Inserting Thousands of Dollars into a Machine

In his article today , Bob Dancer talks about a friend who lost $12 grand in 8 hours on VP machine. Is there a way to get thousands of dollars into the machines without just pushing in one note after another? I have seen $500 slot machines before, I can't imagine that the kind of person willing to bet that much would put 5, 10, or 15 bills into the acceptor for each pull of the handle. Can they load the machine up with credits electronically as they accept a marker? Does a $25+ VP player like Dancer really put all those bills into the machine every time they want to play?

What I find to be the most amazing thing in that article is this: "He played on the 25¢/50¢/$1 Fifty Play machine. He didn't play all fifty lines. Even at the 25¢ denomination that would cost $62.50 per play and that was WAY outside of his comfort zone."

Here's a guy who has 20 grand of disposable income to use for one day's worth of gambling and $62.50 per play is "WAY outside his comfort zone"?? Gimme a bleepin' break.

Better yet, gimme the 20 grand. I would go for $62.50 a pull without blinking an eye.

Yes, they can load up the machines for credit play with a marker. For this type of play ($25 a throw in quarters), it wouldn't be hard to just insert $500 or so at a time. Bet he felt sick feeding in all those hundreds, though :(

I think he was making a calculated risk based on his bankroll. At $62.50 a play, he has a very high chance of going bust. He is in it for the long run (to collect cashback), so he has to choose an amount that will allow him to last long enough to collect.

I know right? how sick would you be if you had a wad of $12000 in your pocket and went home empty handed after making an advantage play. But I guess that it happens all the time for guys like this.

It would be fairly simply to load up 120 $100 bills over 8 hours and go nuts at $62.50 a pop.

I've lost $300 in about an 90 minutes on a .50 DDB at $2.50 a pop. It's not difficult. You wait for the 4 of a kind that never comes.

There are provisions in the Slot Accounting System (SAS) protocol that permit electronic transfer to a game, but I've never seen that in action. I've also heard of people purchasing tickets at the cage so they can insert a large amount of money at one time.

I would have assumed that you go to the cage with cash or get a marker, and they give you a TITO ticket for your large amount.

Very simple.

I know someone who has a marker and just gets twenty $10,000 cashout tickets at the cage and then uses them to play the machines.

Quote: Switch

I know someone who has a marker and just gets twenty $10,000 cashout tickets at the cage and then uses them to play the machines.

Makes sense. Don't lose that ticket! BTW, what game would you need to buy in for $200,000? $100 VP?

Quote: bigfoot66

Don't lose that ticket!

Good advice! I wonder how much of a negotiable instrument slot tickets are. Somebody posted here about getting their ticket reprinted when they were lost or stolen. I suppose it depends on the graces of the casino. I don't think civil law would protect the parties.

Quote: teddys

Good advice! I wonder how much of a negotiable instrument slot tickets are. Somebody posted here about getting their ticket reprinted when they were lost or stolen. I suppose it depends on the graces of the casino. I don't think civil law would protect the parties.

I would think that you would have some trouble cashing a $10,000 slot ticket because of reporting requirements, but even one for $9,500 would likely be trouble, just like cashing $5000 chips would probably get you some attention at the cage. If the ticket is given to you from a marker, aren't you expected to give the borrowed money back immediately if you win? If I give them a marker for $20,000 and win $10,000, I would think that they would frown on me trying to cash the whole $30,000 and go home right? They would shred my marker and give me $10,000 right? I wonder if the same thing would apply to a big TITO ticket that was borrowed from the casino.

Edited for clarity

Quote: bigfoot66

I would think that you would have some trouble cashing a $10,000 slot ticket because of reporting requirements, but even one for $9,500 would likely be trouble, just like cashing $5000 chips would probably get you some attention at the cage. If the ticket is given to you from a marker, aren't you expected to give the borrowed money back immediately if you win? If I give them a marker for $20,000 and win $10,000, I would think that they would frown on me trying to cash the whole $30,000 and go home right? They would shred my marker and give me $10,000 right? I wonder if the same thing would apply to a big TITO ticket that was borrowed from the casino.

Edited for clarity

No. Taking a marker down is completely at the player's discretion. The casino might be happier presenting it to your bank to get the funds, if it means you would play more, (to give the house edge a chance to whittle your winnings down).

Quote: teddys

I think he was making a calculated risk based on his bankroll. At $62.50 a play, he has a very high chance of going bust.

Not really. Assuming, he was playing one of those +0.71% games, with 12K bankroll, he should be betting about $85 every hand according to Kelly criterion.

Quote: bigfoot66

Makes sense. Don't lose that ticket! BTW, what game would you need to buy in for $200,000? $100 VP?

He plays up to $5,000 per spin on regular slots.

Quote: bigfoot66

In his article today , Bob Dancer talks about a friend who lost $12 grand in 8 hours on VP machine. Is there a way to get thousands of dollars into the machines without just pushing in one note after another? I have seen $500 slot machines before, I can't imagine that the kind of person willing to bet that much would put 5, 10, or 15 bills into the acceptor for each pull of the handle. Can they load the machine up with credits electronically as they accept a marker? Does a $25+ VP player like Dancer really put all those bills into the machine every time they want to play?

That's a $100 bill every 4 minutes. What, 5 seconds? It seems possible to me.

Quote: bigfoot66

Is there a way to get thousands of dollars into the machines without just pushing in one note after another?

Even if you don't use a credit line, most higher-end casinos these days will let you hand them a big wad of cash - and ID and a players card for the reporting requirements - and give you back one or more large purchase tickets, which you can then feed into the machine.

If they don't have that ability, or if you don't want to deal with them... well, you suck it up. Shoving ten bills into a machine only takes a minute or two. If you lose it, well, you get a little break from the VP action to shove in ten more. Or you use the adjacent machine as well, and shove ten bills into each of them before cashing out on one and putting the $1000 ticket into the other one for $2000 total. If the machine you want to play has an old or picky bill acceptor, you quickly find out which nearby machines - usually a penny slot - are new and have fast bill acceptors, and use those to make tickets to feed into the machine you're playing.

High-level players also spend a lot of their time waiting for W2Gs on $1200+ payouts. You can use that time to turn cash into tickets on a nearby machine.

In extreme cases, you can bring a friend along and hand them a strap of $10k and ask them to make you some tickets while you're playing on your first couple thousand. At that level you're probably getting excellent comps, and said friend is probably about to get treated to a really nice dinner, so they can cope with doing a little busywork.

Of course, all this assumes that you want to play as fast as possible. I've seen recreational players who were perfectly content to play maybe 40 hands an hour on a high-denomination machine, between the bill-feeding and the jackpot pays, while smoking their cigar and sipping complimentary expensive drinks.

In most high limit slot rooms you can give them as much cash as you wish, where they will count it quickly, and give you tickets in any denomination you wish.