It is all about perceived value.

The pain and damage to one's ego of being a poor player and having a short game can be alleviated somewhat by having an unrelated reward that goes with it (the ticket dispenser/choose your cheap novelty toy off the shelf idea).

That will turn the novices into repeat players and coming back for more.

Forget about the pro player, the pro player will decide within one game whether the machine meets his/her expectations and either continue to feed money or walk away never to return. The onsite pin market needs to attract new blood to survive long term.