If you walk into a bricks and mortar casino, you can count on seeing many things. There will be many tables where various card and other games are being played. But you will also see lots of slot machines – banks of them, all ready to be played by whomever is feeling lucky.
But have you ever thought about how much the casino pays for each of those machines? Chances are, each machine will cost around $25,000 and possibly more. A lot depends on how complex the machine is, which company has provided it, and how impressive it is to play.
Of course, the casino will make money from each machine. With that said, there is no clear way for them to assess which machines will be the most successful ones to have. Some slots are always going to be more popular than others. If you were going to drop $25k on a slot machine, you’d want to be sure of getting your money back over time. Therefore, some casinos decide to lease machines from the companies providing them. This means they pay a set amount per month for the privilege. The casino will also pay a percentage of the machine’s profits to the company leasing it to them. However, while they won’t make as much day-to-day with a machine on lease, they’re not committing $25k to a machine that could turn out to be a flop.
