Don’t worry.
Penny slots will not go away when the US Treasury decommissions the copper-colored 1 cent coin currently in circulation in the US.
The federal government has decided that it costs 3.69 cents to produce a penny, so it no longer makes sense to produce them, and plans to end production in 2026.
How players will get paid if pennies are involved is something the Nevada Resort Association hopes to clarify in the coming months as the organization celebrates its 60th anniversary.
The association, led by President and CEO Virginia Valentine, is the voice of the resort industry and speaks on behalf of 61 resorts in southern Nevada and 11 in the north.
The role of the NRA
Guided by a board of directors currently chaired by John Maddox, senior vice president of government relations and development at Caesars Entertainment Inc., the NRA lobbies lawmakers during state legislative sessions, advocates on behalf of the industry on policy issues before regulators and government entities, and publishes the 76-page “Nevada Gaming Communities Fact Book” with statistics on their gaming industry tax bases and their fact book.
“When we go to the Legislature, we track more than 100 bills each session,” Valentine said in a recent interview. “Many of the bills in various committees affect us as the state’s largest employer. We are the largest purchaser of health insurance and the largest taxpayer. So when there is legislation that involves things like workers’ compensation, they affect us as an employer.”
The association regularly weighs in on proposed game rules before the Gaming Control Board and the Nevada Gaming Commission.
“I didn’t do much of that at all when I first got here. I think you’ve seen lately that it’s become more with the new chairman (Board of Control Chairman Mike Dreitzer). He’s got some ideas of what he wants to do and is making his mark in terms of either making money or growing the industry.”
Involved in the Kalshi process
One high-profile involvement in which the NRA asserted itself involves a lawsuit filed in March against the Gaming Control Board and its members by KalshiEx LLC, a derivatives prediction market federally regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Kalshi sued the state after the comptroller’s board issued a cease and desist order when it began offering a market to predict the outcome of sporting events.
Regulators saw it as an unlicensed entity that took sports bets in violation of state law; Kalshi countered that it could write those contracts because they are federally regulated. The trial is expected to begin at the end of the year.
The judge overseeing the case allowed the NRA to become part of the legal action. But now that the NRA is a litigant, Valentine is no longer commenting on the case.
“Over time, the organization has evolved to meet the needs of the industry as the industry has evolved,” she said.
Because of the diverse nature of the businesses it represents, it sometimes happens that the NRA is unable to present a unified view on a particular issue.
She said because all members are hotel-casinos with more than 200 rooms and unlimited licenses, members are on the same page on issues 99 percent of the time, she said.
Targeting
“We don’t have manufacturers, suppliers or suppliers. We don’t have the different groups as members. So on most things we are in agreement. But there have been one or two problems – online gaming is one of them – that the association becomes Switzerland (neutral),” she said.
But that will not be the case for the treatment of penny.
To be clear, penny slot machines — the most popular denomination on the state’s casino floors after multi-slot machines with nearly 30,000 units — aren’t going away as the US Mint stops producing pennies next year.
Machines will likely be recalibrated to distribute winnings rounded to 5 or 10 cents. Penny slots generally do not take 1-cent bets, and players insert paper money into machines to lay out digital credits of 100 per dollar.
Some retailers have already begun to address how they will make changes to a transaction if pennies are involved. Fast food giant McDonald’s, for example, will round down a dollar amount on change if the total price lands at 1 or 2 cents and round it up if it lands at 3 or 4 cents and down at 6 or 7 cents and up at 8 or 9 cents.
First introduced in 1985, some of the most popular penny slot titles, according to Gambling Zone’s website, include Play’n Go’s “Rich Wild and the Day of Dead,” Light & Wonder’s “Rainbow Riches,” and IGT’s “Cleopatra.”
The Gambling Control Board has yet to decide how it will deal with the elimination of pennies.
“The Nevada Gaming Control Board is aware of the Treasury Department’s intent to phase out penny production and will monitor the situation for federal feedback and work with our industry partners to resolve any issues.”
The NRA will represent these industry partners.
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