Two Las Vegas Advisor members from Oklahoma visited a "trailer station" at Skinny Dugan’s Pub – which has subsequently reopened – and reported making a $4 profit on $10 coin-in. They were, apparently, the day’s only customers, these eight-hour operations being largely symbolic.
We followed up with them subsequently and they recalled that all the machines (10-12 in number) were video poker and weren’t Game King or IGT slots. "Seems like the same brand of machines are used at the bar at Gold Spike," the two curiosity-seekers recalled. "They are all hand pay, and we have no idea on the odds, since we went for the oddity as the basis for our visit."
When calls to United Coin, which basically has the "Trailer Station" market to itself, went unreturned, we recalled having placed a call in the past to exec. Rob Woodson, when a similar question was posed to us. He responded back in 2008 that the traveling machines paid "about the same" as those in a casino, with a 92%-98% return. (Yikes!). It turned out to be almost a moot question to Woodson, however, who lamented at the time of the first Trailer Stations that, "We almost never get anybody to come." (With pay schedules like that, we're not surprised!)
These temporary casinos are not mandated by city ordinances but are in keeping with Nevada Gaming Control Board rules. If Skinny Dugan’s had failed to maintain its gaming entitlement, it would have to have removed any machines on the premises and started the process of applying for a non-restricted license all over again, like any other slot-route applicant.
If you want to check out an eight-hour operation for yourself, the Control Board has recommended one at the Moulin Rouge site for approval. According to the NGCB’s Marie Bell, "I believe Rob Woodson of United Coin indicated a June 19 operating date." Mark your calendar.
