Actually, I only remeber it as Silver Falls
There was a pool hall I went to in the seventies that had one of these. It was quarters, and all the ‘house’ quarters (the ones placed in the machine) had a red X on both sides.
Only ever heard them referred to as “penny cascades”, too, FWIW.
In the arcades here on the South Coast of England this type of machine is very common. There are normally two types, the penny variety and that using silver 10p pieces. The latter can pay off quite handsomely if played at the right time and in the right way. These machines have controls, albeit haphazard ones, ie one can guide the coin in roughly the right direction.
It’s immensely satisfying when a huge avalanche of silver falls into the tray, but equally frustrating (and expensive) when a huge mass seems to defy all the laws of gravity and stubbornly refuses to tip no matter how many coins you roll into it.
Heh! I had no idea that those things still existed. Oh, and I always knew them as “Penny Falls”, and they might be found at fairs or at seaside arcade sort of places. Eek, come to think of it, I remember them when they used REAL pennies, you know the nice big pre-decimal ones. Oh dear, it’s probably time for my Horlicks now. 
I always wondered how the owner made a profit on the machines. Are they emptied and re-stacked at the end of the day? I guess this would mean there is an optimal amount of coins to put back in the machine that simultaneously avoids large payouts right away, and yet is tempting enough to attract the seaside-holiday gambler’s dollar (or 10p coin to be more exact, I suppose).
No restacking was ever carried out at the place I worked.
It would have been too time consuming and, really, unnecessary. The owner’s profit came from the cash falling down the side chutes mentioned in Mangetout’s post #4. It all adds up.
Mind you, those were the days when you could take an omnibus to see a moving picture, buy fish and chips and a pint of beer, and still have change out of a florin.
Heck Chez I must be older than you.
I can 'member taking a Hansom cab into town, buying a new suit, pair of boots, new spats, best seats at the Alhambra picture palace, fish, chips and mushy peas, half a dozen flagons of Old Toms Rustic Cider and still have change out of a Ha’penny
I saw something at a carnival once that trully amazed me about the size of the carnies balls. A kid was playing with quarters(I never did know why the police ignored the gambling at all, but that’s another story) He was about 10, and really stupid. He kept dropping them so they would hit when the blade has forward, so they’r bounce off and land on top, doing no good. After at least 20 bucks he still hadn’t won anything, and was getting pissed. SO the carny reached in to ‘help’ him. He gathered up a bunch of quarters on the top rows, but not near the edge, and placed them in front of the blade. I also noticed he manged to palm about 5 bucks worth that went into his pockets. Of course on the first push after he turned it back on about 10 or 12 quarters fell, and the kid was happy.
Clearly the carny didn’t care if he gave a few back, because he had taken a bunch out of the game, that would never be given back to anyone, and increased his profits. The clitncher was that some sucker walking by tipped him about 3 bucks “for being a good person” and the carny managed to look contrite and humble.
I’m sure that would be against gambling laws, if there were an. But the fact they were doing it at all, let alone with a 10 year old kid was already way past illegal.