A New Casino Technology – TIBO – Is Set to Revolutionize the Slot Scene

Tuesday - September 12 2023, 14:06 UTC - 1 year ago

Acres Technology is set to begin field-testing its new TIBO system at the Gold Country Inn & Casino in Elko, Nevada. TIBO will replace the existing TITO system and enable random bonus tickets to be rewarded to players, even before they have cashed out. Bonus points and QR codes are examples of possible rewards being offered by TIBO.

New technology is headed to a casino near you that can give you a lift when you're down on your slot machine luck or celebrate with you when you win big. Acres Technology will begin field-testing its new "ticket in-bonus out"—TIBO—system in the weeks ahead in Elko, Nevada. It's an update to the "ticket in-ticket out"—TITO—system that most slot players are familiar with.

But not everybody is enamored with what TIBO would do.

For decades, slot players would drop coins into machines and become overjoyed with the sound of nickels, quarters and dollar coins clattering as they dropped into a metal bin at the base of the machine whenever a jackpot was hit.

Then in the early 1990s, slot machine manufacturers found a new way to generate revenue with the introduction of penny slots. While most players didn't play for pennies, they got satisfaction knowing they'd be able to play more because that low denomination meant a gambling budget could last longer.

Penny slot popularity .

That's when TITO came to be because players inserting pennies into slots would have resulted in an overwhelming abundance of copper coins.

So instead, the bill validator was invented and players could acquire 100 credits valued at 1 cent apiece on their machines every time they put a $1 bill in. No pennies required.

A small company, Five Star Solutions, is credited with inventing TITO. The concept was acquired by the old MGM Corp., and slot machine giant IGT negotiated the patents from MGM to perfect the modern slot machine-player transaction.

Under TITO, once play is completed, a button can be pushed to "cash out"—some with sound effects of coins hitting the coin hopper. When a player cashes out, the slot machine prints a bar coded slip of thermal paper showing how much money was won.

That slip of paper could be taken to a kiosk or a cashier to convert winnings to cash.

But one of the brilliant aspects of printed slips in the later versions of TITO is that slot machines have a reader that enables printed tickets to be replayed on other machines.

If your luck sours on one machine, cash out and play at a different one by inserting the ticket produced by the first machine.

Field test pending .

Flash forward to today. Sometime later this year, TIBO is scheduled to make its debut if Acres Technology's field test is successful. Several casino companies say they're interested in the concept once it's been proved. A field test will be underway at Gold Country Inn & Casino in Elko.

What TIBO will do is produce the same types of payment slips to players as TITO—but they may appear randomly, even before you cash out, and for different reasons.

John and Noah Acres of Acres Technology say the goal is to deliver growth in slot machine play through new incentives for the player.

What kinds of rewards can be given and when would they be delivered? The possibilities are limitless.

Let's say you're playing a machine with TIBO, but you don't have the casino company's loyalty card. One of the tickets you may receive could tell you how many bonus points you could have just earned had you been playing with the card—and that a QR code on the ticket could direct you to where to sign up for the card.