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Bally's Cash for Life Approved

LAS VEGAS--A new Bally Gaming slot machine that would reward jackpot winners with $1,000 or more every week for the rest of their lives received a Nevada Gaming Control Board recommendation Thursday.

Cash for Life would guarantee winners a minimum of $1,040,000, paid in weekly installments. The game would link slot machines from a number of Nevada casinos, similar to Megabucks, Quartermania, Millionaire Sevens and other wide-area progressive games.

"We really have a lot of high expectations for this game," said Pam Howatt, Bally Gaming's vice president of game operations. "The whole theory is we're offering a life-changing event. The focus groups we tested were very excited."

The game would be applied to current Bally slot themes, including Blazing Sevens, Rich and Famous and Concentration, and in each theme would show two jackpot meters on large screens. One meter would show the total jackpot, and the second would show the weekly payout amount.

For example, the minimum setting for the game and the amount it would reset to after a jackpot is hit is $1,040,000. The weekly meter would display $1,000.

But if no jackpots are hit and the total payout rises to $2,080,000, the weekly meter would display $2,000.

Regulators have to OK the game because of a state gaming rule that requires annual progressive slot machine jackpot payments to be at least 1/20th of the total jackpot, a rule put into place so winners wouldn't be paid $1 million jackpots in 100 annual $10,000 installments.

Bally, intrigued by the success of a similar Canadian instant lottery game also called Cash for Life, wanted to offer a game that would give winners a weekly payout for life.

In order to pitch the longer payout to state regulators, Bally agreed that the game would guarantee a minimum of $1,000 per week for 20 years, or a total of $1,040,000. For winners that don't live the full 20 years, their beneficiaries would receive the payments until a total of 20 years of payments have been made.

Like most other slot manufacturers that operate progressive-linked jackpots, Bally will allow winners to choose a lump-sum option rather than the weekly payments.

But what separates Cash for Life from its progressive jackpot competitors is the promise to pay the weekly amount for the life of the winner, a commitment that could extend far beyond 20 years.

Bally has to maintain a reserve fund to pay for the additional payments.

Board Chairman Dennis Neilander said he thought the innovation could spur slot-industry competition.

"There's no possibility the (jackpot winning) patron can get less than the amount shown on the meter," he said. "But they could get more."

Much more, in fact.

"What you probably fear is a 22-year-old female nonsmoker winning," control board member Bobby Siller joked.

Bally executives said they'd love to have a young winner with a long life-expectancy win.

"This provides innovation without harming the consumer," board member Scott Scherer said before joining the other two members in a 3-0 vote to recommend approval of the concept and waiving the rule. The recommendation is slated to be considered by the Nevada Gaming Commission at its Sept. 26 meeting in Las Vegas.

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