Fingerprint scanners cost nowhere near 1000$, you can find them on cheap mice and USB sticks. The price could be bumped down by using a lower quality one since you only have to select the fingerprint that's closest and not go absolutely sure the print is identical to the ones stored (as you would with security scanners because errors are critical there).
And yes, that selection stuff IS slow when you pass the controller roughly every two minutes. It's also a matter of convenience, instead of having to think about which one to select, you touch the scanner and be done with it, no reading required.