Land-Based Casinos Switching to Server-Based Slots

Land-based casinos have been watching the advantages that online casinos have over them, and they're doing something to change it. Online casinos enjoy many freedoms because their networks are all server-based. That means that the online casino can make changes to games and formats with ease, unlike the labor-intensive changes the land-based casinos have to make in order to keep pace. So they are gearing up for the next big technological upgrade heading onto casino floors worldwide.

The new server-based slots will enable land-based casinos to change a machine's denomination, its percentage hold, and the machine's look. This gives the casino the ability to take advantage of different demographic groups that may visit on a specific day of the week or in a particular timeframe. The casino can have a machine operate as a nickel slot during the day, and then switch to a quarter or dollar slot at night and on the weekends.

The new system is already being tested by the Missouri Gaming Commission. It has been installed on the Ameristar St. Charles riverboat. Thus far the system has worked flawlessly, and most gamers cannot even tell the difference between the server-based system and the old technology. "The reality is that most consumers, the people playing the machines, can't tell the difference between a game on a server-based system and an existing slot machine," said Blaine Preston, gaming enforcement manager of the Missouri Gaming Commission.

In Nevada the system is being tested in the MGM Mirage's Treasure Island. Once it's complete, the system will be licensed state-wide and should be adopted by most casinos rather quickly. The trials are designed to see how customers react to the games and how the technology performs over an extended time. You'll remember that it was the Mirage that led the last major technological advancement in slots, when it was the first to change to the ticket slots.

One glitch has been customer complaints about the game changing just as they felt they were going to win on the machine. The casinos have addressed this issue by announcing that a machine is going to change in the near future, and the player should prepare for this. It has also been established that a machine is unable to change unless it has had four consecutive minutes of inactivity.

This will almost certainly be the future of land-based slots. The central control of gaming system allows an online slots website to easily publish their new slot machines every two weeks. It's a big benefit for the house, and doesn't seem to affect the players in any way. We can expect the system to be the norm by the end of this year.