Casinos are pretty amazing. All of these people, each staring at a little glowing machine, slowly losing money. I checked out some of these machines. They show little icons, sometimes with a theme (eg - Ancient Egypt), that roll around and if they line up, you win money. They are all very similar and very boring.
All those people, staring at nonsense icons. Why not have them stare at advertising logos? You know they would soak right in to the base of the brain and make them buy, buy, buy. Plus there are other benefits.
1: Better odds to win. Currently the odds are that you lose, to give the house an edge. In exchange for hosting their machines and providing ad space, the companies could pay the casino. With the casino paid, the gambler's odds of winning could improve.
2: Competition between companies. Suppose the Coke machine was known to make good payouts and be pretty cool. Pepsi would have to set up a rival michine with even better payouts, even cooler. Hopefully this would set up some sort of potlatch style giveaway contest, but even if not, the result would be a better experience for those miserable gamblers.
3: Stuff. In addition to money, machines could give certificates good for product prizes - kind of like that Camel Cash promotion. On the Honda machine, very occasionally someone might win a motorcycle. The Vegas machine might occasionally provide a free trip to vegas.-- bungston, Jun 20 2003 Good idea. I'm surprised they're not already doing this sort of thing.-- snarfyguy, Jun 20 2003 Clever!
Example: Yay! I just got three McDonald's! <ching ching ching ching ching ching ching>-- monkeyseemonkeydo, Jun 20 2003 I just got three Exxons. ... Hey, I thought I won, what is that disgusting black stuff spilling out of that slot?
If the logos pay for the wins, so at least statistically there are no loosers. Would it still be gambling?-- kbecker, Jun 20 2003 The logos pay the house - so instead of a 55% lose 45% win ratio there might be a 51% lose 49% win ratio, with the difference made up by logo fees. Gamblers can still lose a lot of money. Just statistically less.-- bungston, Jun 20 2003 + Me Like. Especially the free trip to Vegas (from Vegas)-- gnomethang, Jun 20 2003 (it's a short trip, though)-- Cedar Park, Jun 21 2003 Good stuff (+)-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 21 2003 Repetitive, but I have to say that I am amazed this is not done yet. Somebody could sell this idea for really good money. I've noticed that very often. Be careful with your ideas peeps, some rich man might steal them!-- Pericles, Jun 21 2003 I wonder if there actually might be laws against this.-- bungston, Jun 22 2003 There may not be laws, but I'm sure that the casinos have figured out why they shouldn't do this. The income that the casinos make from the gamblers is taxable under a special agreement with the state, with a pre-arranged, very low rate. Nevada, for example, charges only 10% tax to the casino on entertainment tax. Income from advertising placed in the casino would be taxed a much higher rate. I suspect this is why you don't see corporate sponsorship in the slots.-- Cedar Park, Jun 22 2003 Yeah, that is a good idea. Heck, I'd play the coke machine for a can of coke.-- sartep, Jun 22 2003 [sartep] I Can I Can't-- gnomethang, Jun 22 2003 Great Idea!!! The only concern I would see for potential advertisers is that people who loose would walk away with negative feelings toward the sponsor. Also, you may have some people outraged that corporations like coke endorse gambling. Just imagine the headline news that would make!-- imaginarium, Jun 22 2003 The only problem would be like the one experienced at those chocolate dispensing skill tester machines at the video games arcades. You end up pumping $2.00 in for a 50c fun Mars Bar. This leads people (some, not all) to think "What's the point, I can go down the strip to Coles and buy a bag of them for that."-- reap, Jun 22 2003 "Coke... Coke... PEPSI!!!"
"Dammit, I hate that PEPSI. Gotta get a COKE! OK, one more time, just one more time... ARRRRGH!"
This idea's got legs. As long as you can find the advertisers who're willing to take a gamble on this risky medium, you're cookin'.
Where this idea really works is that people resent and filter out TV ads. Whereas, they'll happily spend many hours staring intently at a slot machine's dials. They'll dream of three Cokes coming up for weeks of nights in a row.
Given that the idea may even help the odds on a slot, they'll appreciate the ads instead of resenting them. Perhaps at the end of the session the machine will sense you are getting up and say "COKE has saved you $22.7 in the last hour".-- FloridaManatee, Jun 22 2003 fantastic concept! But if the ad revenue is used to improve the payouts it will go nowhere -- you need to incentivize the -casino- instead, as they're the ones who decide whether a machine goes in or not. So, use the ad money to lower the cost of slot machines. A good idea for a small slot machine manufacturer trying to grow market share.-- yabbadab, Sep 13 2003 Sorry to be the first negative vote...But it seems to me that I see enough advertising everywhere I go...I don't need to see any more. Also, you mentioned that maybe a honda o ne could give away a motorcycle or something...There are slots and such in casinos now where you can win a car, so that would not be any improvement. And as for prizes in general, I don't know about you, but I'd rather get money that I could use to buy anything than a specific prize.-- Face, Sep 13 2003 Actually, slot machines are developed in good part by licensing revenue. If the costs of the machines weren't subsidized, they'd be covered by the casino, which would then pass those increased costs to the gambler by reducing the odds of winning.
Good idea, but it is being done, just very surreptitiously.-- shapu, May 11 2004 random, halfbakery