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Cash-Optional Slots New Trend in Las Vegas Casinos5 July 2001LAS VEGAS, Nevada – July 5, 2001 –As reported by the Associated Press: “Imagine gambling in casinos without the noisy clatter of coins dropping into slot machine trays. ”The concept might not be as farfetched as it sounds, gambling industry experts, operators and regulators say. ”…`Coinless’ slots seem like an oxymoron, but the machines are gaining in popularity among some players who prefer the convenience and clean hands that a card or voucher provides over handling a bucketful of coins. ”…The machines also have other advantages, said Stowe Shoemaker, an associate professor at the University of Las Vegas, Nevada. ”`Waiting for a casino employee to refill a slot machine whose hopper becomes empty is one of the major causes of dissatisfaction among casino players,’ he said. ”…`The longer the player waits for change, the less time they spend gambling, which means less revenue for the casino,’ he said. ”But Shoemaker acknowledges the slots aren't favored by most Las Vegas tourists -- there were 36 million last year -- who are resistant to the change because they enjoy the winning sounds of coins clinking into the metal hopper. ”…Others, Shoemaker's research shows, don't trust the new technology or fear they will lose the voucher more easily than they might misplace cash. ”Those concerns aren't stopping the world's largest gambling company -- Park Place Entertainment Corp. -- from replacing some of its aging coin machines with the latest trend in slots on the Las Vegas Strip and in Atlantic City, N.J. ”…Shoemaker cautioned that using an alternative payout method to cut a casino's work force, such as reducing change attendants, could backfire. ”`There's a tendency to cut people out, but tourists are looking for interaction,’ he said. `I think those people should be used to improve customer service and not be taken off the (casino) floor.’ ”Las Vegas neighborhood casinos were some of the first to embrace the new technology in January 2000. ”…After a year in local casinos, the so-called `coinless’ slot machines debuted on the Las Vegas Strip in January, when Bally's converted 100 slot machines to ticket-printer systems for a 90-day trial. ”It was a success, with a survey of Bally's' customers revealing a 95 percent acceptance rate of the new machines. ”…Park Place announced in June that it would purchase 15,000 `coinless’ slots from IGT the next three years…” |