Casino’s “Bottom” Line effected by Slot Machine Chairs

What do you think qualifies a game as the best slot machine? Most would say it’s the win frequency or entertainment value, or maybe one they had great luck on it in the past. What many land-based casino goers don’t realize is that the longevity of their game play can actually have a lot to do with how comfortable the chairs are.

It makes sense, when you think about it. If you’re not comfortable, you’re not going to stay at a machine very long. You’re going to get up, walk around a bit and stretch your legs. You may find a new machine to sit at, or might even walk out of the casino. The latter is the last thing gambling operators want to see happen.

According to one expert, the comfort of ‘your bottom‘ has a direct correlation with the casino’s ‘bottom line‘.

Best Slot Machine Chairs “Vitally Important”

Skip Davis is the President of Gary Platt Manufacturing, a company based out of Reno, Nevada that builds and installs chairs for slots and video poker machines.

“If you look at a typical slot chair, what you’re trying to do is to get people to stay for extended periods of time to play,” Davis told the Associated Press.

Table Games at Crown Melbourne

“You want to design it right and make sure it fits the game properly, in terms of height and access to the button panel,” he explained. “And, more importantly, you make it so comfortable that the chair doesn’t give you any reason to get up and leave the game.”

In the overall scheme of casino décor, chairs are the most basic form of furnishing. A gambling hall could have the best slot machine payout percentages on the Las Vegas Strip, but if the chairs aren’t comfortable, few players will stay to play them. It’s a fact managers of casino resorts have come to appreciate.

Brian Benowitz is the Senior VP of Gaming Operations at the Cosmopolitan Casino in Las Vegas. He believes having the best slot machine chairs is “vitally important” to the player experience. “We take a lot of care in choosing the right chair with the right look,” he said.

“It has to have both a good design element, and it has to function. And it has to last as well as be comfortable for the guest to sit there for hours,” said the SVP.

Casinos Take Care in Upgrading Chairs

New Slots Chairs at The Cosmopolitan

Benowitz confirmed that, since the Cosmopolitan opened in 2010, the casino has constantly been under renovation. One of the operation’s key decisions was to replace all of the chairs at the casino’s 2,000 slots, video poker machines and table games. To date, nearly all of them have been upgraded.

It’s quite a process. Benowitz said they work closely with the manufacturer’s design team “to get the look we want in order to match it to the décor.”

Once a type of chair is selected, a range of samples are created. From there, Benowitz, and the casino’s entire executive team, will personally test out each chair to decide which is best, both in terms of comfort and the overall look.

Manufacturing the best slot machine chairs is bigger business than you might think. The 2016 Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas catered to 450 vendors last fall, 20 of which were manufacturers showing off their slots and video poker chair designs.