Slots Dominate

8 February 2020

By John Marchel

Slot machines, both the traditional reel variety and the new multi-line video versions, dominate the gaming inventory all across the United States. All of the casino marketing energy, direct mail advertising, and product research and development today revolve around slot machines.

Since state-sanctioned and Native American casino gambling came to states across the country, table games have dwindled considerably while the number of slots continues to grow year by year.

In 2019 there were about 897,000 slot machines operating in casinos around the USA. In the 1970s slots covered about 40 percent of the floor space in most casinos. Today, slots dominate with 70 percent of the floor space.

It's not hard for casino owners to figure out where the real money comes from. Casino patrons love the sight and sound of slot jackpots, even though the odds of catching a big one can be extremely high. The difference between the revenues generated by slots as opposed to table games is sheer volume. So much more money is wagered on the slots and at a much greater pace that they are naturally bound to be the main bread winners for most casinos.

Besides Las Vegas, you can find many casinos all across this country that only offer slot machine gaming with no table games in their facility. Those casino managers and owners understand that those machines require no vacations, they don’t call in sick, they required no health insurance, they do not require a background check or a license from local police authorities, and they work 24/7.

Those machines are considered the ideal “employee” of casino management. The more machines, the more income for the casino. The only problem with slots, from the players point of view; there is no skill that is available that tells them how to beat them. It’s all based on luck.


BET YOU DIDN'T KNOW

• Slot machine manufactures perform more player research than any other segment of the gambling industry.

• The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority reported that 71 percent of tourists who gamble play some type of slot machine, while 29 percent opted for table games.

• More than 68% of all gaming revenue in Nevada comes from slot machine revenue.

• The number one game played in Las Vegas by more players every year is the 25-cent slot machine,

• A typical 25-cent slot machine on the Las Vegas strip will generate an income of $25,000 a year for the casino.

• Benny Binion brought the Eldorado Club and Apache Hotel in downtown Las Vegas in 1951 and reopened them as Binion’s Horseshoe. It was the first casino to have comps available to all gamblers, including free drinks for slot players.

• In 1981, for the first time, slot machine revenues exceeded table revenues in the casinos of Nevada.

• Australia has only .03 percent of the world’s population, but it has twenty percent of the world’s slot machines.

• In 2002, Bally Gaming Systems introduced its Ray Charles slot machine, specifically designed for visually impaired players. The machine included audio cues and a Braille button deck.

• In the early 1940’s the city of Las Vegas put a limit on the number of slot machines allowed in any one location. That was one of the reasons the El Rancho Vegas hotel & casino moved out of the city limits along highway 91, known today as the Las Vegas Strip.