GGRAsia – Konami launches slot cleaning system linked to Synkros

Konami launches slot cleaning system linked to Synkros

Sep 02, 2020 Newsdesk Latest News, Trends & Tech

Konami Gaming Inc, a United States-based unit of Japanese gaming and entertainment conglomerate Konami Holdings Corp, says its Synkros casino management system has incorporated new features in the wake of Covid-19, and is now offering “slot machine cleaning and customer care solutions”. The company said in a Wednesday press release that these new features had first been released in June.

Automated reporting systems to trigger gaming machine cleaning and sanitisation on casino floors have been in the spotlight recently because of the pandemic.

“In a matter of weeks, the company developed, tested, and deployed a system-delivered solution to help optimise slot machine cleaning between use, and offered it at no cost to Synkros customers,” said the company. “It is part of Konami’s ongoing efforts to deliver meaningful support to the health, safety, and recovery initiatives of gaming industry operators.”

Synkros’ new features “include a mix of real-time communications, alerts, and report analytics,” designed to inform casino floor staff and supervising teams “to monitor and manage slot machine disinfecting between use.”

A feature of the management-system update is that a customer arriving at a slot machine can request, via the player tracking LCD display, that the machine be cleaned. After a player has finished their session, the machine will switch to an automated “waiting to be sanitised” message. It would also display a time stamp identifying when the last cleaning occurred.

The system also provides a visual floor monitoring of machine cleaning status and cleaning patterns, to gauge effectiveness and manage staffing, stated the release.

The gaming supplier said that to date, seven casinos representing six different jurisdictions – from California, in the United States, to the Caribbean – have adopted the new Synkros’ features.

Tom Soukup, Konami Gaming’s senior vice president and chief systems product officer, was quoted in the release as saying: “Working closely with our casino customers, we responded quickly to their needs, and equipped their teams with the necessary customisation options and training for them to automatically communicate slot machine cleaning statuses to their casino guests.”

In July, Konami Gaming said it had introduced into the Nevada market a new, cashless, way for delivering casino-issued slot credit – also known as a ‘slot marker’ – to players.