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Keeping up with the latest slot machine technology

6/2/08 Hopefully an informed gambler is less likely to develop into a gambling addict, and information can help those already addicted. That's why it is important to keep abreast of the latest technology which casinos will be using in the near future to separate customers from their money. Here's what we can expect from slot machines over the next few years.

The first slot machines, of course, were mechanical marvels. When I was a child we had a 25 cent slot machine in our basement that my father got from someone (I never found out who) and I spent hours trying to take it apart and figure out how it worked. There were hundred of gears inside which whirred, clicked and turned when you pulled the arm.

In the early 1990s slots went digital. Even now these $12,000 slot machines are pretty basic as far as modern day computers go. They use a standard random number generator in each machine and the graphics are uninspired when compared to video games.

Here's what an investment website has to say about what's coming:

... the biggest change the slots industry has ever seen is coming soon, thanks to a tiny part on the back of every machine: the networking port. Much as Ethernet changed PCs from stand-alone terminals to local networks and broadband Internet changed everything else, the full-scale networking of the slot machine will reshape the largest profit stream in the casino business.

Networked slots began appearing in the late 1990s, but they were crude with casinos linking banks of machines over secure phone lines and sometimes networking slots from other casinos in different cities. Also, casinos used networks to monitor activity. But the networking didn't’t go two-way until 2006 when the Nevada Gaming Commission changed its rules to allow casino operators to use a central computer to change a game’s theme, denominations or payout percentages with a few mouse clicks. Previously, casinos had to open up each cage and program the read-only memory module by hand.

Testing has now begun on networks that push games and information out to slot machines, allowing a nearly unlimited array of moneymaking choices. While the house take falls within a band spelled out by state regulators, typically between 4% and 6%, casino’s can switch games and odds based on time of day, overall floor activity or even personal information pulled from the player’s loyalty card. See link

All slot machine players need to know that they are playing a game that is stacked against them far more than any other game in the casino where odds cannot be manipulated. The way a slot machine can be programmed is analogous to the casino being able to decide which cards to put in a came of blackjack.

Gamblers should play slots only for fun, and fully understand that part of the fun is anticipating the remote chance that they will ever win more than they've already invested in trying to win.

Knowing that a computer in a back room somewhere is increasing their odds a percentage point because it is monitoring their play - if this ends up being legal - is an additional piece of information that gamblers should know so they can add up just how long they have to play and how much they have to spend to "earn" that percentage point.

Bottom line is that while the house doesn't always win, if the website I quoted is correct, you are far more likely to make money if you invest in the company making these next generation slot machines than in playing them.