US gamblers don't pinch pennies

Gamblers may be cutting back like other consumers, but one thing they're not doing is pinching pennies.
Their spending on penny gambling machines produced about one-fourth of all slot machine revenue in Nevada last year, and more in other states. In Missouri, one of few states where gambling revenue rose in 2008, more than half of all casino revenue came from penny slots. For many casinos, penny slots are producing the only kind of revenue that's rising.Gamblers say they like the machines - which were impractical before quiet paper payouts started replacing the tumbling bucketfuls of coins in a jackpot - because they can play longer for the same amount of money.
No matter that casinos like penny slots because they're more lucrative for the house.
"It's all just for recreation," said Kansas City resident Cora Logan, 72, who was playing a penny slot machine at Isle of Capri in Kansas City on her 42nd wedding anniversary. "When you come here, don't expect to win. If you put a lot of money in these you're crazy."
The four casinos in Kansas City, like most across the country, serve mainly local markets, as opposed to "fly-in" markets like Las Vegas, China's Macau and, to some degree, Atlantic City in New Jersey. That means most casinos depend heavily on low-rollers who visit often. Logan, who said she hadn't expected to win when she and her husband walked in, was up $100 after three hours.
"Affordability is why people love them," said Frank Legato, a slot machine expert and editor of Las Vegas-based Global Gaming Business magazine. "Casinos just love them because the average bets are the same as the quarter or dollar games, but their house edge is bigger on these games.
"People playing penny machines are not concerned about that. They just want to have fun and play a long time with little money."