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Server Based Slots Machines
Approved in Nevada

By Bill Burton, About.com
In April 2007 the Nevada Gaming Regulators approved International Game Technology’s sever-based gaming system following field testing of 20 machines. The server based slots are also called downloadable slots are the wave of the future for the gaming industry. I first saw the demonstration of this technology a few years ago at the Global Gaming Expo, the annual trade show for the gaming industry. The decision by the Nevada board means that the machines could start finding their way onto the casino floors in the future although one report said it won’t happen until around 2009.

Although the commission approved IGT’s system they are not the only slot maker with sever based technology. WMS and Bally’s have been spending millions of dollars in research and development of similar systems and it is only a matter of time until they get approval as well.

How It Works
Server based slot games are connected to a central computer system. The “slot machines” on the casino floor are generic terminals. Different slot games can be downloaded into the slot cabinets. Slot managers will have the ability to change a slot machine's games, denominations, bonus payouts and promotions from a central computer server rather than requiring technicians to perform the work manually. Instead of having to buy a slot game that could go out of favor with the players the server based system lets the casino have the ability to switch a game with a new one in a matter of seconds.

A Myth Comes True
For years slot players have believed a myth 1 that the casinos could change the payback of a machine with the flip of a switch. They worried that the casino could tighten the machines during busy times such as weekends and then loosen them up to pay more during the week. With the new server based system this myth could actually become a reality as they can change the payback of the machines through the server.

A Slow Transition
The decision by the Nevada board means that the machines could start finding their way onto the casino floors in the future although one report said it won’t happen until around 2009. Gaming analysts said the casino industry remains interested in server-based gaming but are unsure how much slot machine floor space they'll give the games. A survey of slot managers by Goldman Sachs found that casino operators are only willing to initially devote about a quarter of their slot floor to the new machines.

The final test of this new technology will lie in the hands of the players. If they do not accept and trust the new “terminal games” then the casinos will not be in a hurry to convert their casino floors to the new system. Only time will tell.

Only time will tell   :30- :30- :30- :30-  Server Based Slot Machines are a joke !!!!


“One-armed bandits poised to get gamblers a drink or tickets to a show”

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=215&objectid=104278255:00AM (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=215&objectid=104278255:00AM)

By Oliver Staley

In the casino of the future, slot machines might recognise gamblers by name, take their drink orders and sell them tickets to a show.

Behind the scenes, the slots would be linked to a central server computer that would allow operators to instantly adjust the odds or the minimum bet from, say, 5c to 25c.

Manufacturers tout the new technology, aimed for delivery in 2009, as the biggest innovation since the lever that gave one-armed bandits their name. Yet casino operators and players aren’t so sure. They say the devices may not pay for themselves, and they’re wary of a technology geared so much to the individuals that it might scare off customers.

As much as US$10 billion ($14.6 billion) - the cost of replacing all 800,000 US slot machines - may be at stake. Casinos will benefit, the makers say, because gamblers will play longer and spend more.

“I consider where we are in the casino industry today is where the internet was seven years ago,” says Jeff Allen, director of business development at Las Vegas-based Bally Technologies, the second-biggest US slot maker.

“Once you have all the gaming technologies in place, you’ll be able to change the gaming experience much faster than you can today, and that is revolutionary.”

Slots are crucial to the casino industry. They generate more than three-quarters of the US$55 billion in US annual gambling revenue. At SkyCity’s Auckland casino, slot machines brought in $98.3 million in the six months to December 31 last year, 60 per cent of total gaming revenue. That’s one reason casino operators are cautious.

“Guest tracking can be a creepy thing,” Tim Stanley, chief information officer at Harrah’s Entertainment, said at an industry convention in November. “Not everyone wants you to know their name.”

Gamblers already are suspicious of the house’s ability to tinker with the odds, says Susan Fisher, slot manager at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon, which has 1250 slot machines.

“We’ll have to convince them that it’s in their best interest, and that won’t be easy,” she says.

Slot-machine manufacturers say these concerns are overblown. Brian Gamache, chief executive officer of Waukegan, Illinois-based WMS Industries, says he heard the same worries when the US industry switched four years ago to cashless slot machines that used pre-paid tickets.

“I was told it would never work because people wanted to hear money in the slot machines,” Gamache says. “The players will get used to it, and at the end of the day, the casinos will have a better experience.”

One of the biggest advantages to server-based slots is the ability to make gamblers feel welcome in the same way high-rollers are greeted by casino hosts, Gamache says.

International Gaming Technology, the biggest slot maker, demonstrated a model at an industry convention in Las Vegas last November that let players who inserted their membership card see a menu addressing them by name.

Through a touch screen, the player could order a drink to be delivered by a cocktail waitress.

Ultimately, the technology used in creating the games is crucial, says Steven Zanella, vice-president of slots at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas’s largest casino.

“The games are the most important aspect,” he says. “If they don’t want to play them, server-based gaming isn’t going anywhere.”

Slot makers pull together
New way of controlling machines forces competitors to cooperate

(http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2008/04/28/scaled.080429SUN-MGM_computer_web_t651.jpg?f88c8649bbadbb805ebb7b1c2020cc5b10765421)




By Liz Benston


As steel girders and shimmering glass define the exterior of the rising CityCenter, slot machine engineers and computer techies behind the scene are trying to figure out how to wire the casino of the future.

Their new slot machines will allow you to easily pick from a huge menu of games, order drinks, print show tickets and compete against others for jackpots — nice features for players.

But these devices also will let the house raise or lower the stakes as well as adjust payout percentages, depending on time of day or which convention is in town. That’s a sweet feature for the casino boss but might unsettle players.

This new-generation casino won’t have the thousands of free-standing boxes with hard-to-swap-out computer chips that fill today’s casinos. Instead, it will be filled with slot machines behaving like a network of personal computers with high-speed Internet access, linked to a computer server in a back office that will give players and the house alike unprecedented control over the slots.

Creating this new casino has required slot machine manufacturers to share protocols and specifications so their products can be networked, just as computer game makers agree on technical issues so their games can be played on the Internet.

“This is probably the most cooperative we’ve been in the industry,” said Ed Rogich, vice president of marketing for International Game Technology, the giant slot machine maker chosen by MGM Mirage to develop the computer server system at CityCenter. “And we’re doing this because we all realize this has great potential for our futures.”

Historically, slot machines have been governed by a discretely programmed computer chips in each device. To change a game, denomination or payback percentage, technicians must manually change the chip, which can take hours.

With souped-up hard drives and large bandwidth wires connecting to back-office servers, the new systems allow casino bosses to download games and other features within minutes, at the touch of a button.

Surely the biggest question among slot players: If my machine is red hot and I’m on a roll, will lights and sirens go off in the back office so management can cool the machine?

We’ll get to that.

The race to build server-based applications had been bumpy before companies agreed to cooperate. Concern over incompatible systems forced competitors that battle fiercely for business and often sue one another for patent infringement to work toward an industry standard that has yet to be proved. Major slot manufacturers are devising compatible server-based systems and games in the hope that casinos will be able to mix and match components.

CityCenter probably won’t be the first big casino to deploy slot machines networked on computer servers. Existing casinos are retrofitting their wiring systems to prepare to phase in the devices as they become available.

IGT doesn’t expect the server-based technology to be firing on all cylinders until after the still-unnamed casino in CityCenter is scheduled to open in 2009.

That’s partly because each version of a system and each application of it will require regulatory approval — a process that could take months or years. Also, casinos are reluctant to roll out new applications — especially on opening night — before testing them on a small scale first.

IGT began testing one of the first server-based systems four years ago at the Barona Indian casino outside San Diego and has introduced the technology with a small group of games at the MGM Grand casino in Detroit and a sister casino, Treasure Island, on the Strip.

The Pechanga Indian casino in Temecula, Calif., has installed a large bandwidth system capable of networking 4,300 slot machines and will introduce the new components as they become available.

Nevada adopted the first set of regulations for server-based gaming in 2005 and added to those regulations last year.

Although there doesn’t seem to be much controversy over the ability of a casino to change slot machine games at the push of a button — already, players frequently can select from a smaller menu of game options on the free-standing slot machines — there is more buzz about casino managers’ ability to change the games’ payback as well as the denominations of the games.

To prevent changes during play, the Gaming Control Board requires that a slot machine be inactive for at least four minutes before any aspect of a game can be altered from a casino’s central server. After the four minutes have elapsed, the machine would go into an inactive mode for another four minutes. During this time, the device would display a message notifying players that the game was being modified.

Bill McBeath, president and chief operating officer of CityCenter’s hotel-casino, says the technology will make the slot manager’s job, which is largely a trial-and-error process of regularly changing and testing new slot machines, much easier.

A casino could change some of its slot games during the week to video poker games, which are more poplar among locals. Casinos could change penny or quarter machines to dollar machines in anticipation of bigger crowds on weekends, much as they adjust table game limits, he said.

“Managing your floor is an art,” said McBeath, who ran the Bellagio, Mirage and Treasure Island casinos. “You want your floor to be dynamic. You want people who frequent your facility to see new product each time they visit.”

Hay here is a free comp for dinner we will hold your game for you in till you get back in 30 mins or so  :30- :30- :30- :30- :30-

(http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/img/photos/2008/04/28/scaled.080429_citycenter_slotmachines_t652.jpg?1b9ad394c43bb038fa9e51a462e45d6568471167)

Like the article said... Only time will tell.  I can tell you this:  I will not be playing this type of system any time soon.   I would rather stay home and play with myself.   This way I know the odds and always have a good time.

I agree!

 :72- :72- :72- :72-

Dan #2

 :97- :97- :97- :97- :97-  I'd say the odds would guarantee about a 100% success rate given your statement... :30- :30- :24- :24- 
:126- :109-    You might want to rephrase that!   :160-   :30- :5- :5- :5- :127-

Then again, on the other hand...  (ouch!  :125-)   :96-  :96-      I second Dan #2  :72- :72- :72- :72-

That is funny! Happy New Year everyone!

From what I know of server based games is % changes will be tightly regulated by gaming authorities, as they are now, ie percentages can't be changed w/o gaming official there to verify what comes out and what goes in. I'm sure they'll do this with some password of some sorts, at least the GC's won't have to walk around the casino floors and stand by each and every machine.

And there's some sort of time limit or such. Game %'s can't be changed while credits are on the machine and/or xx amount of minutes have passed since any activity on the machine, such as pushing the help button, change button, game play, ticket print, cash in, etc.

I looked over some server based games just yesterday, completely ruins the game experience for me, no pretty glass to look at or anything, just a video screen with a picture.

I also had a gander at the ReelDepth games, I can say the literature made them sound much more interesting than they turned out to be, unless I just saw a bunk theme.

Are Spielo Powerstation machines server based?

I'm not 100% positive, but I think that Spielo only does video lottery terminals (VLTs) which are essentially video versions of lottery scratch-off games.  When you press "spin", the terminal contacts a central computer, gets a virtual scratch-off ticket from the virtual drum of tickets, and then displays the results on your screen in the form of a slot machine outcome or a video poker outcome.

My understanding of it was that changes could be made by the casino, and all they had to do was file some paperwork on the change which would be sent to the gaming commission.  Essentially, change a payout percentage, make a note of it and add it to the pile of papers.

What I would like to see is a "Fantasy Slot" type of machine.  Your IGT, Bally, or Williams slot at home would have an RJ-45 ethernet jack on the back of it hooked to the MPU. Then you could do the following things:

-Play the slot machine remotely from home
-Have a Linked progressive over the Internet with other friendly users. You could pick the network that you wanted to login to depending on the progressive total at that moment
-The web page interface would allow the home user to login to the slot from a web page and check totals, clear errors, do diagnostics, etc.

    I don't thing such a system exists for home users of slots. It would be fun though.  You could even turn the slot machine on /off over the Web! If anyone has comments, please let me know.

This type of interface doesn't exist for slots period - house or casino based.

The SAS protocol allows collection of some info and possible EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) so you could theoretically put credits on the machine, but no web interface allows you to play them remotely or perform remote diags.

The Mikohn Interface uses RS422 to send data from a CON1/CON2 to the remote display device. It sends the value out about 6 times per second.
I have been playing with a Lantronics device that allows me to take RS422 and convert it to ethernet. Using a program that comes with it I can get the value on the screen of my PC. Theoretically I could read this from anywhere over the web (if I didn't have a firewall in place). The next step is to write some VB code. Using 2 or more of these things I could write a program to collect the progressive values from everyone. This could then be fed back to Joey as a RSS feed and posted on NLG. We could report the top 10 progressives or add them together etc...I could not do this from a ChamII+.

What I would not have control over is the % contiributon, base value etc...as I am only able to capture the output from the display. I also have not figured out a way to take the aggregate amount and feed it back into the progresive.