Latest Vegas Wedding: The Marriage of the Slot Machine and the Credit Card
Innovative Gaming Corp. developing cashless slot system
Las Vegas online casinos’ company, Innovative Gaming Corp. of America, is proposing a revolutionary new approach for online casinos – credit card slot systems.
The company plans to present the system, which allows gamblers at online casinos to simply insert their credit or debit card into the slot machine, to regulators in 2002.
According to IGCA, their unique added value lies in the fact that the company has acquired a suite of patents that cover the use of credit and debit cards in slot machines for online casinos’ purposes.
However, the process ahead is paved with obstacles. The company will need to get approval from gaming regulators in Nevada and other states, not an easy task when problem gambling is very high on the agenda. In addition, since IGCA is a small company with only a few gambling machine models currently on the market, it is either going to have to sell its patent to the larger producers or create a powerful branding campaign to familiarize the market with their products.
However, despite the obstacles, IGCA's Chairman, Roland Thomas, remains optimistic. He insists this is a technology that could be a major success, potentially challenging the "ticket-in, ticket-out" technology that now dominates cashless gaming. "I think the nature of this industry is about diversity of choice," Thomas sums up. "From discussions we've had in the industry, we believe that's so."
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