Demand strong for used slots

Auctioneers Robert Deiro & Associates said demand was good and prices held strong as they auctioned 1,100 used slot and video poker machines no longer wanted by Nevada casinos, bars and route slot operators.

The auction, held Friday and Saturday at a gigantic south Las Vegas warehouse, was one of the largest of its kind since Bob Stupak's Vegas World casino closed in 1995, and the Sands casino closed in 1996, officials said.

Sellers included "various casinos that are upgrading to some of the newer stuff," as well as a variety of other gaming companies, said Deiro & Associates representative Guy Deiro.

Buyers included smaller casinos and members of the general public looking for a deal on used machines. Deiro declined to name buyers and sellers, explaining that his gaming company clients can be "touchy" about disclosing that kind of information.

It was not your normal everyday auction, in which items are placed on a block next to an auctioneer and bids are taken from a seated crowd. Because of the impracticality of moving heavy gaming machines around, the machines sat still, and the auction moved around them.

An auctioneer with a wireless microphone moved along seemingly endless rows of gaming machines, followed by clipboard-wielding attendants and a crowd of about 50 bidders.

The machines included everything from large stand-alone mechanical slots to wall-mounted video poker machines to machines designed to be installed flush into a bar. Prices Friday morning ranged from $50 to $2,900.

Prices were largely determined by the type of machine, its age, and what kind of shape it was in, Deiro said. Older coin-only mechanical machines fetched far less than newer video poker machines with bill acceptors, he said.

"The draw pokers ... are the hottest number right now on the market," Deiro said.

Indeed, one bidder took a set of 10 quarter video poker machines manufactured by International Game Technology (IGT) for $2,900 each. Deiro said the machines would pay for themselves in a month on a casino floor.

Despite an apparent oversupply of gaming properties, Deiro said gaming machine prices have not slackened.

"I think that the prices are still strong," he said.

Prices are also boosted by a general public hungry for collectors' items.

"The general public doesn't get an opportunity to buy in the public market often for slots," Deiro said.

Las Vegas couple Darrell and Joy Whigham bought two machines for home use. The first, a 1991 mechanical IGT nickle slot machine with a vertical face, cost $400. The second, a much larger 1992 mechanical IGT nickle slot machine with a horizontal face -- shaped somewhat like a desk -- cost only $50.

Darrell Whigham said the desk-shaped machines are simply less popular than the more common vertical-faced variety, and thus cheaper.

Whatever their differences, the machines were much cheaper at auction than they would be through a dealer, Whigham said. The $400 machine would have cost $2,000 retail, and the $50 machine would have cost $300, he said.

Auctions of gaming machines are few and far between, Whigham said.

"They're rare, so that's why you have people coming from all over the U.S.," he said.

Unfortunately, those from out-of-state were also out of luck. Gaming Control Board officers manning a desk immediately inside the auction required potential bidders to fill out applications to own gaming machines, and turned a number of non-Nevada residents away.

"We've had people walk in and then walk out," on official said.

Under Nevada law, residents can own gaming machines. But dealers are not allowed to sell them to people or companies not licensed to own gaming machines in their own states.

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