The individuals who make the decisions on planning a casino slot floor have an important job. They need to purchase good machines (months in advance of receiving them). They need to order the right payback percentage (to match the objectives of the casino. They need need the right mix of denominations ... and they need to locate them in a spot where they will be played.

At best ... when this is done well, you will increase business, and lure patrons to your casino.

Setting the the denomination for a machine requires a basic understanding of the slot in question. For example, on a recent trip to the Bariie (Ontario) Racetrack slots (in Canada), I witnessed a number of "Goldfish" machines, some of the most popular machines at Fallsview Casino (Niagara Falls, Ontario) and Seneca (Niagara Falls, New York) sitting idol throughout most of the day. Curious, on an otherwise busy day. The "Goldfish" game really requires a 20-line bet, and a 10-coin top-up to qualify for the extra bonus rounds (30 credits total). In Fallsview and Seneca, these were 2-cent and 1-cent machines (or 60-cent / 30-cent) to cover all lines+bonus. In Barrie, it was a nickel machine ($1.50 to cover all lines+bonus). The fallsview and Seneca were multi-denom machines ... so they could also accomodate a nickel slot player ... however, the Barrie machine was fixed at 5-cents. Why?

Take the example of IGT's "Carnival of Mystery". As a 1-cent or 2-cent machine, it can be a fun game. As a 5-cent machine, it's over $1.25 to minimally cover all lines. At Mohawk Raceway casino (near Milton, Ontario), it is a 25-cent machine -- or a minimum of $6.25 per spin, at minimum, to cover all lines. Does it surprise anyone that nobody is every playing this machine? In the same line are a number of newer IGT titles which also do not get played for the same reason. There are also 10 Atronic machines, like "The Wild Bunch" which would have been popular as nickel machines, but are rarely played as quarter machines. A new machine should do plenty of business in the first 3 months ... not sit empty on the slot floor -- clue ... someone ... anyone ... the denomination is not working! Try something else. Also at Mohawk, the popular, "Texas Tea" machine has never been anything but a quarter machine at this casino.

Take, Casino Lac Lemey (in Hull, Quebec, Canada), they have the Konami game, "Billionaires" -- a 9-line game, in 1-cent denominations. So, 9-cents to cover all the paylines. Even if you play 27-cents, it's tough to win anything substantial in the game. In this case, the low denomination does not make any sense for the game. On the other end of the scale, Grand River Slots (Elora, Ontario), had a "Billionaires" machine they removed in the winter of 2008 (presumably because it was underpeforming other Konami games). The reason? You could play 1x, 10x, 20x, 30x, 40x times the line bet -- so it jumped from a 45-cent total bet, to a $4.50 total bet by just switching to the next button. Yes, I think this was an error in the configuration ... but nobody noticed ... and maybe, nobody cares (except from of the players).

Slot Managers, please examine the number of $1 dollar 20-line slots you have on your slot floor -- do you have enough high rollers to justify $20 to $100 spins? Many modern, volitile slots can swallow $20 on a nickel machine in 5 minutes. How much fast do you want to vacuum the money out of our wallets?

I suggest you give the people what they want to play -- low denom. You can always bet more lines, but you can't bet less ... unless it is a multi-denomination machine. If multi-denom is an option, use it!

Slot players are resigned to the fact they are going to lose over the long haul. It is a slot manager's job to give us a positive experience while doing it. If you are going to take our money, you owe us that much.

/\/\/\/\ the Shamus /\/\/\/\