to the UK’s increasingly cashless society, concluding that a ‘universal’, industry-wide phone app is the best way forward.

While acknowledging that cash will still be an integral payment method in many operations, the meeting aimed to push forward a solution to the consumer trend towards electronic payments, particularly in the pub market. This, however, means working with the prohibition of the use of debit and credit cards directly on the machines – one of the 2007 Circumstances of Use Orders.

Existing practices were examined, such as the bookmakers’ policy to take cards manually behind the desk and the familiar TiTo approach from AGC and FECs, however it was decided that neither of these options would be ideal for a pub, especially on a busy Friday night.

Instead, a ‘universal’ phone app was agreed upon as the best fit solution – a concept that has already been developed by industry players such as Gsquared,which exhibited its PlayGo app at this year’s EAG. Gsquared’s Jonathan Powell presented his company’s app to the meeting, demonstrating its ability to incorporate social responsibility measures while also efficiently achieving its commercial purpose.

However, while this provided a strong example of an effective solution, the challenge of applying the concept across machines universally remained. It was decided at the meeting that multiple apps, each working across different locations, would lead to both confusion for the customer and a high development cost to the industry.

Indeed, Bacta, GBG and the BA concluded that it would be best to have one ‘universal’ app, and together agreed to draft a protocol that captures the necessary features and minimum technical requirements for an industry-wide solution – for example using the same QR Code standard.

John White, CEO of Bacta, explained: “The industry,and particularly the pub market,cannot afford to be left behind in the growing consumer trend towards electronic payments. Manufacturers can develop future technologies for machines and operators can employ contemporary marketing techniques for their venues, but if the potential player wants to pay electronically and quickly, it could all be for nothing.

“In a busy pub environment, whether a customer plays or doesn’t play a machine is often decided by the amount of cash leftover in their hand after purchasing drinks. That potential extra spend, however, is decreasingly in the form of physical currency; rather than walking away from the bar with coins in their hand, customers now hold their phones. If consumer habits and trends change, we as an industry must be equipped to change along with them.

“The meeting between Bacta, GBG and the BA was set-up to examine how to do this, and with many technologies now being centralised in phones, an app was the obvious choice to move forward with. To prevent confusion to the customer and a high cost to the industry, it makes sense to create one industry-wide application. This, of course, will raise concerns about commercial competitiveness, and this is an issue that we will continue to discuss with industry stakeholders going forward.”

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