Pokies and Slot Machine Information

TITO takes over the world

March 11, 2007 on 12:30 pm | In Uncategorized |

TITO (Ticket in, ticket out) machines allow for the insertion of normal cash notes into slot machines, but will pay out any wins/credits held in the form of a barcoded ticket. This ticket can then be redeemed for cash at a cashier window, or inserted into another slot machine which is capable of reading it - transferring the balance to that new machine.

Any regular pokie punter knows how cumbersome - and noisy - coin based payouts can be. Not to mention the rather rancid coating left on your hands when dealing with large numbers of coins.

The steady march of technological progress in slot machine design will one day eliminate cash payouts completely. TITO is usurping cash pays in many US jurisdictions - and is encroaching rapidly on other markets.

The advantages for gaming venues are numerous. They don’t have to deal with coins at all. Coins are heavy, dirty and messy to deal with. Slot machine hoppers will often run out of coins to pay. Barcode ticket printers will run out of tickets as well, but not nearly as often. Replenishing them is also much simpler than lugging around suitcases full of coins. Payouts can also occur much more quickly. Punters can thus move from machine to machine faster - which means they can lose money faster as well. Additionally, the entire stored value of a ticket is entered into a machine instantly when the machine accepts it - no time consuming entry of coins or notes is required.

Players generally like TITO. Waiting for a hopper to pay out or be refilled is a chore which distracts from what they are there for - to play. Some slot machine designers have implemented simulated coin payout sounds while the tickets are printing - to provide a soothing pay experience reminiscent of the sound of coins spilling into the overflow tray.

Removing coin hoppers leaves a lot of vacant space inside a typical slot machine. It might be a handy location to build in something else of benefit to a player - bigger screens might come in handy.

The future of TITO is going to be interesting. At some point regulators will probably accede to the likely wishes of casinos and allow entirely cashless machines. You’ll be able to enter a credit/debit or stored value card and play directly from the credit available on it.

Mobile gaming is also taking off - perhaps you’ll even be able to wirelessly transfer credits from your mobile phone to a slot machine.

The most difficult management issue may be in reminding people to actually remove their card from a machine after they’ve finished playing. If you wander around venues now, there are a surprising number of player loyalty cards left in machines. People play, go and and leave their cards behind. Loyalty cards have only limited intrinsic value though. No doubt slot designers can implement audible and or visual warnings if a player attempts to leave a machine with a card still embedded.