As we all know, the industry’s major slot manufacturers have kept right on rolling throughout this lingering Covid-19 pandemic. As was verified by the first in-person Global Gaming Expo in two years, the innovations in game style and mechanics have kept up pace throughout the crisis.
There have been clear trends in the slots coming out the past two years—some have been persistent the entire period; others are new this year to this, our list of the Top 10 Slot Trends to watch out for in 2022.
And away we go …
1. “Cash-on-Reels:” It can be argued that this particular trend began a few years ago when Everi launched its “Cash Machine” game, with its “what-you-see-is-what-you-get” reel setup in which all reel symbols are numbers. Just look at the result, and the numbers are your payoff. Since then, just about every slot-maker has released games, usually video, that employ what are known as “cash-on-reels” symbols—a symbol that is simply a credit amount. Often used in persistent-style bonuses that reward the amounts repeatedly, nothing could be easier to understand: It says 100 credits; that’s what you get.
2. The “Persistent” Feature: Those cash-on-reels symbols, again, are often present in the so-called persistent-state bonus, which is more prevalent across the slot sector than ever. Basically, in this style of game, credits or other paying symbols will lock in place for a designated number of spins while the rest of the reels re-spin. The number of spins in the sequence, usually three, is reset as long as more of the paying symbols land. The player is paid the accumulated credits for each spin. Having originated with games like Aristocrat’s Lightning Link, this feature is also known as “hold and spin.” A couple of the newest games employing this scheme don’t even wait for a bonus trigger—the entire primary game is a persistent feature.
3. Historical Horse Racing: Led by Ainsworth’s collaboration with Churchill Downs, Inc., this style of game is on the rise in jurisdictions where regular slots have not been authorized—particularly racetrack jurisdictions like Kentucky. Historical horse racing, or HHR, is a Class II-style slot technology that uses the results of past horse races as the basis for the numbers that make up a slot machine program. The machines play just like slots, but since they follow parimutuel rules, they are legal—and quite popular—at racing venues. Ainsworth’s system is now one of the platforms being used the most by several other major manufacturers to offer HHR machines. Ainsworth itself has thousands of HHR games in the market; it just landed a new contract to supply 600 of the games to be spread among the properties of Wyoming Downs. This game genre is definitely on the rise.
4. Cabinet Innovations: This has been a major slot trend for nearly a decade. With every trade show, major slot manufacturers launch new slot cabinets. New premium slot games often are designed according to the bells and whistles of the latest cabinet. Every manufacturer now has a giant-sized cabinet. This is not the old Bertha style, but a modern base and button panel topped by a 4K monitor that is 48 inches, 75 inches—even 98 inches, as in the stacked 49-inch displays on Aristocrat’s Neptune Double. The hardware also is getting more creative: witness Incredible Technologies’ Prism VXP (for “vertical expansion”), which utilizes a 27-inch main monitor backed by a 55-inch monitor that physically rises into place via an electrical motor. You can bet there will be more new hardware innovations in 2022.
5. Sports Betting at the Slot Machine: While legal sports betting continues to expand across the U.S., many manufacturers are looking at ways to bring the betting to the slot floor, or vice versa. The product that has actually achieved this is IGT’s Crystal Betting Terminal, previewed two years ago as a sportsbook terminal at which players could place a wager and watch the contest at the same station. IGT is launching a new version that adds casino games to the terminal, for an all-in-one experience that allows wagering without detracting from the revenue generation of the slots. Play slots or video poker, bet on games, and watch the games, all at the same time—it’s the wave of the future.
6. Merging iGaming and Land-Based: Just as sports betting is proliferating across the country, online gaming is generating a lot of revenue to augment the physical slot floor. Brick-and-mortar casinos are using affiliated online sites to keep players engaged with their brands even while they are at home. More and more, players who engage in online gaming sponsored by traditional casinos—as most of the sites are, at least in the U.S.—have linked online play to their loyalty programs, so points earned playing online can be redeemed at the land-based properties. This also is the wave of the future, and, as operators hosting sportsbooks realize that the real money online is in casino games, igaming stands to spread very soon. So will this trend.
7. Cashless is Coming: The move to technology that would remove cash from the slot floor has accelerated since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Slot manufacturers have formed partnerships with payment technology suppliers across the industry in the drive to allow players to fund their slot play without going to an ATM and without handling cash. Companies from Sightline to Global Payments, Everi, Acres and many others are releasing hybrid cashless gaming systems, while IGT offers a turnkey cashless solution linked to its Advantage casino management system. This movement is still in its infancy; expect it to continue.
8. Specialty Video Poker: IGT has arrived at every trade show over the last half decade with new video poker games that go beyond all the standard video poker variations to offer special, slot-style bonuses. This trend, which arguably began with Spin Poker and Ultimate-X Poker, will continue, because it benefits the players without detracting from the traditional game. In most cases, bonus features adding multipliers to hands, increasing payoffs when certain hands land, or other special bonuses are funded through an increased per-hand wager—an ante, if you will, of anywhere from a single credit to five credits per hand. This allows the bonus while keeping the pay schedule intact for poker purists. It’s a great idea that’s not going anywhere.
9. ETGs Rising: Electronic table games had been on the rise in popularity as a lower-cost alternative to live tables before the pandemic hit, but as casinos reopened following shutdowns last year, ETGs received an added boost from players still squeamish over crowding into a live table game. This year, the spread of sports betting is providing additional floor space for ETGs, since the demographics of sports bettors and ETG loyalists are so similar. Additionally, merchandising on ETGs is improving all the time, from casinos such as the Live! venues offering a dedicated ETG area (the “R Bars,” which feature live-game ETGs in a sports a setting) to the increasing number of stadium-style settings from suppliers like Interblock, with ETGs in a lounge setting via its “Pulse Arena.” With table minimums up because of the pandemic, expect the lower-priced ETGs to continue to surge.
10. Social Distancing is Here to Stay: The need for social distancing after casinos reopened following Covid-19 shutdowns has accelerated a trend that predated the pandemic: fewer machines on more wide-open slot floors. This trend appeared originally because play was down after the Great Recession, and fewer slot machines were needed. But placement of machines in pod configurations, be it circular, triangular or football-shaped, turned out to be perfect for meeting the requirements of social distancing—without having to throw Plexiglas barriers up everywhere. Pods are the new shape of the slot floor, so don’t expect the crammed rows of slot machines to make a comeback. This, once more, is the wave of the future.
