Tracey Chernay: “TransAct’s goal for NIGA is to reconnect with our customers”

Tracey Chernay, Senior Vice President, Global Casino, Gaming and Lottery at TransAct Technologies, shares her expectations for NIGA 2022 and anticipates the products that the company will present at the event.

Exclusive interview.- Tracey Chernay, senior vice presiden for Global Casino, Gaming and Lottery at TransAct Technologies, granted an exclusive interview to Focus Gaming News to talk about NIGA 2022 and the challenges the industry is facing after two years of pandemic.

TransAct will exhibit its products at NIGA 2022. What goals do you have for this year and what memories do you have from the previous edition?

Our goal for the NIGA show is to reconnect with our customers and meet new potential customers in the Native American Gaming market segment. We have a very strong customer base in this space and look forward to being able to grow our presence even further with our support of this show. 

We will feature our industry leading Epic printer family for ticket-in, ticket-out applications and demonstrate how these products can help casinos, salons, and all types of gaming establishments to solve today’s problems of short staffing and to increase automation across their establishments. We’ll have our flagship Epic 950, the all-new Epic Edge, and the Epic Edge TT (table-top) on display. In addition, we’ll demonstrate our Epicentral software product that allows casinos to recognize and reward players as they play to increase the value of each visit and to drive more return trips.

Since the pandemic began, industries, in general, have turned more strongly to digital. In the gaming industry, do you think there is a healthy balance between the physical and the digital worlds?

There is certainly a place for both online and in-person gaming. Globally, online gaming is likely to continue is upward growth as more states legalize online gaming and sports betting. However, this doesn’t mean that in-person or brick-and-mortar casinos will suffer. As reported by Forbes Magazine, of the record breaking $53bn in U.S. gaming revenue, 85 per cent was still obtained by in-person gaming and betting in 2021. 

“Globally, online gaming is likely to continue is upward growth as more states legalize online gaming and sports betting. However, this doesn’t mean that in-person or brick-and-mortar casinos will suffer.”

Tracey Chernay, Senior Vice President, Global Casino, Gaming and Lottery at TransAct Technologies.

What are the main challenges the industry is facing now that we are leaving the Covid-19 pandemic behind?

The return of players to casinos has been nothing short of remarkable. Players have returned in force, driving record breaking performance for casinos. Combined with the on-going challenges of staff shortages, this record demand requires highly reliable automated systems to service player demand. TransAct works with our customers to provide this automation and reliability making it easy for casinos to welcome and reward more players.

What plans do you have for the rest of the year?

TransAct is always looking at innovative ways to address new and evolving industry pain points. We will continue to stay connected to the industry by attending numerous tradeshows throughout the year, by visiting our OEM and casino customers in person, and by always striving for ways to enhance our software and hardware.

See also: Tracey Chernay: “We pride ourselves on making it as easy as possible to do business with TransAct”