Industry Pros Weigh In on Trends in Slots

by Bodog Casino | Jan 14 2010

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Things are a little hard to predict right now in the gaming industry. The U.S. is still recovering from the horrible economic nosedive that went down in 2009; you can't even say they are out of the woods yet. For that reason industry pros have been analyzing what could go down with the casino slot machine industry in 2010. Are slots still a good gaming investment? Is server-based gaming something the pros want? Industry experts and owners were polled to get their analysis:

Owners 2010 Outlook

Six in 10 gaming executives believe slot machine purchases will be the same in the year 2009. That's not the greatest news, but considering the circumstances it's better than a decline. The good news is 22 percent of owners plan to buy new machines while 41 percent plan to buy 25 percent more machines than in 2009.

Also, 77 percent of owners said they planned on attending G2E to seek information on slot machines, with 71 percent saying they will look for new games.

So from a customer's side of things don't expect to get bored with any old machines, owners are still look for the hot new game that will grab your attention.

Slot Machine Pros in 2010

Fifty-four percent of slot pros believe server-based slot gaming is closer than ever to becoming a reality, believing it will happen 100 percent in two-to-four years.

When it's time to purchase a server-based gaming system, 57 percent of pros said that International Game Technology (IGT) is best set up to take advantage of a server-based future. But that percentage is down slightly from 2008 and 2007, when 59 percent and 63 percent respectively said IGT was best set up. After that it was slot company WMS with 16 percent and Bally Technologies with 12 percent. So if you plan on “server sloting" in Vegas at some point, go with IGT.

Most pros (94 percent) indicated that the ability to upgrade technology in current slot machines is important, with 49 percent saying it was a very important feature.

How does this matter to you? Well owners obviously want to know what the pros want to play; information like this could mean more server-based machines at casinos in 2010.

This survey was conducted on Sept. 8-22, 2009 in collaboration with Slot Manager before November's Global Gaming Expo tin Las Vegas.