Cash machine customers get added thrill of a flutter
A Japanese bank is offering automatic tellers with a built-in slot machine... In contrast with most other big economies, the Japanese banking system has been exceptionally slow to introduce 24-hour ATMs, and still imposes banking charges on anyone using the machines after office hours.... "Usually, withdrawing cash from an ATM is a very tedious chore,” a bank spokesman said. “We wanted to add a little excitement to this experience, and we thought introducing a slot machine-type game, which everyone knows how to play, would be a good idea.” ... The bank claims that the odds are good, meaning that it expects many customers to be coming into branches to collect their winnings. This, admits Ogaki’s managers, is all part of the plan. Having introduced cash machines so late and reluctantly, banks are now worried that their convenience will mean that customers never bother queuing to deal with a human teller again — a point of contact that has always been central to the banks’ ability to push new products and services to their customers... Schemes introduced by rivals include accounts for dogs and massages and aromatherapy.