Resorts World Las Vegas champions cryptocurrency payments

Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas joined ICE this year to talk about the new Mega Resort in Las Vegas and what the future holds for digital payments.

With over 3500 rooms, it’s one of the 10 biggest in a city famous for its lavishness and scale. Sibella spoke of his pride at being involved in such a build, “Throughout my career, I’ve had the fortune of overseeing many great properties – having been involved in this development from the beginning, it has been the highlight of my career.”

But launching at the height of a pandemic was never part of the script,

“Of course, it’s been challenging but every month we continue to build up the momentum and have been cashflow positive since day one.” 

Excellence in partnerships was absolutely key for Sibella in order to successfully offer the very best.

“Our strategy from the beginning was to provide unparalleled experiences to everyone who visits while being the best in class in everything we do. To achieve that we selected many partners such as Hilton, AEG and The Zook Group, who are also best in class when it comes to providing experiences here at Resorts World.”

But for those heading to Las Vegas, it’s often the casino which provides the biggest attraction and it’s here where Sibella really waxes lyrical,

“I’m blown away with what we’ve been able to create in our casino. Our vision was to develop an advanced and integrated casino floor that offers convenience, rewards and flexibility, accuracy and accountability, along with increased customer engagement and revenue generation areas. One of my favorite features in the casino is our smart tables, which use RFID chips for every denomination to provide 100% accuracy of guests’ gaming activities. This innovative solution ensures guests receive the most accurate recognition through the resort’s loyalty program, and tell casino operators all they need to know about the customer’s play.”

New technology is at the heart of everything, with the aim to create customer convenience and engagement at every stage of their journey through the resort and the casino. Sibella cited ticket-in-ticket-out (TITO) as just one example.

“This allows guests to move from slots to tables or vice versa by simply using the cash out bouncers, eliminating the need to find a ticket redemption center to exchange the voucher for cash. It truly sets us apart in the market.”

With travel opening up more and more post Covid, Sibella expects visitation numbers to continue to grow and is confident in a future where digitalisation is key. Within that space, he said it’s impossible to talk about cashless payments without mentioning cryptocurrency. 

Sibella was said that if licences for cryptocurrency are granted, he’ll be jumping on the opportunity. “We want to be the forefront runner here when it comes to crypto. When I was getting my licence, the Chairman flat out told me that they’re interested in doing more with it. I do think it’ll get into the casino industry and we’re working fast to be the first ones doing something with it.”

Scott Sibella was chatting as part of the International Casino Conference at ICE VOX London.