A newly signed Nevada law paved the way for skills-based slot machines in the state’s casinos. The Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers, the group behind the design of and push to pass the bill, said it will help the industry catch up with the times.

Do you consider yourself an Angry Birds master? Or perhaps crushing candy is more your cup of tea. Would you then be willing to place a wager on your finger-flipping skills?

New legislation that was recently unanimously approved [PDF] by Nevada’s state legislature and signed into law by Gov. Brian Sandoval took some of the first steps at making that a reality. The bill, which was partially written and fully supported by the Association of Gaming Equipment Manufacturers, will allow casinos in the state to start installing skills-based slot machines.

The bill’s passing is seen as a monumental moment for the gaming manufacturers industry for a number of reasons, AGEM Executive Director Marcus Prater said in an interview with Associations Now.

For one, “slot revenues are flat and declining across North America,” he said. “We’ve taken the creativity as far as we can take it with slot machines under the current regulatory structure, and that’s not to say that what our members are producing for casinos isn’t impressive—they do some great work. This is really about taking our industry and matching the evolution that exists in our society, where people have smartphones and tablets, and the gaming content.”

More importantly, the new machines are viewed as a way to entice younger prospective gamblers to step onto the casino floor. “At the heart of it, visitors to Vegas are skewing younger and younger, meanwhile the core demographic of a casino visitor is skewing older,” Prater said. “Young people do play games of all kinds on their phones and tablets and consoles, and so they’re very familiar with gaming. We’re just trying to inject the gambling element into that.”

AGEM has some work to do, however, before production on the new skills-based machines can begin. Though the bill has been signed into law, the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission still needs to create regulations around the new gambling technology, Prater explained.

“Once these regulations are done, they could be used as a roadmap for other states to do the same thing,” he said. “Our members want to be able to create a new game that conforms to the regulatory structure not just in Nevada, but in multiple markets. If we can get the Nevada model done properly then hopefully the next few states will follow suit. I think the casino landscape in the next three to five years, nationwide, will look a whole lot different than it does today.”

The casino floor of the future, according to the Association of Gaming Equpiment Manufacturers (via AGEM)