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MGM Considers Replacing Workers With Robots In Its Las Vegas Strip Properties (vegasslotsonline.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the sign-of-the-times dept.

MGM, one of the largest global casino companies in the world, is considering replacing some workers with robots. The company's 2020 plan calls for reducing its workforce by about 2,100 people to save roughly $300 million in the coming years. Vegas Slots Online reports: Among those who could be replaced are cashiers and bartenders. Automatic technology that can make drinks would replace the bartenders and monetary transactions could be done through standard payment technology. There would also be mobile payment processors going around the floor with the wait staff, eliminating the need for cashiers. There is no indication as to how many such jobs would be replaced at the MGM properties. The unions and workers will not be happy with this news. Jobs will be lost and it may also violate the labor agreement that MGM struck with the unions last summer. The Las Vegas Culinary Union (LVCU), which represents bartenders, kitchen staff, and wait staff, reached a five-year deal in June 2018 with the MGM. The agreement guarantees that MGM will not implement any technology that would have a negative impact on employment. However, the news that the MGM is considering replacing some workers with robots could mean that the company is not willing to fulfill this agreement. MGM CEO Jim Murren unveiled the new "MGM 2020" plan earlier this year, describing it as a "company-wide, business-optimization initiative aimed to leverage a more centralized organization to maximize profitability and, through key investments in technology, lay the groundwork for the company's digital transformation to drive revenue growth."

54 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Robot strippers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    That's what you all think.

    1. Re:Robot strippers. by DickBreath · · Score: 3, Funny

      But who would the robots strip?

      --

      I'll see your senator, and I'll raise you two judges.
    2. Re:Robot strippers. by Darinbob · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Come on in, this is the show you want! Twenty Four Hours Live! You'll wear out before these bots do! You'll see circuit boards, you'll see interconnects, gaskets will be removed and polarities will be swapped before your eyes! We've got home models, we've got industrial models, we've got this year's releases and we've got outdated models for the specialty customers, we've got what YOU want to see! You can swipe left and you can swipe right, just be sure you are properly grounded when you come to the show!"

    3. Re:Robot strippers. by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 1

      That's what you all think.

      Hey, what ever gets you 1->0.

      --
      It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    4. Re:Robot strippers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Ken dolls

    5. Re:Robot strippers. by GrumpySteen · · Score: 2

      Someone already built one, so it's not impossible.

      Aside from all the less savory aspects of that particular piece of art, watch the way the hands move. The guy who built it nailed the movement of human hands better than any other robot I've seen. I wish artificial limb replacements could be made so realistic.

    6. Re:Robot strippers. by Krishnoid · · Score: 2

      "I don't like it here. It's 110 degrees and there's very little oxygen."
      "Shut up and hoot."

    7. Re:Robot strippers. by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Funny

      They know what you like and can do it to within a tolerance of ten microns!

      --
      #DeleteChrome
    8. Re:Robot strippers. by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

      Mostly... except at the end. Most people can't bend their fingers independently like that.

      Now, the ass wiggle... that was art.

    9. Re:Robot strippers. by Mal-2 · · Score: 1

      Welcome to the First Church of Appliantology. The white zone is for loading and unloading only.

      --
      How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
    10. Re:Robot strippers. by easyTree · · Score: 1

      Agreed :D

      --
      Requiem for the American Dream
  2. Simple Solution by IonOtter · · Score: 2

    If they want to replace the taxpaying workers with robots, then municipalities should tax each robot at a rate commensurate with the wages they would have lost from employees living in the area.

    There's nothing wrong with replacing people with robots?

    But there is most *definitely* something wrong with doing so when it screws everyone but the elite few at the top.

    --
    [End Of Line]
    1. Re:Simple Solution by ghoul · · Score: 4, Interesting

      We have had this debate once before. The Southern states wanted apportionment according to their population including slaves. The northern states wanted apportionment according to voters. They reached a compromise 3/5th. Lets do the same. All Robots will be assumed to have at least the minimum wage and 3/5th of that will be taxed at personal tax rates on the owner of the company. Wages not profits. Its easy to show zero or negative profits but no of robots * min wage *2000 hours *.6. Thats an easy formula and tax at personal income tax rates. If someone says robots dont take as many resources as people say thats why its taxed at 3/5ths.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    2. Re:Simple Solution by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 3, Insightful

      municipalities should tax each robot at a rate commensurate with the wages they would have lost from employees living in the area.

      Everyone with a dishwasher can pay taxes for the scullery maid they didn't hire.

      We should also tax every phone with a keypad, since no switchboard operator is being paid.

      Printed books should be taxed to make up for the unemployed scribes.

    3. Re:Simple Solution by Kris_J · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or countries could actually tax businesses properly.

    4. Re:Simple Solution by timeOday · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There is no meaningful way to define what a "robot" is, certainly not for purposes of replacing people. A self-checkout at the grocery store? A soda fountain at McDonald's? A big tractor on a farm that does what 120 peasants did at one time, or 30 sharecroppers with mules? Restricting it to anthropomorphic robots that correspond to 1 human would accomplish nothing, we keep imagining robots that way and they keep not being like that.

    5. Re:Simple Solution by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      If they want to replace the taxpaying workers with robots, then municipalities should tax each robot at a rate commensurate with the wages they would have lost from employees living in the area.

      There's nothing wrong with replacing people with robots?

      But there is most *definitely* something wrong with doing so when it screws everyone but the elite few at the top.

      Pretty much since the dawn of time, machines that men build have been replacing people for labor....this especially increased since the industrial revolution.

      This isn't some new big deal....we've been building machines to replace human labor for a long time, and it hasn't caused an uproar or catastrophe.....

      Relax. People can always do something else, they always have.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    6. Re:Simple Solution by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      See this other comment I wrote, it might help you feel a little more like it's not all running out of control: https://hardware.slashdot.org/...

      While I acknowledge that you're right about 'The Few' (i.e. 'The Rich') wanting to control everything, remember that it's always been that way, and always will be that way; however one way or another, in the end, The People always end up getting their say in things. Our (U.S.) government may be flawed and in many cases leveraged by The Rich, but if you pay attention you see that it's not completely compromised, there is still hope for us who are The 99%. What some corporations might want to do would amount to a very real Robot Apocalypse, but these 'robots' are not all that great to start with, so-called 'AI' is mostly marketing hype and not fundamentally much better than what they had in the 1990's, and governments are not going to allow gigantic double-digits of unemployment to happen just so corporations can cut their labor costs. It'll all work itself out in the end, we just have to keep paying attention to it all and not be silent about it.

  3. Futurama by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 1

    MGM Considers Replacing Workers With Robots In Its Las Vegas Strip Properties

    So Futurama was right: the future will contain robot strip clubs.

  4. Tips by ghoul · · Score: 2

    The casino industry works on tips. No one is going to tip a robot waitress or robot dealer. Their non tip wages are probably the same as the maintenance cost of the robots.

    --
    **Life is too short to be serious**
    1. Re:Tips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      The casino industry preys on robots who like bright lights and loud beeps.

    2. Re:Tips by bobstreo · · Score: 2

      The casino industry works on tips. No one is going to tip a robot waitress or robot dealer. Their non tip wages are probably the same as the maintenance cost of the robots.

      Totally agree. Also sexual harassment of cocktail waitresses will be eliminated, except for the drunken robosexuals.

    3. Re:Tips by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      No customer at a casino wants to interact with a robot.

      The casinos are chock-full of people sitting around pumping money into slot machines. You really think those people will give a shit if their free drinks come from a robot? They're already glued to one.

      nobody who knows anything about drinking ever wants a drink measured by a machine.

      If you knew anything about drinking, you'd know that most properties are already using measured shots. They've got pour nozzles that do it automatically.

      That goes double when said machine gets to decide when you get to have a free drink in the first place

      That's already how it works in many properties, and I'd be surprised if that wasn't how it worked at every MGM property already.

      The bottom line is if you give me machines to interact with, I can just stay home.

      You've got slot machines in your home?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    4. Re:Tips by mark-t · · Score: 1

      nobody who knows anything about drinking ever wants a drink measured by a machine

      Are you are about that? I've heard that they are very popular in the places they are used.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    5. Re:Tips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Money spent on tips is money that can't be spent betting.

    6. Re:Tips by Solandri · · Score: 1

      If guests won't tip a robot, doesn't that mean they'll have more cash on hand, and will be more likely to tip the human casino industry workers? The fact that converting some of the jobs to robots means fewer human employees, would seem to actually work to the advantage of the remaining human workers when it comes to tips.

    7. Re:Tips by ghoul · · Score: 1

      The point is that MGM pays so little to these folks (less than minimum wage as they get tips) that the robots will cost more in maintenance than what MGM pays in wages for these folks today so this is a financially bad decision.

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    8. Re:Tips by djinn6 · · Score: 1

      The more likely outcome is they'll gamble all of it away and casinos will end up with what used to be tips.

    9. Re:Tips by painandgreed · · Score: 1

      The casinos are chock-full of people sitting around pumping money into slot machines. You really think those people will give a shit if their free drinks come from a robot? They're already glued to one.

      Certainly do. I hit the cheap slots. Following the advise of friends that lived in Vegas, I tip the person that gives me my free drinks. Just a dollar. I then notice that my free drinks keep coming faster and faster. I'll end up drinking more in my last 15 minutes on the slots than my first hour and still pay less than a single drink in the bar. I doubt it will work that way with a robot.

  5. It is over by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The age of no-skill labor is over.

  6. Incremental by rsilvergun · · Score: 4, Insightful

    That's sort of the problem. 2100 jobs isn't much in the vast scheme of things. But every company on earth bigger than a mom & pop is trying to figure out how to do this. And it's not just automation. It's stuff like better tech (portable payment devices that are cheap enough and reliable enough so you can have the girls handling out drinks replace your cashiers).

    It'll be the death of a thousand cuts. Eventually the job losses will put downward pressure on wages, then on sales, and then more layoffs and it'll spiral down. It's a classic race to the bottom. The only thing that can stop it is human reason and action from outside the system.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:Incremental by ghoul · · Score: 1

      All you need to do is put the people to work on something else. Lets take a simplified example.

      1) Capitalists use automation to get super profits
      2) Unemployment rises
      3) Visionary convinces the capitalists the next big thing is a Amrs Colony
      4) Capitalist buy overpriced shares of a Mars colony corporation
      5) MCC builds huge factories to produce Mars ships and employs all the newly sacked employees
      6) MCC gets colonists from the dissatisifed folks who are scared of getting unemployed as automation spreads
      7) MCC sets up colonies on Mars
      8) The capitalists are not happy with the returns and demand more
      9) The colonies declare independence and repudiate all debts
      10) Leaders of the revolution become the new capitalists
      11) Cycle restarts

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    2. Re:Incremental by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

      It'll be the death of a thousand cuts. Eventually the job losses will put downward pressure on wages, then on sales, and then more layoffs and it'll spiral down. It's a classic race to the bottom. The only thing that can stop it is human reason and action from outside the system.
      That statement amounts to spreading fear uncertainty and doubt -- and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say that wasn't your intent.

      Machines are tools meant to serve mankind. Plain and simple. What you're describing is a perversion of that, where, if left unchecked, mankind ends up serving machines. That cannot be allowed to happen, and it is my belief that it will not be allowed to happen, based on the simple fact that it would be utter madness. Corporations may be running out of control in many instances in this the 21st century, but we haven't completely lost control of them yet, and besides which, here's another simple truth that no one can avoid: If too many humans are displaced by robots, there won't be anyone with money to spend to buy things and services anymore, therefore corporations will fail. Long before we reach that point governments will step in and ensure that something is done to give people jobs: either controls on using so-called 'robots', or re-education/re-training programs to give displaced workers the opportunity to work, or who-knows-what, but something will be done. It's just common sense. We may feel sometimes like we're living in a Hell Dimension, but we're really not.

      Now, inevitably, some myopian will likely chime in with nonsense about so-called 'Universal Basic Income' -- which indeed is nonsense, as anyone who can do basic math should be able to determine. Doesn't scale up, is a drain on the economy, and would bankrupt any country within the first 2 years that tried to implement it on a nation-wide scale. No, sorry, we're not ever going to be living in some fantasy Utopia where robots do all the work and humans just lounge about all day every day their entire lives, making art and discussing philosophy, or whatever. It's so unrealistic that I've already spent too many words talking about it.

  7. Robots can be fun by SuperKendall · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I was on a cruise recently that had a robot bar - it was pretty well designed, as you used a tablet o order whatever kind of drink you wanted out of the different bottles of spirits and non-alcoholic drinks it had... it was pretty well designed, and built to be "showy" if you will as it prepared drinks. It was one of the more interesting things on the ship...

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
    1. Re:Robots can be fun by Phasedshift · · Score: 1

      Which cruise line was it?

    2. Re:Robots can be fun by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I hope the doctors were able to reattach it.

    3. Re:Robots can be fun by ghoul · · Score: 2

      +1 Funny.

      I wish I hadnt commented on this thread so I could have spent my 15 moderator points upvoting this

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
    4. Re:Robots can be fun by antdude · · Score: 1

      Which cruise was this?

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
    5. Re:Robots can be fun by Harald+Paulsen · · Score: 2

      Was recently on Harmony of the Seas, one of the ships with this robot bar. Sure, it is fun once, but the novelty wears off. Especially when you find bugs in the system like being out of orange juice. A human would notice!

      However, I will say that I got a more consistent cocktail from the robot than the humans. That however is down to training.

      --
      Harald
  8. Weasels, all by Krishnoid · · Score: 1

    "company-wide, business-optimization initiative aimed to leverage a more centralized organization to maximize profitability and, through key investments in technology, lay the groundwork for the company's digital transformation to drive revenue growth."

    Can't they start by replacing the MBAs with robots?

    1. Re:Weasels, all by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      There's a joke about the absence of personalities/souls in there somewhere. Left as an exercise for the reader.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  9. Benders Dreams! by Zorro · · Score: 1

    All True!

    Best Silicon Hooters!

    BOOZE!

    Gambling!

  10. 142 k? by ceoyoyo · · Score: 1

    I think I'd replace my wait staff if they were costing me an average of $142,000 a year too.

  11. It's not just a novelty by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    The thing about the robot bar was, you could save a custom drink mix and come back to it later. It was also pretty fast at mixing the drinks, and since you could adjust the amount of different parts of your drink you could get it just the strength you liked after a try or two.

    So it wasn't just about the show, the actual quality of the resulting mix was nice, especially in that once you hit on a mix you liked you got the same thing every time, and the robot didn't look at you funny for wanting a lot of lime slices added.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  12. Millions more can also be saved by quonset · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If Jim Murren is let go and replaced by a robot, that's another $14 million each year which can be saved, and that's in salary alone. Add in all the other perks he gets and that number could be near $20 million.

    In one fell swoop, and additional 6.66% could be saved of the total amount. And it could be done immediately.

    1. Re:Millions more can also be saved by virtig01 · · Score: 1

      I wonder how a robo-CEO would react to its robotic slot machine brethren down on the casino floor, getting constantly yanked off without their consent.

  13. $300 million to pay 2100 persons by manu0601 · · Score: 1

    $300 million is the price to pay 2100 persons? At $11904 average per month, some of them must be very well paid.

    1. Re:$300 million to pay 2100 persons by jpaine619 · · Score: 1

      $300 million is the price to pay 2100 persons? At $11904 average per month, some of them must be very well paid.

      Yeah, you're obviously not / nor have ever been an employer if you think that $11,904 is strictly wages. There's wages, SDI, UI, SS, FICA Medicare and a whole grip of other shit (workplace injury insurance) Realistically, a $10/hour worker costs about $15/hour and a $50/hour worker about $75/hour once you add up all the governmental mandated bullshit. Which I mostly don't have a problem with, but jesus h. christ the paperwork gets old and is complicated.. And if you fuck up....... Penalties and fines up the wazoo

    2. Re:$300 million to pay 2100 persons by ghoul · · Score: 1

      The big one is Health Insurance. Once you add that and a 401K match its a 25% loading. Plus many of the Janitariol staff are contract employees so the staffing firm makes its profit as well which probably adds 15% so a 10$ Janitarial costs $14 or $28000 a year. Thats still nowhere close to $128000 so something is off

      --
      **Life is too short to be serious**
  14. I want simga derby back! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    I want simga derby back!

  15. Robot bartender? The hell with that! by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    A good bartender can't be replaced with some shitty robot full of peristaltic pumps and plastic tubing.

  16. Slippery slope by virtig01 · · Score: 1

    It'll be the death of a thousand cuts. Eventually the job losses will...

    The thing about the slippery slope is that it can become less slippery at any time. For example, casino customers might find that they prefer getting their drinks from friendly humans instead of robo-bartenders. With foot traffic going to competing casinos, suddenly MGM's cost savings are negated by lower revenue.

    People still sit down at poker tables with human dealers. Video poker has been around for a while now. What the customers pay for, the casinos will provide.

  17. Poor attitude .... by gupg · · Score: 1

    Given how poor service often is at bars and in the casino, this might actually be an upgrade. I don't expect a robot to be polite, but I hate it when the bartender or waitress is rude or complacent to the guests.

  18. Re:If it's all automated, then why go to LV? by djinn6 · · Score: 2

    You do realize gambling is illegal in most places right? Gambling on an electronic slot machine doesn't make it any more legal.