When you think of slot machines, what comes to mind?
Spinning reels on one-armed bandits?
Video games with second-screen bonuses?
The majority of games on slot floors are still reel-spinners, although
they're mostly no-armed bandits these days - handles have been just about
completely designed out of the games.
Still, the great expanding force in casino games in the last half-dozen
years has been video slots. That's something many industry executives expect
to continue.
In a survey conducted before September's Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas,
casino industry professionals were asked this question by the American
Gaming Association: "New multimedia and video game-type technology continues
to gain market share in gaming machine placements. What is the future of the
traditional three-reel [slot machine]?"
Fifty-four percent checked off, "The traditional reel will always have a
place with some casino customers. It will thus maintain about its current
share in the marketplace."
I asked a Nevada slot director if the second part of that statement was
significant, if he agreed that reel-spinners were going to maintain current
market share.
"I think people probably focused on the first half [of the question]," he
said. "I know I did. I agree that the traditional reel will always have a
place, but it's not going to hold market share. Most of the new product I
buy is video."
That seems to mirror comments the AGA included in its report of survey
results. Under "Select Verbatims," the report used four survey responses,
and all pointed to a reel decline:
**"It [the reel-spinning slot] will slowly go away, but it will still remain
very popular with many players."
**"It will have a place, but certainly a smaller one."
**"It will have a very reduced role on the gaming floor, but will still be
here in the future."
**"The traditional reel will always have a place, but it will lose market
share."
There were more extreme opinions voiced; 8 percent agreed with the
statement, "The traditional reel machine will have some future, but it will
be in smaller markets or at lower-end properties," and another 8 percent
said, "There is no future for the traditional reel machine." Thirty-one
percent checked "Other."
Nearly all are agreed that in the near future, we'll neither be dropping
coins into the slots nor hearing them clatter into the trays when we cash
out. We'll be using ticket printers or electronic transfers with smart
cards.
The survey asked, "Cashless gaming machines are quickly gaining market share
in U.S. casinos today. If you had to look ahead 10 years from now, what
percentage of the U.S. gaming machine market do you think will have
converted to cashless technology?" The agreement was overwhelming. No one
answered less than 25 percent of the market, or 25 to 49 percent, or even
50 to 74 percent. Every respondent thought at least 75 percent of the market
would be cashless within 10 years. Twenty-three percent went the distance -
answering 100 percent - while the rest said 75 to 99 percent.
Perhaps as significant as cashless gaming or the debate over whether there
is a future for reel-spinning games is the question of just how games will
be delivered to players. Today, casinos buy machines from competing
manufacturers and distributors. They don't necessarily buy a whole new
machine when they change a game. Much of the time, the hardware remains in
place, but the computer chips that drive the game are replaced, as is the
machine glass that bears the game's name and logo.
The time may be coming when even those steps might not be necessary. Instead
of manually changing microchips, casinos might simply download a game from a
distributor's database.
Asked, "Might the future bring games that are downloaded directly from game
creators and suppliers, thus doing away with the need to physically replace
gaming machines on the slot floor?" Sixty-two percent of those polled
responded that it was likely, with 31 percent saying it was very likely and
31 percent saying it was somewhat likely.
By 2020, respondents said, the casino floor will have been reshaped.
Forty-six percent said the casino floor of 17 years from now will be totally
different, with 31 percent saying quite a bit different, 23 percent saying
only a little different and no one checking off hardly different at all.
How will casinos be different? One exec suggested, "A renewed player
environment, with rows of stools, as opposed to banks - which will look
archaic in the future - and flat screens that offer any game in available in
that casino."
I'm not at all sure I like the idea of doing away with competing machines of
all shapes and sizes and their 3-D figures, sound effects, lights, bells and
whistles screaming for attention in favor of simply sitting at a computer
terminal and calling up any game the casino offers.
But players have gotten used to armless bandits, reels on video screens and
are getting used to ticket printers. Who am I to say they won't adapt to
rows of flat computer screens instead of today's slots?
