HM 386 Final Exam-- Chapters 6, 9, and 10 (Without Games)

Types of operating buttons found on reel slot machines:

-Change/service button -Cash-out/Print voucher button -Bet advancement button -Spin button -Maximum wager/spin button

Once the boxes are opened, the currency is separated from the paperwork. The paperwork consists of the following items:

-Marker issue slips -Marker redemption slips -Openers -Closers -Fills -Credits

The count team counts and sums the dollar-value of the paperwork items for each of the following categories:

-Markers issued -Markers redeemed -Fills -Credits

There are three primary types of reel slot machine game structures:

-Multipliers -Line games -Buy-a-pay games

Drop & Count Schedules

-The purpose of the schedules is to allow gaming regulators to observe the drop and/or count without notifying management. -A drop or count may not begin before or after the scheduled time, unless management notifies the board in writing, in advance of any change in the schedule.

The following controlled keys are needed to complete the table game count process:

-Two count room door keys -Drop box release key -Two transfer cart keys -Drop box contents key The only new key here is the drop box contents key. This key is used to open the drop boxes. -Nevada's Minimum Internal Control Standards require members of three different departments to be present when this key is issued.

The following keys are accessed by the drop team for table games:

-Two count room door keys -Drop box release key -Two transfer cart keys (for padlocks) One count room key is controlled by the Security Department and issued to the security officer participating in the drop. The second count room key is controlled by the Cage Department and issued to members of the count team from the Finance Department. The drop release key must be separately keyed from the table game drop box contents key and the slot machine cash can release key. -It is usually controlled by the Security Department and issued to the security officer participating in the drop. -The drop team members are not permitted to simultaneously access the drop box release key and the drop box contents key. The transfer carts are secured by two separately keyed padlocks. -One padlock key is controlled by the Security Department and issued to the officer participating in the drop. -The second padlock key is usually controlled by the Cage Department and issued to the floorperson participating in the drop. -Drop team members authorized to access the transfer cart keys are not permitted to access the drop box contents key.

Table Game Count Process

1. Count team assembles outside the count room. 2. Controlled keys needed to complete the count process are obtained. 3. Count team accounts for all drop boxes listed on that day's drop schedule. 4. Drop boxes are opened. 5. Drop box contents are sorted (currency and paperwork). 6. Currency is fed through the counter. 7. Paperwork is reconciled to the casino system. 8. Currency is manually counted by count team members. 9. Once the contents of all boxes have been counted, the count team signs the Master Game Report (MGR).

Table Drop Process

1. Floorperson manually counts the cheques in the trays and creates closers. 2. Appropriate keys are obtained by the drop team. 3. Transfer carts loaded with empty drop boxes that are retrieved from the count room. 4. Security guard places empty boxes next to the appropriate games. 5. Closers are dropped into the table game drop boxes and the boxes are pulled. 6. The boxes pulled from the games are loaded on the transfer cart. 7. New empty boxes are placed in the table games. 8. Openers are dropped into the new empty drop boxes. 9. Once the last drop box has been loaded on the transfer cart, the cart is returned to the count room where it is secured.

Count Process

1. Hot cans are removed from the transport carts 2. Hot cans are arranged on the counter top to be scanned 3. Hot cans are scanned to create header tickets to be read by the currency counter 4. Header tickets, currency, and wagering vouchers from the corresponding cans are placed in a plastic tray 5. Contents of plastic trays are fed through the currency counter 6. The currency is counted manually by count team members 7. The currency counter uploads counts to the slot accounting system 8. The currency counter's count sheet is signed by all who participated in the count 9. A transfer slip is completed to move the currency from the count room to the cage

Slot Drop Process

1. Slot machine door is opened by count team 2. Hot can is pulled and placed in the transport cart 3. Cold can is wanded 4. Machine is wanded 5. Cold can is inserted into the machine 6. Machine is closed/locked 7. Process is repeated until the cart is full 8. When the cart is full, the wand is placed inside the cart 9. Cart is padlocked and wheeled to the count room 10. Once the cart arrives at the count room, a cage employee counts the number of hot cans on the cart 11. Count team member counts the number of hot cans on the cart 12. Information on the wand is uploaded to the slot accounting system 13. Cart is padlocked and locked inside the count room for the duration of the drop --Count can begin if three count team members are present 14. Next cart is wheeled on to the casino floor 15. The process is repeated until the last cart has completed its journey

Pressing the spin button simply sets the game's reels in motion.

A player's wager cannot be changed once the spin button is pressed.

Reel Display

Also known as the game glass (on mechanical reel games) and the game screen (on video reels), the reel display allows the player to see the outcome of each spin.

Assuming all lines are equally activated, the payouts are identical from line 1 to line 5.

Alternatively stated, there is only one pay table on a line game and it applies to each active line. Players are encouraged to increase their wagers to increase their chance of winning a payout. -This differs from multipliers, where players increase their wagers to earn greater payouts on jackpots.

Belly Glass

Although pay table information sometimes appears on belly glass, it is usually only decorative. -Server-based games replace this glass with a LCD monitor. -When the new game is downloaded, the belly glass monitor displays the associated graphics.

The hot can contents include only two items: Wagering vouchers and currency.

Although the wagering vouchers are fed through the currency counter, it does not recognize them as cash.

Should more than one transfer cart be needed to complete the drop, regulations require that:

Any full cart be escorted to a secure location by at least two employees, at least one of whom is independent of the Table Game Department.

Most Nevada casino operators drop the table games once daily. However, it was once common to drop each game after each shift, or three times daily.

As casinos began to offer greater numbers of table games, completing three drops per day became expensive and difficult to execute. In 1993, the MGM Grand Hotel Casino opened its doors and became the first Nevada casino to implement a 24-hour table game drop.

Hot Cans

As the drop team moves across the casino floor it collects currency containers from slot machines. These containers are referred to as hot cans. -They are called hot cans because they are warm to the touch when they are removed from the interior of the machines. -They usually contain currency and wagering vouchers when they are removed from the game.

Transfer to Cage

Before the currency can be transferred to the cage, everyone who participated in the count signs the count sheet, which is nothing more than a receipt/tape produced by the currency counter. Finally, a transfer slip is prepared, which includes the total dollar-amount of money to be transferred to the cage. -The transfer slip accompanies the money to the cage, but not before a cage representative completes an independent count of the money to be transferred and verifies that her count matches the dollar-amount listed on the transfer slip.

Management is required to report whether slots will be dropped by denomination, section of the floor, or percentage of the floor.

By choosing the percentage of the floor option, management is afforded the most latitude with respect to which specific machines will be dropped.

Bill Validators

Devices that are either embedded into a slot machine or attached to one, in a peripheral sense. -Also known as currency acceptors -These devices allow currency to be directly inserted into a slot machine. -The slot system then converts the currency into game credits. -Once the customer inserts the currency into the bill validator, it resides in the currency container. -Prior to bill validators, customers with currency were required to obtain change or gaming tokens from a slot attendant. -Bill validators also accept wagering vouchers

There are a couple of theories as to why slant-top games have performed poorly.

First, the cropped top box eliminates the billboard effect. -There are those who believe that top boxes serve as a form of billboard advertising to players. Without a full-sized top box, players cannot easily identify the game, and, therefore, it is played less than games that feature more prominent top boxes. Second, some believe that when slant-top games are configured in back-to-back banks, privacy and/or personal space issues arise.

The player tracking harness attaches to the slot marketing server plug-in. This is one of the points where the game meets the casino sub-floor. In most cases, there are three such points.

First, the game's power cord will plug into an electrical outlet located beneath the casino floor. Second, the game will plug into the accounting module of the slot operating system. -This will most likely occur by way of another harness, which will attach to the wiring in the sub-floor. Third, the game will plug into the marketing module of the slot operating system. To accomplish the second and third connection points, the wiring for both the accounting and marketing modules of the slot operating system must be pulled throughout the entire sub-floor.

Speakers

For audible evidence of winning, most modern games rely on audio files played through the speakers.

Due to the tremendous number of devices that must interface with the game's processor, harnesses are often used to efficiently accomplish this requirement.

For example, many slot technicians will use a player tracking harness. On one end, this harness simply consists of three groups of wires which plug into peripheral devices. -That is, one group of these wires plugs into each of the following three devices: The slot club card acceptor (aka card reader), the keypad, and the message display panel. The other end of this harness consists of two groups of wires attaching these three devices to both the game processor and the server that operates the marketing side of the slot operating system.

Both the currency container count and table game drop box count must be performed by a minimum of three employees.

For the table game count, three-member count teams must be rotated on a consistent basis. -Specifically, the count team can be comprised of the same three individuals on no more than four days per week.

Several controlled keys are needed to complete the slot drop and count.

Two keys are needed to access the count room. -One is issued to an officer from the Security Department and the second is issued to a count team member from the Finance Department. Slot machine access keys are issued to count team members from the Finance Department. Keys to the transport cart padlocks are issued to a count team member from Security and a count team member from the Finance Department. -There are two separately keyed padlocks that secure the doors of the transport cart, so both keys are required to unlock a properly secured cart.

Reporting Structure

The drop and count teams usually report to the Finance Department or some other department independent of the revenue-producing and security department. -This reporting structure is designed to reduce the likelihood of theft by way of employee collusion. -Count teams must be comprised of employees who are independent of revenue producing departments (e.g., Table Games and Slots) and the department that assumes subsequent responsibility for the counted currency.

Drop Boxes

The drop team also collects containers from table games. These containers are referred to as drop boxes. -Each table game has a drop box. -Although drop boxes certainly do contain currency, they contain other items as well. -When discussing the drop and count processes, drop boxes are also referred to by some as hot and cold cans.

Cold Cans

The drop team replaces the hot can with a new empty currency container, which is referred to as a cold can. -They are stored in air conditioned metal carts and are relatively cold to the touch

Top Glass

The game's pay table is often displayed in the top glass. The top glass resides in the top box of a slot machine. -The top box is the part of the game that sits above the game screen or reel display. -The top glass is often decorative, serving as "billboard" for the game. Server-based games have no top glass, as this area of the slot machine is actually a LCD monitor. -These monitors are capable of displaying any downloaded image/data. Such technology offers operators great flexibility.

Keypad

The keypad would have numbers and/or letters printed on each of the ten keys. After inserting their club card, players would use the keypad to enter their personal identification number (PIN). -The PIN prevents others from accessing and redeeming the points accumulated on another player's card. -The PIN is also used to access promotional offers such as free-play awards. Without a PIN and keypad, any awards credited to a player's account could be accessed by any person in possession of that player's card.

By expanding the size of the reels and mapping the physical stops to the virtual stops,

The magnitude of jackpots can be greatly increased.

External Meters

The meter on the far left of the four-meter array displays the number of credits awarded, as a result of the most recent spin/outcome. The meter to the immediate right of the win meter displays the denomination of the minimum betting unit. The meter to the immediate right of the denomination meter displays the total number of credits remaining on the game. The meter on the far right of the four-meter array displays the number of credits wagered on the most recent/current spin.

Processor Board

The most critical internal component of a slot machine is its processor board, also known as a machine processing unit (MPU) board. -The processor board resides inside of a locked box, which is mounted inside the game's main/central compartment.

Video game reels have a defined set of symbols which can be displayed.

The number of symbols in this set is usually much smaller than the number of stops on the game's virtual reel.

Once the new empty box is inserted into the game, the drop slot is automatically opened.

The opener is the first item placed in the new drop box. The paddle is then returned to the drop slot and the game is open for business on the new gaming day.

Essentially, video poker machines are electronic stand-alone versions of 5-card draw poker, where the player plays against the house, and no other players.

Video poker games took coin-operated devices (i.e., reel slots) from games of chance to games of skill. -The skill component of video poker made coin-operated games attractive to entirely new groups of gamblers, while enticing some existing reel slot players to crossover as well.

Video blackjack is also available in many U.S. casinos. This game is nothing more than a stand-alone video version of the live game.

This game is often offered on multi-game slot machine terminals. -These terminals display multiple game icons on the machine's entry screen, allowing the player to choose from several different games. -There are usually around 8 different games offered on a multi-game terminal.

The header tickets identify each machine to the currency counter.

This is important, as the currency counter automatically uploads the currency count for each machine to the matching machine record in the slot accounting system. -If the header tickets did not separate the contents of the 20 cans that are in the plastic trays, the currency counter would not be able to determine which currency belonged to which machine.

Candle

This is the light that appears on the top of the slot machine. -Slot attendants could read the candle to determine what action needed to be taken. For example, a solid light indicated that the player needed change. -A single blinking light usually indicated that the game needed to be serviced. -Two blinking lights usually indicated the need for a hand-pay jackpot. Fewer players need change and all game malfunctions are communicated to the slot employees via the online operating system.

Message Display Panel

This small panel serves as a message crawler. -Once a club card is inserted into the card acceptor/reader the player is greeted by name. -Once the player enters his or her PIN, the message display panel will provide detailed account balance information and details related to the redemption of rewards and/or play incentives. Information related to current promotional offers is also sent to the game and displayed on the message panel.

Video reel games have no physical reels. The physical spinning reels are graphically simulated by the game's processor.

This technology provides many more opportunities to dazzle and entertain players by way of graphically-oriented effects. -Were first released in the early 1980s, but failed to gain a place on the slot floor. Many slot players were not sure that outcomes produced by computer-generated reels were legitimate.

Wagering Vouchers

Tickets used in a VIVO system. VIVO stands for voucher-in --- voucher-out technology. -This technology allows slot players to receive paper tickets when they cash-out slot credits, as opposed to buckets full of coins or tokens. -If players decide to play again or just switch machines, they simply insert the bar-coded voucher (or ticket) into the machine's bill validator, and the credit balance from the voucher is recognized by the game.

At least one count team member reconciles the count produced by the currency counter to a physical count of the currency.

To clarify, each note is not physically counted. The manual counts are performed on bagged and strapped currency. -The physical counts must match the machine count. Any variance between the physical and automated counts must be reported to the Accounting Department.

Slot Club Card Acceptor

When players enroll in the slot club they are issued a club card. For the casino to credit or reward players for their gaming activity, the players must create a record of their patronage. -This record is created by way of a club card, which is assigned to each member of the slot club. Use of the club card allows management to measure the gaming value of each individual member.

Many factors have contributed to the extinction of coin-operated devices.

With respect to the customer experience, coin-operated games run out of coins, causing unwanted interruptions in the gaming experience. -Specifically, this happens when the hopper is emptied by payouts/jackpots paid by the game. -The hopper is the slot machine's internal coin storage container, serving as the source of coins for the payment of most jackpots. The weight of the coins also affects the drop and count processes. It is much easier to process currency.

Nevada gaming regulators no longer require management to drop table games that have not been played in the 24-hour period preceding the scheduled drop time.

This exemption saves time and money, as pulling empty drop boxes benefits no one.

Whether you are looking at all of the possible stops on a physical reel or all of the discrete symbols in a video reel game, if a weighted mapped virtual reel is employed, the game's outcomes are not random.

However, the process of selection is randomized by way of the RNG. -That is, for a sampling process to be random, each element of a population of elements must have an equal chance of being selected. Because all of the symbols on a virtual reel are not weighted equally (i.e., assigned to the same number of virtual stops), each of the symbols does not have the same chance of being selected. -Because of this condition, games employing unequal weights in the virtual reel mapping process are not random.

Voucher Printer

In concert with the bill/voucher acceptor, this technology removed the burden of transporting coin throughout the casino. When a player wishes to terminate play or switch machines, the game's cash-out button is pressed. -Pressing the cash-out button causes the voucher printer to produce a voucher for the corresponding dollar-amount.

Most games conveniently provide a maximum-wager button, encouraging players to make the greatest possible bet per spin.

In fact, pressing this button not only places the maximum wager it usually finalizes it by setting the reels in motion.

Top Box/Cabinet Design

In general, the top box is the area of the slot machine above the reel display. Slant-top games represent the other extreme, with respect to top boxes. That is, this particular style of game has an aggressively cropped top box. -While this style preserves customer sight lines on the casino floor, the slant-top feature has been found to be associated with decreased game performance.

Management issues denominations of poker cheques that are consistent with the expected rake.

In most cases, the rake is based on a percentage of the pot, up to a maximum dollar amount. -By tailoring the face value of poker cheques to the rake structure, management reduces the number of cheques collected and deposited in the poker drop boxes.

Video Poker Games

In short, the game deals the player five cards from a standard deck of 52 cards. From this original hand, players are permitted to hold all five cards, if dealt a winning hand, or discard and draw up to five new cards, to make their final five-card hand. -Typically, the least valuable winning hand is comprised of a single pair of Jacks or better. -The most valuable hand is usually a royal flush

Video Keno Games

In short, the player chooses up to 20 numbers from a field of 80 numbers, ranging from 1 to 80. Once the player's numbers have been selected, the game then randomly selects 20 numbers from the same field of 80 numbers -The players win or lose depending upon the extent to which the numbers they selected match those selected by the game's computer. To make video keno games more exciting, they are often enhanced with multi-card functionality and special bonus payout features.

In most jurisdictions, the bulk of tax revenue provided by casino resorts is based on gaming win.

In the case of table games, win can only be computed after the drop and count are conducted. -Any theft during the drop and count would reduce the state's tax base.

The bet advancement button allows players to:

Increase their wager each time it is pressed.

Nevada gaming regulations require that all currency containers must be dropped and counted at least one time per month.

Managers of Las Vegas Strip resorts rarely have all slots dropped on the same day. -Most drop between 400 and 500 machines per day. -Many attempt to drop each machine a minimum of one time per week.

Handle

Many games no longer feature handles. The spin button accomplishes the same task and can be housed on the face of the game. -The handle must be mounted on the side of the game, expanding the cabinet width.

Progressive games feature top awards that increase with play. In part, the progressive jackpots are a function of wagering activity.

More specifically, progressive games divert a portion of the credits wagered to the progressive jackpot meters. -Operator employ a device known as a progressive controller to divert a specific portion of the wager to the appropriate meters. Progressive games often have multiple progressive jackpots, so the controller diverts different percentages of the amounts wagered to different jackpot meters. -The top progressive jackpot meter usually receives the greatest percentage contribution. -The lesser jackpot meters are known as secondary meters.

Transfer Carts Retrieved

On the day before the current day's drop, the transfer carts are loaded with the empty drop boxes. -These loaded carts are padlocked and locked inside the count room until they are retrieved on the following day (i.e., the current drop day). -These carts are wheeled to the casino floor and opened.

Line Games

On these games, players buy additional lines, or ways to win, by wagering additional credits. -For example, wagering a single credit would afford a player only one line (i.e., way) to win.

To minimize the number of days that money sits uncollected on the floor, managers at some properties query the slot system to identify the games with the most cash in them.

Once these cash-heavy machines are located they are dropped. -This system/process results in collecting and recording cash sooner rather than later.

Drop Team

One member is from the Security Department, while the other two are usually from the Finance Department. -This assumes that the count room personnel dedicated solely to the drop and count functions report to management within the Finance Department.

There are several versions of automated roulette.

One of the more successful implementations has been the Australian club market, where traditional table games are not permitted. -In this market, dealerless roulette takes on added appeal, as there are no other live table games to compete against it.

The table game drop time is the same time as the gaming day rollover time.

Per Title 31, the drop must correspond with the end of the gaming day. -That is, management must designate a specific rollover time, which represents the end of one gaming day and the beginning of another. All transactions that occur prior to the rollover time are assigned to the current gaming day, including player ratings. All transactions that occur after the rollover time are assigned to the next gaming day.

In general, traditional games that offer a bonus round have two structural components: A base game and a bonus round.

Players begin in the base game, in which reels would appear on the game screen. They would most likely be video reels. Specific outcomes of the base game would be set to trigger a bonus round in which the player would most likely choose specific items from a field of choices. -Only about 2-4% of all base game outcomes would trigger the bonus round. Once in the bonus round, the player would watch some form of video animation reveal the outcomes associated with his or her selections. Once the bonus round terminates, the player returns to the base game.

There are games such as dealerless roulette, which qualify as slot machines in the broader sense. This game differs considerably from its table game counterpart. It has much more in common with a slot machine.

Players place their bets from terminals and there is no dealer to spin the ball, announce the outcomes of the spins, mark the winning number, clear losing wagers, or pay winning bets.

The poker drop and count processes are similar to those of the table game drop and count processes. However, there are a few interesting differences.

Poker tables are often dropped at the end of each shift. -This practice occurs in casinos that drop other table games once a day. Also, poker cheques have different face values than cheques used on most table games. -In spite of their unusual face values, poker cheques are negotiable and can be wagered on other table games.

Although often labeled "change" this button is rarely pressed for the purpose of buying coins.

Pressing this button activates the light in the game's candle and registers a service call in the slot system. -This button is also pressed to request cocktail service.

Pressing the cash-out button once triggered a cascade of coins into a metal tray.

Pressing this button on most modern games initiates the printing of a voucher.

The creation of the contemporary virtual reel stems from a patent granted to Inge Telnaes in 1984.

Prior to this, the magnitude of jackpots was limited by the number of reels and the number of possible stopping positions on each reel.

Drop

Refers to the act of collecting the various cash containers from gaming devices or locations on the casino floor. -Alternatively, drop represents the dollar-value of certain items found in the cash containers. -The group of employees responsible for this task is referred to as the drop team.

Count

Refers to the process of counting the contents of the cash containers collected by the drop team. -The group of employees responsible for counting the contents of these containers is referred to as the count team. -It is not uncommon for some of the same employees to be members of both the drop and count teams.

Technological advancements in slot machines, peripheral devices, and slot operating systems all require a greater amount of data to be transmitted through the sub-floor wiring network.

Such advancements have required increases in the capacity of the sub-floor wire. The fiber-optic cabling far exceeds the data transfer capacities of category 6 wire.

It is important to note that as the expected number of spins between top-award jackpots increases, the magnitude of the top award can be increased.

That is, as the number of spins between top-award jackpots increases, the game is afforded a greater number of opportunities to win wagers.

Once the transfer carts are unlocked on the casino floor, the security officer unloads the empty drop boxes and places them next to the appropriate table games.

That is, each drop box has a table game number painted on it, indicating the table game to which the drop box belongs. The table games are marked with the same number. -For example, both the drop box and the table game would be marked with "01BJ04", indicating Blackjack 4 in Pit 1. -Additionally, Nevada regulations require that drop boxes and table games are permanently marked with their corresponding identification labels (e.g., 01BJ04), which must be visible from a distance of at least 20 feet.

The slot drop for a given day actually begins on the previous day.

That is, on the day before the scheduled drop, the carts are loaded with the appropriate complement of cold cans and secured in the count room.

The best currency counters are able to bag the counted bills in such a way that the contents of the bags can be loaded directly into the cash cassettes used in the kiosks.

The cash cassettes are usually stored in the main bank area of the main cage. -They are essentially a plastic cartridge that can be inserted into an all-purpose cash-dispensing machine referred to as a kiosk. These kiosks are strategically located throughout the casino floor and can be accessed by customers for the following purposes: -Break bills -Redeem slot machine wagering vouchers -ATM transactions -Credit card cash advances

The gaming cheques for each denomination on each table game are counted by a floorperson and recorded on a multi-part form called a closer.

The closer includes the total dollar-value of cheques in the table game's tray. -A closer is completed for each table game and placed on its surface. When the floorperson creates the closer, a carbon copy of the closer is created. -This copy will serve as the opener for the next gaming day. That is, when a floorperson eventually opens the game, the opener contains the beginning dollar-value of the tray for that gaming day.

Coin Tray

The coin tray was typically mounted or housed above a hollow space, creating compelling and audible evidence of winning. -Added excitement to the slot experience

Header cards are created that identify the origin of each bundle of cash fed through the currency counter. In this case, the origin is a specific table game.

The currency extracted from the drop boxes and the corresponding header cards are fed through the currency counter. -The header cards also allow the currency counter to automatically upload each game's currency total to the casino system.

In summary, the risk of game interruption, emergency drop costs, and the potential weight of the active drop boxes are all reasons for:

The different face values of the poker cheques and for dropping the poker games each shift, as opposed to once daily.

Function of the Processor Board

The processor board serves as a memory/storage device and processing unit. In this capacity, the critical game files are stored on media such as a hard drive, flash memory, or an EPROM (for older games). -The critical game files include data representing all possible outcomes from a spin and the associated payouts. The random number generator (RNG) and mapped virtual reels are also stored in the game's memory. -These mapped virtual reels determine the probability of each possible outcome. All player-initiated commands travel through the processor. -For example, the spin button is wired to the processor All marketing and accounting data resulting from the player's interaction with the game also must pass through the processor. -As a result, items such as the card reader and the bill/voucher acceptor must be connected to the game's processor.

Poker drop boxes only contain cheques, so there is no need for the currency counter. Further, there is no paperwork to reconcile. In short, the cheques are racked and transferred from the count room to the fill bank, by way of a transfer slip.

The racks are plastic containers that hold five rows of 20 cheques, for a total of 100 cheques. -Multiple denominations of cheques are never placed in the same rack. The value of a full rack is equal the product of the denomination of the cheque in the rack and 100. -For example, a full rack of $4 cheques is equal to $400 (i.e., $4 x 100).

In general, game design is discussed in terms of:

The relationship between the amount wagered, the amount of the jackpot, and the number of ways to win a jackpot.

The table game drop team can consist of as few as two employees. For example, the drop team of many casinos is comprised of a security officer and a table game floor supervisor (i.e., floorperson).

The security officer performs the manual labor in the table game drop process. -This is quite different from the role of the security officer in the slot drop, where he is essentially an observer. In the table drop process, the floorperson assumes the role of observer.

Slot Stand

The stand elevates the game to a height that facilitates comfortable interaction with a seated player. -Most stands elevate the base of the game about 15 inches above the floor. -Most stands feature a locking door. The interior of the stand can be used for a variety of purposes, such as storage compartment. -For progressive games, the device used to divert portions of wagers to the jackpot meters is often mounted in the interior compartment of the slot stand.

Buy-a-Pay

The structure of these games rewards players for buying or activating additional pay symbols by granting them additional ways to win. -Also known as buy-a-symbol games -These games feature a single pay line On one-credit wagers, players activate the following pay symbols: Single Bars, Double Bars, and Triple Bars. On two-credit wagers, all the pay symbols activated on the one-credit wager remain in play, plus the following jackpot symbols: Red Sevens and Blazing Sevens. -If Blazing Sevens were to appear in all three display positions of line 1, with only one credit wagered, the player would not receive a payout. -However, the same outcome would produce a payout, if two credits were wagered.

Prior to both the currency container count and table game drop box count, the currency counting machine must be tested.

The test currency must be from a source that is separate from the currency to be counted on that day. -For example, the test currency cannot be taken from a drop box that will be counted on that day. -The accuracy of the currency counter is tested for each denomination of currency to be counted.

Count Team Uniforms

The uniforms are designed to prevent employees from stealing cash and/or gaming cheques by putting these items in their pockets or inside articles of clothing.

Transport Carts

These are used by the drop team to transport cold cans and empty drop boxes to the casino floor. -Also known as money carts, drop carts, storage racks, and trolleys. -They are also used to transport full drop boxes and hot cans from the casino floor to the count room.

Unlike line games, multipliers have only one pay line.

These games are characterized by payouts that increase as the amount wagered increases. -For example, if "7-7-7" were to appear on the pay line, with one coin wagered, the payout would be 100 coins. Video poker games are also multipliers. -For example, a full house might pay 10 coins (i.e., credits) with one credit wagered and 50 credits, on a 5-credit wager.

Hybrid Forms

These games incorporate components of more than one game type. For example, a line game may offer a bonus payout on selected top awards, but only when the maximum wager is placed on all possible lines. -This hybrid form incorporates a multiplier function into what is essentially a line game. -The bonus payout encourages maximum-credit wagering, which increases the game's dollar-contribution to the casino (i.e., theoretical win).

Also known as physical reels or steppers, mechanical reel games contain actual/physical spinning reels.

These reels are motorized and receive their start and stop instructions from the game's processor.

Bill/Voucher Validator/Acceptor

This device accepts and verifies both currency and wagering instruments (i.e., vouchers). -This technology eliminated the labor-intensive task of supplying change to slot players holding only currency.

Currency Counter

This device counts and straps currency. -A strap is a 100-note bundle. That is, 100 notes of the same denomination are bundled together by the currency counter using a strap to secure the bundle. -Some currency counters are also able to bag the counted bills. The transparent bags usually consist of 2,000-note bundles. -In appearance, bagged currency resembles a brick or small block of notes wrapped in transparent plastic.

Wand

This device is used to match cans to specific slot machines. That is, a wand functions as a bar code reader. -Also known as a dolphin -For example, the cold can bar code is read before it is placed in the slot machine. The slot machine bar code is also read to match the cold can to that game. The wand or dolphin stores these can-machine pairings. -The count team eventually uses the wand to upload this stored information to the slot accounting system.

Once the game's active drop box has been removed, it is replaced with a new empty drop box.

This empty box is the one that the security officer placed next to the game at the beginning of the drop process.