Cage Automation Is Key to Modernizing Gaming and Hospitality Industry in Increasingly Cashless World, Says Info-Tech Research Group

The firm's latest industry research highlights how cage automation can enable the gaming and hospitality industry to navigate through digital transformation, streamline processes, and enhance the guest experience.

TORONTO, Aug. 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ - As casino guest expectations rise, the gaming and hospitality industries must innovate to remain competitive. Recognizing this critical need, global IT research and advisory firm Info-Tech Research Group has released new industry research Cage Automation Empowers the Digital and Cashless Evolution. The firm's findings show that cage automation solutions present an effective way to streamline casino operations, including tasks traditionally handled by cashiers. As the industry grapples with economic downturns and dynamic changes, automating these processes becomes essential to enhance efficiency and nurture guest relationships.

The new research from the firm details cage automation's potential to empower casino operators in their digital transformation journey, enhance efficiency, and shape the future of the industry.

"How and where guests gamble in today's digital economy is quickly shifting, and the gaming and hospitality industry faces a crucial turning point," says Elizabeth Silva, research analyst at Info-Tech Research Group. "Automating casino floor processes will help operators improve and innovate new products and services for guests. Creating and maintaining relationships with new and current guests while improving tedious manual processes has never been more necessary in the industry with the economic recession and dynamic changes."

Info-Tech's resource underscores the growing influence of transformative technological innovations and shifts within the gaming industry, which are increasingly catalyzing the adoption of cage automation. However, this transition is not without its challenges. Casinos are contending with labor shortages, struggling to fill crucial frontline roles such as cage cashiers. The lack of advanced or digitized operational processes also hampers the ability to enable future enhancements to remain competitive.

The firm further explains in the resource how traditional protocols enabled by conventional cage systems are now transitioning to support cashless and digital wallet functionalities. Info-Tech details how cage automation solutions aid a number of key gaming and hospitality operations that collectively form its unique value chain, such as:

Cash Handling & Collection: The collection of cash, checks, chips, and vouchers from table games, slot machines, and other cash-handling sources in the casino.

Counting & Verification: Counting hard and soft cash and currency equivalents to ensure accuracy and recording of revenue. This can include counting machines and other tools to count and verify the cash collected.

Currency Exchange: Foreign currency presented by guests and exchanged into local currency by the cage.

Safekeeping: Cash and high-value assets securely stored to prevent loss, tampering, or theft. This involves the use of vaults, safes, and other security measures to ensure the safety of the assets.

Compliance & Regulatory: Compliance with laws, regulations, and industry standards is a crucial part of cage and count processes, including reporting transactions, audits, AML/KYC, and monitoring suspicious activity.

Fills & Credits: Managing the flow of money in and out of different banks on the property to ensure they are operational and players can convert cash into credits and vice versa. Fills refer to refilling the chips, coins, or bills into different gaming areas. Credits refer to removing excess chips back to the cage and keeping track of player spending and the monetary value of their credits to adjust back into winnings such as cash.

Accounting & Reporting: The accuracy of accounting and reporting of cash transactions. This includes recording and documenting all cash transactions, financial reporting, and reconciling cash balances with other financial records.

System Admin: The upkeep, configuration, and operation of cage and count systems such as cash handling machines, software, and other tools.

"Cage automation solutions allow casino operators to streamline cage and count management processes by automating the string of processes that a casino cashier would have to fulfill. Adapting to continuous disruption requires casino operators to innovate the different casino operations through digital transformation," explains Silva.

To learn more about implementing cage automation in the gaming and hospitality industries, download the complete Cage Automation Empowers the Digital and Cashless Evolution blueprint.

For media inquiries on the topic or to get exclusive, timely commentary from Elizabeth Silva, an expert in the hospitality and entertainment industry, please contact [email protected].

Info-Tech Research Group is one of the world's leading information technology research and advisory firms, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals. The company produces unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. For 25 years, Info-Tech has partnered closely with IT teams to provide them with everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

Media professionals can register for unrestricted access to research across IT, HR, and software and over 200 IT and industry analysts through the firm's Media Insiders program. To gain access, contact [email protected].

For more information about Info-Tech Research Group or to access the latest research, visit infotech.com and connect via LinkedIn and Twitter.

SOURCE Info-Tech Research Group