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Iowa Casinos Go Coinless

IOWA – As reported by the Des Moines Register: "The clink, clink, clink sounds of coins cascading from slot machines are disappearing from many Iowa casinos.

"A growing number of Iowa's 16 casinos are switching to coinless slot machines, which make payouts with a bar-coded ticket instead of nickels, dimes or quarters.

"Patrons no longer have to carry buckets of coins while playing the slots. They can put bills, ranging from $1 to $100, into the machines and begin playing. If they decide to stop or want to collect their winnings, the machine will generate a ticket that can be used in another slot machine or redeemed for cash at an automated kiosk.

"…Prairie Meadows has 1,500 slot machines, and 94 percent of them have the new technology. Most other Iowa casinos are also switching to coinless slot machines.

"…The shift to coinless casino machines is one of a series of technological changes over the past 20 years in the slot machine industry, said Robert Farinella, general manager at Prairie Meadows.

"… In southeast Iowa, Catfish Bend Casinos invested about $6 million to replace its 540 slot machines with the new technology and to install a new computer system to operate them, said General Manager Joe Massa. A few patrons complained, but the new machines can simulate the sound of coins dropping into the payout tray, he added…"

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