Pain relievers for this headache come in the form of a range of products that automate much of the cash handling process: sorting and totalling the coins and notes received, spotting forgeries, and issuing cash back into circulation when it’s needed.

But if the cure is to be effective, it’s essential to specify the right cash handling systems – right for your business tomorrow as well as today.

To guide you through the key considerations, Euroslot assembled a virtual round table of representatives from some of the leading vendors in the field, and polled them on some of the big questions that every user needs to ask. And elsewhere over the next pages we look at some of the more significant technologies on the market.

For our virtual round table, we spoke to Miren Jiménez Calvo, Brand & Communication Manager at Azkoyen; Phaedra Marsh of CashCode, a division of Crane Payment Solutions; Adam G. Steinberg, founder and Chairman of Embed Systems; Polly Wiseman, spokesperson for Eurocoin; Violeta Perez of Sacoa; and John Carroll, spokesperson for Suzo Happ.

Euroslot: What is the biggest challenge today for businesses such as amusement arcades that take in large quantities of low-denomination cash?

Miren Jiménez Calvo: Fraud is one of the most important problems for operators within this sector. So payment systems that ensure the highest level of anti-fraud security are a key factor.

Reliability is also highly valued, as it directly affects both the end user’s satisfaction and the costs of maintaining the machines for the operator

Phaedra Marsh: A big challenge for businesses today is having the trust of the employees collecting the cash. It can be a challenge to find honest employees who will not take a ‘little off the top’ for themselves. This can be diverted when you have more secure cash handling and bill validator accessories such as a lockable cash box for your validator.

For example, locks can be configured such that one employee has a key to remove the cash box from the validator while the owner keeps the key to physically open the cash boxes in a secure office.

Another option to keep your small denominations safe is to install a note recycler and have the smaller notes as the recycled denomination.

Adam G. Steinberg: The biggest challenge for the amusement operator today is to remain competitive in what are tough economic times and increased competition for the leisure dollar.

One of the great problems with having to handle low-denomination cash is that there is a lot of expense associated with it. Servicing of coin and note acceptors, making collections on a regular basis, maintaining large cash floats, recording and auditing procedures are all time-consuming and expensive activities.

In addition there are risks of machine break-ins and cash theft that are also costs for the business. A cashless payment system will eliminate many of these costs and make business operation much more efficient.

The other big challenge is on the marketing side, and with cash payment via a note or coin acceptor there is very limited opportunity for price flexibility and package deals. A cashless payment system can offer this flexibility and allow the amusement service to be marketed to the customer in a whole new way that offers better value and will encourage them to pay and play more.

Polly Wiseman: Security is an issue – the temptation of individuals, and in a number of cases organised gangs, to attack gaming and amusement equipment that houses quantities of cash is ever-present.

The manipulation of coin and note validation equipment by fake or foreign currencies, while on the decrease due to modern validation technology, remains a considerable threat, best combated by ensuring coin and note validator software is up to date.

An area that does give cause for concern is the implementation and utilisation of modern technology by the fraudster. Highly sophisticated devices are now being used, communicating directly with machine peripherals and in some cases the machine processor board.

Violeta Perez: There are several operational issues associated with lowdenomination cash handling, such as petty theft from staff, the operational cost of collecting the machines, and the long coin counting and wrapping sessions which are huge time-consuming tasks.

There are also labour costs when technical staff have to clear coin jams, machine vandalism because of the coins in the cash boxes, and – in the case of locations that make periodic or weekly collections – there is an inability to be proactive, because there is no real-time accounting.

John Carroll: The biggest challenge is to account for the flow of coins and bills.

Euroslot: What is the most important piece of advice you would offer to businesses looking to invest in cash handling and validation systems?

Miren Jiménez Calvo: The operator’s profit is directly related to the machine management costs and to the cash collected. Therefore they require reliable payment systems that avoid machine stoppages, reducing maintenance costs and increasing income.

The highest levels of reliability and security in cash handling require an investment in innovation and in the most advanced technology.

Phaedra Marsh: Don’t take the least expensive option – since you are going to spend the money anyway, make a wise investment in a system that is effective and reliable and can give you a good return on investment.

Operators should also look at products with enhanced validation technology and manipulation protection. We invest a lot in research to make money handling more secure, which means maximum fraud.

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