Here’s my latest from the Las Vegas Business Press, in which I continue to deconstruct the popularity of pennies:
When the year-end Nevada gaming revenue figures came out, two trends dominated the news: Gambling in general was down again in 2009, while baccarat play toward the end of the year showed a surprising spike. But one historic change went all but unnoticed — for slot machines, 2009 was the year of the penny.
Penny slots have been on the rise for several years, making an unforeseen comeback. Never plentiful in Nevada casinos, their numbers dipped so low in 1995 that Nevada regulators stopped including them as a separate category in their gaming revenue reports. In 2004, they reappeared on the revenue reports, with more than 12,000 of the machines in casinos statewide. Since then, they've added to their numbers every year, which is all the more impressive given that the overall number of slots has fallen. Last year, just less than one out of every four casino slots was a penny machine.
via Las Vegas Business Press :: David G. Schwartz : Pennywise or slot foolish? Casinos must decide.
At the end of the article, I hint at some of the possible downside of the increasing popularity of pennies–I might expand this into another article.