Business shutdowns across the US froze the circulation of money in the nation, cutting the supply of coins crucial to the operation of slot machines and forcing casinos to offer gifts to customers who bring loose change
The brainchild of the now-defunct Sigma Game Inc., Derby offered a fun new take on the average slot machine experience when it debuted in 1985. Instead of inserting your coins, pulling a lever, and hoping that three symbols aligned, you could wager quarters on mechanical horses, watch them race around a miniature track, and win somewhere between two and 200 times your bet if your combination came in. Sigma Derby hit a special place in the hearts of casino guests. Unlike most games in casinos today, Sigma Derby is a coin-operated machine that’s a throwback to a different era of casino gambling. The minimum wager for Sigma Derby is a quarter. Even more nostalgic, the machines haven’t been modified to accept dollars like many older games. The retro Sigma Derby gaming machine, in theory, is a poor product to have on a casino floor. It takes up valuable real estate. Compared to the roll of the dice or the push of a slot, it is.
The armored truck pulled up with US$500 in quarters after Adam Wiesberg had asked for US$30,000. He thought there must be a mistake.
Wiesberg was working to reopen El Cortez, the longest continuously running hotel and casino in Las Vegas. He had requested the extra change in July to help operate the facility’s 113 coin-operated slot machines.
“People from all over the world come here, like a pilgrimage, to play the coin machines,” Wiesberg, El Cortez’s general manager, said in a telephone interview. “When you walk in here, you’ll hear Sinatra, you’ll hear Rat Pack music and you’ll hear the coins.”
Photo: Bloomberg
Casinos — and the banks that serve them — have been swept up in coin shortage in the US, leaving many gambling venues begging customers to bring in their piggy banks and jars of change.
The shortage started after the COVID-19 pandemic forced many consumers to stay home, causing a dramatic slowing in the circulation of change.
Some casinos have gotten creative with their pleas. The Gun Lake Casino in Michigan told customers that if they bring in US$50 worth of loose coins, they would receive US$10 of free slot play.
The D Las Vegas is home to the state’s only Sigma Derby slot machine, which lets players use quarters to place bets on five mechanical horses. The casino started a promotion called “I helped save Sigma Derby” to combat the change shortage.
“If you bring in a pound [0.45kg] of quarters, you get a hat,” said D Las Vegas owner Derek Stevens, noting the Sigma Derby’s cult-like following. “If you bring in three pounds of quarters, you get a hat and a T-shirt.”
The promotion has netted the casino 940 pounds of quarters in the past few weeks. It is still finding pennies and nickels scarce.
While coin-operated slots are less common these days — many modern machines use a technology called “ticket-in, ticket-out” that print slips of papers that can be redeemed for cash — those that still accept coins have a retro appeal for many gamblers.
Banks, too, have sought to persuade customers to dig between their couch cushions.
Wells Fargo & Co branches are offering coin wrappers and encouraging clients to deposit their rolled change. The bank also exchanges paper currency for rolled coins without a fee for non-customers.
“We are actively managing our coin inventory and working with customers to meet their coin needs to the extent possible after the [US] Federal Reserve put limitations on coin deliveries to all financial institutions nationwide,” Wells Fargo spokeswoman Beth Richek said in an e-mail.
Sigma Derby Slot Machine Machines
The Fed, for its part, has said that the shortage started after stores and bank branches shut their doors to stem the spread of COVID-19, leading to the coin circulation problem.
In response, the central bank has placed a temporary cap on the orders depository institutions can place for coins to ensure the supply is fairly distributed.
The US Mint returned to full production in June, minting almost 1.6 billion coins that month, and is on track to produce 1.65 billion coins each month for the rest of the year.
“This is not a coin supply problem — it’s a circulation problem,” US Mint Director David Ryder said in a public service announcement last month, asking consumers to help get coins moving again by paying for goods using exact change, turning in their coins to their banks or swapping them for bills at coin exchange kiosks. “Every little bit helps.”
Brink’s Co, the armored-truck company that helps banks and businesses manage their currency supplies, last month began asking its 10,000 employees across the US to put least US$5 in coins back into circulation.
“This effort alone could easily contribute another US$50,000 in coin to our nation’s supply,” the company said in a post on its Web site.
In Las Vegas, before the pandemic forced a temporary shutdown, El Cortez kept roughly US$120,000 worth of coins in its vault, Wiesberg said.
The casino returned all but US$30,000 in change to the bank during the quarantine.
That meant El Cortez had to spring into action when it did not receive its full coin order in July. It removed the 5 percent fee it normally charges patrons to bring in mixed coins from home and employees began emptying machines daily instead of once a week.
Wiesberg said he was heartened when his bank let him know that more coins would be coming in, making it easier to fill orders for his casino.
“Other places have fire and water shows, and surf shows. Well, our thing is coin slot machines,” Wiesberg said. “We’re focused on providing a safe place to gamble.”