- Automated Logging In and Out at Tables
- Options Include Tracking Every Seat Automatically
- Managing Analytics Around Dealer Performance
Oct 25, 2022Casinos are deploying an RFID-based solution from Transient Path to manage activities around their gaming tables. The company's Cobblestone Casino Management solution tracks RFID-enabled cards so casinos can capture details about players' presence at each table. Among its customers is Kings Card Club, located in Stockton, Calif., which employs the technology to receive and store data regarding when and for how long each player spends at its tables. The technology then rewards players accordingly, says Kirk Blackinton, King Card Club's gaming director.
Transient Path recently released its latest feature of the Cobblestone Casino Management solution, known as the Automatic Gaming Promotional Multiplier. With this feature, casino or card room administrators can multiply existing promotion points for poker, blackjack, roulette or other table games, depending on time, date or player activity. The new feature allows casinos to configure the multiplying settings for a specific game or a series of game types, with daily start and end times and the ability to enable or disable the promotional feature instantaneously, according to Tom Calvin, Transient Path's co-founder.
Automated Logging In and Out at Tables
Kings Card Club had already been using the technology for several years when Blackinton joined the team in February 2021. "It has been a big part of the operation," he says. The technology is deployed at two locations, each with the system installed on 11 tables. "We wanted to find a way to ensure that our players were able to easily log into tables while at our facilities and earn rewards," he explains. Players earn certain points per hour of play, which translate directly to gift card purchases for food, merchandise or other goods.
Players receive an ID card with a unique identifier encoded on a built-in UHF RFID tag. That tag ID is linked to the player's identification in the back-end software. Players choose their table and hand their card to the dealer, who then taps the card against a reader known as a plaque. "The dealers select a seat on the screen and then tap the card and it logs the player in," Blackinton says, describing the process as "very fast and simple." They are then logged out again in the same way when they leave. Data from each RFID reader is forwarded to the Cobblestone system, with the reward points accrued automatically while they are playing.
"That has generated an internal economy which has been very effective for rewarding loyal players," Blackinton reports. "We can also use the data to run promotions based on hours played or points earned." There are also analytics benefits, he says. "With a deep dive, we can analyze player behavior as well, to determine how often players are at the club, if someone has not visited in a while, or if they have played enough for us to consider one-off prizes and rewards." The club awarded one player a bespoke jacket with the casino's logo and his initials, "because he was around so much in the system that he was clearly our most loyal customer." The Multiplier feature enables casinos to multiply the rewards for players according to specific details, such as when they are playing.
According to Calvin, Transient Path was the first company to offer RFID technology to manage players and dealers. Traditionally, he says, players have used a magstripe card that would be swiped at a table when they took part in a game, such as poker, roulette or blackjack, by a floor person or pit boss. That worker would take the card to a computer and swipe it. If the player left the table, the floor person, who might be managing multiple tables, would usually have to notice them go and then return to the computer and check them back out. If they fail to notice that player's absence right away, or if they cannot get to the computer immediately, that player would continue earning points as if they were at the table.
Options Include Tracking Every Seat Automatically
Some computer-based systems employ a small display at each table, with corresponding buttons, where the dealer would check people in by swiping their magstripe card and pushing a button to indicate which seat they chose. The dealer would push the button again once the player left. The problem with that solution, Calvin says, is that the swiping and selecting of buttons slows play, since the dealer must watch and take attendance. "We don't want to have the dealers have to get involved with things that should be automated," he says.
Transient Path was launched in 2011 with its technology-management system for gaming. "We came up with the idea that instead of getting that magstripe card, we give people an RFID-enabled card," Calvin states. One version of the Cobblestone solution can track every player automatically as they arrive at their seat. An RFID reader and antennas built into the table would automatically capture ID cards as players placed the cards in front of them, thereby assigning them to a specific seat. The solution would then automatically track each player's time at the table.
Many smaller or mid-sized casinos and card rooms, which comprise the majority of Transient Path's customers, have opted for a version of the technology with which the UHF RFID reader is mounted at each table in the form of the electronic plaque, such as the system being used by Kings Card Club. That allows dealers to take players' cards, tap them and then give them back, and to check players out in the same manner. The plaque reader is a modified version of the screen already used at tables to instruct players what the play rates and maximum bets are.
Managing Analytics Around Dealer Performance
The system is designed to monitor dealers as well. Each dealer first checks out an RFID-enabled cut card, used when cutting a deck of cards. Dealers place the card on the table over an RFID antenna mounted under the table and cut the cards in play, onto the cut card. This process records the new hand being dealt and the ID of the dealer who is cutting the deck.
At the end of the shift, the dealer returns the cut card, which is checked out again by another dealer. That allows the number of hands dealt by the dealer to be recorded at each table for every game. Casinos can then correlate details regarding how much was collected, which dealers were involved with particular games, and how many hands were dealt. Managers can thus determine who the best dealers are and which ones require additional training.
The system employs UHF RFID, as opposed to NFC, due to its ability to be read at a longer range, and for its flexibility of use for a variety of applications. Casinos throughout the United States and Canada are deploying the Cobblestone system, Calvin reports. The software can either be hosted on the premises, integrated with an existing management system or hosted in the cloud. At Kings Card Club, Blackinton says, although there are a variety of ways to manage player ID cards at gaming tables, "RFID is the easiest way."
With the ability to provide loyalty points, Blackinton says, Kings Card Club can better connect with players and reward them for their patronage. "We had a couple players who would save points," he states, "and buy whole cases of a soy water that we carry that is hard to find, so they were able to tailor their rewards to something that really mattered to them and was outside the box a bit." In the long term, he adds, "This tech is the future for us, in terms of player management and internal controls."
Key Takeaways:
- Transient Path's solution leverages UHF RFID to automate data collection around each player's time at a gaming table so that casinos can provide accurate promotional gifts based on players' time at play.
- The technology enables the tracking of dealer performance by reading RFID-enabled “cut cards,” combined with data about dealer table assignments, to help managers understand dealer productivity and identify a need for more training.
