Michael Rumbolz modernized cash-access standards in the casino industry by taking the paper out of the process.

The gaming industry has been stuck in a technological rut for the past few years, depending on a ticket-in/ticket-out standard for gaming customers to access cash and credit. Michael Rumbolz, CEO of Nevada-based Cash Systems, took matters into his own hands and developed two cash-access products to set his company apart from its competition.

“For the past two years, we’ve been working on developing state-of-the-art technology to make it easier for customers to access cash accounts while they’re in the casino environment,” said Rumbolz. “Our largest advantage over our competition is our technological path and the innovation we’re bringing to the casino floor.”

Building a base
The two products, Cash Club and Power Cash, provide cash access to customers in a more secure and efficient manner. In today’s casino environment, patrons access cash by visiting a kiosk or ATM, which then prints out a ticket that the customer hands to the cashier at the casino cage. The first product, Cash Club, allows patrons to use their existing casino player club card to access their credit cards, debit cards, and checking accounts.

Michael Rumbolz

“We take you through a quick enrollment process to add the Cash Club feature to your player club card,” said Rumbolz. “During that process, you’re given the opportunity to set limits on how much money you’ll receive in any 24-hour period from any of those accounts. For the first time in our industry, patrons will control how much cash they can access in a casino.”

Once the enrollment process is completed, the casino player takes the players club card to any of the ATMs on the casino floor and, by using the Cash Club function, receives cash at the machine. Rumbolz said the streamlining of this process takes the pressure away from the cashiers behind the casino cages and gets the patrons back to the gaming floor faster.

Cash Club is currently in beta sites in three casino locations: Boomtown Casino in Reno, and Dover Downs and Delaware Park in Delaware. “The beta testing is important on two sides,” said Rumbolz. “On the technical side, it ensures the system is secure and robust. On the marketing side, it allows us to start interacting with casino customers, explaining the benefits, and getting them signed up for the Cash Club functionality.”

Raising the stakes
Rumbolz said he expects the follow-up product, Power Cash, to provide the biggest benefit to casino gamers. The product was developed through a joint venture with Bally Technologies, the largest casino system provider in the US. The two companies developed an interface between the underlying casino system, which is the Bally system, and the cash systems of Rumbolz’s company.

“The interface is a matter of adding servers and modules at the back end without making any significant changes to the gaming floor,” said Rumbolz. “By connecting the Bally system to our own cash systems, we can take the Cash Club functionality of the player club card and allow the patron to also use it at the gaming device to fund their wagering account in the Bally system.”

With the implementation of both the Cash Club and Power Cash products, customers using the Cash Club functionality can stay at the gaming device and have money authorized and put into their wagering account at the casino. “They can upload and download credits right at the gaming machine,” said Rumbolz.

Cash Systems signed the partnership agreement with Bally Technologies in April 2006 and Rumbolz anticipates putting the Power Cash product into beta testing in the first quarter of 2007. To secure their investments, the companies brought in a third partner to provide patents that will protect the products from competitors. Although finalizing the deal took longer than anticipated, Rumbolz said the end result was worth the wait.

“Prior to the introduction of these products, the traditional business-to-business arrangement between casinos and cash-access providers was that companies like ours provided ATMs, credit and debit card advances, and check cashing,” he said. “These two products allow us to stop the unbalanced distribution of the fees charged at these machines because our products are proprietary.”

As the population of the US grows accustomed to using cards as currency in their everyday activities, Rumbolz anticipates the gaming population’s transition to Cash System’s products to be a smooth one. “We’ve waited two long years for these forces to come together,” he said. “The time is ripe for us to introduce this technology and upgrade the casino floor to match the rest of society and the way society accesses cash.”