I have been following this same topic on USENET on alt.vacation.las-vegas The reasons you mention are the many positive reasons for TITO.

I have been suspecting that in addition to fewer personnel to make hand pays and fills and to make change there are also considerations like insurance. The employees that I have seen in the past, walking around with heavy bags of coin on their shoulders has to be a liability for the casino industry as well. Workmen's comp or liability claims for when one of those bags gets dropped or if the employee backs into a customer with that kind of weight on their shoulders and knocks them to the ground or drops the bag on the customers foot. Then add in all the counting equipment and wrapping equipment and all. The savings down the line by being coinless, may be huge.

I also like the TITO systems, especially in conjunction with the nickle video machines where you could find yourself with 1500 or 2000 credits and have to wait around for the coins to dispense. Either that or the casino has chosen to avoid those large (quantity of coin) payouts and set the machine for hand pay which takes more time to wait for authentication then for the person to go back and get the cash and come back and all. Then if the machine did payout in coins you have to usually wait for a fill because there weren't enough coins in the hopper for that many coins and then walk with heavy cups full of coin to the nearest cashier and wait in line while the weight rips your arms off.

However there is a down side which I have noticed handled well by some casinos but not by others. When you have less than 100 coins for example I think the machine should payout in coin. Or give you the option. One thing I hate most is, like at The Orleans, where you have no choice and when you cash out because you don't have enough coin to play another spin you get a ticket for 15 cents or something. Or a single quarter on a 25cent machine. To have to go to a cashier and cashout your ticket for a quarter is silly. I do give Orleans credit though, as I learned at the end of my trip last summer, they have put in some machines where you don't have to wait in line to cash out. You can insert your slips and get cash. As these machines catch on though you might still be waiting in a line to get your quarter.

There is also the problem that still exists when you get a few quarters or nickles from the change machine you can't use them. When they go coinless you end up with a pocket full of heavy change that you can't get rid of. It just seems to multiply. At The Orleans, many of their machines, no longer, have coin slots, thus you can't use your loose change anymore. I like the ability, after visiting the coffee shop or gift shop or wherever and I have some change, to put the change in machines while I am going through the casino. More and more, you are not able to do that these days.