Technology allows advertising on idle slot machines

A local companyâ??s new technology lets screens show commercials when machines arenâ??t beingplayed
Saturday, July 3, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.
The gambling areas of casinos have long been advertisersâ?? Holy Grail.
American casinos attracted a record 62 million visitors last year â?? 28 percent of the U.S. adult population â?? despite the worst economy for gambling on record, according to the American Gaming Association . Designed to stimulate the senses and encourage spending, casinos are potential gold mines for advertisers, but are notoriously protective of their real estate. Thatâ??s especially true of slot machine areas, the biggest profit center for most casinos.
And slot machines arenâ??t just the most popular casino games in the country. Theyâ??ve been designed to mesmerize.


Enter Reel-TV, a Henderson company that has patented technology enabling television ads and other marketing messages to appear on slot machine video screens while not in use. Last month, frosty bottles of Bud Light began materializing on video poker screens inside the main entrance of the Palms , like hallucinations induced by the desert heat.
The ads represent a potential jackpot for billion-dollar beverage brands that are lining up to showcase their wares in this new advertising medium, incorporating one of the most effective devices ever invented.
Reel-TVâ??s Keith Atkinson says the medium is a natural for many companies, especially those that make alcoholic beverages. After all, they count Las Vegas casino patrons among their best customers.
In recent years, big Las Vegas casinos have capitalized on their brand image and heavy foot traffic by signing marketing deals with select companies that get naming rights and ad placement at special events. The Palms has such arrangements with Miller and Red Bull, for example.
Still, for many companies looking to get a piece of the casino action, even paying to hang an ad from the ceiling or sponsoring a gambling event can involve massive red tape.
â??One (beverage company) told me they had been trying to get into casinos for 30 years,â?? Atkinson says.
The ads play only when machines are idle, replaced by the typical gambling menu the moment a customer touches the screen. At the Palms, entire banks of slot machines are set to play the ads at specified times, such as every 15 or 30 seconds of inactivity. With big casinos attracting an average of 25,000 people per day, a single 15-second ad playing more than 500,000 times per month could be viewed millions of times. Better yet for advertisers, those who walk through casinos canâ??t skip or fast forward through the ads, as they can at home.
Reel-TVâ??s sales pitch has hooked a whoâ??s who of beverage brands, such as Coca-Cola, Budweiser, Miller, Corona, Dos Equis, Absolut, Grey Goose and Red Bull, that have either signed on to advertise on slots at the Palms or are in talks to incorporate their ads onto slots in Nevada and other states.
Rick Glenn, director of marketing for Findlay Toyota , says there is one drawback to Reel-TV: It doesnâ??t use sound.
Still, Findlay, which spends millions of dollars each year on advertising and â??likes to be first with new technology,â?? signed on, Glenn said. The company had to shoot new television spots that could noiselessly grab peopleâ??s attention â?? a tough job for a local brand known for its boisterous pitchman John Barr and his British-accented offer to â??do anything to sell you a car.â??
â??Imagine if John Barr is on every slot machine in this place,â?? Glenn said. â??You couldnâ??t help but notice it.â??
Eventually, Findlay wants to create ads customized to appeal to people who patronize casinos at particular times â?? the young nightclubbers after hours and the retirees who are daytime gamblers, for example. Some ads, depending on which casinos adopt the technology, could be geared toward high-end or budget-conscious consumers.
Reel-TV, recently approved by Nevada regulators, is awaiting regulatory approvals in other parts of the country, such as tribal casinos in California and Connecticut.
Atkinson, a former long-haul pilot who developed sophisticated mapping technology that plots how gamblers play machines in casinos, has spent more than a decade analyzing how slot players gamble. Before slot companies Acres Gaming and International Game Technology bought his mapping software and sold it to casinos that use it to capitalize on well-played machines and remove underperforming ones, universities used it to study the movement of pests and pollutants, plotting everything from a beetle infestation in the Sierra Nevada to the spread of chemicals in the Northern California delta region.
Atkinson knew that companies had been trying to figure out how to advertise on slot machines for years. He began working on Reel-TV in 2007, after his noncompete agreement with IGT, where he had been a systems consultant, expired.
Although the business opportunity was obvious, the path wound through a minefield of technical and political complications.
U.S. slot giants have developed software programs that can incorporate advertising on â??windowsâ?? that appear, like Internet pop-up ads, as customers played or between gambling sessions. For casinos, the goal of such programs isnâ??t to get consumers to buy more beer. Rather, slot companies sell the technology as a marketing tool to help casinos interact with customers by reading player membership cards to greet players by name, offer coupons geared toward their spending habits and hold tournaments.
Some of these new programs run on proprietary systems that arenâ??t compatible with machines made by competitors.
By creating software that operates independently of the gambling action and can be incorporated onto any type of device, Atkinson sidestepped the need to cooperate with any single manufacturer. The technology is free for casinos to install, as it is supported by advertising revenue.
Still, why would the Palms or any other casino want to risk turning gamblers off with commercials on their machines? The answer is they can also use Reel-TV for the casinosâ?? own commercials. Besides highlighting Palms attractions such as nightclubs and restaurants, the casino expects to launch more targeted in-house promotions that hype special events and limited-time offers. One application allows customers to touch an image of a coupon on the screen and print out the coupon, redeemable for free play or drinks or other prizes.
Some beverage companies, Atkinson says, are interested in using the technology to help launch new products by offering, say, two-for-one drinks.
Might the ads distract people from the casinoâ??s ultimate goal: getting people to gamble?
Palms Chief Marketing Officer Jason Gastwirth doesnâ??t think so. He figures the ads â?? especially a coupon or event information â?? might entice people to sit down and play.
With three out of four slots idle at any given time, the ads, played in sync, create a bold backdrop, attracting the attention of passers-by who otherwise might not take a second look at a machine, Atkinson says.
â??Most people will walk by a slot machine without ever sitting down to play,â?? he says, surveying the Palms casino floor Tuesday. â??We have seen people stop and pay attention to the machine, saying, â??Hey, look â?? itâ??s like TV.â??â??â??
If it works as planned, itâ??s TV that might make one in the mood for a drink, a car, a few hands of video poker or all of the above.
Comments are moderated by Las Vegas Sun editors. Our goal is not to limit the discussion, but rather to elevate it. Comments should be relevant and contain no abusive language. Comments that are off-topic, vulgar, profane or include personal attacks will be removed. Full comments policy.
Cool, love that thought. If its2hot some ice-cold beer commercials, maybe, or my favourite one. That Uma Thurman commercial ….wow! I still get goose-bumps watching it:
Theyll start by playing ads on only idle slot machines. Then theyll start putting in ads between plays.
Oh, good, I am always disappointed when I have a minute or two where I am not be actively marketed. Why dont they just allow the annoying time-share people to follow you into the casino and jabber in your ear while you shoot craps?
The ads play only when machines are idle, replaced by the typical gambling menu the moment a customer touches the screen.
Yeah! this is also the time when these server based slot systems change the odds payouts on the machines as well…
I certainly hope the slot machine ads have no sound.
Imagine how irritating it would be to play on your favorite Caveman Keno machine and hear that loud car commercial pitchman every minute or so on the machines all around you.
However, knowing how clever Americans are about promoting things, perhaps this is really a brilliant casino ploy to get people to sit and play empty slot machines just to shut off the horrid commercials.
I guess that I am living proof that the Ontario education system is even worse than Nevadas.
The article states clearly twice that the slot ads have no sound.
Therefore, ignore my lament about how irritating loud commercials would be on nearby empty slot machines.
Just remember also, though, that what starts out as silent ads will quickly adopt sound if the casinos think it will somehow generate more revenue.
One application allows customers to touch an image of a coupon on the screen and print out the coupon, redeemable for free play or drinks or other prizes. Heres a challenge to readers out there: Go to a casino, collect as many coupons as you possibly can, and total them up after a couple of hours. Then let us know how you made out. Id do it but I cant stand the noise and the cigarette smoke for more than just a few minutes at a time.
This sounds like a great idea if youre a moron. When I go to play slots I dont want to be looking at some car commercial while trying to figure out if thats the machine I want to play. The whole things sounds wrong. I hope the idea dies quickly and painfully.
This is beautiful. Next we will have ads when we have sex. This sex act was brought to u by DR X. When u have trouble ejaculating see Dr X. Great idea!
Am I alone in the thought that going to a casino is time away from guerrilla marketing?
Ah, I remember a time when cable TV was billed commercial television without the commercials. Now there are more commercials on cable TV than there ever was on over the air free TV. Next stop, infomercials on your TV in your room. What makes me laugh is somme ignorant fool in marketing honestly believes consumers buying habits are swayed by commercials.
kenodave, I agree. Advertising puts a message in your brain, but I believe annoying ads put the message DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT in your head as well.
So much for going to a casino to get away from the obnoxious commercials on TV. Maybe Ill go to a movie instead. Oh wait! They have commercials too. Whats next? Commercial breaks during shows on the Strip?
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