Dave & Buster's To Allow Customers To Bet On Arcade Games

Arcade giant Dave & Buster's said it will begin allowing customers to bet on arcade games. "Customers can soon make a friendly $5 wager on a Hot Shots basketball game, a bet on a Skee-Ball competition or on another arcade game," reports CNBC. "The betting function, expected to launch in the next few months, will work through the company's app." From the report: Dave & Buster's, started in 1982, now has more than 222 venues in North America, offering everything from bowling to laser tag, plus virtual reality. The company says it has five million loyalty members and 30 million unique visitors to its locations each year. The company's stock is up more than 50% over the past year. As a boom in betting increases engagement among sports fans, digital gamification could have a similar effect within Dave & Buster's customer base by allowing loyalty members to compete with one another and earn rewards. Ultimately, it could mean people spend more time and money at the venues.

Dave and Buster's is using technology by gamification software company Lucra. [...] Lucra and Dave & Buster's said there will be a limit placed on the size of bets it will allow, but that they're not publicly disclosing that threshold just yet. Lucra said across its history the average bet size has been $10. "We're creating a new form of kind of a digital experience for folks inside of these ecosystems," said Madding, Lucra's chief operating officer. "We're getting them to engage in a new way and spend more time and money," he added. Lucra says its skills-based games are not subject to the same licenses and regulations gambling operators face with games of chance. Lucra is careful not to use the term "bet" or "wager" to describe its games. "We use real-money contests or challenges," Madding said. Lucra's contests are only available to players age 18 and older. The contests are available in 44 states.

Small pinball rooms do tournaments, not betting

[kriston]

Even small pinball rooms do tournaments, not betting.

I feel like this isn't a healthy development and will spread to those pinball rooms that embrace the tournament concept instead of betting.

/o\

[easyTree]

The following phase will allow customers over 18 to wager non-vital organs

some of the ticket game are rigged on % payouts

[Joe_Dragon]

some of the ticket game are rigged on % payouts

Re:

[Thelasko]

some of the ticket game are rigged on % payouts

They sure are. [youtube.com]

Re:

[e3m4n]

some? Mark Rober has a youtube video on how he made contraptions to cheat the cheaters. His first step was obtaining the technical manuals to the machines. He then discovered that the setting on how things function is customizable. Unlike casinos where laws require them to pay out at a certain percentage, these ticket and arcade games are not regulated. This means that kids are being exploited and cheated much more harshly than adult gambling. Essentially its unregulated gambling where the kids are purposef

They are like Pub Fruit Machines Compensated Slots

[Joe_Dragon]

They are like Pub Fruit Machines Compensated Slots that auto adjust how much they cheat to hit the % pay out target.
A lot of arcade games are like that in that they cheat you till they hit the pay out % and then after they hit the payout % they become true skill.

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[DewDude]

Unlike casinos where laws require them to pay out at a certain percentage, these ticket and arcade games are not regulated. This means that kids are being exploited and cheated much more harshly than adult gambling.

I used to work in the arcade industry...I owned two and operated machines.

Ticket and arcade games ARE in fact regulated. Furthermore...most states have very strict laws regarding anything that can be construed as a "game of chance". The fact that Keymaster went un-noticed for so long says more about the lack of enforcement and the unethical practices of modern vendors. The minute a game has an option locking out a win based on anything other than skill, it becomes a game of chance. That makes it illegal in

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[e3m4n]

I would love to hear the history of the pinball changes over the years. From what im told, the new machines have really good diagnostic abilities that tell you whats broken.

What's it like now?

[tgibson]

I haven't been in a Dave & Busters in...20 years? I recall they had these cool pods that served as Mech cockpits for multiplayer fights. That was cool back in the day. But I can't imagine it holding up today. Do they have any compelling digital games today?

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[EvilSS]

I was at one for a company function in 2019. The racing games where you compete against other players were OK, but most of it was meh. Felt like it peaked ages ago. They also had a lot of those "not technically gambling" coin games like the coin pusher games. Drinks were good though, if overpriced.

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[e3m4n]

Arcades are just never going to return to the height they enjoyed in the 80s. Some place tried to open something along the lines of dave and busters in my town in 1998 but imo it was DOA. Sure they had a bar, that's a plus. The game selection was meh at best. Virtual fishing? really? if you want to fish, go fucking fish. The music was more late 70s classic rock, and did not really attract the nerd/type personalities they needed to succeed in 1998. Nowadays many arcades are full of the shittiest excuse for a

Re:

[e3m4n]

never saw those at a dave and busters. Last time I went to a place with mech pods was in 1993, and it was a good hour drive. That place was those pods only. There were two games they serviced with them, 1) your classic Battletech/Mechwarrior battle pod, and 2) some racing game called Red Planet (?) where it was a space based race of souped-up shuttles.

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[tgibson]

Your timing sounds accurate. Rethinking, it must've been closer to 30 years for me as well. The technology is blasé now, but there is something cool about being sequestered in a pod with multiple screens and custom controls.

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[nugatory78]

If you're in Houston, you can still play them https://www.mechcorps.com/ [mechcorps.com] Regardless of how old the systems are, its still fun with a group a of friends.

And heroin!

[jddj]

They'll have heroin on the menu too, as well as porn, and crack.

Seriously, is it just the end times, where we say "fuck it, let's just loose all the bad-for-you shit at once! Where's my Golden Calls>"

Re: And heroin!

[jddj]

Calf, goddamit!

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[TwistedGreen]

You got it. Time to cash in! Raise prices, slash quality, give yourself a massive bonus and retire!

I thought Chuck E Cheese was a Child Casino.

[MikeDataLink]

I guess D&B wants the title.

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[drinkypoo]

Chuck E Cheese at least had games of skill.

This is only preying on addiction.

But if they had competitions where the winner got paid, they could only collect a share of winner's entry fee plus loser's entry fee, this way they can collect money from bystanders as well. So it makes sense, in a sleazy way.

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[Can'tNot]

Chuck E Cheese is targeted at children, Dave and Busters is targeted at adults. Some of them allow children in the games area, but they serve alcohol and are really set up for dating and sports parties.

So D&B wants a cut.

[No Longer an AC]

I'm not sure I understand exactly. Am I betting against the house? Am I betting against the person I'm playing against? Can I bet on other people's games?

I haven't been to a D&B in over 20 years. I often used to play darts and sometimes pool in bar-type bars or pubs though. Aside from a few tournaments with entry fees and cash prizes the stakes were usually bragging rights or buying the next round - or just getting to play the next person waiting.

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[nightflameauto]

I'm not sure I understand exactly. Am I betting against the house? Am I betting against the person I'm playing against? Can I bet on other people's games?

To me? You'd be betting against reason and sanity.

Don't get me wrong, I've bet quarters against friends on video games since that was the staple price. Donkey Kong and Joust, man, or all the way back when it was just Pac-Man. But something here feels a bit squickier than a friend betting another friend to cover the cost of a game.

Cheating

[Thelasko]

With the stakes being so much higher, is a human going to officiate these games to prevent cheating? [youtu.be]