Video gaming machines at bars and restaurants in Illinois are doing land office business. In the cities, towns, and villages that have approved them, you can find any number of establishments with state-sanctioned and regulated slot machines within walking distance of one another. They’re everywhere.
Can bar slots be classified as a convenient alternative to a trip to a casino? Hardly. The only way to regard them is to take them for what they’re worth: An entertainment option for when you’re dining out or enjoying a beverage at your favorite watering hole. In other words, go for the food or drink, not to play the slots.
Gambling outings should be just that: A trip to a casino destination where you go for the games. The dining and sports bar/lounge options at casinos in Northwest Indiana and Illinois are an attractive bonus to be sure, but the gambling is the reason you’re there.
Don’t get me wrong. State-regulated gaming devices in bars are far better than the “for amusement only” games that used to be found in the corners of some establishments. All it took was a wink of an eye or the nod of a head and the games mysteriously became slot or video poker games for cash.
Now that the machines are on the up-and-up and out in the open for everyone of legal age to play, they’re still only worth an occasional spin to have a little fun. Any serious investment of cash is a losing proposition in this columnist’s humble opinion.
Illinois’ newest gaming venture is an unqualified success. As of August there were 18,125 machines in place at bars and restaurants state-wide. During the month the total amount played on the machines was $734,297,513. The money won by players totaled $675,222,500, which means the games “won” $59,075,013.
A 30 percent tax rate extracted $17,722,766 from the win, of which $14.7 million went to the state and $2.9 million went to the municipalities. A substantial, yet comparatively small cut, winds up in the coffers of the establishment owners.
The games are played in penny, 5-cent, 10-cent, and quarter denominations. The max wager on any play is not to exceed $2. No cash award for the max wager on any game can exceed $500. Furthermore, each machine theoretically pays out a minimum of 80 percent during the expected lifetime of the base game.
The real kicker is when you get into a bonus round, the spins are not free. The player can wager any amount on every free spin up to but not exceeding the amount played to get into the bonus.
What this means is if you wagered one dollar on a spin and got into a 10-spin bonus round, you would have to win $10 in the bonus round just to break even if you bet a dollar on every one of those spins.
As for the video poker side, the games pale in comparison to the casinos.
Casino slots give players a better “bang” for the gambling dollar while bar slots are an adult version of the old penny arcade and not to be taken seriously.
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