In a message dated 8/10/2005 10:12:10 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
jbqueru@gmail.com writes:
-Worst case for them, if the 20 machines are played perfectly as
dollar FPDW 24/7 at 800HPH, the average cost will be $2.6M over a
year. Certainly not pocket change, but their marketing department must
have figured that the move will bring them enough in other profit to
compensate. And if things go wrong they can easily revert to another
pay table.
The above scenario happened circa 1991 when Caesars Palace still had exactly
thirteen (13) 25c FPDW machines. Around that same time, they initiated a
cashback and comp slot club where once you earned 50,000 pts, you were playing on
a 1% card. In addition you were given a battery of gifts leading up to a
Gucci watch and invited to free parties, tournaments, etc.
As the news spread, the machines were being played 24/7 and usually by expert
players. It didn't take long for the bean counters to see that they were
making very little profit on the machines. The bubble burst one morning as the
"regulars" came in to a new pay table. Up until then, it was difficult to get
a empty machine and many of us were coming in at 3 a.m. and with some
pre-arrangement were relieving someone who worked the evening hours and then hand off
to someone else about 6 - 8 hours later.
We also said that IF there were more machines (50 - 100), the "drop" would be
intermingled with amateur play and not be as obvious to the house. Some new
properties (remember the Monte Carlo) started with positive machines but got
such heavy play, they hardly lasted a month after opening.
Such is the fate when a good play appears.
Anteroz
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