Ask the Slot Expert: A tale of two cashless systems

I'm usually one of the first to try new technology in the casino.

A number of years ago, Red Rock rolled out Cardless Connect on its slots. Riding the wave of using an app on your smartphone for practically anything, you could use the Stations Casino app on your phone instead of your players card to log in to a machine.

I used it often at first, but I eventually decided that it was faster to insert my card than to use the app.

Around the same time, Boyd gaming rolled out a similar system at Suncoast. I found this system more cumbersome than Stations' system because you had to press a button on the card reader screen before connecting with your phone. As a result, I never used it.

A few years ago, I noticed a STN Cash sticker on slot machines at Red Rock. Googling it took me to the STN Cash website, Station Casinos' cashless gaming system. I immediately signed up for it. You had to complete enrollment at the cage. The program hadn't been officially announced yet and only one window at the cage was able to access the system.

To use STN Cash, I had to use Cardless Connect because all transactions were done using the app on my smartphone. I don't recall having many problems connecting to machines in the early days.

One feature I really liked was that the system would automatically transfer any credits on your machine back to your STN Cash account when your phone disconnected from the machine. If you walked away from a machine without transferring, the system would do it for you, lessening the chance that someone could steal your forgotten credits.

Other players didn't like this feature, so it was deactivated. I think it has been turned back on, but I haven't tested it.

The system has gotten less reliable over the years. I don't know why. I have updated my phone a couple of times and I'm currently using a Samsung Galaxy S25, hardly an old phone. I wouldn't have expected the system to be less reliable on my new phone versus my old one.

I frequently find that I cannot connect to a machine even though the machine has the STN Cash sticker on it. Sometimes my phone connects to a machine next to the one I'm sitting at.

Let's say that I hit the jackpot and I'm able to connect to a machine. After playing for a while, the app on my phone shows that it is not connected to the machine even though the machine shows that my "card" is still in the machine. I've never been able to reconnect my app to a machine when I'm still logged in to the machine. I even have difficulty reconnecting to the machine after I've disconnected from it.

When this happens, I have no choice but to cash out and get a ticket. If I want to put the amount in my STN Cash account, I have to go to another machine. When I'm finally able to connect to another machine, I put the ticket in and press the Disconnect button on the app. That is supposed to transfer my credits to my STN Cash account, but sometimes the machine does not do the transfer. I have to try again on another machine. I sometimes give up and just leave with the ticket.

I listed these problems on a customer satisfaction survey I took a few months ago. I checked the box saying I wanted someone to contact me about my comments. I expected to hear from Tech Support, but all I got was an email apologizing that my recent experience didn't live up to my expectations.

Boyd has a similar system called Boyd Pay. You can connect to a machine with the Boyd Pay app and use it to transfer money to and from a machine.

At least I think you can. I haven't used the app to interact with a machine for years because all of the functions are available in menus on the card reader display. I just put in my players card and I can access funds in my Boyd Pay wallet. When I'm done playing, I can either manually transfer my meter back to my wallet or pull my card, which automatically transfers it back. With all functions being available through the players card and card reader display, I don't have any problems with connecting to machines with my phone or losing connection to a machine or transferring funds back using the app.

I was an early adopter of Boyd Pay. When I was finished playing a machine, I pulled out my card and saw the funds transferred message and my credit meter go to 0. When I went to another machine, the funds weren't in my wallet. I waited a while and still no funds. I didn't have any gambling money on me, so I needed those funds.

I reported the problem to a cashier, who called someone to come help me. The funds were in my wallet by the time she came a few minutes later. I haven't had any other problems with Boyd Pay.

I should point out that you have multiple wallets with Boyd Pay. You have your overall Boyd Pay wallet, plus individual wallets for each casino at which you play. You have to transfer money from your Boyd Pay wallet to your casino wallet to use the funds at a particular casino. Transfer to and from machines use your casino wallet.

Also, the terms for Boyd Pay say that you might be charged a fee for funding your Boyd Pay wallet or transferring money from your Boyd Pay wallet to your bank account and that the fee might be waived. There are no fees with STN Cash.

There are easy ways to ensure you don't pay a fee. I fund my accounts by taking out markers or bringing cash to the casino. If I want the cash in the account, I cash out to a ticket and redeem it.

If Station enhances their system so you can make transactions from the screen and not require using the app, its system would be on a par with Boyd's. Until it does, Boyd's system is the winner.

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