Even Monopoly has joined the cashless revolution

While cash continues to be vital for many financially excluded Brits, you would have thought that you could always bank on iconic board game Monopoly to stand by notes.

But not so, maker Hasbro has unveiled a new version of the game that is waving goodbye to cash and bank cards and instead will see Alexa-style voice recognition to interact with the banker Mr Monopoly who will electronically track all transactions.

Introducing Monopoly’s newest tech innovation, Monopoly Voice Banking!
Pre-order: https://t.co/ZJnTKub3wFpic.twitter.com/5WsU4sOzc5

— Hasbro (@Hasbro) June 19, 2019

That means no cheating by slipping yourself a sly £100 from the bank and faster gameplay, according to Hasbro.

It’s not the first time that Monopoly has ditched cash – that honour goes to a 2006 version that partnered up with Visa credit cards – but it is symptomatic of a shift away from cash in society.

The Access to Cash Review at the end of last year found that eight million Brits still rely on cash every day and warned of the danger of “sleepwalking into a cashless society” that could leave vulnerable people behind.

In the past decade, cash use has halved, the review warned, which forecasts that it could half again in a decade while in 15 years just one in ten payments could be in cash. Cash has already been overtaken by debit cards as the most popular payment method – that happened for the first time in 2017.

That’s why The Big Issue is working to ensure that our vendors – to whom cash has been their lifeline while selling the magazine – can stay financially included in a society where contactless payments are becoming king.

More and more vendors are now offering cashless payments as we continue to roll-out card readers as part of our trial with iZettle.

The Pay It Forward scheme is also helping vendors to earn through cashless payments by offering readers a chance to resell the magazine to a friend just by scanning a QR code.

Image: Patrice/Flickr