That slot in the casino has entertained you for dozens of hours (and taken a good chunk of money along the way). Wouldn’t it be fun to have it in the comfort of your own home to play anytime you want? That’s the focus of today’s question:
Can you purchase old slots for personal use?
Christina L.
Unfortunately like most things around gambling, the answer is: it depends on the state.
Gambling is generally regulated at the state level, which means each state has its own laws around it. In a sign Wikipedia has perhaps too much information housed in its library, there’s a page covering each state’s laws about slot machine ownership.
Broadly speaking, there’s a few categories:
- No ownership allowed: Some states simply do not allow ownership at all.
- All machines are legal: No restrictions exist on ownership.
- Age/type/date-based limits: Many states allow ownership of machines that are a certain number of years old, or manufactured before a certain year.
There are companies that sell slot machines (often used machines, and generally these companies are also in the business of refurbishing them). If you’re in a location that allows the purchase of one, they can help you out – in some ways this works similarly to companies that refurbish and resell older arcade machines.
Another thing to be aware of is some slots may not be available for sale, especially ones that are leased, which means casinos never own the games, and therefore the games wouldn’t come up for sale.
For those who can’t buy a slot machine because of state laws, or want a piece of a slot that’s too young to be available in your state, you can still potentially buy a piece of a slot machine. For instance, there are companies that sell slot machine glass off of classic slots, which allow you to have a collectible piece of a classic machine without actually needing to own the machine itself.
Ultimately, when it comes to slot machine ownership, it relies on where you live, the game you want and what’s allowed.
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