Cashout tickets
Coin-operated slot machines are quickly disappearing from casinos as the new paper ticket technology, called TITO (ticket-in, ticket-out), takes hold. This change has revived penny and nickel slots because gamblers don’t have to carry rolls of coins and a $20 win doesn’t require hauling 400 coins to the cashier’s cage.
TITO also cuts down overhead and employee costs for casinos because they no longer have the hassle of refilling machines with thousands of pounds of coins. Here’s another important feature for the casino: Players can spin more reels per hour on a coinless machine because they don’t have to stop and feed coins into the slot. The result? Higher profit. Talk about a win-win for the casino!
TITO slot machines accept both cash and machine tickets to start play, so there’s no need for a coin hopper (metal bin to catch coins). For psychological effects, however, the machines still provide that irresistible sound of clinking coins when a player hits a jackpot (that lovely Dink! Dink! Dinkl as if real coins were pouring through the trough).
The ticket also gives you, the player, more flexibility. For example, if you’ve played six or eight spins on a free slots machine without hitting anything, you can move to another machine by cashing out (pressing the cash/credit button). The machine prints a new ticket with your remaining credit balance so you can take it to another machine, even one that uses a different denomination. After you’re done playing, redeem your ticket at the cashier’s window.
Don’t throw away or lose your ticket — make sure you cash it in before you leave. Some tickets are valid for up to six months. Just be sure to turn it in before it expires. Casinos earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year on the revenue from unclaimed tickets (even though most of them are under $1).
