Running out of money in the middle of a slot machine session is a common source of annoyance for gamers. They have to leave their machine, find an ATM at the casino, and pay a hefty $10 (or much more) third-party withdrawal fee in order to continue playing.

However, a new solution from a casino tech company in Las Vegas might be worse than the issue it was intended to address.

Acres Manufacturing introduced its Universal Payment Adapter (UPA), a device that connects slot machines to players' bank accounts, earlier this month at the 2025 Global Gaming Expo (G2E).

No digital wallet, no card reader, and no app. Simply authorize by scanning a QR code, and the funds are transferred directly from your checking account to a gambling company.

The UPA is already operational at more than two dozen US casinos, Acres told the Nevada Independent, which broke the story. The technology was approved by Nevada casino authorities in August 2025, and the corporation plans to use it in several Las Vegas locations by the beginning of 2026.

 

Take Advantage of Cashless

Acres has previously experimented with cashless gaming. In a previous version of the product, Cashless Casino, users had to utilize a mobile app with the casino's name to pay for their games using Bluetooth-enabled card readers.

As of mid-2024, Acres reports that 11 states were using the system. However, the UPA eliminates both of those obstacles, greatly simplifying the money transfer process.

According to a study that Acres commissioned, cashless players were far more inclined to reload and spend 92% more per session than those who used dead presidents. One casino that used a comparable technology claimed a $10 million gain in income year over year, which it explicitly ascribed to the system, according to Acres.

Building a quicker route to players' nest eggs poses severe concerns because, even though the UPA might be a windfall for casino operators, we still think that walking away is a better option than utilizing a QR code when the money runs out.

Following the first publication of this story, Acres' chief marketing officer, Noah Acres, sent Casino.org the following email in response.

“We’re highly regulated and player protections are a concern of any game regularly. In markets like Australia, where problem gaming is much larger problem and the government is extremely anti-gambling, their solution to protect is to force casinos to offer cashless. Electronic payments are tracked and controlled to a much higher degree than cash.”