In Las Vegas, a city that practically defines the words competition, micro-management and edge, a thought crossed my mind while thinking about the twenty casinos i visited on my first trip and what casinos i would like to visit on the next trip there.

There were two day trips i wanted to take on my first trip to Vegas earlier this month, Hoover Dam and Red Rock Canyon. I saw the spectacular Hoover Dam, but Red
rock Canyon will have to wait until next time.

Like all things in Vegas, Red Rock Canyon is easy to get to and seems like it was put there with the tourist in mind, as if Steve Winn had something to do with it.
The north end of the strip to Charleston Blvd., take a left and twenty minutes later you're at he entrance to the Red Rock Canyon "loop", a fantastic scenic drive around the loop and you're back on Charleston Blvd. again, you CAN'T get lost.

On the way, driving back to the strip along Charleston Blvd., take a left on N. Rampart Rd. and visit the wildly successful Suncoast Hotel and Casino and the impressive but not so successful Regent Las Vegas.
This is exactly what i plan to do on the next trip to Vegas but with the newly discovered and significant inducement of coinless slots, the Suncoast has them.

Computers are obviously here to stay, everyone is used to computer print outs, credit card receipts, vouchers and E-Tickets.
Today ordinary paper means money,
we're accustomed to it.

When a slot or video poker machine spills out a pile of quarters, are we impressed or do we see hassle. Twenty or thirty years ago when some people still went to the electric co. or city hall tax department , in person, to pay their bills, no on-line or automatic account deductions, their eyes would light up with the sight and sound of real cash over flowing from a slot machine onto a casino floor.

Probably by instinct, in the back of my mind, in addition to wanting to go to Terrible's Casino right from the airport to check out a quality inexpensve place to stay sometime, before checking into The Orleans for a week, there was somethig else, Terribles has coinless slots.

There was an LVRJ article recently about the soon to open Green Valley Ranch. The grand opening is the 27th of this month and it is already booked solid for two months, the casino has 2,500 slot and VP machines. Unbelievably, at the same time the hotel spokesman was commenting on the grand opening, the Green Valley Ranch Hotel and Casino announced a plan to begin construction to double the number of rooms based on the enthusiasm for the grand opening. The Green Valley Ranch will have coinless slots. Coincidence, or do they have an edge.

Well, i visited twenty casinos and can't think of one i didn't like. Some were magnificent, The Bellagio, The Venetian, Manalay Bay...some i just have a comfortable feeling about.
The ease of using the Palms parking garage...and coinless slots, Terrible's with a parking lot in the daytime, almost as close to the door as pulling in your own driveway, and a very friendly staff (coinless slots).

The Orleans, that i can't stop talking about here on the BB, has something about it. Besides big comfortable rooms, great staff, player friendly casino and good bars,restaurants and attentive valet parking. I think it's the location. From the Orleans you can choose how to approach everything else. Take a right on Tropicana away from the traffic of the strip and a gas station, Wallgreen's, a bank, a market are within rolling distance, a right on Rainbow Dr. brings you to a K-Mart and a strip mall for stuff you forgot or couldn't pack. A left on Tropicana and I-15 is right there, a little farther and you're at the N.Y. MGM, excalibur, Tropicana Hotel corners of the strip. From the side of The Orleans property take a left on Arville st. to the corner of Flamingo Rd. and the Rio, Palms and Gold Coast(with coinless slots) is there, the middle of the strip is straight down Flamingo.

Oh yeah, The Orleans has
coinless slots.

According to the TalkVegas on-line Calendar, it was almost 8 years ago to the day that the "new" MGM opened at the corner of the Strip and Trop. Coinless slots were a brand new concept at that time and the MGM was the first hotel in Vegas with the plan for a totally coinless casino.

It was a flop. Was it a lack of confidence in computers? Was it because people didn't want to wait in line at the cashiers cage? Was it because people wanted to hear that ding-ding-ding when they hit a jackpot? Was it because old timers did not like new ideas?

Since then, several casinos have tried various ways to go coinless. Most have been solid failures. It seemed people liked to savor their wins while waiting for a hopper fill. Maybe they liked the incentive to wash their hands again after scooping up coins.

My favorite system was used by Caesars Palace. When you get through playing a machine, you could just send the value of your credits to an account. When you found another machine you wanted to play, you could just transfer funds from your account into that machine. When you finish, you send it all back to your account. At any point, you could hit cash out and get the coins if desired. At any time, you could visit the cashiers cage and withdraw from your account. It was not a perfect system but it made more sense to me and I thought it had more potential than a machine that spits out a receipt. I've played the machines with receipts in Louisiana and Washington. They don't do much for me. Especially on a lower value payout where I could pocket the change.

It seems the popularity in coinless slots is increasing.

So far, that's,

Coinless Slots - 1
no Coinless Slots - 1

I like to be able to put the coins in my pocket and leave.

Here's another angle. I've often tipped the cocktail waitress out of change that I had as a result of coin payouts. I wonder if the cocktail waitresses are getting more or less tips as result of coinless.

Perhaps we could talk John into doing a survey by interviewing all the cocktail waitresses in Vegas and see what their opinions are.

Here's my thoughts on the whole thing and you deceid which side of the fence I'm on.
At first, I hated them, now I'm not so sure. I like the coins, but the dirt from them I don't. I like playing with real coins as it helps me remember I'm playing with real money, not just casino paper or credits. However, many times I'll run through the last $10 worth of credits instead of cashing out, because I don't want to handle $10 worth of change. Instead I just basicly end up giving the casino a gift of $10, by wasteing them in the machine. With the ticket I cash out and incert the paper into my next machine. However once again, if it's time to meet people or leave the casino, I'd much rather have coins, after all, the coins are valid at the next casino. (providing the coins fit into my pocket, I'm not talking buckets here).

JMT, the bartender at the GoldCoast mentioned to me that his tips have declined because of the ticket printing machines. But then again world events didn't help his situatition either.

I LOVE COINLESS SLOTS
Have my own system of money management that in the year or so that I've been using strictly coinless slots,my win to loss ratio has increased 3 fold.
It's a case of MIND over money and the management of it.
EXAMPLE-
1-I only play full pay or near as full
2-Play .25 cent machines
3-Single pay machines only
4-Insert $20
5-Take ticket if I lose 50% of twenty dollars
(Change Machines)
6-Take ticket with Profit of 20% or 100 on
the meter.
7-Insert another twenty at SAME machine

It may seem like alot of work but I cash alot more 20%+ tickets than -50% tickerts


I call it the "GAME within the GAME"

Wayne,
The only problem I have with your operation is. If said machines are equal in pay out, why switch machines? $20 isn't much of a trial.

Lee, It seems to work for me and slows me down,I do admit, machines of equal pay why should it matter.It may not but the one thing that is happening is the RNG is running while i'm cashing out and moving.Its happened too many times where I would get into a HIGH speed play mode and the machine seems to eat me alive with bad hand after bad hand.
I've been playing VP now since 90 in Vegas and AC.I only live 45mins from AC so I play there alot 2 or 3 days a week for 3to4 hour sessions.I've been keeping a log since 97.I do Vegas 3 to 4 times a year for 7 to 10 days per trip.Just wanted you to have a little more insight on my personal style of play.

I waited for many, many hopper fills on my last trip and it was really frustrating. I'll take coinless anyday over coins. And Lee makes a good point by saying he runs the credits down instead of dealing with added coins. I do the same thing and it's like throwing money away.

Joe, you are a very wise person. Of course I will volunteer to interview all the cocktail waitresses to see if their tips have decrease. It's the least I can do for our bb<G>

John,

He said tiPs.

Jeff, Typo<G>

John, I can't wait to read your report on this undercover investigation.

Personaly, I like the ching ching sound of the coins - it has a drawing magic to it - like that of the pied piper. Wendell

YEAH but how many times have you been with someone in a casino and you catch up with them and there playing and you say your ready to go and WHAT IS THE PHRASE YOU HEAR COME OUT OF THIER MOUTHS. "JUST WAIT TIL I LOSE THESE LAST 60 COINS AND I"M READY" Notice people hardly ever say wait til I hit the jackpot or ok i'll take what I got here.

With the coinless You hit the cash out and bingo your outta there. I just love em. Screw that clanging noise,thats for novices as far as I'm concerned

Wayne,
YEAH but I can put the 60 coins in my fannypack and play them at the next casino, unlike the paper that I would have to stand in line to get my cash so I could play at the next casino.

Right on, Larry. Wendell

Youman you can take them to the next casino and lose them.I don't play in any other casino,Hotel than where I stay. I compile all my comps as they Say PLAY WHERE YOU STAY. I always get FULL RMB

I play where I'm winning at and still get the comps. I Don't play for comps they are a bonus, percentage wise it doesn't pay to play for comps. I rather come with a few thousand ahead then afew hundered in comps. I still manage to get free rooms anyways.