Inevitably, slot machines will be removed from the casino floor and replaced with other machines. Players sometimes wonder what happens from there:
What do they do with the old slot machines that are removed and replaced with new machines? Is there a slot cemetery?
Karen
There’s a couple of different directions things can go, and it starts with whether the casino owns them or leases them.
If a Casino Leases the Slot Machine
If a slot machine is leased, and the machine is no longer on the floor, the most likely place it goes is back to the manufacturer, since the casino doesn’t generally own the machine. Sometimes the same machine will stay in place, with the game on it simply replaced, but at some point the whole setup will get swapped and that means the machine is returned.
Most leased slots can’t be bought, so you aren’t generally going to find them available for home purchase, or in a second hand market. The slot manufacturers pretty much assure of this through the way the leasing programs are run.
Sometimes a cabinet can be both bought and leased, and sometimes so can a particular slot machine game, so there can be some complexity there if you see a cabinet/game stay put in one casino and more quickly swapped at another.
If a Casino Owns the Slot Machine
There’s a few different directions that can occur if the casino owns the hardware, and what they choose to do in a given situation will simply depend on that casino’s preference and needs.
The Machine Could Be Stored for Later
Many casinos will hang on to some of the hardware, potentially to swap out with other machines in the future. We’ve seen casinos install new banks of old machines that weren’t on the floor just before it, so one possibility is that they had the machines on hand somewhere.
This would be an example of a slot cemetery possibility. Part of whether this is viable for a given casino is the question of whether the casino has extra space to accommodate. Some larger properties have whole areas closed off to the public where storage of decommissioned machines (whether temporary or permanent) would be possible, while others grow to the point of bursting at the seams.
Save Them to Use for Parts
Some older machines are no longer supported by the manufacturer, which means keeping popular machines going may require cannibalizing parts from other machines, particularly for replacement parts which are simply no longer available. This is the case, for instance, for the casinos that still have coin slots.
So, for example, if a casino has 20 of a given machine, perhaps 10 get taken out of service and held on to for parts, while the other 10 continue to keep players occupied.
The Casino Sells the Machine
There’s a robust second-hand market for slots, whether to sell into other jurisdictions, to casinos who still want to keep the older games on the floor, for parts (to other casinos in this case, rather than the casino’s own supply), or even for home use where allowed by law.
There are companies that will refurbish and resell slots – like cars, there’s a full circle of life for machines that are no longer needed at a given property
Discarded if Unsalvagable
In the worst cases, slots like any other electronics will be safely and properly disposed, with the extra caveat of what regulations require to enure they don’t create regulatory issues.
Takeaway
Slots can go in a lot of different directions.
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