On my phone and on my wife’s Surface, I am frequently shown ads for various casino/slot machine game apps. And frankly, I don’t understand the appeal. To be honest, I’ve never really understood the appeal of real slot machines: you just sit there feeding coins and hope for a payout, and you probably win just enough to keep you playing. But on these game apps I assume there is no payout in terms of real money, so what’s the point?
Reduced that way, almost no video games have a real-world point.
Gambling games of all sorts tend to hit many “addiction” triggers: there’s always a “one more spin and I might get back what I lost” effect.
But I think the largest draw of them is that everybody’s familiar with them, the mechanics are dirt simple, and you can play in very short periods of time. That’s pretty much the gold standard for picking up the “casual gamers” that make up most of the mobile market. Add in advertising revenue and a little “well, you’re out of virtual tokens, but a small amount of real world-money can get you a huge pot of them” over and over again, and I’d bet the best of these are significant money-makers for their creators.
There’s also a few outliers like Scatter Slots, which try to superimpose other game elements (missions, leveling and other advancement, etc.) over top.
it’s game of chance. just challenge your luck
For me, the one I have played on has two currencies, chips for the slots themselves and then the “premium” currency generally earned by just playing the game (the more chips you bet, the more currency you earn). This premium currency can be used to get real-life things. So the one I used was tied into MGM, and when I was last in Vegas I was able to use those credits to get a free ticket to both Cirque’s “Love” and the Jabberwockeez show.
That’s not bad for something to do on the toilet, or having a Facebook tab open running spins in the background.
My wife plays slots on her phone and in real life.
The slots on the phone at least don’t cost real money.
I don’t get the appeal of slots at all, but people who like them in real life tend to like them as an app too.
That was gonna be my point–they can get some of the thrill without actually spending money. Kinda like smoking clove cigarettes.
See, I wondered if there was another element to these games besides Click - Spin - Did I Win? - Spin Again. I suppose it’s no different than playing solitaire or whatever, but at least with those there is an element of skill involved, not just random dumb luck, which for me would get boring real quick.
Haven’t seen a coin operated slot machine in many years. That if from visiting about 20 or so Indian casinos and a short stop in Reno about 7 years ago. All take either cash or pay vouchers and allow multiple betting options for each play.
In most of them, you don’t even have to do that: there’s an “auto-spin” button of some sort that spins for you.
I have a couple of these on my iPad. I never play them during the day, but the “boring real quick” is a feature: a few minutes of watching those wheels spin will put me right to sleep, whether I’m “winning” or not.
Practice. You don’t want to walk into the casino and look like a fool!
Even better, I wait to go into the casino until I’ve had a long run of losses on the virtual game, so now big wins will be due!
Not sure that your analogy is correct. Clove cigarettes are made from a blend of tobacco and cloves, and the tar and nicotine content are comparable to non-clove cigarettes.
For those that do pay out, I assume they show ads to fund it.
i don’t like slot machines real or fake my self … but i think why slots are so popular is its rather mindless big money for little work and you don’t have to think too hard … but amusement companies are working on touch screen machines …
but if you like it … youre having almost the same fun and not losing real money also the game slots have nothing ot deal with real slots anyhow ,
I guess it’s pretty obvious I don’t spend much time in casinos, huh? 
There are some casinos in downtown Las Vegas that have coin in slot machines. The El Cortez has some.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
I was once the guest of some folks who love to spend time in casinos. They gave me a bucket of quarters ($200) and everyone went off to play.
I found a slot machine and began feeding in quarters. It was like a boring job. My goal was to get rid of all the quarters, which took a surprisingly long time. I’d get close and then win.
When we all met later that night/morning I faked enthusiasm.
I’m usually pretty good with analogies, but what?
I play one called MyVegas. I’ll have it running while I watch tv sometimes. The appeal of that one is, they have a deal with MGM Resorts, and as you play the game, you collect what they call “Loyalty Points”, which can be exchanged for real-world rewards. I’ve gotten free weekends and good meals at nice Las Vegas properties through playing the game. Unfortunately, the rewards have gone downhill over the last couple of years, but you can still get some decent deals and freebies through playing it.