Inspiration
The Gilded Ace, a fictional Las Vegas casino, planned to replace its ten lowest-earning slot machines. At TAMU Datathon 2026, we wanted to see whether those machines were actually underperforming or whether their earnings reflected quiet locations, shorter time on the floor, downtime, or unusual payouts.
What it does
The dashboard lets managers compare cabinets, explore demand and loyalty trends, and test spending options. The Evidence Map connects each recommendation to the data behind it. The Floor Assistant answers questions using the dashboard’s own calculations.
How we built it
We used Python and pandas to prepare the data and React to build the dashboard. We ranked cabinets by expected casino win per available hour relative to same-game peers in the same zone. For staffing, we trained a weekday-average wager forecast on January through April and tested it on May and June against a seven-day lag and a constant baseline.
Challenges we ran into
The hardest part was making fair comparisons. A cabinet installed late had fewer hours to earn, and a quiet location could make a healthy cabinet look weak. We also kept the forecast’s training period separate from its test period so we could evaluate it on dates it hadn’t seen.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Only one of the original bottom ten stayed there after adjustment. A separate check found that M-1158 earned about $36,000 less than its payout settings implied. We recommended canceling the blanket replacement, spending $1,200 to inspect M-1158, and keeping $98,800 in reserve.
What we learned
A busier destination can make a relocation look successful even when the floor gains little. All four receiving banks gained in our historical comparisons, while only two of the four source–destination pairs gained overall.
What's next for The Gilded Ace
We’d inspect M-1158’s meters and paytable. If we corrected a fault, we’d compare four post-repair weeks with matched cabinets before committing more of the budget.
Claims and evidence appendix & AI-use disclosure: https://github.com/joshkimm7/dashboard-royale
Please try accessing dashboard through personal hotspot when trying the dashboard out if it does not work on school wifi.
