Boyd Gaming coming out with cashless wallet for slot play, more

No cash, no problem.

Digital wallet technology is popping up in the Las Vegas Valley. Boyd Gaming Corp. and Aristocrat Technologies announced Monday a digital wallet program that could come to valley casinos by the summer.

Boyd expects its BoydPay cashless wallet will link to a player’s B Connected loyalty rewards card, which players can use to play or cash out on slots.

BoydPay also will allow customers to use their smartphones to pay for restaurant meals, show tickets and hotel rooms, according to Blake Rampmaier, Boyd senior vice president and chief information officer.

“By going cashless, our customers will be able to avoid the wait times and inconveniences associated with using cash and focus on enjoying their visit to our properties,” he said in a release.

The program, which is already live at casinos in Indiana and Ohio, is in field testing at North Las Vegas’ Aliante Hotel. The release said Boyd is targeting this summer for nationwide rollout, pending regulators’ approval.

The wallet can be linked to third-party funding sources driven by Sightline Payments, the release said, and future iterations of the program would link the wallet to Boyd’s B Connected mobile app for touchless gaming.

“BoydPay is the latest product of our partnership with Boyd and the foundation of a memorable customer journey,” said Cath Burns, executive vice president of customer experience solutions for Aristocrat. “We have the industry’s best people making the most innovative products that enhance the guest experience.”

Golden Entertainment is debuting its own cashless gaming program, called Quick Play, at Arizona Charlie’s Decatur, and will come to other Golden casinos and taverns “soon thereafter,” the Las Vegas-based company announced earlier this month. Golden’s other properties include The Strat and PT’s operations.

Players will be able to register for Quick Play online or through an app, a release said. They would access their advance balance at any gaming device at a Golden property, and will become available through its True Rewards loyalty program. Marker Trax technology powers Quick Play and Konami Gaming provides the interface.

Cashless gaming has existed at Las Vegas casinos for decades via ticket-in, ticket-out systems, notes Josh Swissman, founding partner at The Strategy Organization consulting group. Companies have made big strides in cashless gaming in recent years, both before and during the pandemic, he said.

He cited Sightline’s gaming-specific bank account, MarkerTrax’s interface between issuing credit and using it at a slot machine and ACS PlayOn’s device for customers to access their bank accounts sitting at a table game. They address how to handle cashless gaming once the money is in their systems, and the products can be found at various casinos in Las Vegas he said.

The next step is creating a “frictionless experience” between a player’s everday bank accounts and these cashless products, Swissman said.

“It is an extremely important growth area for the industry, and if the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that cashless and contactless solutions can improve many aspects of our lives,” Swissman said.

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.