At The Top - June 2000

United Coin

Bringing innovation to the gaming industry

by Diane Glazman

Nevada's gaming operators have begun to follow a trend United Coin has known about for awhile, and Bob Miodunski, president of United Coin, couldn’t be happier. "There is a movement for gamers to go cashless, which is something we initiated two years ago," Miodunski noted.

United Coin is a route operator, maintaining the machines located in grocery stores, bars and restaurants in the Reno/Sparks and Las Vegas areas. Miodunski says surveying location operators and players has helped the company develop some innovative ideas in the gaming machine industry, ideas that have helped boost revenue for operators and made it safer for United Coin’s employees to take care of customers.

"We interviewed players about what was important to them," said Miodunski. They found that people who play machines outside of casinos did not want to carry around a lot of bonus cards for different locations, but still wanted the players’ club benefits offered by the casinos.

United Coin developed Gamblers Bonus in 1995 to meet those demands. The program allows players to access the system by punching in a seven-digit PIN on the machines. Play is then monitored and tracked by the system just like in the casinos, and players receive bonuses based on length of play and size of wagers. "Anywhere they play they can get the same kind of rewards as those offered in the casinos," Miodunski said. The program offers players additional bonuses, like a statewide mini-progressive and a $60,000 payoff for hitting all 13 four-of-a-kinds within a certain number of poker hands.

In addition to benefits for the player, United Coin gives location operators the tools to track customers who come into their establishments. "They have the same ability to create custom marketing programs for their players that a major casino has:’ Miodunski asserted.

It is a program that is definitely working. Miodunski says Gamblers Bonus has about 60,000 active members, with a total enrollment of roughly 120,000. More than 2,800 machines operate with the Gamblers Bonus program, and payouts total well over $100,000 a month. According to Miodunski, the machines report an increase in play of 20 percent to 25 percent over non-Gamblers Bonus machines.

United Coin has added other innovations as well, such as paying out in cash rather than coins and providing payouts on the spot. Miodunski recalled that when players hit jackpots in previous years, a driver was dispatched to bring the payout to the bar or store, sometimes making the person wait to receive his or her winnings. With cash dispensers at the location, that is no longer the case. When a player hits a jackpot, he or she receives a slip of paper with a code that the location operator then punches into the dispenser. Payout is instantaneous, something that is of special benefit for convenience stores and other sites where customers don’t want to wait for a driver to arrive.

Cash payouts also have the benefit of making it safer for United Coin’s route operators. Miodunski says, previously, route operators were robbed quite frequently because they carried large amounts of cash. With the Auto-Pay system. route operators service machines with little disruption for the players, and are no longer required to carry large sums of money.

Recently, United Coin suffered the frustration of being named in a lawsuit between Jackpot Enterprises and Raley’s when the grocery chain acquired several Albertson’s stores in the Las Vegas area. Although United Coin had a licensing agreement with Raley’s, Jackpot Enterprises was determined to keep its interests in the newly-acquired Albertson’s stores. Miodunski says the lawsuit was disruptive for United Coin because it delayed the company’s entrance into the new stores by several months. United Coin has since reached a settlement with Jackpot Enterprises and is now route operator for all Las Vegas area Raley’s and Alberston’s stores.

With a masters in business administration and a degree in mechanical engineering, Miodunski came to United Coin from Texas Instruments in Dallas. He says his background helps in developing new products, since gaming works on mathematical probability. "Probability in the short term is unpredictable, but in the long term it’s very predictable. If a slot machine is supposed to hold 10 percent, it will hold 10 percent over the long-term. The longer it’s played, the closer it gets to that figure:’ he explained.

Miodunski says United Coin’s machines are typically played by locals rather than tourists, and the local player is a much more sophisticated gambler. "Locals don’t play slot machines to any great extent because they figured out a long time ago their money goes farther on a video poker machine, because the poker game is looser:’ he said. It is that sophistication and demand for a cleaner, quicker payout that has led to United Coin’s innovations in route operation and, as Miodunski points out, changes in the way gaming machine operators do business as well.