ways slot machines are changing at casinos

Slot players have a much better understanding of slot machines and their mechanics than they have in the past, Hanlin said.

 Slot players have a much better understanding of slot machines, Hanlin said.   Among the reasons why?   Youtube, where personalities have made thousands of videos showing off games and testing out their bonus rounds.

 Hanlin said needing to have a pulse on slot bloggers and YouTubers was unheard of five years ago for manufacturers.

 “But nowadays there is a groundswell of players out there who know the different manufacturers, who know the key mechanics in all the games and who have kind of evolved their knowledge of the games,” he said.

 They also recognize the branding of various slot machine manufacturers.

 “People know Aristocrat games,” he said.   “They have a built up expectation and we have to deliver to that.”

 But Aristocrat has also seized on the organic marketing.   When it released its new game Cashman Bingo in northern Nevada late last year, the game quickly showed up in YouTube videos, which Aristocrat shared on its social channels to drum up support.

 He stated, "We could raise that in that arena and get more player-based demand." Cashless technology for slot play is a technology that multiple gaming companies are developing.

 Among them is IGT, which has a Resort Wallet feature in which people load money onto an account that can be accessed through an app on their phone when at a casino.

 There are a variety of ways that they can load funds into their account, including paying a cashier at a designated location within the casino or transferring funds electronically through their bank account, debit card or credit using the connected IGTPay feature.   They can load money onto their accounts from anywhere, even before they arrive at the casino. Check out Dora55. 

 IGT's director of product management for systems, Michael Ratner, who specializes in cashless technology, stated that cashless gambling is something IGT has had at some level for the past two decades. However, as consumer behaviors shift away from handling physical cash, there has been increased focus on cashless technology and getting it into casinos. He said the pandemic has made consumers think about whether they want to handle cash or touch certain surfaces.   Beyond that, he said, cashless technology was already being heavily used by other businesses even before the pandemic.

 Ratner stated that he believes cashless technology will begin to gain traction and remain a payment option as consumers begin to realize that using a phone app to deposit money into slot machines is comparable to paying for a latte at Starbucks.