Slot machines produce a ratings bonanza. Recent statistics show that more than 70 percent of casino revenues come from slot machines. This is a significant increase from the 1970s, when the figure was only 40 percent. In the Las Vegas Strip, the area with the largest number of slot machines in the world, a slot on average earns $226 per day. Because there are around 38,434 slot machines operating in the Las Vegas Strip, an average monthly profit from all of them amounts to $269,527,000. In smaller countries like Finland, for example, where only 18,500 slot machines are distributed between local casinos, supermarkets, gas stations, and restaurants, the revenue from them is considerably smaller. And yet, Veikkaus, the Finnish national casino operator, has recently estimated that, if it removed 8,000 slot machines from public use, as it plans to do, the rollback would shrink its annual turnover by 150-200 million euros.
