When there's a power outage in a casino, are credits and progressives p

Last year I stopped in at the Orleans Casino and there was a power outage. Most of the slots in the casino were dark with people seated waiting for the power to return. Are credits and progressives protected?

Power outages in casinos, as the question rightly pinpoints, are mostly concerning to machine players. Table-game players aren't dependent on electronics; when the lights go dark, they can simply pick up their chips and leave.

In most cases of electrical failure in casinos, auxiliary power kicks in, giving slot players time to cash out their machine credits (TITO from the machine and cash from the kiosk or cage) and table-game players time to cash in their chips from the cage. If it's a large amount of chips, it's advisable to immediately cash them in; cashiers have to verify where the chips come from, so a time lag might make that difficult and casinos are under no obligation to accept chips that could be under contention.

What if there's no auxiliary power?

A few years ago at Paris, construction workers drilling in the bowels of the building accidentally sliced through all the power cables, including the auxiliary system, leaving the property essentially helpless in the dark.

In such a situation, slot players are advised to wait by their machines for a slot attendant or employee from guest services to arrive and establish how many credits they’re due, then obtain a voucher that validates winnings. This might be tough to pin down exactly, since the machine, like the lights, are dark. But it will establish a ballpark figure that can later be double-checked once power is restored: The machines have a fail-safe that records the state of play at the time it was interrupted.

Karl Bennison, chief of the enforcement division at Nevada’s Gaming Control Board, adds, "When there's a power loss, the gaming devices are designed to recover their state of play and the players’ credits."

In theory, once the slots power back up, play should not resume until the player returns to the machine. If he or she doesn't, the casino can take the information it gleaned from the device and send the player his or her money. (And in case anyone is tempted to make a false claim, surveillance footage is checked to verify that the players were on the machine they say they were.)

When there's a power outage in a casino, are credits and progressives protected?

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Molly Jan-18-2020

no power

I was playing STP, when the lights went out at Flamingo, and of course I was in the middle of the Multiplier, all the money and the hand came back on when the slot guy came over to reset but my multiplier went away. I just said f&^* it Im not going to explain it to him. He was running around machine to machine.

rokgpsman Jan-18-2020

Slot machine loss of power

Nowadays slot machines and video poker machines have a computer board inside, similar to a desktop computer. The computer circuit board has a small battery attached to it. When main electrical power is lost on the casino machine the battery keeps the cpu memory working long enough for all the important data to be saved. It can be saved either inside the machine on special memory chips that don't need continuous power or the data can be saved on the main casino computer server (it keeps working due to a large battery backup power supply it has). All the machines are connected by network cables to the main casino server and each machine has a network number (address), that's how they record all the player card points you earn, keep track of progressive jackpots and a variety of other stuff. It would be very rare for the main casino server to lose all power, they've got it setup with backup storage batteries that can run it for a while.

Pamela Jan-18-2020

Pick 'em Royal not lost

I was playing Pickem at the Fremont. I think it was May 2007. The power went out at the whole corner of Fremont Street right after the moment I got my first ever pickem royal flush on one of the six machines that used to be right next to the bar. I think I waited for about an hour while they validated it after the auxiliary power kicked in. The cocktail waitress did not forget about me and they gave me a whole stack of Fremont Grand Winner T-shirts. I still wear them around the house till this day. I took a picture of it with my flip phone before the power went out. Now I'll be searching all day to see if I still have that stored somewhere.

gaattc2001 Jan-18-2020

Had that happen in Laughlin a few years ago...

due to torrential rains and flooding. IIRC they got it all straightened out eventually, but it was mass confusion for an hour or two.
Also, a local casino in Phoenix had a total power failure due to monsoon flooding a few years back. The entire electrical system was completely under water. They had to evacuate the entire hotel in the middle of the night, and were closed for several months. They used the opportunity to do a complete upgrade and remodel. It happened right in the middle of the AZ Poker championships, which caused great confusion. Don't know what they did with the machines.
I think the bottom line is, that's just one of the risks you take.

AlwaysTails Jan-18-2020

Happened to me

I was at Harrah's (I think?) a couple of years ago during NFL playoffs and went to my room. During halftime and there was an alarm. Turned out the power went out as it got dark so I left my room and went to casino and they got power up opsome sections of casino so I played a slot and the power went out again during a bonus round. I was expecting the worst but when the power returned everything was there. The slot workers and managerswere so busy but they did a great job all things considered

Jan-18-2020

Not necessarily

The end of the Answer says "in case anyone is tempted to make a false claim, surveillance footage is checked to verify that the players were on the machine they say they were". That's not always true, because that's not always possible. Why? Because not all casinos have full video coverage. Many years ago at the Fremont, I stopped playing my machine & left without cashing out my $48. I remembered within a couple minutes & hurried back to it, but somebody had already gotten there & cashed the machine out & left, taking my money. I went to Security & expected them to be able to pull up video footage that would show my machine, that I was playing it & then left, & then show the guy who came & cashed my machine out. But they had not installed enough cameras to capture every machine. They only had 1 camera for the whole area, & my machine was blocked from view, so they couldn't verify anything. So they couldn't catch the guy, and they didn't compensate me for my lost money.

O2bnVegas Jan-18-2020

more recent

I had the exact opposite experience as Al's, though more recent and at a modern Strip casino.  I had played a machine for a short time and decided to move on.  I also failed to cash out my $90.  It wasn't more than 2 minutes or so when I remembered, had walked part way across the casino.  Figured it would be gone but hurried back to the machine anyway.  I was looking at the machine when a nice female employee walked up to me, asked "Did you forget something?"  They already had my TITO secured someplace, didn't even ask for my ID.  Took another minute or so to bring it to me, I guess they double checked the surveillance tape or something.  Wow.

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