Casino Slot Machines How Do They Work
Casinos do sometimes move their machines, so if you can’t find a machine ask one of the casino personnel if they know where it was moved. Are All Classic Slot Machines Three-Reel? While the first thing that pops into most players’ minds when they think of a classic slot machine is a three reel machine, there are also five and even seven. Slot machines are the most popular casino games, and casinos earn a larger proportion of their money from them than any other game Source: PBS. Part of the slot machine's appeal is the simplicity - the player puts in some money, pulls a handle or pushes a button and waits to see the outcome. How does the RNG software work on a slot machine The outcome of each spin is random. Your odds of hitting a jackpot do not increase based on the number of spins. Each time you press the spin button, the slot machine will generate a random sequence of numbers that determine the outcome of that spin.
The gaming industry is big business in the US, contributing an estimated $240 billion to the economy each year while generating $38 billion in tax revenues and supporting 17 million jobs.
What people may not realize is that slot machines, video poker machines, and other electronic gaming devices make up the bulk of all that economic activity. At casinos in Iowa and South Dakota, for example, such devices have contributed up to 89 percent of annual gaming revenue.
Spinning-reel slots, in particular, are profit juggernauts for most casinos, outperforming table games like blackjack, video poker machines, and other forms of gambling.
What about slot machines makes them such reliable money makers? In part, it has something to do with casinos’ ability to hide their true price from even the savviest of gamblers.
The Price of a Slot
An important economic theory holds that when the price of something goes up, demand for it tends to fall.
But that depends on price transparency, which exists for most of the day-to-day purchases we make. That is, other than visits to the doctor’s office and possibly the auto mechanic, we know the price of most products and services before we decide to pay for them.
Slots may be even worse than the doctor’s office, in that most of us will never know the true price of our wagers. Which means the law of supply and demand breaks down.
Casino operators usually think of price in terms of what is known as the average or expected house advantage on each bet placed by players. Basically, it’s the long-term edge that is built into the game. For an individual player, his or her limited interaction with the game will result in a “price” that looks a lot different.
For example, consider a game with a 10-percent house advantage — which is fairly typical. This means that over the long run, the game will return 10 percent of all wagers it accepts to the casino that owns it. So if it accepts $1 million in wagers over 2 million spins, it would be expected to pay out $900,000, resulting in a casino gain of $100,000. Thus, from the management’s perspective, the “price” it charges is the 10 percent it expects to collect from gamblers over time.
Individual players, however, will likely define price as the cost of the spin. For example, if a player bets $1, spins the reels, and receives no payout, that’ll be the price — not 10 cents.
So who is correct? Both, in a way. While the game has certainly collected $1 from the player, management knows that eventually 90 cents of that will be dispensed to other players.
A player could never know this, however, given he will only be playing for an hour or two, during which he may hope a large payout will make up for his many losses and then some. And at this rate of play, it could take years of playing a single slot machine for the casino’s long-term advantage to become evident.
Short-Term vs. Long-Term
This difference in price perspective is rooted in the gap between the short-term view of the players and the long-term view of management. This is one of the lessons I’ve learned in my more than three decades in the gambling industry analyzing the performance of casino games and as a researcher studying them.
Let’s consider George, who just got his paycheck and heads to the casino with $80 to spend over an hour on a Tuesday night. There are basically three outcomes: He loses everything, hits a considerable jackpot and wins big, or makes or loses a little but manages to walk away before the odds turn decidedly against him.
Of course, the first outcome is far more common than the other two — it has to be for the casino to maintain its house advantage. The funds to pay big jackpots come from frequent losers (who get wiped out). Without all these losers, there can be no big winners — which is why so many people play in the first place.
Specifically, the sum of all the individual losses is used to fund the big jackpots. Therefore, to provide enticing jackpots, many players must lose all of their Tuesday night bankroll.
What is less obvious to many is that the long-term experience rarely occurs at the player level. That is, players rarely lose their $80 in a uniform manner (that is, a rate of 10 percent per spin). If this were the typical slot experience, it would be predictably disappointing. But it would make it very easy for a player to identify the price he’s paying.
Raising the Price
Ultimately, the casino is selling excitement, which is comprised of hope and variance. Even though a slot may have a modest house advantage from management’s perspective, such as four percent, it can and often does win all of George’s Tuesday night bankroll in short order.
This is primarily due to the variance in the slot machine’s pay table — which lists all the winning symbol combinations and the number of credits awarded for each one. While the pay table is visible to the player, the probability of producing each winning symbol combination remains hidden. Of course, these probabilities are a critical determinant of the house advantage — that is, the long-term price of the wager.
This rare ability to hide the price of a good or service offers an opportunity for casino management to raise the price without notifying the players — if they can get away with it.
Casino managers are under tremendous pressure to maximize their all-important slot revenue, but they do not want to kill the golden goose by raising the “price” too much. If players are able to detect these concealed price increases simply by playing the games, then they may choose to play at another casino.
This terrifies casino operators, as it is difficult and expensive to recover from perceptions of a high-priced slot product.
Getting Away With It
Consequently, many operators resist increasing the house advantages of their slot machines, believing that players can detect these price shocks.
Our new research, however, has found that increases in the casino advantage have produced significant gains in revenue with no signs of detection even by savvy players. In multiple comparisons of two otherwise identical reel games, the high-priced games produced significantly greater revenue for the casino. These findings were confirmed in a second study.
Further analysis revealed no evidence of play migration from the high-priced games, despite the fact their low-priced counterparts were located a mere three feet away.
Importantly, these results occurred in spite of the egregious economic disincentive to play the high-priced games. That is, the visible pay tables were identical on both the high- and low-priced games, within each of the two-game pairings. The only difference was the concealed probabilities of each payout.
Armed with this knowledge, management may be more willing to increase prices. And for price-sensitive gamblers, reel slot machines may become something to avoid.
This article was originally published on The Conversation by Anthony Frederick Lucas. Read the original article here.
The easiest way to win, is to hit a Jackpot on your first pull and go home. If that doesn't happen for you, the below might help.
Obviously there is no sure fire way to beat a slot machine.If there was we would all be rich and casino would no longer exist. But by following this guide of what to lookfor, you will be surprised at just how far your bankroll will get you.
Avoid the latest and greatest bells and whistles themed slots. What is a theme slot? If it features brands you know and love, like the Wizard of Oz or Willy Wonka and such. That's a theme. Pretty much anything based on a big movie or TV show is a theme.
So why are they bad for you? Leasing and Royalty fees. Now I'm just going to pull some numbers straight out of my ass, just in case you are a slot director. These numbers will vary by casino and market, but the premise is true. Lets say an average machine is expected to 'earn' $50.00 an hour 24 hours a day. A standard slot machine that the casino owns can afford to keep 10% of what it takes in. If you gamble $2.50 per spin and can get 200 spins in on an hour (3-4 spins per minute roughly) that's $500.00 of coin-in thru the machine. The game pays back 90% to you (on average) and gives 10% to the casino (this ain't no soup kitchen).
So what does the casino have to keep to make a themed slot 'earn' the same $50 per hour? They usually have to lease the machine, so they either have to share the revenue, or pay a fee of $50-$100 per day for the right to borrow the machine. The Royalties need to be covered somewhere as well. Usually the guys making the machines have to pay upfront to gain the likeness of an actor or to borrow the theme from a movie/show. All of that extra money will need to be covered by you, the player, in the form of a shittier payback IE a higher hold/keep for the casino.
So instead of 90% payback, you might be looking at 85%. And that's money out of your pocket or less time on a machine.
Also, know the game. Read the rules! I’ve covered this before. I’vesat down at a machine and played on less than Max Bet only to hit the bonusgame symbol and find out you can only play it at Max. So read the rules andknow what you are playing. It should say right on the screen what it takes toactivate all the features. Sometimes you can only land that big progressivewith Max Bet. So read up!
Just repeating myself here, the higher the denomination thebetter the payouts. But not everyone can afford to play $100.00 a spin. Fearnot faithful readers, I’ll show you how I win (sometimes) and at the very leasthow I don’t lose quickly.
Fortunes are won every day on a slot machine. But thoselucky few are such a small minority of slot players the average gamer can onlydream of hitting the big one. The best I have ever done was winning a$10,365.00 progressive on a $3.00 Max Bet. But I did it. Sure it was dumb luck,unlike Video Poker these machines have no player advantage. Pretty much hit thespin button and cross your fingers. But you can use your head and find theright game.
At the very least, these tips will give you more play time ona game, cutting down your losses by slowing the hemorrhaging of cash is a winunto itself. But also picking the right slot can actually mean a winning day atthe casino.
Avoid all of those huge progressive machines! Orat least play them sparingly. Most machines in a certain denomination pay back about the same. On pennies,figure 88% as a rough average. So that game with a max Jackpot of $1,000.00 ismuch more beatable than the one with a $1,000,000.00 Jackpot. It’s simple math.
While both of these types have the same 88%payback, the one with the lower Jackpot will payout much more in the shortterm. Meanwhile that huge 1 Million Jackpot keeps building up since the machineis taking away money that could have been put back into the game (to equal that88% payback number) and it is now holding it for one lucky Jackpot winner. THEIR Million Dollar victory spreads out to equal the average.
So find yourself a game with a low Top Award and play away. Thisis what I do. Sure I chase the dream every now and then, but aiming for a low Top Award isplaying smart. And even if you don’t win any money, all that extra game time youwill be getting, as your smaller wins keep recycling themselves, will end upbeing more players club points on your card.
Sure you lost your $50.00 in an hour, but you put a ton of play through your card (coin-in) and you nowhave some slot club credits that you will build up for a room or at least some food. So that’sstill a win!
Now pennies are the worst bet in a casino. But they are noweverywhere. Why? Game time. You can get plenty of play on one of these machines,and they will help you move up through those slot clubs even faster. Thesemachines are notorious with “wins” that are actually losses. You spent $1.25 onthat spin and you just “won” $1.00.
Sure, you actually lost a quarter, but youare now recycling your money. I know a ton of people with higher level players’club cards that are actually low rollers in real life. But they play penniesand get plenty of coin-in so they are rewarded as much players that bet bigger, but do so for a sorter amount of time. Thesystem works!
The below example is the perfect machine to play. You willget plenty of game time on this type of machine, and in the short term, you stand adecent chance of cashing out a winner.
So what exactly are you looking at?
The top hit is only $67.50 per line hit. Now this is when you areplaying at the .25 a spin level. That’s 1times the bet. That quarter will cover all 27 lines and whatever you win itpays back 1 times the symbol. So getting the 7’s will pay you $67.50 per line. Play .50a spin and you are now doubling whatever wins you get. So $135.00 is the top line hit now. Play .75 per and you are now looking at $202.50. With a top hit thatlow, and the same 88% payback as other machines, you stand a much better chanceof actually hitting the highest award on the game. No “hold back” to feed amassive progressive.
27 Ways to win! With 27 ways to win, and only 3 reels, chancesare you will hit something each spin. Not always will it actually be a profit,but the more money you can recycle, the better your chance of being on themachine long enough to win a higher amount. More ways to win equals a bettershot at a Jackpot.
Multiple bet choices. Depending on your level of play youcan chose your risk on these games. Play $0.25 (1 times) $0.50 (2 times) $0.75(3 times) $1.25 (5 times) & the Max Bet of $2.50 (10 times). The more youare willing to risk, the higher the game will actually pay you when you hitsomething great. There is nothing wrong with low rolling on this type of game.Since that same .25 bet will win you all of the features as the 2.50 bet. Justfor less money. You want better odds? This type of game offers that. Since we all know that (usually) the higher the denomination the better the payback. You can switch this from pennies to 2 pennies. Some of these games will let you jump to nickles dimes or quarters as well.
Bonus Game. This game does have a bonus game, so it willkeep you engaged the longer your slot session gets. But even in the Bonus Gamethe awards are not life changing. That means it comes up quite frequently. Sameprinciple, the games with huge payouts in the bonus game on lower bets have tohave a way to justify those higher amounts. They do so by paying you less inthe base game or making the bonus very hard to get. So a slot like this meansyou can win just as much money in the Bonus game as you do in the base game! No hold-over dough!
I’ve actually done very well on this game from Atlantic Cityto Indiana to Las Vegas. Slow and steady wins the race. And even when I don’t geta chance to actually cash out a winner, I know I sat and played on that game longenough to reap the rewards of the slot clubs. And that is how you win. You lost$100.00 on this machine, but got $1,000 in play off of it. That should beenough for a casino to send you a free room on your next visit. You took yourchance at winning some money, had some fun playing in a casino and earnedyourself a free room. So what did you really lose?
If you are a high roller that can afford to play High Limit Slots, which are historically the best paying in a casino, you can skip the next bit. But if you are medium to low roller like me, read on!
Play higher denominations. Everyone hears thestories about someone walking into the High Limit room and hitting for$25,000.00. It happens all the time. The only difference is, they had theBankroll to bet $50.00 a spin. But you can fluke into a winning. Try a coupleof spins and if you crap out, high tail it on out of there.
Don’t chase on oneof these machines, they will chew you up fast! And in realty you are onlygetting about 10% better odds versus their penny counter parts. Sure 10% isgreat. That means $10.00 less in losses per $100.00 gambled. But your risk ofruin is much higher. Win big or go home early.
So if you are up a little, try a $1.00 machine. Play a$20.00 through and see what happens. If the game doesn’t have a bonus round, oranother reason to have to play Max Bet, play 1 credit. You still get the samehigher payback percentage, but you are only risking 1 credit.
So what I like to do is find a higher denomination with multi-linesthat ensure I at least win my money back every few spins. Just like in pennies,the more lines the better your odds of recycling some money through.
What am I looking at?
5 lines and 1 credit per line. You arestill risking $5.00 a spin but you will at least get a push every few spins (mixed bars).And at the $5.00 level you should be racking up club points in no time.
Bonus Game. It doeshave a bonus game and it can actually pay well. To keep the houseadvantage, this is either a champ of a bonus or a chump of a bonus. You get 10free games and each line hit is worth double what it normally would pay.Sometimes your $5.00 bet will land you $500.00 in the bonus game. Other timesyou will get a slap in the face and $20.00. I’ve been on both sides of this inthe past. You can also re-trigger for more games while you are in the bonus. Andsince these symbols pop up pretty frequently it’s a very doable bonus.
Jackpot. With a top award of $10,000 on Max bet there is no massive progressive to feed, so you have a good chance of taking this one down. If your odds are 1 in 50MIL to hit the big one playing Megabucks. Your odds here might be 1 in 50,000 or better. In other words, much more likely.
In game multipliers. This is where the value comes in. Youhave the decent slow and steady payback of the base game. The good, if notunspectacular Bonus game. But also that “any time” chance of getting a decentmultiplier on every spin. You might spend hours on a penny machine hoping tohit $300.00 on a great screen. But on this type of game it will pop up quite frequently.Should you chose to stick and move and cash out that big hit when it shows up,or play this won money back through the machine and hope for an even biggerone. That’s on you. I’m a coward and I stick and move all the time. I hategiving back my short term wins.
And most importantly, the actual base game symbols are whattrigger the Bonus Game. It might not seem like much, but by actually taking outthe Bonus Symbols from the reels, there are now more paying symbols that youcan actually hit on.
There is nothing worse than having to get 3 bonus symbolsto pop up on a game like this to trigger the Bonus round, only to have thosesame symbols actually block you from winning combinations in the base game whenyou don’t get all 3 on a line. So symbols that say 'Free Games' are only good for the bonustrigger, while this game they are normal pay symbols that do double duty. Sothey never block you from a line hit! I cant tell you how many times I have played a 5 line Top Dollar game and gotten Double Diamond Double Diamond Bonus symbol. That will win you a big fat nothing. In this game the same set up will win your a line hit X 4. No more frustrations.
If you are a drinker, you can often find the above game inmany high limit rooms. That means the drinks are fast and strong. I’ve spent 30minutes on a quarter game on the normal casino floor waiting for my free drinkto show up. And that free drink costs me $100.00 in slot losses. Playing thistype of game in here, means a better chance at actually scoring free drinks! You'll get much more attention and faster service when you play in the grown-ups area.
Casino Slot Machines How Do They Works
In closing...Pretty much any game can make or break you. If you hit bigon any machine, don’t think it's “loose” and expect it to be a cash cow. Takethe money and run! You beat the house! It’s not hard to win money in Vegas. It’shard to keep the money you won!
So how do I normally score in Las Vegas? I play the above typesof games. If I’m losing on dollars I’ll switch to the same version on quarters.Sometimes I win money, other times I lose. But by limiting my play mostly togames that I stand a solid chance of winning on, I always ensure that I get themost out of my bankroll and play through as much money as I can afford to maximizemy comps. And those comps can quickly offset your loses.
Sure, I might have lost $1,500.00 on these greedy machines over 3 nights.But I also played through $15,000.00 of coin. And that type of play got me my roomfree, my meals free and got me into a couple of attractions like Shark Reef orthe art museum at Bellagio for free! So instead of spending my money to pay for my vacation, I gambled my way into getting it covered.
Here is an easy breakdown of a Thurs-Sun Vegas stay for a non-gambler, based on a 4 day 3 night trip (average).
Room at a decent joint $150 X 3 + Resort Fee X 3 plus taxes X 3 = $550.00
Parking (if you drive) $20.00 a day ($10 each resort for 4 hours X 2 resorts) x 4 = $80.00
Food $55.00 per day (1 buffet or decent meal + 2 quick service meals) x 4 = $220.00
Shows and attractions $75.00 per day X 4 = $300.00
Casino Slot Machines How Do They Work At A
Boozy Drinks $40.00 per day x 4 = $160.00
Spas, shopping, club hopping ETC (time fillers) $50.00 per day x 4 = $200
Totals: $1,510.00. No bounce back comps or chance to offset this money.
Here is an easy breakdown of a Thurs-Sun Vegas stay for a gambler (that plays right), based on a 4 day 3 night trip (average). Note: It might take a few trips to earn a better club card.
Room at a decent joint $0 X 3 + Resort Fee waived plus taxes on $0.00 = $0.00
Parking (if you drive) Waived with the better players club card you earned by gambling = $0.00
Food per day (1 buffet or decent meal + 2 quick service meals) comped with the resort credit you might have had with your comped stay or by using the points you earned on your card while gambling = $0.00
Shows and attractions free by being a player. If you earned Platinum with MGM, the Bellagio art center is free, so is Shark Reef & Siegfried & Roy's habitat. If you are staying with Total Rewards, and earned Diamond, you have some free show tickets or a trip on the High Roller at no charge = $0.00
Boozy Drinks $0.00 You know to order your drinks for free while playing = $0.00
Spas, shopping, club hopping ETC (time fillers) $0.00 per day. You are gambling, not doing this stuff to fill time = $0.00
Projected Gambling losses $1,500.00
Totals: $1,500.00. Not only is that 10 bucks cheaper for your trip, you'll probably score a room upgrade with your better players club card, skip the lines at most places you want to eat. Enjoy free valet or maybe even some free grub in the players club lounges around town.
But most importantly, you might actually win AND get all of that free stuff. You had the balls to risk your money to cover your vacation and it paid off. You took the casinos money and took advantage of this hospitality. Win win. The non-gamblers took zero risks so they would never end up with a free vacation.
The above is obviously in a vacuum. Hey Grid, I don't park my car so take 80 bucks off my total. And weekend rates where I stay are just $110 per + fees/taxes. OK that's $200.00 off for you. But the gambler got $200 in free play with their stay. Right back to even.
And when I’m up I’ll take a stab on some higher risk vsreward type games just to see. But since I have the discipline to not sit onthese machines too long, sometimes I actually make money. I haven’t paid for aroom in years; I always stay for free at some of the finer properties in town(Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Mirage etc) almost everything I eat comesfrom the comp money I earn and with cheap flights, Las Vacations actually savesme money versus vacationing elsewhere.
I go to Las Vegas 2-3times year. Even when I lose my bankroll, it’s stillcheaper than a vacation to Disney World! Zero chance the Mouse will comp you anything. So that money is lost the minute you book. In Vegas, when I come home with all the moneyI started with, or even some extra AND everything I did on the trip was stillcomped, that’s a double win. So play smart, narrow their edge over you and onlyplay the higher risk games when you are up and you will be pleasantly surprisedjust how much more you get out of your stay.