Australia's largest closed-loop deployment

900k attendance at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. A 12-day event with 500+ POS terminals and a fully integrated digital platform — from payments to wayfinding.

Sydney Royal Easter Show — showground overview
900k
Attendance
3M+
Transactions
500+
POS terminals
300K
Credit top-ups
#2
App Store ranking
85%
Closed-loop adoption

Unifying payments at massive scale

The Royal Agricultural Society of NSW needed to transform how 125,000+ daily visitors paid, navigated, and engaged across the showground. Manual reconciliation between organisers and exhibitors caused weeks of delays and disputes. Fragmented payment systems — cash, EFTPOS, wristbands, mobile — each created their own reporting silos.

The vision was ambitious: a single digital platform capable of delivering unified payments, real-time vendor settlement, visitor wayfinding, and operational intelligence — all while being simple enough for seasonal staff to learn in minutes.

Settlement without spreadsheets

Vendor/organiser percentage splits calculated instantly on every transaction. Both parties saw the same numbers in real time, eliminating post-event disputes and weeks of manual reconciliation.

One device for every payment

500+ POS terminals deployed and configured remotely. Each terminal handled wristband taps, Visa, Amex, mobile wallets, and closed-loop credits. Digital wallets drove ~40% greater spend.

Data-driven decisions in real time

Revenue by stall, category, and hour gave operators a live picture of the event. At events with 125,000+ daily visitors, this live data became critical operational infrastructure.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show — powered by Ludo

Millions of interactions proven in the field.

Ekka Fun Pass kiosk station at night — crowds navigating self-service top-up points across the showground

Ekka, Brisbane — Fun Pass kiosks lit up across the midway

Dozens of Ludo POS terminals lined up on a table, each showing the rainbow Ludo gradient splash screen

400+ terminals staged and configured before gates open

Kiosk being installed at the Easter Show — Fun Pass branding, NFC reader, and instructional wrap visible

A kiosk being wired in before opening day

Close-up of a visitor tapping the Ekka Fun Pass kiosk touchscreen at night

Tap. Top up. Go. Under 15 seconds.

Visitor photographing a "Skip the Credit Lines" QR code sign at the Easter Show

Skip the queues — app download QR in action

Bumper cars under neon LED lights at the Sydney Royal Easter Show

Bumper cars under neon — the midway at night

Chain swing carousel against blue sky with crowds below at the Easter Show

Chain swings against blue sky

Ferris wheel lit up at dusk with crowds silhouetted against the twilight sky

Ferris wheel at dusk — 125k visitors on peak days

Taronga Zoo cashless card — a wooden NFC card with tiger illustration

Taronga Zoo — eco-friendly wooden NFC card

Indo Pacific 2025 event — self service kiosk terminal on the exhibition floor

Indo Pacific — self-service kiosk on the exhibition floor

Carnival Fun Pass wristband with NFC card — green "Unlimited Rides 10AM-2PM" wristband

Unlimited Rides wristband with embedded NFC

Golden hour at the Sydney Royal Easter Show — carnival rides and fairgoers silhouetted against warm light

Golden hour on the midway — almost a million visitors over the event

"We needed to elevate our visitor experience... capable of delivering everything we envisioned on a digital platform."

SM
Shane McGrath
Head of Operations, Sydney Royal Easter Show

Ready for your venue?

Whether you run a showground, a festival, or a zoo — we'd love to show you how Ludo handles scale.

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