Music & Games

Maryland arcades install hybrid cashless/cash system

Image courtesy of Sportland.

July 28, 2021

Jerry Greenspan recently upgraded his Maryland arcades — Sportland and Fun City — with a hybrid cashless technology system from Intercard that allows customers to pay with cash or credit, according to a press release.

Greenspan had noticed that increasing numbers of customers were using credit cards to buy game tokens and realized that credit card use would continue to grow. He also wanted to enjoy the other benefits of cashless technology, from increased revenue, reduced coin handling and less theft to less time spent on game maintenance for coin and token jams.

But cash customers are still 40% of Greenspan's business, and he didn't want to lose his cash customers in the transition. Fortunately, Intercard's system allows players to pay by coin or play card.

In addition, it wasn't cost-effective to convert all his games to cashless, since some older games are difficult to adapt. With Intercard's hybrid system, he can leave some games coin-op only, while the rest were converted to allow customers to use coins, tokens or a play card.

Revenues have increased as much as 30% since Greenspan installed his Intercard system.