REEL FUN: On the Road With The Slot Hopper
By Sean Chaffin
The COVID pandemic left many Americans out of work and struggling to keep businesses afloat. Natalie and David Scott found themselves in just that situation. Living in Tampa, FL, at the time, the couple’s construction contracting business went under and they were forced to find another way to make a living. What that would lead to was quite unexpected.
With time on their hands, David suggested a trip to Hard Rock Tampa and he planned on recording her playing slots. He believed his 45-year-old wife had a great personality that would carry over to video. Natalie hadn’t ever heard of slot machine YouTubers, but David filled her in on the growing trend and she decided to give it a shot. After that trip, the Slot Hopper channel was born. Six years later, the channel now boasts 116,000 subscribers and the couple’s videos have garnered 61.7 million views. The Slot Hopper also sees 227,000 followers on Facebook as well. It’s been an interesting route from those early days hitting the spin button at the Hard Rock.
“I was so nervous when we first started,” she says. I didn’t know anything about it, and David would just hold the phone and record me. Then I learned pretty much everything off Google, including how to do social media, because I hadn’t really messed with it ever. Little by little, I’ve learned everything pretty much the hard way.”
Slot Hopping
Originally from Lubbock, TX, and now living back in her hometown, Slot Hopper has become a full-time job for Natalie and David. A graduate of the Texas Tech University business school, the mother of four is now putting that degree to good use helping to manage the operation—albeit in a field and job that was definitely not originally in the cards. Slot influencing and YouTube play has exploded over the last few years, with Brian Christopher (featured in the last issue of Casino Player) setting the trend a decade ago.
The Scotts’ efforts seemed well-timed as many Americans at home during the pandemic apparently headed online to at least see others playing slots while casinos were closed. Her screen presence has come a long way since those early days, Natalie says. Initially, she was hesitant about being on camera and reluctant to talk to people. But with more experience, her affable personality began to shine through and she became more comfortable in front of the camera. Success on the channel came fairly quickly and the Scotts soon realized the channel could turn into a real business.
“Six months in, I was just focusing really hard about getting everything monetized,” Natlie says. “YouTube was kind of slow. I finally got fully monetized. Then you had to have 1,000 subscribers. I was also posting on Facebook, and there you had to have 5,000 followers and 60,000 minutes watch time. Everything was a lot harder then to get monetized. But I got monetized on Facebook within three months because I just had some viral videos that got like 20 million views overnight, and it just kind of skyrocketed. Meta [parent company of Facebook] was really great back then, you could earn big bonuses off your content. And it just exploded.”
Being relatable to average slot players is one of the things that sets Natalie apart from hosts on other channels. She started by playing lower stakes and just being a normal person with a nice personality resonated with viewers. She also enjoys meeting others while hitting the gaming floor and those interactions help grow the audience and keep her motivated to continue.
“I’ve done a lot of jobs for casinos all over the U.S.,” she says. “They’ll invite me out, and pay for my flight, and I’ll go and do live streams and play their games, and I’ve just met people from so many different states. I’ve continued that relationship with subscribers, and I really think that’s what’s kept me going.”
Along with learning the ins and outs of social media and marketing, Natlie’s video techniques have also improved—from planning to filming to editing. She does most of the editing herself and while many other full-time content creators farm some of that work out to others, she enjoys the process of actually putting each video together herself and seeing the final product.
“It’s kind of my favorite part—creating is the exciting part,” she says. “Gambling can be very stressful, and being able to create video is what kind of escapes me from casino life.”
Facing Challenges & Overcoming
Running the business hasn’t all gone smoothly, however, and there are some definite obstacles to making it all work. Keeping up with the industry has now become one of the challenges the Slot Hopper has faced, making finding some winnings here and there a bit rarer.
“They’re just all changing,” she says of today’s machines. “There are so many new games, and the casinos and slot manufacturers have deals. Some casinos, it’s not everywhere, but some casinos and manufacturers are both making a percentage off of the loss of the slot machines. And so not only are you combating the casino, but now you’re combating manufacturers and the casinos. It seems to be a little bit more challenging to win.”
Beyond the actual slot play, the last few years have made making money off gambling content on social media much more difficult. YouTube and Facebook have cracked down on content that is actually allowed on the platform. YouTube age restrictions have also become a problem. While most gaming YouTubers adhere to the platform’s policies in not marketing to minors, some of those changes make it much more difficult to reach adults in the process. Poker vloggers have also experienced similar problems and even poker pro Daniel Negreanu has been frustrated with the issue.
Some of these policies have led to channels even being suspended or eliminated, despite not knowing which rules a content creator has actually violated. Natalie has dealt with some of that on Facebook and creating content on the platform has become increasingly difficult. The vagueness and changes that seemingly come out of the blue can be a real frustration.
“It’s been an extreme challenge for about the past two years,” she says. “Meta dropped us all. There were other content creators on there, and it dropped us all. We all just lost a huge cut of our revenue. Some of them got [their channels] back. I got mine back for about six months, and then they dropped me again. It’s just been a wave with Meta. It’s really a challenge. I’m hoping someday they’ll switch everything back to making it beneficial for original creators like me. We started with nothing.”
Slot Hopper is still on Facebook and even sees five million views per month, but the revenue share is much lower than in her early days. She sees the channel there as more of a marketing vehicle than as an actual revenue producer. Instagram also helps build the platform as well. Beyond revenue, Slot Hopper earns money from outside deals and merchandise. In May, Natalie was even invited to play in a poker tournament in New York. Additionally, partnering with social gaming casinos has been key and Slot Hopper has partnered with social casino platforms and streams some of her gameplay online. Sponsorships help drive revenue so that Natalie can continue gambling for a living—it takes quite a bit of cash to keep the slot journey going.
Looking Ahead
When hitting the slots, Natalie loves some of the older games. She lists Double Top Dollar as her favorite and says she sees more consistent winnings on these types of older games. She and David find more excitement visiting some of the older casinos and enjoy the nostalgia that can come with playing classic machines.
When not visiting a casino, editing video or posting to social media, Natalie and David are busy raising their children and also enjoy the outdoors. They can regularly be found camping, fishing and riding ATVs. Spending time with family is important to the Scotts. They hope to continue growing their platform and Natalie has also started a travel channel on YouTube, Travel Hopper Chic, and hopes to focus some more on that in the coming months as a complement to her slot machine adventures.
Looking back, Natalie is shocked at how far they’ve come from just a man and wife filming slot play on a cell phone. She would never have believed in those early days that playing slots for a living would become their profession and is pleased to see how everything turned out.
“I never dreamed it,” she says. “I actually wish we had started a long time ago. I’m really grateful for what it’s done,” she says. “Dave and I got to travel the U.S. because of Slot Hopper and it’s been really great. David and I have been married 27 years, and it was definitely a blessing. We just needed it. Around COVID, we about lost everything from his construction company because everybody canceled all their jobs. This just opened a door for us and it was great.”
