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Small-Coin Slots Makes a Hit

Penny coins to slots are making a comeback. Just you thought voucher slots machines are dominating the casinos, you're wrong. Casinos are returning to low-denomination slots as technological ticket-in, ticket-out machines are making it more efficient and players tell operators they like the added entertainment time they offer for the same volume of play.

Low-denomination games are helping push revenue growth by raising coin-in play, building value for players and changing games to higher hold games. Lower-denominated games will continue to make up for a larger share of slot revenues and gaming space in the years to come.

Nevada regulators have approved Aristocrat Technologies, a U.S. subsidiary of Australia-based Aristocrat Leisure Limited, for its new progressive penny slot machines. They've also reached an agreement to place their machines in Coast Casino properties with a 45-day exclusive arrangement for off-Strip properties. For Aristocrat Leisure Limited, partnership with Coast Casino would be a great deal because of their compatibility on the more mature customer bases of frequent players.

Aristocrat offers up to $1 million payout on penny play, which operators are convinced will prove popular with players. Half of the slots Aristocrat is releasing are 2-cent or smaller denomination machines, while as much as 80% of the firm's portfolio features smaller denomination machines.

According to the firm, about 90% of slot in some Australian markets are small-denominated machines. The company believes this trend would also accelerate in the United States.

Ticket-in, ticket-out technology makes penny machines technologically feasible and cost efficient for operators. According to the world's largest manufacturer of slot machines, Reno-based International Game Technology, penny progressives is the direction of the market is going, which explains their release of 2-cent slots like 'Beverly Hillbillies' and 'M*A*S*H'.

According to Coast Casinos, however, the return of penny slots wouldn't be possible without ticket-in, ticket-out technology because of the challenges to gamblers and it costs casinos bearing heavy coin volume. Boyd Gaming Corp, on the other hand, believed their company is witnessing an increasing demand for small-denomination slots in all jurisdictions where they operate casinos.

While a growing number of customers are getting used to ticket-in ticket-out technology and low-denomination slots, they would discover that the technology is a lot like ATMs and self-service at gas stations.

Nowadays, players usually bet from $1 to $1.50 per spin whenever they play the multiline or multicoin video slots. Before, it costs only 50 cents to 75 cents per spin. Nickels were later shunned. Today, they're making a comeback to casino operators and they are being marketed to customers by devoting large rooms of their casinos as paradise for penny slot players.