The future of slots

**monaghj** · 08-16-2005, 04:24 PM

Borowed from one of the casino forums I belong too....

An interesting article from CNET entitled "The one-armed bandits of tomorrow"

http://news.com.com/One-armed+bandit...19.html?tag=nl

In a nutshell IGT have developed what they call 'server based gaming' whereby the slot is simply a terminal whereby games can be changed in an instant by players or the casino itself.

This would obviously negate the wait time for casinos to get more popular games onto the floor and poorly performing games off it.

from the article

Yvette Monet, a spokeswoman for MGM Mirage, which owns Vegas casinos such as Bellagio, Luxor, Mandalay Bay, the MGM Grand, Monte Carlo and others, said the company likely plans to deploy SBGs in the near future."

It gives MGM Mirage the "option to switch to an exciting new emergent technology that (offers) benefits for the consumer and the casino," Monet said. "This is definitely predicted to be (big) and is going to be seeing very wide use."

The machines will be on show next month at The Global Gaming Expo (G2E) in Las Vegas next month.

Do you believe that this is the future of slots and if so, how soon do you expect this change to happen ?

**slotter** · 08-16-2005, 04:52 PM

The floor of gaming establishments in the near future will be changing drastically," said Ali Saffari, senior vice president of engineering at International Game Technology, or IGT, one of the largest makers of slot machines. "Quite simply, the machines are going to be slaves to the system."
What this means, essentially, is that slot machines will become little more than dumb terminals with games that can be changed on the fly by customers or at any time by casino officials looking to put the more in-demand games on casino floors when players want them.

Further, the gaming industry has in recent years standardized electronic loyalty club programs in which players carry cards that track what and how much they play in return for complimentary rooms, meals and other rewards. With SBGs deployed, casinos could also keep track of which games club members most like and have the machines offer those games from a menu when players insert their cards in a slot.

"It will allow your favorite games to carry with you no matter where you are," Saffari said. "The games can be downloaded in seconds." (break in article here to go to end -- slotter...)

Saffari said the revolution will extend even beyond the casino floor. He described a scenario in which players could cart around wirelessly enabled handheld devices on which they could continue to play their favorite slot machine games even as they lounge by the pool. That would be possible, he said, because SBG systems could broadcast data via secure Wi-Fi networks anywhere on a casino property.

Meanwhile, because server-based slots will, at heart, be no more than gussied-up terminals, they won't have the ubiquitous spinning wheels of today's machines. At least not physically. Instead, explained Saffari, the devices would have digital screens which would mimic the look and feel of current machines down to the requisite dinging sound so familiar to anyone who has ever stepped onto a casino floor.

Thus, it appears, the revolution of networked technology is coming to a casino near you and everything that previously existed physically inside a discrete box will now be reduced to a few lines of code in a rack in some back room.

Wow! Server Based Gaming -- SBG machines. Seems like a good idea to me... Cool looking machine! See below:

**Firewire** · 08-16-2005, 05:03 PM

Not good for our hobby long term though if Japan does the same thing.

**slotter** · 08-16-2005, 05:10 PM

I think for the foreseeable future, there will continue to be a place for the mechanical machines. But, that said, this seems to be a pretty great way for the casino or parlor operator to really control things as well as offer the customer what is wanted.

**Firewire** · 08-16-2005, 05:21 PM

Plus Pachinko's will still be around!

**azlew** · 08-16-2005, 05:32 PM

This way you will always have every game there is available in the one machine cabinet you are sitting and playing at and all the machine cabinets will be the same and all the slot machine areas in the casinos will be the same ...sounds real boring to me. I think too many casinos look the same as it is. Take away the uniqueness of the slot cabinets and all we will be left with is the cocktail waitress outfits being different. I wonder how many players they polled with this idea before deciding on it? Modular ideas come and go. I hope this one never comes.

But that's progress

**napster** · 08-16-2005, 06:31 PM

Nope...This is not for me! When I go downtown to gamble I like the freedom to move about. I don't want to get stuck in one place, or even in the same casino. When a machine goes " cold " you just want to walk away from it. I don't think that changing the game at that location will change your attitude about it. Also, the popular machines all have their unique look about them. It makes them easy to find. You can find the wheel of fortune machine even if its clear across the casino floor. How are they going to incorporate that into a ever-changing machine. Its going to loose its appeal if you can't identify with it. It has to have Lucy, Elvis, The Terminator, or even the Monopoly man plastered all over the cabinet. That is the draw to the machine. Roaming the casino floor to seek these new machines is part of the fun. Its just another way to cut their cost. Remember when you used to carry your winnings from machine to machine in a coin bucket? Remember the change attendent? Even the redemption center is shrinking. Everything is a ticket and a machine to put it in now. I hope this "video game concept" doesn't fly. It feel so good to actually pick up tokens and put them into my pachislo machines...Because the days of handling coins are gone at the casinos.

**johntofva** · 08-16-2005, 07:32 PM

So............everyone here has the option to go out and buy a computer program already that contains 20 to 30 slot/pachinko games on it. But for the most part we don't. We still buy are pachi's. Why? I would like to think it is the machanical operation that is involved with them. Think about it. We could save $1000's.....but we don't.

I think this switch to this type off machine will back fire on them. Why go to a casino to play a computer game? You can do that at home online. I think that the casino's that stay with the traditional machines will be the ones that win in the end.

**Tulsa** · 08-16-2005, 07:36 PM

I totally agree with you John. They are seriously missing the market by going this way. I can gamble at home online with this kind of garbage. I want the real thing, the real experience. I don't want some computer generated mockup.

**Dazzyman** · 08-16-2005, 08:27 PM

It just doesnt work. They tried it with the pinball market with pin2000 (and recently full video pin machines) and noone is intrested. There are just some things u cant recreate on a computer as well.