OKTO Education versus DIRECT solutions At the G2E Las Vegas expo, G3 interviewed Simon Dorsen, Chief Commercial Officer, OKTO. Simon
shared an honest evaluation of the current adoption—or lack thereof—of cashless wallets in the industry - and how Direct cashless solutions are aligning with both consumer and operator expectations.
OKTO has been in the US market for around a year. What's the journey been like?
Breaking into a market like this takes time, and we understand that. However, globally – and in the US - we're coming to a harsh conclusion. As an industry, wallets have struggled to meet expectations, and I say this as a wallet operator.
I don’t think anyone in the sector can honestly claim that their wallet has achieved the level of adoption initially expected. I'm not saying this from a competitive point of view, as that’s not good for us either. I don’t want to be thrown-in with a cohort of under achievers. Even if we are doing well, it’s still not good if the competition is failing. We want everyone to be successful as an industry, as a high tide lifts all boats.
Why are wallets struggling?
Your average customer visits a US casino and goes straight to the ATM - they get their cash out and head to the machine. If we want to offer an alternative, then it must be compelling. So, if that customer is used to a simple setup, and we offer a solution that says “hey - take 10 minutes out of your day to download this app, sign-up for this app, transfer cash etc. and the whole solution is cumbersome - the customer is going to say “forget it. I'll go back to what I was doing.” Tat's the conclusion we’ve arrived at.
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What's the alternative solution?
Our aim at OKTO is to offer the closest thing to Apple-Pay on a gaming machine. Tat's the holy grail - it’s what everyone wants to offer: operators and consumers alike. We think
OKTO.DIRECT, our retail payment gateway is heading in the right direction to achieve this. I'm not saying we’ve got it right, but we certainly know what doesn’t work and we’re getting closer to it. Te UK has been our Petri dish. We've had our wallet solution operational for three/four years in the UK. We have users who love it and it’s proven to be very sticky.
However, these are technologically advanced users that are prepared to jump through the hoops, but it also remains a small percentage of the total population of players. We have been live for 12 months with
OKTO.DIRECT and had 50 times more users sign-ups in 12 months than in three years of the wallet. We feel that we are on the right road now with
OKTO.DIRECT.
Does the operator buy-in match customer enthusiasm?
I think that when we showed
OKTO.DIRECT at ICE, operators regarded it as a solution for the casual player, which I think is a misnomer. I think that whether you are a casual or regular player, you still want a user-friendly, frictionless experience. Te fact that it appeals to everyone is a message we are focusing upon across all markets in which we can deploy
OKTO.DIRECT; that's our strategic
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