So far, though, most regulators have shown little enthusiasm for debit or credit card use, and even the casinos have shunned such a move.Īccording to Bill Eadington, director of the University of Nevada, Reno's Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming, Nevada regulators in May took up a proposal that would have allowed ATM payments for coinless slots. Some also worry because there is no technological barrier to the new slots accepting ATM or credit cards, a step that could be disastrous for problem gamblers.
'This marketing product is better for casinos because the more people can gamble during an hour, the more money the casino can make,' said Ed Looney, executive director of the Council on Compulsive Gambling of New Jersey. Meanwhile, some argue that casinos are using the coinless slots' efficiency to take advantage of players. With this new system, which is all computerized, you know exactly what's happening in real time.' With coin slots, 'you could never determine how many coins were on the floor.
'Tickets are counted down to the penny,' she says.
