You see them on the slot floor all the time – what exactly are they doing?
When you see slot techs working on machines what are they doing and are they allowed to reset a machine?
Barbara K.
That’s a really broad question, Barbara, but we’ll do our best.
Slot techs deal with a lot of things relating to the hardware of a slot machine. This can be anything from basic slot issues (the machine ran out of paper to print tickets or the door is detected to be open) all the way to major configurations of machinery.
As far as resetting a machine, they can restart a machine, but they can’t just wipe a machine of all its data, for instance. They can get a machine back up and running after a crash, or return the machine to service after a handpay, but they can’t just wipe it like a computer at home.
They also don’t have unilateral control over paybacks either. Pay attention when new machines are betting set up in casinos. You’ll often see a sheet of paper taped to the glass with a whole bunch of settings. These are the settings the slot techs have to configure the machine to be exactly, which means they’re just following orders.
Slot techs jobs cover a lot of aspects of keeping the machines in good working order, and like many jobs there’s the first level people who can do the basic stuffs (the reboots, the handpays, the door is open and paper is out errors) and there’s others who get more down and dirty (replacing parts, maintenance that keeps the machines running, fixing issues that arise) and so on.
Once we had a slot act up while in the middle of a bonus. The machine was old and the slot tech on duty could not seem to get the machine back up and running without the error returning. They told us they would call in the a.m. and we could pick up my cash for the final outcome of the bonus.
They held to their word, and even though the machine “malfunctioned,” they were able to get things back up and running so the bonus could complete, and they paid every penny of our bonus win. In that case they needed the lead tech, who was able to figure out how to get things back up and running.
Beyond the casino, there’s the manufacturers who have their own techs who can come out and fix machines, especially the ones they own and are being leased by the casinos as well. This also helps the manufacturers spot potential trend issues that they can then resolve for better reliability of their machines, just like any other manufacturer would.
So that’s a bit of a look at what they do – their primary job is to keep machines working so we can play them and the casinos can make money.
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