- Author Jen Posted on July 31, 2014 August 2, 2019 Categories Activities, Life Skills Tags casino, gambling, How long are slot machine vouchers good until, I forgot to cash out my slot machine winning vouchers, slot machine, slot machine ticket expiration, slot machine.
- Lucky slots machine.Printing a Ticket using GEN2 FutureLogic printer.
Most slot/poker machines take notes or TITOs (ticket-in, ticket-out). Say you cash out $15.25 from a machine, then hit cash out - the machine will print a bar coded ticket worth that amount. You can then insert the ticket into another machine, or go to a ticket machine and turn it into cash.
Gone are the days of the old-fashioned one-armed bandits. Coinless slot machines are now the name of the game at casinos everywhere, and collecting a jackpot is as simple as cashing out a voucher. But while the system is convenient, not all players find it satisfying. Some longtime gamblers say part of the thrill of playing the slots was the jingle of the coins as they spilled out into the bin. Plus, it's easy to stick that voucher in the back of your pocket and forget that it's there. If you do so, be sure to go back as soon as possible and cash in. Some vouchers have expiration dates, and some casinos won't let you redeem by mail.
No More Coins
Casinos started to change to coinless slots around the early 2000s, due in large part to the advent of multi-denomination machines. Coinless slots mean decreased labor costs, as casinos no longer have to hire slot managers to clean out machines, make a change, and escort players to counting rooms. Players no longer have to lug buckets of dirty coins across the casino floor and wait in line for a cashier to count them. Instead, they insert their voucher into a redemption kiosk and receive their winnings. Players also don’t have to worry about a machine running out of coins while they are cashing out or wait for attendants to fill the hoppers, which can take a long time to do when a casino is crowded.
The Voucher System at Work
Whether a casino calls their coinless slots EZ-Pay or Ticket In Ticket Out (TITO), they all work the same. Instead of feeding coins into the machine, you feed any denomination of bill into the bill receptor and the machine registers the appropriate amount of credits. You then begin play. If you win, you hit a button and receive a voucher printed with the amount of your winnings. You then redeem this at the cashier's cage or redemption machine.
Drawbacks
When coinless slots were first introduced onto the casino floor, players complained mainly about the difficulty of moving from machine to machine. If they wanted to switch machines they had to take their voucher over to the cashier and convert it back to money to put into the next slot. Fortunately, manufacturers quickly addressed this problem. Today's machines now accept vouchers from other machines as payment. If you are in a hurry when you cash out, you can even just put the voucher in your wallet or purse and use it when you play later.
This, however, can cause a problem if you forget to cash it in before you head for home, especially if you are visiting a casino in another state. Most vouchers have expiration dates—60 or 90 days are most common—which can be a problem if you're playing in a casino while on vacation. While some casinos will allow you to mail in the voucher and receive a check in return, others consider the voucher null and void unless you show up in person.
Because the policy for redeeming slot vouchers varies so much, not just from state to state but also casino to casino within the same state or even city, always check with casino management about their redemption policy.
Before You Go
Before you head to your favorite local casino or Vegas hot spot, make sure to check its policy. Even if you should find yourself with a voucher from a casino with a “no-mail policy,” all may not be lost. We advise that you call and ask for a casino host and explain the problem. These hosts want to do everything possible to retain their good players and they may be able to work out a solution for you.
To avoid forgetting the vouchers, make it a point to redeem them as soon as you finish playing. If you want to save them to play later, then make a habit of redeeming your vouchers at the end of the day, before heading to your room. When you get ready to check out of your hotel, make sure take a look in your wallet for any vouchers you may have forgotten.
Ticket-in, ticket-out (TITO) is a technology used in more modern slot machines. It was originally developed circa 1992 by MGM Corporation who purchased technology from a Las Vegas firm Five Star Solutions as well as barcode ticket printing technology from Jon Yarbrough before his VGT success. They also worked with Pat Greene an inventor in Boston of Triad Company who held a patent on a Bill Validator which could read bar coded tickets as well as accept cash. MGM created a consortium of game manufacturers and developed a protocol for its custom Universal Interface Board 'UIB' based on a derivative of Bally Gaming's SDS System. They contracted local firm Applied Computer Technology, Inc. to develop the UIB, its firmware, and also facilitate the organization of the consortium. Later IGT acquired the rights to the TITO patents from MGM and began to modify their own protocol called SAS to implement TITO. It is incorrectly maintained that IGT developed TITO and Bally's Easy Pay which came out many years later.[1]
Overview[edit]
Ticket-in, ticket out (TITO) machines are used in casino slot machines to print out a slip of paper with a barcode indicating the amount of money represented. These can in turn be redeemed for cash at an automated kiosk.[2] The machines utilize a barcode scanner built into the bill acceptor, a thermal ticket printer in place of a coin hopper (some rare machines are set up to pay with coins if the payout is less than the payout limit, and to print a ticket in situations where a handpay would normally be required) and a network interface to communicate with a central system that tracks tickets.
Consortium of Manufacturers[edit]
MGM was in the middle of construction of its major hotel in Las Vegas and invited several gaming machine manufacturers to join a consortium for its Cashless Casino experiment. In the group were Bally Gaming, IGT, Sigma Games, Universal and several others. They were all presented with the MGM UIB Protocol documents and were aided in the realization of the protocol on their gaming platforms. The first trial of the system was actually at the Desert Inn property. MGM Had situated several trailers in the parking lot where the manufacturers could bring their gaming devices for test before being installed on the Field Trial at the Desert Inn.
Advantages and disadvantages[edit]
Like any system, TITO has its share of advantages and disadvantages.
Advantages[edit]
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- Hopper fills for TITO machines are virtually eliminated.
- Casino patrons no longer have to wait for an attendant to perform a hand pay for large payouts.
- Makes multi-denomination gaming machines possible.
- Streamlines accounting procedures due to reduced cash handling[3]
- Enables ticketed bonusing, coupons and drawings.
Disadvantages[edit]
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- May cause some people to disassociate gambling using tickets from gambling using cash, in much the same way 'credits' are indicated on some machines rather than a cash value.
- Tickets can be easier to misplace than a large bucket of coins.
- The lack of the sound of a big coin pay out is a turnoff for some players. Due to this, manufacturers added multimedia sound to the machines to reproduce the sound of coins falling when a prize hits.
References[edit]
- ^'Slot machine maker taking a chance with cashless slots system'. 27 January 2001. Retrieved April 4, 2018.
- ^Saylor, Michael (2012). The Mobile Wave: How Mobile Intelligence Will Change Everything. Perseus Books/Vanguard Press. pp. 104–105. ISBN978-1593157203.
- ^'Ticket-in, Ticket-out Technology'. Retrieved January 22, 2014.
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