I believe this information is wrong. Swapping out reels is only required if the theme changes. To change the payback of a particular slot game, the weighting of each spot on the reels change, not the physical reels themselves. As far as I know this has always been the case.
Sent from my iPhone
On Jan 1, 2011, at 4:19 PM, "Frank" <frank@progressivevp.com> wrote:
> This is an interesting question. Since video poker machines cannot be "changed" without a visible alteration to the pay-table, I can only guess you are asking about slots.
> In the old days most casinos only changed slot return after monthly or quarterly accounting sessions, or even more commonly during remodeling. Changing the return of a slot required replacing the reels and as this was costly, it was usually avoided. Nor did the casinos need to change them, many slots (Even the ones with 10% meter-rise) had massive holds and needed no alteration to be big bread winners for the house.
>
> Machines might be shut down and checked for errors mid-month, only if they required 3 fills in a shift (standard house rule). Even so they were not changed, only fixed, if broken.
>
> This is no longer the case. Now changing the return of a slot only requires swapping out the chip-set, with no alteration to the hardware or physical reels. I have even heard that some casinos can alter return on the fly with newly available software suites.
>
> I have not personally verified or disproved these claims, since I stopped playing slots the day the went electromechanical.
> --- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, Meredith And Kenny <meredithandkenny@...> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Do any of you know how often the machine's are updated or changed ?? IE:: a bunch of people are winning on one machine,,,,do they change it ?
