Managing a slot department by counting only the wagers received in the drop bucket can be compared

to managing a department store with no records or controls on inventory, sales transactions, or cash
handling. To tighten controls, operators sought counts on coins and tokens, and other information
concerning the wager as it entered and exited each machine. Thus, the attention of managers shifted
from simply providing the opportunity for the player to gamble, to counting and controlling the wager.

One tallied the number of times a slot machine game was played by counting the number of times the
handle was pulled. Another recorded the coin-in; the number of coins placed into the machine. Counting
coin-in provided an important management performance measure - the slot handle, or the dollar value
of the total number of coins wagered in the period. Besides the evolution in meters that track the
handle, other meters tally coin-out as the number of coins paid to a player for a jackpot or lesser pay-
out.

The drop meter tallies the number of coins that drop from the slot hopper to the drop bucket. Coin-out
and drop meters are incremented simultaneously when the output goes to both the player and the
house, as when the player receives a payoff of an amount less than that wagered. Some machines
employ additional meters, such as one to record the number of jackpots hit on the machine.

These mechanical meters evolved into electronic data sensors that counted the coins more accurately
and reliably. Later enhancements led to systems which instantaneously transmitted the count data to
the central slot accounting system. These counting sensors, together with more than I 00 data sensors,
comprise the very heart of current slot systems technology. Moreover, the simple electronic
transmission of data is not the only change. Today, to derive the handle, meters count more than coins,
they also must count currency and several types of vouchers put into the machine, changing the amount
of data necessary to track handle, and altering the complexity of the process (Motu, 1994b, p. 30).

to track handle, and altering the complexity of the process (Motu, 1994b, p. 30). This recent inclusion of
bill acceptors on slot machines has revolutionized slot departments in other ways too ("Mirage installs,"
1994). Accepting currency directly into the machine not only reduces the number of change attendants
needed by the department, but increases the number of games a player can play per minute. Time
saved not having to deposit coins into a machine and not waiting or searching for change attendants
allows such additional play. Combine this with a technological advance that allows players to play the
maximum bet by pushing one button, and the result is a sizable increase in revenue for the time the
machine is in play. Further, the impact of bill acceptor technology reduces the number of coins used in
the machines, thus decreasing the number of times the drop buckets need to be collected.

As the information from the slot meters became more important to management, weekly or biweekly
readings were necessary. Typically, a clerk read the slot meters, recording their tallies. Others in the slot
auditing department set to work calculating the wagering activities and outcomes for the period. In a
large property, however, this process could involve reading meters on hundreds of slot machines. To
audit, a clerk walked from machine to machine, peered down through the machine's glass into the
darkness with a penlight to read recessed meters, or when necessary, had the machines opened by
security teams to record the necessary data. Next the clerk would hand write lengthy numeric readings
from the multiple meters per machine, repeating this for each machine. When completed, the manual
audit sheets were delivered to an accounting clerk who, using a mechanical adding machine, ran tapes
for the meters on each machine, and for various departmental subtotals (e.g., by machine
denomination) and totals.
This system had some critical problems: delayed results (the process could take days); the labor
intensity; multiple opportunities for omissions, transpositions, and other errors; and of course, fraud, in
a process requiring thousands of numbers to be copied manually by multiple individuals. As with other
bookkeeping and accounting functions that the hospitality industry has migrated over to automation, an
evolutionary improvement came with the advent of affordable business computers and appropriate
software. Early meter processing enhancements arrived in the form of mainframe-based slot audit
programs. These programs did not reduce the labor and vulnerability of slot audit clerk activities, but
the accounting clerks now could key the meter readings into a slot audit program, rather than a 1 0-key
adding machine. The next innovation, still used for non-networked systems, was a hand-held system.

For mechanical and then electro-mechanical machines, slot vulnerabilities fell into one of three
categories: free play, reel control, and payout alterations (Friedman 1982, pp. 271-282). Among the
multiple paths to a payoff via free play are, a player might open the play switch on a slot machine by
using a slug, by using a similar foreign or filed-down coin, or even by using super glue to attach a coin to
a string. In each case, any payoff was either free or of lesser cost to the player than intended by the
house.

The slot tracking systems "report" individuals who attempt such free plays, notifying the security
department of the illegal play. If the thief manages a free pay-out, the system also will flag that a pay-
out has occurred with no coins in, or that a pay-out was extended without a game initiation (handle pull
or button push). Also, directly at the point of the wager input, free play is made more difficult. For
example, sensors and measurement validation systems check a coin's diameter, weight, and metal
content. Column one of Table 5 lists other sensor-based exception reports that could apprehend free
players, including coin-in and coin-out switches clocked as open beyond the maximum time that normal
play would require.

Free play losses from slot token counterfeiting also pose a security problem. But in some modern
operations, players using counterfeit tokens face laser-like detection technology. Slot tokens may be
imprinted with an identification bar code or micro-dot. Slot machine coin-acceptors frequently are
equipped with an electronic circuit containing a microprocessor that rejects all non-imprinted tokens.
More impressively, the manufacturers insist that these token identifications cannot be duplicated, and
that the systems "make counterfeiting virtually impossible" (Motu, 1994a, p. 13).

Reel control results from any unintended influence a player gains over where and on what symbol a slot
machine's reels stop. For example, on earlier systems, some players could become so familiar with a
machine's behavior that they could adjust their handle pull timing and pressure and cut the house
advantage by 80% or more. Others used strong magnets, and still others built elaborate miniature drills
they used to pierce tiny holes in the face of a machine through which they pushed a wire (called a shim)
to hold or slow a reel (Friedman, 1982, pp. 273-275). Technology has provided numerous reel control.

Technology has provided numerous reel control remedies. First, reel control has become increasingly
difficult with the decline of slot machines with long, easily leveraged handles. If present at all, they are
nothing more than a tribute to their evolution, the increasingly popular push button. Still, they remain a
frequent alternative to machines with play buttons as a player option.

Today, security at the employee level often requires each authorized person to use a special
electronically coded card or remote unlocking device to open any part of a slot machine. The cards or
remote door opening devices replace or accompany keys for accessing machines. Integrated into many
slot security systems are special procedures for employee sign-in and sign-out, as well as multi-level
passwords. These systems parallel computer-based housekeeping systems that track and provide a log
and audit trail of individual employee activity per shift. If desired, the information also can be reported
per machine, e.g., who entered what machine, when, why, for how long, etc. For example, modem
systems can isolate the time of coin variances, so variances can be pinpointed as occurring before or
after employee access.

Slot maintenance technologies primary roles are keeping games operating legally, productively, and
profitably. In tandem with accounting, security and maintenance takes both reactive and proactive steps
to assure that games comply with regulatory hold limits, that they are programmed for the posted pay-
out, and that they operate as programmed.

Technology has certainly taken the casino industry from its less sophisticated childhood to the maturing
industry that exists today. In much the same way, advances in technology will assist the gaming industry
with the complex management issues of the next century. In casinos modern technologies can be
expected specially to impact table games, enhance data base analysis, and allow us to better focus on
the needs of the customer. Feasibly, technology will extend into other areas, such as customer service,
facilitating instantaneous communication of player status and information to both the player and the
operation. One thing though is certain, this evolution will continue.

slot machine functions.pdf