‘Two days of demonstrations, discussions and genuine interest from all sectors of the business’ is how Greg Wood, who represents bacta along with Quentin Stott and Robert Gibb on the board of Game Payment Technology, described the company’s action packed debut at the recent Autumn Coin-Op Show (ACOS). The joint venture in which UK trade association, bacta owns 51 percent of the specially established company, took to the floor to physically demonstrate the huge progress made developing the industry’s cashless payments app, since bacta’s National Council authorised its development at the end of June. The system which was born out of bacta’s Cashless Committee headed up by Greg Wood, comprises an app which uses Near Field Communication (NFC) to transfer money from the players' digital wallet and on to the gaming machine: thereafter winnings go straight back onto the phone. The payment system architecture is highly sophisticated and robust, featuring secure end-to-end encryption. The process also enables the inclusion of important social responsibility messaging.

Bacta's Robert Gibb (R) with John Rozek, Financial Compliance Director at Game Payment Technology.

“The progress has been phenomenal as was the feedback we received at ACOS” confirmed Wood. He continued: “Polar Moment, our partners in the JV, have huge experience supplying systems to brands including Marks & Spencer and Shell, and they were blown away by the level of interest and the appetite that exists for a cashless app for both digital and analogue, both of which we demonstrated at the show. While the majority of stand visitors were bacta Division 2 members who brought their PubCo customers along, a significant number of Adult Gaming Centre operators in attendance expressed a keen interest. We also had long discussions with both the Gambling Commission and Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. From a social responsibility perspective the app delivers much more control than cash and we are implementing important social responsibility features which will allow the player to restrict their gaming exposure. These are important features of the app which we are developing in partnership with bacta members who, after all, are the stakeholders in this business and like both myself and Quentin live the industry with hands-on experience of operating and creating machines.” "Not only have we taken into account the social responsibility requirements of the Gambling Commission but also the compliance requirements of the Financial Conduct Authority, payment processors and the banks all of whom require cashless app developers to pass compliance testing and ensure they have the correct processes in place. The team at Polar Moment, led by Compliance Director, John Rozek is vastly experienced in this highly specialist area and have been able to provide both the skill and knowledge necessary to make this process seem effortless.” Wood is confident following what was a really strong debut showing. He said: “The feedback has been incredibly positive with a number of influential operators wanting to sign-up straight away and I should add that we’ve even fielded strong interest from industry sectors based outside of the UK which augurs well. The conversations that we had at ACOS show that the industry wants a bacta solution to cashless and it is absolutely clear that the bacta name and brand carries a lot of influence and trust with all sectors of the industry.” (2019/10/31)