In the current environment, people are staying home and avoiding going anywhere. Of course, there is little to do since most non-essential businesses are shut down due to the coronavirus outbreak. However, in almost every US state, things are starting or about to start opening back up again. Casino operators are ready to get back to operations but must do so with certain considerations. Health and safety are of the utmost importance and changes must be made for casinos to offer a safe environment for players and their employees.
John Acres, a gaming equipment developer, recently stated that the Kay slot machine application of his company could be programmed to alert employees on the casino floor that a machine needs to be cleaned. The application could provide employees with an alert when gameplay is over on a certain machine, so the employee can then go sanitize it.
The system is already installed in around 40 commercial and tribal casinos in the United States to provide personnel with an alert via mobile that a game has an issue or malfunction. This same technology could be adapted to provide a Clean Machine alert.
According to Acres, the tool could help casinos meet cleaning and social distancing requirements without disrupting play of visitors.
The Kai program is on slot machines for several manufacturers in casinos on the Las Vegas Strip including Wynn Las Vegas and the Encore. Casinos in other states also use the program, so it could be adapted before players get back to gaming.
Making the Upgrade
Any casino that uses Kai now is getting a free upgrade to include Clean Machine. The Rolling Hills Casino in California is the first to use the upgrade and it was added just last week. The company needs to access the machines and put the add-on in place to make the simple change.
According to marketing and sales vice president Noah Acres, the new Clean Machine addition works because Kai knows when a gaming session is over. When the player stops spinning, the cleaning call will be sent to the nearest employee. Acres says that a casino of any size could have an employee cleaning the machine in less than one minute due to the speed of notification.
If that wasn’t enough, Kai offers casinos even more capabilities. The program has a function titled Smart Space that can deactivate slot machines situated next to one that is being played. The slot machine next to a player can easily be shut down remotely while gaming is taking place.
When the player leaves, the machine that was played is shut down and the Clean Machine call made. The games adjacent to this machine are then turned on, providing players with an option and the game that was played remains open so it can be cleaned.
This technology will certainly come in handy at a time when gaming regulators and operators are trying to find ways to keep players and their employees safe from the coronavirus. This type of alert system will allow cleaning to take place as quickly as possible without disrupting gameplay as well as ensuring that someone does not touch a machine until it has been sanitized.
It will be interesting to see how this system works once casinos are up and running again. Hopefully, it will be a quality addition that helps venues to stay sanitized and free of the coronavirus.
