There has been alot of talk about casinos downgrading VP machines to
increase profits. Since the paytable determines what the game will
pay out over the long haul, is this a change that can be made thru
the software, or is this more like a slot machine and actual chips
need to be swapped out, sealed and verified?
Rob
Rob,
The easy answer is yes. In fact, older, single-game machines need a chip swap-out making changing the paytables very expensive, as much as $2000 per machine.
New machines like IGT's GameKings have all the games and paytables built into the chip. Changing paytables involves a tech going to the machine's menu and removing the higher paytable (labelled "Dueces 100.8%" or something like that) and activating "Deuces 99.7%". The effect is to remove FPDW and add NSU. However, a lot of paperwork is involved and the cost ends up being on the order of $200 - 300 per machine. So this is not done capriciously or often.
A rather scary trend is to use the technology currently installed in VLT's in several states that has the machines as dumb terminals and all the software runs from a central server. This would permit a central entity to change the paytables or games on both slots and VP at will (subject to paperwork requirements from regulators). So far this is not being adopted by casinos but some manufacturers are pushing it.
Bill
At 04:34 PM 08/07/2003 +0000, you wrote:
There has been alot of talk about casinos downgrading VP machines to
increase profits. Since the paytable determines what the game will
pay out over the long haul, is this a change that can be made thru
the software, or is this more like a slot machine and actual chips
need to be swapped out, sealed and verified?Rob