Nationwide Exodus from the Slot Carousels

[heavy]

Yeah, what we've been saying all along about the casinos jacking up the hold on slots due to the economic slow-down is true. It's also a two-edged sword. As the hold goes up - the number of players goes down. Wait. Didn't we learn that in Economics 101? Price goes up - demand goes down. Maybe I should switch jobs and become a casino consultant. I do believe I could serve the casinos - and therefore the gambling public - better than most of the guys in that racket.

Here's the article that stimulated this thought:

http://ggbmagazine.com/issue/vol-14-no- ... oor-exodus

[acpa]

I've always thought it was misleading to think of them as penny games. Nice to see professionals saying the same things.

Use to look at slt holds in Mississippi when I was at Tunice but have' followed them since moving away.

Nah

[Blackcloud]

UNHH!!If the boxes did not pay at all, would you play them ? UNHH!!!Not only no but HELL NO !
UNHH!!In his VP book JP said give the box a 7 pull chance. UNHH!!the cloud cut that to 3; no pay, NO PLAY ! They know this so they MUST entice us to play. UNHH!!then you must figure the programs.
UNHH!!HELL yes BC say PROGRAMS

[London Shooter]

Certain products can get away with putting up prices to keep demand high but slots machines certainly will not be on this list, as with about 99% of things people buy.

[Bankerdude80]

Great article. I've always believed that over the past several years when casinos rotated in new machines for the old favorites, they were bringing the new ones in with a greater hold percentage. Slots are not a good bet. The longer you play, the more money you will lose. The casinos could at least give the consumer some entertainment value for their dollar and not just take, take, take. For the player, slot play should be hit and run with the hope that you are in the right place at the right time when the RNG dials in and the win comes.

[mssthis1]

The video penny slots are an excellent case study for how peoples brains are wired. My better half will happily play $1.50 $2.00 or more per spin in a penny machine but she won't play 1 coin in a $1.00 double or triple diamond reel machine because it's "too expensive". I also haven't been able to convince her that $5.00 or $10.00 per hand blackjack is risking less money than slots if you know basic strategy.

In my state they have to post the previous months payback. Before video penny slots it was 94-96%. Now its 89-90.5%.


I believe the casino's customer base is dying off. Most 20 something's prefer to spend their entertainment money on smartphones, angry birds, and other apps rather than spend it in a casino. I also believe that most casinos will go the way of the Dodo unless online gambling is legalized nationwide.

[London Shooter]

Wouldn't online gambling nationwide just dilute the pool of money even further and therefore close more bricks and mortar casinos?

[heavy]

The Great State of New Jersey expected legalized on-line gambling in Atlantic City to "lift" the casinos there out of the mire. So far it's been a monumental fail.

http://www.nj.com/business/index.ssf/20 ... sinos.html

Back on the slot topic - and I posted about this last night but overnight the post disappeared somehow - one of the things being tested now is a system where an entire carousel of slots will share a single random number generator. I suspect the reason behind this has to do with the fact that local casino patrons frequently track carousel based progressives to see which machines pay off most frequently - then wait until the progressive is getting up near it's traditional pay-out point (Say, for example, around $10K) before they play. Then they'll camp out at the machines they've identified as most likely to pop and play them until they hit the big one. Having all of the slots on a carousel share a common RNG should eliminate that.

[SHOOTITALL]

I think I saw on tv, MGM in LV has a slot that has not paid off in like 15 years. Good luck with that.
On the penny slots, that's my wife polishing the stool. Will spend hours and hours on those things.
At least I have got her to do a daily budget. Other bad news: She and her sister are going on a cruise next month. More penny slots. It never ends.

[London Shooter]

SIA - that slot finally paid out its jackpot last year. On our late Aug trip we were at the MGM and I said to my wife we should go and see the famous machine from the 90s. The prize had finally been scooped just a few days before.

[Jonah]

I think I saw on tv, MGM in LV has a slot that has not paid off in like 15 years. Good luck with that.
On the penny slots, that's my wife polishing the stool. Will spend hours and hours on those things.
At least I have got her to do a daily budget. Other bad news: She and her sister are going on a cruise next month. More penny slots. It never ends.

SIA - that slot finally paid out its jackpot last year. On our late Aug trip we were at the MGM and I said to my wife we should go and see the famous machine from the 90s. The prize had finally been scooped just a few days before.

The Whole Lion’s Share Thing Was a Bit of a Sham

"The bottom line is that a key part of the mythology around the Lion’s Share slot machine was just that, myth...

As the popularity of the Lion’s Share machine spread, MGM Grand did nothing to dispel the myth because the machine made a metric ass-ton more money because of the mystique surrounding it. MGM Grand isn’t in the myth-dispelling business, it’s in the money business. And business at the Lion’s Share machine was good, for a very long time.

The mistaken belief the Lion’s Share jackpot had to hit on that machine created a sense of urgency (it’s known as the “gambler’s fallacy”), and a windfall for MGM Grand. An MGM casino executive estimated the Lion’s Share machine was played five times more than the average slot machine on MGM Grand’s casino floor.

As with so many things in Las Vegas, not everything is as it seems at first glance. Remember, “caveat aleator,” or let the gambler beware."

complete article: http://vitalvegas.com/the-whole-lions-s ... of-a-sham/

[mssthis1]

Wouldn't online gambling nationwide just dilute the pool of money even further and therefore close more bricks and mortar casinos?

I'm assuming the brick and mortar casinos would be the only ones allowed online gambling licenses. American politics are much different than Europe.

[doplace]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs ... story.html

Removing slots to add more tables games.

[Bankerdude80]

Casino gambling in America is reaching a saturation point. It's almost a perfect storm. You have politicians expanding gambling to increase tax revenues. You have casinos increasing their hold on games. Consumers only have so much discretionary dollars to gamble with. Eventually the market takes over. The strong survive, the weak get crushed. Competition for the strong wanes, the public gets screwed.

[Blackcloud]

UNHH!!It was a penny multiliner that taught BC to play low on and work up on wins.

[London Shooter]

I'm assuming the brick and mortar casinos would be the only ones allowed online gambling licenses. American politics are much different than Europe.

Sorry, I hadn't realised that the only people in NJ to be allowed online licences were the physical casinos. That is certainly much different to how it works over here where our small physical casinos are just bit part players in what is a vast gambling industry.

[koreancowboy]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs ... story.html

Removing slots to add more tables games.

I'm in favour of this...to me, it doesn't make sense to have a tonne of unused slot machines taking up space, when I'm waiting around to get a spot at the tables.