There was a time when fruit machines were a very common sight in UK pubs. Whether you were visiting a pub in London or one of the small towns and villages scattered around the country, you would find a machine.

Most pub dwellers got used to the colourful flashing lights of the machines, as well as the bleeping noises and occasional clatter of coins when someone got lucky. Fruit machines started to appear in pubs during the 1970s and remained very popular until the early part of this century.

Since around 2007, profits from them have declined though as customers appear less interested. That is calling the long-term future of the fruit machine as a British pub staple into question.

The Current Status of Fruit Machines

One thing that is not in dispute is that the machines do less business in pubs now than they used to. It is also clear when the drop-off started.

In 2003, 52% of the overall UK profits for fruit machines came from people playing them in pubs. By four years later that figure had fallen to 37%, which is a very steep decline in such a short time period. Most observers attribute it to two separate factors:

• The rise of alternative gaming options
• The smoking ban in pubs

The first of those is not mentioned as often, but it is surely a major contributor to the change. The popularity of online gaming has skyrocketed in the UK during the past 20 years and has introduced people to a wider games choice.

They can now access sites on the internet that have a vast array of slot machines. Most of these games come with interesting themes, state of the art video graphics and enticing bonuses.

It is easy for consumers to find the slots with the best bonuses too, as BonusFinder UK does that work for them. Online slot games have inevitably made the physical fruit machine appear somewhat old-fashioned and pedestrian to many.

The smoking ban that came into force across UK pubs during 2007 is cited as another big reason for the decline. It led to changes in the ways in which people used pubs, with more people choosing to eat in lounge areas.

That is not where most pubs keep their fruit machines. So in many cases it was simply a case of ‘out of sight, out of mind’.

During the following 10 years, there was a drop of approximately £600 million in pub profits from these machines. From week to week, it amounts to a 25% drop on average, which is exacerbated by rising living costs leaving people with less disposable income.

That is a lot of money and it points towards there being very little future for fruit machines in those venues. It would be easy to say that they just belong to an earlier era when pubs were mainly frequented by men.

Physical fruit machines have never been as popular with women as men, mainly because fewer women visited pubs before the ban on smoking. By contrast, online slot machines are proving able to attract diverse demographics.

Is There a Future for Fruit Machines in Pubs?

This all appears to paint a bleak picture for their future, but there are some signs that the pub fruit machine could be saved. There have been proposals put forward by the Government that could help.

These include a number of measures designed to bring the machines into the modern world. One of the most significant would be enabling them to accept cashless payments.

An ever-greater number of people in the UK prefer to make payments using a debit card these days. If it becomes possible to play a fruit machine in that way, the games might become more attractive to younger pub customers.

Other changes would also be brought in too, mostly relaxations of the 2005 Gambling Act. The proposals have won the support of the British Beer and Pub Association and UKHospitality, which are the main regulators for pubs.

That offers some hope for pub fruit machines, but they still have to compete in a much tougher gaming landscape now. It is not just online slots, but also bingo games that are a rival.

The popularity of bingo among young people started online but has spread into a revival of land-based bingo nights. By contrast, the success of online slots has not translated into more people playing physical fruit machines.

Legislative changes for pub gaming can only go so far in solving the problem. If fruit machines are to have a long-term future, they must win over younger gamers.