Editorial: The price we have to pay for efficiency?

Friday, June 22, 2001 | 3:52 a.m.

Imagine Baskin-Robbins with only 29 flavors. Or Christmas without Santa Claus. Well, consider this: Casinos without clanging slot machines.

It's no secret that some casinos have been using slot machines that dispensed a printout receipt for reimbursement instead of coins, but their numbers were relatively small. But "coinless" slot machines took a huge step forward last week when Park Place Entertainment, a gaming industry giant, ordered 15,000 of these machines. Park Place executives tout the convenience to customers of not having to lug around a tub of quarters, but let's not forget these machines save money for the penny-pinching casinos through operational efficiencies. Park Place executives also note that the new machines still will give gamblers the option of using and receiving coins, but the die has been cast: One day, in the not too distant future, coin-operated slot machines will be a vanishing breed, just like showgirls.

The clanging that's created when the coins hit a slot machine's metal tray is such an inherent part of gambling that it's almost sacrilegious to think of it disappearing. It is analagous to the unmistakable crack in baseball that occurs when a bat makes contact with the ball (and don't get us going on how college baseball has destroyed that cherished sound with the "ping" from aluminum bats). But now that corporate number-crunchers run nearly every facet of a casino's operations, it was only a matter of time before coin slot machines met their match. Ah, the price of progress.