WHO'S THE FOOL ? ? ?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/10/12/g2e-the-slot-floor-vs-the-lack-of-table-game-block.aspx

Are you aware that article refers to the G2E from 2011?

Maybe the author feels differently about the games offered this year....

You don't really believe that, do you Teddy. REALLY ?

Quote: Buzzard

You don't really believe that, do you Teddy. REALLY ?

That's not Teddy. That's DJT, Mr. Bear, DJ, Mr. Miller, Reverend, Reverend Miller, etc

Teddy is Teddys

An obsolete article but not an obsolete issue.

Eons ago a trip to Vegas meant craps, peanuts, sawdust and if you were lucky a wave from Benny Binion. Oh sure things have changed. Benny Binion cleaned up the sawdust and put down carpets, brought in good steak houses and top shelf booze. We all know craps tables were ripped out to make way for Blackjack tables in the post-Thorpe days of everybody going to Vegas to get rich counting cards at Blackjack after having read a best seller about it and practiced for a week in his basement recreation room.

Slots were originally looked down upon by real gamblers, but those one armed bandits sure pulled in alot of quarters and the green eye shade types started noticing how many people liked slot machines and how few demands they ever made for raises or health benefits. Pretty soon the casino career dead enders who manages slot departments were suddenly the casino career bright young men who were on the fast track to super managerial jobs.

The experience of table games and slot play has changed markedly. So too has the profile of the ordinary Vegas visitor. For many the word gambling embraces only slot machines but the word casino embraces a variety of games and devices. Gambling is no longer a Vegas restricted activity.

Gambling is now all over the map and casinos looking for the next ore-bearing load will look anywhere and everywhere. Just as gambling has boomed geographically it has boomed economically to embrace any sort of game that the public might have the slightest desire of embracing. Group slots, community slots, latest this, greatest that, ... it all counts toward the goal of getting a chance at bat so as to have a chance to hit a home run.

Innovation? For a long time its been focused on casino-support matters. Chip muckers, chip trackers, one-write casino accounting, ... now innovation is being focused on the casino itself, not just the accounting area.

Is this Innovation born of desperation? Perhaps. Gambling has changed. Vegas has changed. Casinos have changed. The average slot machine has changed, the average slot player has changed. Its time for the Table Games to see if they can change too.

Quote: Buzzard

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/10/12/g2e-the-slot-floor-vs-the-lack-of-table-game-block.aspx

I remember going to Las Vegas for the G2E expo when my invention was being demo'ed. The place is huge and lots of prototypes just never make it to the market.

It's really hard for small or one-off game inventors; in my case, I spent over $20,000 in legal bills before I saw a dime from my invention. Unless the game inventor is willing to contribute equity to bringing out the game, (from my experience) the manufacturer is not going to put a lot of money behind the idea unless it takes off. In my case, I wouldn't be surprised if the slot manufacturer had already sunk in $250,000 to bring the game to market.

I wanted to patent more of my ideas, but sinking $10,000 to $15,000 on a patent filing is out of the question since it is a huge gamble. Then you have the issue of marketing the patent or patent filing to the slot manufacturer. That doesn't included $5,000 easily for a competent game analysis (the going rate when my invention came out was $5K to $7K to have a game analyzed).

In my case, I had a slot manufacturer coming after me so I was lucky.

Even though it's from 2011, the writer's intelligence matches the website name... fool. He says... "But in terms of actual game creation, the fact is that there hasn't been a blockbuster table game since blackjack." That's the dumbest thing I've heard in a long time. If a game makes it to just about every Casino in the World (Country at least), is that not pretty darn good? Three Card Poker wasn't/isn't a blockbuster? Pai Gow Poker wasn't a blockbuster? Baccarrat isn't a blockbuster?

Yes, table games inovation has lagged behind slots, but that doesn't mean you can ignore the facts. To be fair you have to compare the whole slot floor as "slots" and the entire Pit as table games. Slot machines are the base of the slot floor and are comparable to blackjack in the Pit. They are the mainstays of the departments. Within both of those sections there are many, many variations. 5 reel, 3 reel, 1 line, 3 line, 5 line, 27 line slots,, video, non video, etc. and just as many different blackjack rules and side bets.

Then on the slot floor there are other typles of games that mostly come and go. Horse/Dog Racing, put you quarter in and hope to knock off a bunch more quarters off the ledge, Deal or No Deal, etc all come and go. In the Pit there are the Carnival games (except for a rare few) that come and go. When games slow down, they get removed.

How many slot machines or other electronic floor games have been around for the amount of time Three Card Poker, Let it Ride and Pai Gow Poker have? Where's the blockbuster in slots that's been on the floor for 20 years? No such thing. I guess maybe Red/White/Blue as a theme might be close.

The write obviously has no clue what he is talking about and probably roamed around the show looking at the lights, the Playboy Bunnies and Paris Hilton in 2011.

ZCore13

An obsolete article but not an obsolete issue.

I will admit I did not think TITO would be a big deal. Was I ever wrong. Gone is the change girl, hard count team, coin wrap machines, dollar slugs, etc. Plus no more hopper fills, coin jams at the bar machines. What a cut in expenses for the slot side of the house.

Plus comps are calculated in slots by the slots themselves. At table games , it's more an educated guess than anything else. Handing a card in, trying to get it back sometimes, different rules by different bosses in same pit, etc. Just as successful casinos have sucess comp programs, so does table games once again fall behind slots.

Plus there is no vacation schedule, labor troubles, etc with machines. And a new patron can sit down with a $20 bill at penny slots and last a while.

Take that same $20 bill to a $5 bj table ( if you can find one ) and boom, bye bye in 2 minutes too often. Most of the poker variants with ante bets, pair, main bet , etc, bye bye even sooner. No easy answer, but helps explain why in 60's table revenues versus slots
70/30. Now those numbers are reversed.

Check out the grey haired players at a real roulette or craps table , versus the young crowd around digital or bubble versions of the same games.

Quote: odiousgambit

That's not Teddy. That's DJT, Mr. Bear, DJ, Mr. Miller, Reverend, Reverend Miller, etc

Teddy is Teddys

Teddys is Teddys I knew that.

Quote: Buzzard

I will admit I did not think TITO would be a big deal. Was I ever wrong. Gone is the change girl,....

Frankly, I'd like to see TITO used for the large "hand-pay" transactions.

I.E. When you get a large win, have the machine spit out a special ticket that indicates that you need to go to the cage with ID to collect a tax form with your winnings.

Phase 2 would be for the cage to have the tax form already printed by the time you get to the cage. It would use N&A the info on the player's card that was inserted when the machine hit.

Quote: odiousgambit

That's not Teddy. That's DJT, Mr. Bear, DJ, Mr. Miller, Reverend, Reverend Miller, etc

Teddy is Teddys

"Teddy" can be Teddys, or me.

Make a note: Buzz is right.

In this case, because I posted, and Buzz was resonding to my post, (and Teddys hasn't said a word in this thread yet), then "Teddy" is me.

Still feels strange to leave a casino with change in my pocket. But then I can remember early 70's and first ATM machine on Charles Street in Baltimore. And thinking " I am gonna get money right out where the muggers can see me. No way ! "