September 2012
Success Story
Seminoles’ Coconut Creek Takes The
Player’s Club Experience To A New Level
Bally streamlines customer service with Bally
Promotional Kiosk at Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
CUSTOMER:
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek
LOCATION:
Coconut Creek, Florida
BALLY TECHNOLOGIES SOLUTION:
Bally Promotional Kiosk
BUSINESS NEED:
Seminole Casino in Coconut Creek, Florida, was
expanding and upgrading its player’s club area.
The goal was to provide a better, faster, more
user-friendly and exciting player’s club experience
that would provide a new higher level of customer
service and encourage additional new card
sign-ups.
Seminole Casino’s Coconut Creek was in the midst of expanding its
player’s club area to turn it into a player experience. The company
was looking for a user-friendly way to provide better customer
service and encourage additional sales opportunities. It found the
solution in a fleet of new Bally Promotional Kiosks.
According to Michael Michaud, Vice President of Marketing for
Coconut Creek and 22-year gaming industry veteran, the Bally
Promotional Kiosk was “a perfect fit” for Coconut Creek’s new
player’s club experience from the beginning.
Faster, friendlier sign-ups means happier players
More than 50 percent of most casinos’ player’s club transactions
involve card replacements, PIN resets, or questions about point
balances – all of which were handily automated by the kiosks.
SOLUTION:
Seminole Casino Coconut Creek installed 13 Bally
Promotional Kiosks February 2012 to augment
the casino’s customer service representatives.
In addition to facilitating rapid new card sign-ups
and enabling existing player’s club members to
check their points, the kiosks reduced long lines
and wait times, and offered users a proprietary
game to play, sweepstakes to enter, and a host of
other automated services. These included making
reservations for shows and restaurants and
redeeming and printing Bally Power Coupons™
for use at slots.
The kiosks’ touchscreens give customers a familiar and intuitive
interface; much like the apps they’re accustomed to using on their
mobile phones.
BENEFITS:
Shortly after implementation of the Bally
Promotional Kiosks, Seminole Casino Coconut
Creek opened its expansion in February 2012. During the grand opening period, the property
experienced an astounding increase in new
card sign-ups from an average of 70 to 700 per
day. Bally Promotional Kiosks assisted in greatly
reducing the wait times for new card sign-ups,
as well as getting players into action before ever
hitting the casino floor with its built-in games and
sweepstakes features.
But more important, Coconut Creek’s 13 Bally Promotional Kiosks
virtually eliminated the standing in line that normally accompanies
new player’s club sign-ups, enabling guests to get on the floor faster.
“The kiosks had the look and feel of an iPad, which did two things:
It made guests more comfortable, and it brought this aspect of
the gaming industry into the information age,” Michaud said. He
estimates that new member sign-up is now four times faster,
thanks to the kiosks, which is reflected by a tenfold increase in new
card registrations a day.
New features to meet players’ needs
Bally Promotional Kiosks allow Coconut Creek’s management
to access the CMP™ software database to help player’s club
members get replacement cards and perform other vital functions,
all while protecting their confidential data to avoid compromising
security. While the system reprints their cards, it also presents
special offers, promotions, and opportunities to purchase
entertainment tickets, make dinner reservations, and even read
menus for all six of the property’s restaurants.
1
Success Story
The Bally Promotional Kiosks features the following:
•
Swipe-and-win sweepstakes offers
•
Reduced lines at the player’s club and improved operations
•
Enhanced marketing efforts by collecting emails and updated contact
information
•
Ability to check club card points, comps, and promotions
•
Comp-slip printing at the kiosk
•
Self-service features, such as printing QD tickets
•
Scheduled time-of-promotion parameters for prize-based awards
•
Play-to-Win sweepstakes featuring Mystery Kiosk functionality
•
Ability to redeem and print Bally Power Coupons™ for use in slot
machines
Functionality meets fun
In addition to helping player’s club members sign up in a flash,
the engaging new self-service applications offer a variety of free
prizes directly at the player kiosk, based on a number of casino-set
parameters. Because the kiosks link into the CMP system, players
can swipe their cards to view reward information and enter daily
sweepstakes.
Attract players as they enter your casino and reduce lines at the player’s club.
2
Success Story
Coconut Creek’s kiosks also offer guests a chance to feel like
winners before they even touch a slot machine. A proprietary game
developed jointly by casino management and Bally Technologies
lets club members play and win while they’re performing other
transactions at the kiosks, which puts them in a positive mood
before they hit the casino floor. Many members have brought
their friends in to show off this feature, which has led to more new
player’s club members.
The Bally Promotional Kiosk enables casino management to
control the probability of who wins what. Prize levels can be preset to ensure the probability of winning a prize. For example,
players can be allowed one swipe a day or several swipes, based on
property preferences. Parameters are based on tiered club levels
to make sure that the prize weight probability reflects the volume
players contribute to the casino floor.
Deliver new and exciting ways to offer
rewards to your players.
Michaud says that the kiosks and the new player’s club
experience at Coconut Creek are “a great marriage.” In addition
to the advanced, user-friendly technology, customer service
representatives are present should guests want to talk to a live,
helpful human being.
“We offer the best of both worlds,” Michaud said, “and once guests
become familiar with the kiosks, they’re always thrilled to discover
how much it enables them to accomplish.”
Expert assistance at every turn
Des Quan, Vice President of Information Technology for Seminole
Gaming, is an 18-year veteran of the hospitality IT business. His
department worked closely with Bally Technologies to develop the
functionality of the kiosks.
Enable patrons to print their play’s club
cards directly at the kiosk.
“We changed our mind and added functionality as we went and they
kept pace with us all the way,” Quan said. “Bally Technologies kept a
full-time dedicated individual on-site to address issues and work with
our development team so the customer wouldn’t be left stranded
trying to do all this on their own.”
Dawn Breslin, IT Project Manager for gaming systems at Seminole
Gaming, is a 30-year veteran in the gaming industry, with 15 of
those years on the IT side. “Bally Technologies went above and
beyond,” Breslin said. “We gave them just eight short weeks to get
the kiosks implemented, and they accepted the challenge. They
met all of our requirements in a tight timeframe and provided the
requested functionality.”
“We worked with some of the top retailers in the world to develop this
unique interactive environment and it was worth the effort,” Michaud
said. “Now we have a much better understanding of everything
from optimizing traffic flow to leveraging customers’ natural eye
movement, and it all helps us to add value to player’s club cards.”
3
Success Story
Quan concurred, saying that after customers get used to using the
kiosks, the casino should notice a substantial cost savings down
the line.
Success is an experience
Since its re-opening with the Bally Promotional Kiosks in place,
Coconut Creek has experienced a high volume of new player’s
club card sign-ups, as well as a great deal of rated play and high
percentage of awards points and offers being used. This indicates
that the kiosks are having a dramatic positive effect on the
casino’s overall profitability and are helping to generate revenue
while making life easier for guests.
Michaud said his favorite feature is how the kiosks sign up new
members and get them headed to the casino floor in a minute and
a half.
“It gets everything off to a roaring start and gives them a great first
impression, because they simply don’t have to stand in line,” he said.
“We’re creating an experience, not just a transaction. The kiosks
allow players to get into action before taking any money out of their
pocket.”
So far, Coconut Creek is the only Seminole Casino property with
Bally Promotional Kiosks as part of its players’ club. However,
Michaud reports that management teams from several other
Seminole properties have visited his establishment to see them
in action, and many are planning to incorporate kiosks into their
expansion plans. Michaud said several of the properties had
contacted the retail designer and Bally Technologies asking many
questions.
Elevate levels of service and increase
players chances to win.
Quan has also spoken with representatives from other Seminole
properties considering Promotional Kiosks. “Some of our other
properties have kiosks, but none of them are functioning at this
level,” he said. “We’ve added a whole new world of functionality to the
players’ club experience.”
Michaud said he absolutely would recommend Bally Promotional
Kiosks to other casino managers as part of their player’s club
experience mix: “Bally Technologies was great to work with, and
we spent a lot of time making sure the system offered our guests
a great experience. After all, nobody comes to a casino to stand in
line, right?”
© 2012 Bally Technologies
4