Server-based gaming is wave of slot future
Despite nearly a half-decade of development and millions of dollars invested in research and testing, slot machine manufacturers are still a few years away from bringing server-based gaming — often referred to as downloadable technology — to casino floors.
Wall Street has viewed the technology, which could let casino operators better manage their slot machine area and have greater flexibility in what they can offer customers, as the next wave in gambling.
Conceivably, downloadable technology would allow casino managers to change a slot machine’s games, denominations, bonus payouts and promotions from a central computer server rather than requiring technicians to perform the work manually.
Investors believe equipment makers will harvest a financial windfall from a cycle in which older games are supplanted by newer models. Profits could be similar to the monetary heyday the manufacturers experienced earlier in the decade when cashless gaming — ticket in-ticket out technology — energized a mass replacement of slot machines and fueled record earnings and chart-topping stock prices for game providers. Read more: