Gamblers Not Gambling Like They Used To 

The tribal casinos can tell you that there is definitely a problem with the economy as they have seen it first hand. Whereas they were all doing a fairly lucrative business before the bottom dropped out the market, they are seeing their numbers continue to drop as less and less people are choosing to play the slot machines. There have been reports of the slot machine manufacturers themselves feeling the pinch because casinos are not ordering more machines – but they can’t because they don’t have the players to do it. 

The tribes in California say that there are still people coming to play the slot machines, but that they are not seeing the numbers that they used to see. They are reporting a 6% drop in revenues for last year, and they say that a lot of it has to do with the people who are gambling. They argue that there are people still playing at the slot machines, but those that are playing are not playing the high end slot machines like they used to, or they are not playing for as long as they used to play. 

There are still people coming to gamble at the slot machines, they just don’t have the money that they used to, so they are turning to lower denomination machines to have their fun. Las Vegas had reported something similar in that they saw that they still had people playing, but they were bringing in more penny slot machines because that is what people were choosing to play. They knew that they could play at a slot machine and spend awhile there – without losing a lot of money. 

The tribes say that with everything around them as depressed as it is, it is no wonder that they and their revenues would be as well. The tribes say that they are surviving the recession, just not as well as they would have hoped that they would be.