Casinos in South Africa are investing heavily into digital technology to update their gaming and non-gaming offerings in an effort to provide their patrons with an enhanced customer service experience.

PricewaterhouseCoopers recently published the fourth annual edition of its “Taking the Odds: Gambling Outlook for 2015 – 2019” analysis which examined the gambling industry in South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria and how these markets would progress in the next few years. The report highlighted the fact that South African casinos have implemented a number of digital upgrades that have had positive results for the casinos.

Casinos have focused on providing more WiFi hotspots in their casinos, which allows patrons to download their respective casino apps and use it to order food and beverages from within the city, which then gets delivered right to their playing table. Patrons who do not have a smartphone on them, have the opportunity to request for a tablet and use it to access their favourite apps.

Security has always been a high priority in the casino industry and South African casinos have invested heavily into the new digital facial recognition cameras to maintain top notch surveillance at all times. These cameras are different from the usual CCTV cameras as their clarity helps the casinos to run pictures of suspicious individuals through a database of known offenders and see if their casino is being targeted.

In a statement, Veneta Eftychis, a consultant of PwC Hospitality and Gaming Industry said “The surveillance technology has become more advanced with the conversion to digital systems which aid in increasing the casino’s security and in the reviewing of security footage should there be any disputes from punters or suspicion of cheating happening during certain games.”

Casinos no longer have to constantly replace slot machine software to keep up with the latest upgrades as now slot machine software technology allows the machines to be configured in such a way that these upgrades not only happen automatically but also allows casinos officials to use the slot machine to offer poker one day and the very next day change up to blackjack.

South African casinos are setting up a number of smartphone charging stations and many of them come with a small security locker that allows patrons to charge their smartphones securely away from the gaming tables. This simple strategy helps to keep patrons at the casino for a longer period of time.

The PwC report states that out of the 40 licensed casinos in South Africa, 38 of these casinos have already committed to investing into expansion projects and digital technology upgrades as they are confident that by doing so their patrons will have a better experience at the casino with both gaming and non-gaming facilities.