Norman, you are using removed machines to support a single reason theory and it just defies reason and logic. There are many reasons I'm aware of. Collectors are a large part of the business, but not the only part. We are far less important to most casinos than the casual playee. The exception, of course, is those casinos that target collectors for exploitation by constantly making low numbers.

How do you reconcile the fact that McCarran Airport has 12 strike machines with your theory? Most of us can't even get into the secure terminals to play, so I know it isn't the collector supporting that franchise. Who is keeping the California Club machines spitting out strikes? When is the last time you had a request for an Island from there?

Did you know that Riverside (Laughlin)removed their machine because the slot director at the time thought he had to order the tokens too often? Don't you think some casinos don't understand the program or want to be bothered?

Luxor told me that they removed their machines for incompatability with their player tracking system, which also tracks the hold. They also had problems keeping their fills straight and the machines from jamming.

I'm sure the locals casinos have trouble sustaining play because they don't have enough of a base to make the strikes walk, which is the highest profit. Most don't change their designs often enough to warrant frequent play. Many have unimaginative designs like Boulder Station's last series. Suncoast had problems with their fills because the machine was out of the way and the new strikes had to come from the cage. When they tried filling with returned strikes from a change booth, we couldn't get Pentagons and Twin Towers and raised heck.

Some places have simply had enough of the quarrelsome collector.

I was told that Hard Rock removed their machines because of maintenance problems.

MGM removed theirs when the licensing agreements with the James Dean and Marilyn Monroe estates expired; there had previously been an earlier strike problem when Michael Crawford unexpectedly split from EFX. MGM tried to reorder a strike machine within days of the Four Queens snagging the last one.

The 1750 number isn't magic. It is an economic reality: the lowest number which allows IGT to amortize the cost of die production. Take a walk over to Ballys and ask how many strikes (yes, even Slingos) a month they go through. After you pick a number, I'll take the overs.

Can you tell me how many collectors are responsible for the approximately 500 $200 strikes issued annually by Imperial Palace?

A wise man once told me that we are here in the USA today because of rotten meat, and he was 100% correct. After all, there was no refrigeration in Europe in 1492 so Columbus went looking for spices to make the rotten meat taste better. You can fill in the rest.

Sorry Norman, but your single bullet theory doesn't fly.