The problem with that argument is that hardly any casual players know and/or care what a pinball machine costs brand new and people can't equate value like that if they don't know the numbers. Hell, my wife thinks my JJP POTC was only $1,000. If she had any idea what it was really worth, she'd be on me constantly to sell it. Most casual people are surprised someone is still making pins and think games cost a thousand bucks or so to buy new. When I tell people what the Halo Fireteam Raven environmental cabinet arcade game right across the room from the pins cost their jaws hit the floor. People just have no perspective on operator costs.

Around here from my first hand route experience, it is the casual players that make an operator money. You don't want to cater to a player like me coming into your establishment as you'll only make a fraction of the money you would off casual players. You raise the price on casual players to $1.50-$2.00...those same ones who generate the real dollars for your location AND already don't last more than a minute or two on a pin...and you drive your bread and butter away and destroy your pin earnings. They'll either play something else (arcade games, pool, darts, etc) which would be cheaper, last longer and give them more satisfaction, or in this area they will take their money and go elsewhere. To maximize earnings, a location here has to have some combination of things like; the cheapest prices, the newest games, great ambiance and/or well maintained games since we have several options for gaming locations that fits this bill within a fairly close proximity.