By Frank Legato

Survey Says... Slot manufacturers take great interest in what the readers of Strictly Slots have to say

When Casino Journal Publishing Group, parent company of this magazine and Casino Player, among others, held its annual UNLV Casino Ops trade conference in June, executives of various slot manufacturers gathered for one event with particular attentiveness.

They wanted to hear what the readers of Strictly Slots had to say.

In our January issue, we published a player preference survey designed for us (with our input) by Dr. John Bowen, director of graduate studies at the William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, University of Nevada-Las Vegas. The survey covered a wide variety of preferences, from favorite games to playing habits and demographics.

Some 1,300 of you responded to the survey—UNLV and Strictly Slots thank you all for your participation.

In our January issue, we promised you that the slot manufacturers would listen to what you have to say. They not only are listening; they are studying your responses closely. Representatives of all the major manufacturers were present at the conference. All took an executive summary of the results back to their offices, along with the issue of Casino Ops magazine containing Dr. Bowen’s article announcing the results.

More significantly, however, each of the manufacturers requested a copy of the complete survey report, with all the responses. You can be assured that the slot makers will be reading your opinions, cover-to-cover.

Some of your responses raised more than a few eyebrows at the trade conference. For instance, all of the manufacturers have been spending millions in R&D money to develop new games in the multiline video genre, the “slot format of the future.” Yet, when asked to name their favorite slot game, less than 5 percent of the survey respondents named a video game. The rest named traditional reel-spinners, with IGT’s Double Diamond leading the pack.

The top two game choices (second-place game was Red, White & Blue, another traditional reel-spinner by IGT) were the same across age groups and jurisdictions.

The survey showed that the majority of players do play the multiline video slots, but that they overwhelmingly trade down in denomination when doing so. Several panelists at Casino Ops added that the average bets of those trading down are rarely max-coin bets. In other words, many people are betting less on the multiline video slots than they do on traditional slots.

Still, these same players, according to the survey, prefer a distribution of jackpots that is more similar to what a multiline video offers than a relatively volatile slot like Double Diamond. Asked to choose between a slot with a $1,000 top jackpot and an average playing time of two hours and one with a $10,000 prize but half the average playing time, 63 percent of the respondents opted to play longer for a smaller potential prize.

If manufacturers take this result to heart, we may begin to see more reel-spinners with multiline features, or multiline video slots that take fewer coins in higher denominations.

Other tidbits from the survey:
* People playing progressives spend less than 10 percent of their playing time on them, viewing them as more of a lottery-style, brief shot at big money than a long-term playing preference.
* More than half the video poker players responding use a strategy when playing, and half of those respondents learned that strategy from Strictly Slots or Casino Player.
* More respondents play slots for entertainment than for the chance to win money or become rich.
* Nearly all of the respondents use a slot club card when playing.
Here are the details of the survey results.

Favorite Game

Strictly Slots asked players, “What are your favorite games?” Double Diamond, and varieties of this game such as Double Diamond Deluxe, is clearly the number one brand, followed by Red, White & Blue and Triple Diamond. For those respondents indicating they play the most in Atlantic City, Jackpot Party is the seventh-most popular choice, dropping IGT’s Wild Cherry from the top ten in that market. Monopoly jumped to the third most popular game with those under 49. In total, over 180 names of games were provided. The top ten are listed below.

% Of Total* Game 22.3% Double Diamond 9.3% Red, White & Blue 7 % Triple Diamond 4.2% 5 X Pay 3.2% Elvis 2.9% Blazing 7s 5% Wheel of Fortune 3.3% Monopoly 2% Reel Em In 2% Wild Cherry

Along with the name of their favorite game, players were asked to state the manufacturer. Only 31 percent of those mentioning the name of their favorite game gave the game’s manufacturer. IGT dominated the manufacturers, with 76 percent of those giving manufacturer’s names mentioning IGT, followed by Williams (13 percent), Aristocrat (3 percent) and Bally Gaming (3 percent).

Traditional reel-spinning slots are the preferred type of game, with 65 percent of the respondents preferring this type of machine, followed by video poker and video slots, both at 17 percent. Seventy-five percent of those responding play bonus games. Forty-two percent of those who play bonus games prefer second-screen bonuses, followed by free spin (36 percent). Twenty percent of the bonus game players do not play games that have a secondary bonus.

Multiline Machines

Eighty percent of the players providing answers mentioned they play multiline games. Of those playing multiline machines, 38 percent of the players prefer five-line games, 32 percent prefer three-line games and 24 percent prefer nine-line games. Sixteen percent of the respondents play multi-line machines 50 percent or more of the time they play machines.

When asked about denomination of multiline machines, 34 percent indicated they select quarter machines the most often, followed by nickels (32 percent) and dollars (6 percent). When players move to machines other than multiline machines, most move up in denominations of machines. Eighteen percent indicate they play dollars when they play other than multiline machines, 40 percent play quarters and only 5 percent play nickels.

Progressives

If you play progressives, what jackpot level do you consider the minimum level worth your play? Progressive Amount Percent $100-$999 9.7% $1,000-$4,999 25.8% $5,000-$9,999 19.0% $10,000-$49,999 13.1% $50,000-$99,999 8.7% $100,000-$999,999 14.9% $1 Million or more 8.8% Total 100% Ninety percent of the players play progressives, but most players spend 10 percent or less of their total time on machines with progressive jackpots. Only 6 percent of the players indicated they play progressives more than 50 percent the time they spend on machines. Players were asked the minimum level of progressive that was worth their play. The answers ranged from less than $100 to over a million (see chart, right). The most popular pro-gressives, in order of preference, are: Quarter Mania, Megabucks, Wheel of Fortune, Nevada Nickels, and Cool Millions.

Video Poker

Favorite Video Poker Games Game % of Total Deuces Wild 25.0% Jacks or Better 12.8% Double Bonus Poker 6.6% Joker Wild 4.0% Double Double Bonus 3.8%

The majority of respondents play video poker (56.5 percent). The favorite video poker game is Deuces Wild (see chart below). The players were asked if they use a strategy when playing video poker. Over half (58 percent) of the players use a strategy. Of the players using a strategy, 43 percent mentioned they learned their strategy from Casino Player or Strictly Slots, 18 percent learned their strategy from a book, 17 percent used computer programs and 18 percent mentioned they used a variety of methods. Overall, the players seem to be happy with the selection of video poker machines where they play, with over 70 percent agreeing with the statement, “There is a good selection of video poker available where you play.”

Reason for playing slot machines

Readers were asked to give the reason they played slot machines. The choices were excitement, chance to become wealthy, entertainment, easy to play, affordable minimum bet, and chance to win money. The most popular reason for playing was entertainment (40 percent), followed by chance to win money (34 percent) and excitement (18 percent).

Budget

With $50, how long do you expect to play your favorite slot machine? Time Percent of Respondents 15 Minutes 12.4% 30 Minutes 24.0% 1 Hour 28.5% 2 Hours 23.4% 3 Hours 7.0% 4 Hours plus 4.7% Total 100%

When asked how long you would expect to play with $50, the responses varied from 15 minutes to four hours or more. One out of eight players expect to play for 15 minutes or less, while one out of 20 expect to play for four hours or more. The majority of respondents are satisfied with one hour of play for $50 (see chart below).

Players were asked to choose between two machines. Both machine descriptions are based on playing $50. One machine gives an average playing time of two hours and has a top jackpot of $1,000. The second machine has an average playing time of one hour with a top jackpot of $10,000. Thus, the players can choose to have a higher jackpot and shorter playing time or a longer playing time and smaller jackpot. Sixty-three percent of the players prefer the machine giving more playing time and offering a smaller jackpot.

Over 75 percent of the players indicated they will stop if they lose a certain amount of money. Of those who will stop playing, 58 percent gave an amount of $300 or less as the maximum amount they will lose before they stop playing. Only 28 percent stated they will stop playing if they win a certain amount of money. For those players who will stop if they win, 75 percent of them will need to win $1,000 or more before they will stop playing and go home with their winnings.

Playing Characteristics

Almost all of those responding use a slot club (98 percent). Regarding frequency of play, the players are divided into three equally sized groups with one-third playing six times a year or less, one-third playing seven-12 times per year and one-third playing more than 12 times per year.

When asked where they play the most, the most popular gaming choices in order of number of responses are the Las Vegas Strip, Atlantic City, Mississippi, Downtown Las Vegas, Connecticut and Louisiana. Forty-seven percent of those answering play between five and eight hours when they go to their favorite casino. About 15 percent of the players play less than five hours when they go to their favorite casino, and 38 percent play more than eight hours (see chart below). Twenty-one percent of those responding are under 50 years old, 54 percent are between 50 and 65, and 25 percent are 66 or over. Fifty-six percent of the respondents are female and 44 percent are male.

How many hours do you spend gambling? Hours Percent of Respondents 3-4 12.9% 5-6 23.7% 7-8 23.7% 9-10 15.4% 11-12 11.0% 13-14 6.6% 15-16 3.4% 17+ 1.9% Total 100.0%