Monday, April 13, 1998 | 8:29 a.m.
After all, there are hundreds of one-armed bandits here. And gamblers can be very picky.
Something special?
How about a "Wheel of Fortune" slot machine with a wheel just like the one on the hit TV game show that calls out "Wheel ... of ... Fortune" just like the studio audience crowd?
Or a "Jeopardy!" slot machine, replete with the familiar TV show's theme song, bonus board and announcer Johnny Gilbert crowing "This is ... Jeopardy!"
Increasingly, casinos and slot machine manufacturers are turning to television in search of tried-and-true images and sounds that can help sell gambling devices to overstimulated players.
Fifteen months after "Wheel of Fortune" slot machines took casinos by storm, a second generation of TV-themed slots is on the way. "Jeopardy!" machines, installed last week at Showboat, are coming soon to the rest of the casinos.
So is Alex Trebek, the host of "Jeopardy!", who will make a ceremonial first pull on one of the machines during a ceremony Thursday at Showboat, just as Vanna White did when "Wheel of Fortune" machines were introduced last year.
"They're amazingly popular," said Michael DiLeva, a spokesman for Harrah's Casino Hotel, which has 44 "Wheel" slots.
"They have created a resurgence in the popularity of system games in general. The trend was for more quick-hitting machines that had smaller jackpots. Now, people are going back to these big progressive links."
In "Wheel of Fortune," "Jeopardy!" and other progressive slot machine systems, a share of every coin or dollar played goes to an overall jackpot that can be won at any time, at any of the machines.
With each play, the jackpot grows from its $1 million starting point.
In each game, there is a secondary feature. If the "Wheel of Fortune" symbol comes up on the third reel, it triggers the actual wheel at the top of the machine to spin, giving the player a chance at a jackpot.
In "Jeopardy!" the 30-space grid - which looks just like the board of trivia questions on the TV show - lights up when the "Jeopardy!" symbol appears on the third reel.
But there are no trivia questions and no "hangman" puzzles to solve in the games.
"'Wheel of Fortune,' with the name and the interactive nature of it, is something all our customers can relate to," said George Mancuso, vice president of slot operations at Tropicana Casino and Resort.
He said the machines set records for win per unit - the amount of money put into the machine, minus payouts to winners - when they were first installed last year.
"It's on TV and the name's so popular everyone's going to want to play it," said Georgeann Batten, 28, of Upper Pittsgrove Township, N.J., who was playing "Jeopardy!" on Thursday at Showboat.
"I knew it would play that catchy 'Jeopardy' tune," said Maia Gaiti, 59, of Plainview, N.Y., who played one of the machines nearby. "But I want it to play the REAL big tune," she said, meaning a million-dollar jackpot.
Slot machines that attract players - and keep them coming back - are always being sought by casinos. After all, nearly 70 percent of the $3.9 billion that gamblers lost here last year was at the 12 casinos' 35,205 slot machines.
In tapping two of television's most popular shows for themes, slot machine manufacturer International Game Technology of Reno, Nev., looked beyond the catchy theme songs and well-coiffed hosts.
"The demographic of the people who play and watch on TV is very similar to the ones traveling to casinos, an age group over 55 and largely middle class," said Steve Morro, IGT's director of systems in Atlantic City.
It remains to be seen whether the "Jeopardy!" machines will be as popular as the "Wheel" machines. Mancuso said he didn't think they would be because the square grid is not as exciting for players to watch as the spinning wheel on "Wheel" machines.
In either case, more TV-themed machines could be on the way.
"Matlock Bucks"? "Murder, She Gambled"?
Morro isn't saying.
"Without giving away program development secrets, it's safe to say you'll see additional (TV) tie-ins in the near future," he said.
To many gamblers, though, the names don't matter.
"They're all the same. They empty your pockets," said Pauline Hannah, 50, of Philadelphia.
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