Goodbye to one-arm bandits and clinking coins

Taking the coin out of the casino with cashless slot machines

The slot machine manufacturer, International Game Technology, has designed a cashless slot system that pays off with paper vouchers instead of coins. The system, known as EZ Pay, is already in use in some Nevada, Mississippi and American Indian casinos. With EZ Pay, gambler feed bills into a slot machine. When it's time to cash out, the machine would produce a bar-coded ticket voucher redeemable at the casino cage for cash or usable as credit in other machines. The ticket voucher also could be used on a subsequent trip to the casino.

The state Casino Control Commission is considering a request by Bally's Park Place Casino Hotel to install 50 of the machines for an indefinite test period.

Marcus Suan, vice president of slot marketing for Coast Resorts Inc., believes that "Everybody's going to be using this sooner or later." Coast Resorts Inc installed 1900 of the machines in its Suncoast Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas last September.

Casinos are in favor of the system as it reduces the amount of coin handling necessary to operate slot machines. By avoiding repeat refills of slot machine hoppers, a casino can save on labor costs and limit the amount of downtime.

Although EZ Pay machines do have an audio element that imitates the noise of dropping coins, patrons will most likely take a while to get used to the system, as they did to the bill feed.

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