learntoplayslotmachines.com

After this past summer I have a lot more empathy for the compulsive gambler that gets trapped inside of a casino.  Flash games, at least the successful ones, thrive of of the same compulsive vein that makes slot machines so successful in American casinos.  The games are fun, colorful, interactive, but most importantly quick.  Speed is the key to triggering a persons compulsive side.  The games have to feel short, but fully entertaining.  It is that combination that allows people to come back again and again for some light amusement.  The fact that it is quick allows people to almost completely lose track of time, because playing such short games in succession just allows time to float on by.  The fact that the games are short also convinces people to squeeze in a few games when they have a moment of free time.

Card games and table games do not have the same rapid of either slot machines or Flash games.  Card and table games require a bit of set up and there is always a small wait between rounds.  This allows the game to feel like it takes a lot of time and, frankly, it give players time to think.  Thinking is the enemy when you are trying to get on a players compulsive side. This said, I still do not think that slot machines should be outlawed.  The games are not addictive and it does not cause a physical dependency.  They are just fun and quick.  There are very few people that would turn down some rapid, easy to squeeze in, entertainment.

I have been in Orlando for the past couple of weeks and God only knows why I have not yet returned to my fair city since many of the people down here I find very hard to relate to.  However there are some things that Orlando and New York City have in common and that is especially true since Orlando finally opened a massive Dave and Busters on International Drive.  The place is massive and looks to be the size of a casino.  Dave and Busters is such a great idea and is easiest described as an Chuck E. Cheese’s for adults.  What could be more fun that a few rounds of ski ball after a few drinks.  A group of friend recently went to the brand new venue and reported that they have a life sized version of Fruit Ninja.  While I think this is a great idea, I think the Fruit Ninja game designers are missing a huge opportunity in not working with casinos instead of arcades.

This summer I watched as one fellow employee after another became a full on fruit junkie after one introduction to Fruit Ninja.  We all agreed that part of what makes the game so convenient is that the arcade version of the game only lasts about a minute, so it makes it really easy to play again and again without feeling like time has gone by.  Any game maker that can create such a compulsive game ought to be making a fortune creating new slot machines.

I may be an addict.  That is very hard for a person to admit, but the fun pusher that are making those Flash games for smartphones might be the most dangerous people on earth.  This I got my first Android Phone and I am in love with it.  But, because I now own this phone I have fallen victim to the same flash game disease that plagues the people I see every day on the subway in New York City.  My drug of choice was Angry Birds and Fruit Ninja; two games that have taken the flash world by storm.  While Angry Birds is a fun, interactive puzzle game, Fruit Ninja manages to take full advantage of the compulsive nature within most people.  The game is perfectly short so it does not feel so time consuming and easily convinces you to squeeze in just one more round each time.

These are the same principle that make slot machines so affective as revenue gods.  Slot machines are very quick and dirty wagering situations and the are so fast that it is easy to convince yourself to spin “just one more time”… again and again.  Since slot machines have become a lot more like Flash games in the past several years it boggles my mind that the flash game makes have not come to the slots makers to turn their perspective products into big money makers at the casino.  There is a lot of money to be made from repetitive game play.

The jury is still out on Instant Racing and I am not even talking about the debate as to whether the games are slot machines or not.  The racing industry is not quite sure how it feels about Instant Racing yet; perhaps only time will tell how useful the games will be in providing additional funds.  For example, Churchill Downs, in Kentucky, is not opposed to offering the machines, but they are not nearly as excited about the prospect of offering the machines as Kentucky Downs only a few towns away.  The problem with Instant Racing is that no one knows if it will have a significant enough draw to generate enough income.  Part of the problem that racetracks are suffering these days is that lack of attendance.  Slot machines manage to draw other people that then may become interested in wagering on races.

However, if all of the facts about compulsive gambling are correct, Instant Racing may have the ability to create a draw.  Compulsive gambling is supposed to have very little to do with the desire to win a jackpot.  Compulsive gamblers just like to wager, again and again.  If Instant Racing has the same ability to trigger that sort of compulsive behavior in a person, then it has a chance of pulling the same amount of revenue as a slot machine.  However, the game design and layout of the Instant Racing games had better be entertaining and engaging.  It will take the tracks a few months or maybe even a year to see how affective the games are as a draw.

It has become a bit frustrating to me how many legislative bodies have become seemingly lazy about their definition of slot machines.  It is not just them, it is also the judiciary branches of many governments that seem to have no interest in taking a close look the workings of electronic gaming devices and are far to comfortable just lumping them all in as slot machines. This prevents a lot of innovation in the world of electronic gaming from breaking its way through to the mainstream.  This is especially true for Instant Racing, which I believe could change the entire horse racing industry around for the better.

Granted I have not played an Instant Racing game but I know enough about the devices to know they cannot be categorized as slot machines.  The outcomes are not random and slot machines are games of 100 percent random chance.  Also Instant Racing could be the next step for the horse racing industry.  It costs a lot of money to operate a live racing venue.  If horse racing venues want to maintain this tradition they are going to have to find a more cost effective way of doing so and utilizing software to provide races when live events are not taking place could make the venues so additional money. Other than purchasing the games and the electricity bill, there is almost no overhead for digital horse races. I would rather racetracks offer these games then allow them to leech off of the success of slot machines.

The more I think about the Instant Racing games at some racetracks are trying to get approved by their various legislative bodies, the more I like it.  I have long been in opposition of the failing racing industry being allowed to operate slot machines or receiving a portion of the tax revenue from slot machines.  They do not have anything to do with each other and I do not think it is a wise appropriation funds to have a support a failing industry with one that has had the ability to turn around state economies.  I also think there is a lot of potential for these Instant Racing games to grow and take off if they are ever given a chance.

It occurs to me that the most important piece of information that must be kept from the gamblers wagering on an Instant Racing machine is the name of the horses.  The races based on past events in the horse racing industry so the results are not random.  But it would be more of a trivia game than a wagering game if the names of the horse were made public.  But other than the names there is a large amount of information, assuming the industry has it, about the horses, condition of the track, weather that might help inform the gambler which way they would like to wager.  This would certainly move the games out of the realm of random chance and make them more like an instant race.   It could change the industry.

I have no idea what the big deal is over the Instant Racing terminals that some racetracks want to operate in their venues.  When a racing venues is offering an electronic games based on the results of past racing events, does anyone really consider that an expansion of gambling?  As far as I am concerned it is a lot more like racetracks recycling old races and once again using them to generate income.  If you ask me that is pretty clever and the type of innovative thinking that the racing industry will have to embrace if they ever plan on staying afloat, especially during a recession like this one.

I believe that sometimes state legislators get caught up in the wrong battles.  I understand wanting to keep tabs on new expansions in gambling and preventing that from happening without proper consideration from lawmakers and voters, but I have a hard time believing that voters would really care of a horse racing venues offered electronic horse races.  As a matter of fact this may be the kind of cost effective brain child that the racing industry needs.  It is very expensive to offer live racing.  Horse must be kept, tracks must be maintained, and victors must be rewarded.  Instant Racing is a lot like online casinos where their is little to no overhead to offer the service so their is a lot of pure profit to be made off of the games.  Let the horse racing community have this, especially if it give them a fighting chance at survival.

I am not the Supreme Court so let me start by admitting that what I think really does not matter when it comes to Instant Racing.  In addition to the fact that I am not a member of the Supreme Court on either a state or national level, I am very much biased in favor of the race tracks being allowed to operate these machines; that biased is perhaps the very reason I will never qualify as a judge.  However, I would like to examine to side of the argument surrounding the Instant Racing terminals.  There are some that believe the Instant Racing machines are really just slot machines in disguise, while other contend that they are not.

The people that call Instant Racing slot machines are not completely unfounded, though I do not know if I agree with their point of view.  They argue that the machines do not give the players much in the way of selecting the winner of this digital race so the results may as well be random chance.  As we all know, most states have a bad habit of calling any electronic game based in chance a slot machine.  However, the results of the games are not random chance at all.  As a matter of fact they are all the results of racing events from the history of the horse racing industry.  The results are already predetermined.  Having a predetermined outcome sort of makes it impossible to call the games random chance; therefore they cannot justly be called slot machines.

Instant racing is an electronic gambling device that allows people to wager on old horse racing statistics.  The game is not in operation at very many locations in the United States, but several venues have approached their legislature to approve them for operation.  The only problem is that many lawmakers consider the games slot machines.  While they are not typical slot machines, their is a debate as to weather the game is  game of skill or chance.  Unfortunately most legislators consider any electronic wagering game that is based on chance is called a slot machine.  The main argument in favor of Instant Racing is the fact that the races, though they are stripped of detail so that no player can have the advantage on another, actually happened so outcome of the races are not random chance.

I personally do not believe you can consider this game a slot machines, but beyond that I believe the racing industry should be able to station these games in their racing venues.  Horse racing venues have been suffering for the past several years and need sources of additional revenue.  They have desperately sought out aid from slot machines, which I find inappropriate and an unnecessary challenge to state casinos.  I do not think the racing industry should be discouraged when they finally find a creative way of utilizing the history of their business to generate additional funds. I would rather let them offer Instant Racing than have more slot machines supporting a failing industry.

Any of you that have grandparents and in many of our cases our parents, know very well that there is a certain generation of people in this country that do not like to be bothered with things like technology and computer software.  I was in a drug store the other day picking up a phone card for my grandmother so that she could call her sister back in Jamaica.  All the while I am looking at these over priced, land line telephone rates I am thinking to myself that grandma could save a whole bunch of money on this if she and her sister would just take the five minutes it takes to learn how to use a program like Skype.  However, I am starting to think that the elderly will only bother themselves with technology when they are forced to do so.

Slot machines are a prime example of a piece of technology that the elderly seem not to have any trouble adjusting to.  Slot machines are becoming more and more like arcade games as each generation of games progresses.  It sound like an all day affair trying to teach an elderly person how to play first person shooter game, yet this very same demographic are the main people that play slot machines.  While table game players are typically young people below the age of 30, slot machine fans tend to be people well above the age of 40.  Considering the tech involved, one would assume it would be the other way around.