Doug,

I think the answer to all your questions is a great big YES! I am certain most gamblers will prefer to rip off a paper ticket than to wait for who knows how long for a floor person to arrive and pay them off or fill an empty hopper. There is also another slight advantage for the casino. That is the spacey or possibly slightly inebriated gambler that tears off the ticket, sticks it in his pocket and ends up either losing it or taking it home by mistake. It's a lot easier to misplace a paper ticket than a bucket full of coins.

Regarding the lack of the sound of falling coins; I personally really dislike cashing out coins. First I find the noise loud and obnoxious. Secondly I really dislike handling all those dirty coins especially when some smoker has filled up the hopper with ashes. However, I am sure most people are aware the casinos intentially make hoppers out of that thin metal so they DO create that horrible sound as coins fall. Psychologically this noise helps feed the gambling frenzy. You may have noticed the slot manufacturer actually made a feable attempt at creating the sound of coins falling as the ticket is printed. Not quite the same though.

Casinos for some time have been run by large corporations and like all large corporations most board of directors are there to provide the best rate of return for their investors. Less labor cost means higher gross profits which is their goal. Unfortunately for workers this trend has been quite prevelant especially over the past ten years for all U.S. Corporations.

Now what I want to see is technology come up with a way to fill a silver strike machine hopper without having to wait forever for a floorperson to arrive. That would be real progress.