The Flip The Switch team was recently at the Indian Gaming Association’s annual convention in San Diego to learn about what is next in casinos, but also to continue to explore how Bingo Machines differ from Vegas-style slot machines:
What about Indian casinos, the bingo card compared to the Random Number Generator (RNG), what is the difference between the two?
Antuonette B.
Over time the differences are slowly going away. At its core, the main difference is that with traditional Vegas-style slot machines (sometimes known as Class III), the RNG is the key factor in the outcome of a slot, based on when the player makes a wager. By comparison, with Bingo Machines (sometimes known as Class II), the outcome is determined based on the game of bingo and the patterns that are achieved from a game.
Bingo Machines exist as part of the classification system developed for tribal gaming operators under federal law. Bingo Machines tend to be more available on tribal gaming properties because tribes have to individually negotiate the availability of banked card games and slots, whereas they have pretty much unilateral rights to offer Bingo Machines. (This is one of the reasons why you don’t see Bingo Machines in commercial casino markets.)
Increasingly, the mathematicians at the various slot makers are able to figure out how to create a game design that can work under either format, and the ability through bingo to accomplish some of the things that previously was only possible with the design of slot machines.
We also encountered more game makers who have been able to develop an approach that allowed games to be developed for Class III and Class II at the same time, meaning the same game, which will feel virtually the same way, in either format. (In one case, with Ainsworth, they also worked in the ability to develop for Historic Horse Racing too!)
More casinos than ever have Class III and Class II side by side, and so game makers work really hard to ensure if you see the same game in either a Class III or Class II format, it will play and feel basically the same. Modern Bingo machines give casinos the same payback options as a slot machine, and so on.
So ultimately, aside from the main difference of the RNG and the Bingo card, increasingly things are pretty similar between the two game types. And that means players shouldn’t expect any sort of difference given they both have the ability nowadays to deliver the same sort of experience.
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