The casino industry in the US is calling for the gambling regulators to consider making it easier for them to integrate cashless payment transactions on their venues’ gaming floors, citing their willingness to protect their customers amid the coronavirus situation.
Yesterday, the national trade group of the country’s gambling sector, the American Gaming Association, urged the regulatory bodies in states where gambling is legal to make amendments to the legislation and rules in order to make the adoption of cashless payment transactions possible. The move follows 18-month research of the issue initiated by both tribal and commercial casinos. Apart from that, equipment suppliers in the country have tried to prepare the implementation of such cashless transactions.
According to reports, the interest in online poker has increased during the Covid-19 pandemic. Now that the restrictions are getting relaxed across the country, it is even more obvious that cashless payments, which include not only credit and debit cards but also PayPal, Apple Pay and Google Pay, are allowed only at a small number of casinos. Getting permission to use these options more broadly has been a key objective of the US gambling industry for quite some time.
As confirmed by the president and CEO of the AGA, expanding digital payment options across the industry has been one of the major goals since his first day at the Association, along with making gambling a modern industry and unveiling more responsible gaming measures to protect consumers. The outbreak of the coronavirus infection only made the need of adopting cashless payment options even more obvious, Mr. Miller said.
American Gaming Association Backs Cashless Transactions in US Casinos
The American Gaming Association has cited some benefits of cashless transactions, including the opportunity for gamblers to set limits on their gambling activity more easily and the expected reduction in the number of currency transaction reports that must be filed by casino venues to the authorities. Apart from that, the gradually relaxing protection measures due to the Covid-19 infection would be supported by cashless payments.
So far, digital payment options have not been widely adopted by retail casinos and other gambling facilities across the US. According to gambling industry executives, this is due to a few factors, including payment limits unveiled either by state lawmakers or gambling watchdogs.
Cashless payment options are available at some Nevada casinos and also at some tribal casinos in the US, but as a whole, digital payment technology is a new concept for many gambling venues in the country.
A hearing is scheduled for June 25th at the Nevada Gaming Commission, at which the regulatory body is expected to give the green light to the recommendation of the Gaming Control Board for certain changes to be brought to state gambling regulations. The proposed changes would pave the way to not only approval but the testing process for digital payment methods. The Nevada Gaming Control Board’s chairwoman, Sandra Douglass Morgan, has confirmed that the gambling regulators in the state are ready to consider new ways that could help them attract more customers to local gambling venues, including cashless payment methods.
