\n(Bloomberg) \u2014 U.S. casinos are making it tougher for players to win at the slot machines, and that\u2019s led to less betting.<\/p>\n
\tThe portion of slot wagers kept by casinos rose to 7.7 percent last year from 7.25 percent in 2007, the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers said in a report this week. The total amount bet on the machines fell to $291 billion from a peak of $355 billion over that span.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cSlots have been tightening slowly over time,\u201d Marcus Prater, executive director of the association, said in an interview. \u201cThere is a theory out there that when people have a bad experience, they\u2019re not as likely to come back.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tThe criticism by slot makers of their biggest customers underscores the changes roiling the industry. Casinos have been wrestling with weakness in betting since the Great Recession sapped the disposable income of consumers. They\u2019ve removed machines and emphasized non-gambling amenities like restaurants and nightclubs to make up for lost revenue.<\/p>\n
\tAt MGM Resorts International, the largest operator in Las Vegas, the number of slots at the company\u2019s nine largest, wholly owned casinos there fell 24 percent to 13,453 last year from 2007, according to filings. Caesars Entertainment Corp., the largest owner of casinos in the U.S., returned some 2,000 leased slot machines to manufacturers due to weaker performance, according to the company.<\/p>\n
\tAn MGM International spokesman said the company hasn\u2019t had time to review the report. Caesars didn\u2019t respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
\tFewer Players<\/p>\n
\tA particular concern among casino operators and slot- machine makers is that younger patrons are less inclined than their parents and grandparents to sit and bet on the devices. This year, Nevada authorized different types of machines that will let gamblers win partly based on their skills at playing games, rather than random luck.<\/p>\n
\tThe payouts on slot machines are set by casino operators, which historically competed by advertising that their slots were \u201clooser,\u201d meaning they offered better chances to win.<\/p>\n
\tNevada kept the lowest percentage at 6.4 percent last year, according to the report. Players in Iowa probably felt least lucky. Casinos in that state kept 9.4 percent.<\/p>\n
\tThe share of slot bets kept by casinos hit a low of just under 6 percent in 1996, according to the report. It has increased since then, most sharply between 2001 and 2007, a period in which personal income and total betting were rising.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cWhile economic conditions appear to be material factors in slot performance trends, there may be other factors impacting the industry\u2019s overall performance,\u201d according to the report.<\/p>\n
\tGoldman, Sachs & Co. analyst Steven Kent initiated coverage of the two largest players in the slot machine industry, International Game Technology Plc and Scientific Games Corp., with a sell recommendation on Aug. 18. He cited few new technologies that would increase sales, casino managers reducing their slot-machine purchases and heightened competition between manufacturers.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(Bloomberg) \u2014 U.S. casinos are making it tougher for players to win at the slot machines, and that\u2019s led to less betting. The portion of slot wagers kept by casinos rose to 7.7 percent last year from 7.25 percent in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9065","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-casino-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9065","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9065"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9065\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}