MEI’s rapid growth in Asia’s competitive casino bill validator market is no accident
As long as cash remains king for people wagering on casino games, then high quality bill validators and soft count technology will play a vital role in boosting the efficiency and profitability of casino operators says global technology company MEI.
MEI, based in in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in the United States, claims the world’s largest installed base of unattended payment systems, handling over two billion transactions per week in more than 100 countries. It has added to that installed base by rapidly building its market share of cash handling equipment for the casino sector. In the Asian casino industry it has done this in only a few years almost from a standing start.
“We were a newcomer in Asian casino markets, starting four years ago,” says Edmond Tang, MEI’s Sales Manager—Gaming/Retail, Asia Pacific Region.
Expansion
“At that time we had a market share of maybe less than 5%. We gradually introduced our products into the Macau casinos and we’re pleased to say that because of the strength of the products they have been widely accepted by professionals in the industry and we have built up our market share—over four to five years—to 50% plus in Macau. That’s a huge achievement. Our customers in Macau include The Venetian and MGM Macau.”
The cornerstone of that achievement is the reputation for accuracy and reliability won by MEI’s CASHFLOWR SC bill validator and by the company’s EASITRAXR Soft Count. EASITRAX allows casino floor staff to check quickly and reliably what’s in the drop boxes and crucially helps casino managements stay in compliance with the stringent financial reporting rules imposed on the modern industry by regulators.
“Our core business is security and acceptance,” says Tom Nugent, MEI’s President – Gaming.
“The CASHFLOW SC bill validator’s success illustrates MEI’s leadership in those areas and its importance to the industry. EASITRAX Soft Count extends the application of our knowledge—enabling casinos to make their cash management process more efficient.”
MEI’s sales success in Asia is strongly linked to the fact it grasped a fundamental dynamic of purchasing behaviour existing throughout the casino industry. This is that casino executives tend to be naturally cautious about switching from one technology supplier to another unless the benefits can be proven up front.
Market proven
To satisfy this need, MEI introduced the concept of Value Added Trials—also known as ‘VAT’.
“Our ‘VAT’ system allows customers to trial our products in parallel with those of our competitors for a couple of months before they purchase them,” explains Jean-Marie Decker, Marketing Manager.
“We invite operators to run a trial of MEI’s note validator product in a bank of six to 12 slot machines alongside a bank of slot machines using the casino’s existing bill validator system.”
The results quickly tell in terms of building MEI’s sales in Asia, says Edmond Tang.
“Two years ago we introduced the EASITRAX system at Genting’s Resorts World Manila. At the beginning we had very little market share—about 15%. But after they started to use our product, we increased our market share so that now 90% of the [slots] floor uses CASHFLOW SC— because of the experience with the EASITRAX system. Genting’s Manila project was a very good grounding for us in entering the Singapore market with Genting’s Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). At RWS they have 100% adoption of our bill validator product—and they all come with EASITRAX.”
That sums up MEI’s modular approach to marketing its casino products. EASITRAX can drive the sale of CASHFLOW SC units and vice versa.
“EASITRAX Soft Count allows the CASHFLOW SC to redefine what a bill validator can offer casino operations and, in so doing, enhances the value that MEI can offer our industry partners,” states Tom Nugent.
CASHFLOW SC highlights
The basic selling point of CASHFLOW SC—as with any quality bill validator—is to increase gaming machine ‘uptime’—the amount of time a machine is operationally active and earning money— and to reduce operational costs.
CASHFLOW SC does this by:
• controlling acceptance rates (i.e. governing what actually goes into the cashbox);
• generating currency report documents on how many bills are in each cashbox and the percentage of collected denominations over a period of time;
• managing drop status (the daily collection of the money and cashboxes);
• generating jam reports if jams occur, identifying potential problems;
• defining the reason for any bill rejection based on one of seven categories;
• issuing a version report to ensure each bill validator has up-to-date software.
The crucial differentiator with MEI’s casino peripherals is they work in a modular way. When individual MEI products are teamed together they produce even greater benefits than when employed separately. The EASITRAX Soft Count system, for example, has been designed to be easily retrofitted to the CASHFLOW SC bill validator.
“In order to take full advantage of the efficiencies that EASITRAX gives you, you must have your whole floor as CASHFLOW SC. That makes it harder for competitors to pick MEI off product by product,” says JeanMarie Decker.
Track your cash
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology aboard CASHFLOW SC and EASITRAX is used to connect slot machine asset numbers and bill validator operational information to a specific cashbox and integrate all that into the count system. The cashbox can be taken out of the gaming machine and ‘identified’ by the EASITRAX reader base. Up to four EASITRAX reader bases can then be linked simultaneously into a soft count room system that includes a USB hub and a computer. EASITRAX Soft Count’s proven technology has been installed in over 64,000 slot machines in the United States and Asia since product launch in 2008.
MEI has built on the rapid market acceptance of CASHFLOW SC and EASITRAX by developing its next generation bill validator, the SC Advance™. The new product was displayed at the International Casino Exhibition in London in January and is likely to be launched in Asian markets in the third quarter of this year.
Advanced technology
“SC Advance is even faster, so the acceptance rates [for bills] are better, it’s more secure and it has a bigger memory as well,” says JeanMarie Decker.
Details of the enhancements available via SC Advance include:
• transmissive sensors to see all the way through banknotes in multiple wavelengths to check for unwanted bills;
• faster bill-to-bill speed, meaning faster transactions and fewer delays for players at the gaming machine;
• expanded memory, allowing more firmware updates and, therefore, more functionality;
• processing of barcode coupons in all four directions and improved acceptance where bills of one currency come in different sizes;
• an upgrade to USB 2.0, which speeds up communications with the host machine and potentially expands functionality.
“When someone wants to integrate SC Advance into their casino, they don’t have to buy all new products because SC Advance can work side by side with CASHFLOW SC. All you have to do is replace the head. It can be interchanged throughout your units,” explains JeanMarie Decker.
“Because of the high quality of our products, customers can expect them to have a lifespan of at least seven years,” adds Edmond Tang.
”In Asia it will probably take another two years for the replacement cycle to kick in with many of our current CASHFLOW SC customers. But the launch of SC Advance is about positioning us for that transition, as well as capturing new customers.
“In the Philippines, for example, PAGCOR [the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation] is talking about retrofitting bill validators to the units in the casinos they manage. That’s a great sales opportunity for the market—around 8,000 units—and one that we will pursue,” adds Mr Tang.
“Our offer is very strong and I think that’s why we’ve been able to expand so quickly in Asia. When we first entered Macau, 90% of the market was held by a rival manufacturer. Speedy service is part of that strong offer. We have our dedicated support team for gaming products in Hong Kong and we serve Macau directly. We can fly to Manila in about an hour and a half. Our customers in the region appreciate all these things. We’re very positive about the future in the region.”
