Pachinko Parlors in The U.S.

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Also interesting is the fact that balls are rented for a certain amount of yen each but when cashed back in, they are worth significantly less. One article stated that balls cost 4.5 yen but only worth 2.5 when redeemed. So you have to win 40% more balls than you rented just to break even. That's how they make money and the player loses money. That's also not taking into account the cut that the exchange house receives.
Great article: Pachinko Nation: Articles: Multimedia: Japan Society

That is the article I read prior to when I made my comments earlier in this post. It is a great article

It was this statement that really made me comment on the "penny-ante" nature of the game.

To anyone who’s never played, and even to many who have, the game is grotesque. It’s horribly noisy. Parlors are smoky and unpleasant. While it’s true that no one ever loses too much at pachinko, no one ever wins much either. (Pachinko machines are programmed so that it is impossible to lose more than $2 a minute. Compare that to blackjack or slots or any American gamble, where you can easily lose thousands of dollars per hour. On the other hand, the biggest pachinko jackpots are worth only $50.) Pachinko is dreary. It’s no wonder it has never caught on anywhere else.

Of course this article was written over 10 years ago so it could be a lot different now.

However, one thing hasn't changed that I know of. Machines are still throttled to 100 balls a minute. This was a restriction when the Renpatsu-shiki (auto feeders) restrictions were lifted in 1969. To my knowledge, even the latest moderns with the auto-shooters still have 100 ball per minute restriction, which depending on the price of ball rental will limit loss. At 4.5 yen a ball, that's 4.50 a minute or $270.00 an hour considering a customer wins nothing within the hour.

Not even close to what you can lose in Vegas.