Pennsylvania Casinos Allowed
5,000 Slots
As reported by The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Pennsylvania - Proponents call them 'parlors,' but the three slot machine casinos destined for Pittsburgh and Philadelphia could join the ranks of the world's biggest gambling palaces within six months of opening their doors.

Each of the three stand-alone facilities, like all 12 of the main casinos allowed by the new gambling law passed this summer, can have up to 3,000 slot machines when it opens -- about the standard for large Las Vegas casinos. Two smaller casinos each will be limited to 500 slots.

Six months later, with the permission of state regulators, any of Pennsylvania's dozen main casinos could expand to 5,000 slots.

The law's 5,000-slots cap was designed with Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in mind.

Licensees for the slots casinos -- one in Pittsburgh, two in Philadelphia, and two in yet-to-be determined locations -- won't be selected until next year, at the earliest.

Gambling expert William Thompson said a rough industry standard of 20 square feet for each slot machine means a casino with 5,000 machines would need 100,000 square feet, not including attached hotels and restaurants.

Slot machines moving away from coins
As reported by The Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa - Walk into any casino in Iowa and it's the first thing you hear -- the sound of coins clinking from slot machines. But not anymore.

The old-fashioned coin-fed slots are being replaced at most of Iowa's 16 casinos by a new technology that allows the machines to make payouts with a bar-coded ticket.

Casino owners say players won't have to lug a bucket of coins from one machine to another. Instead, they'll get a paper ticket that come in denominations ranging from one dollar to a hundred dollars.

At Prairie Meadows Casino in Altoona, 94 percent of the 16-hundred slot machines use the new technology. It's also in place at casinos in Burlington, Fort Madison and Sioux City, and on the way in Council Bluffs and Clinton.