Slot Game Payout Percentages or The Casino's Take

[billyboy]

Many casinos state their slot game payouts. We know that payout percent can be higher than 90 percent but it can also be lower. For my demonstration here I'm going to simplify it and choose 90% as the payout percentage.

So a casino makes it's money as the 10 percent hold, it's take or, whatever you want to call it. That 90 percent payout figure is the average payout based on all the wagers, spins, bets over a long period, usually about a year.

The payout percent, payback percent, return to player,etc., they all mean the same thing. So what does it really mean? Lot's of the slot players I have met state they have never come close to getting even 50 percent payback.

Slots games can be programmed to pay frequent small wins called peanuts, or can be programmed to pay the occasional bigger wins I'll call potato's, or can be programmed to pay only the rare bigger wins.

Winning small amounts and betting it over, and over, and over again is called churn.

Instead of the payout figures, let's look at it conversely, that 10 percent casino take, or hold. What does it mean? Essentially it means that the casino takes on average, a 10 percent cut of every bet, spin or wager over that same long period of time.

We know that playing at card games, bingo, roulette etc. you can make a bet only every so often. But what about slots? They can be programmed to go fast or slower, It's not so difficult to be averaging 300 spins/bets per hour at slots play.

Let's say you deposit a 100 credits.

10% take of each 1 credit spin, x 1000 spins per hour, = 100% house take of your deposit. That's 100 percent of your deposit is gone in an hour that won't ever be coming back into play for someone to possibly win.

And as we can see, it's in the casino's best interest to keep paying peanuts (the churn) so that eventually all of your deposit is gone into those big bags of loot the casinos keep hauling out to the bank.

Also keep in mind it is the high rollers that make the casinos the most money. 10% of 100 credits per spin beats 10% of 10 credits per spin. So which player would the casino keep churning away?

So now my friends you know why the casinos take in so much money, and rarely do you have any money left at the end of your play, but you are a winner, over, and over, and over............

You folks out there, take mine and Jack's advice, if you're thinking of gambling, especially internet casino slots, take your money and run like the devil is behind you. You'll be much more happy and well off if you do.

Cheers, and a good day to all.

[ValDes]

Billy,Billy, Billy! I'm totally surprised by the fact, you simply deny to read, what other members try to explain to you!

 

I don't have even the sightest idea, where from came your information and what are your sources, but frankly - 90% of the written above is simply...not true, not to say something more harsh! I've made my best to convince you that online gambling is legal after all, but it seems that you prefer to believe in some conspiracy theories, my friend! . Well, if that's the case, I can do nothing about it, but just one last try to supply you with some reliable information about what actaully means the term Return To Player (RTP)!

 

From Wikipedia

Payout percentage

 

Slot machines are typically programmed to pay out as winnings 82% to 98% of the money that is wagered by players. This is known as the "theoretical payout percentage" or RTP, "return to player." The minimum theoretical payout percentage varies among jurisdictions and is typically established by law or regulation. For example, the minimum payout in Nevada is 75%, in New Jersey, 83%, and in Mississippi 80%. The winning patterns on slot machines – the amounts they pay and the frequencies of those payouts – are carefully selected to yield a certain fraction of the money played to the "house" (the operator of the slot machine), while returning the rest to the players during play. Suppose that a certain slot machine costs $1 per spin and has a return to player (RTP) of 95%. It can be calculated that over a sufficiently long period, such as 1,000,000 spins, that the machine will return an average of $950,000 to its players, who have inserted $1,000,000 during that time. In this (simplified) example, the slot machine is said to pay out 95%. The operator keeps the remaining $50,000. Within some EGM development organizations this concept is referred to simply as "par." "Par" also manifests itself to gamblers as promotional techniques: "Our 'Loose Slots' have a 93% payback! Play now!" It is worth noting that the "Loose Slots" actually may describe a very few anonymous machines in a particular bank of EGMs.

A slot machine's theoretical payout percentage is set at the factory when the software is written. Changing the payout percentage after a slot machine has been placed on the gaming floor requires a physical swap of the software or firmware, which is usually stored on an EPROM but may be loaded onto non-volatile random access memory (NVRAM) or even stored on CD-ROM or DVD, depending on the capabilities of the machine and the applicable regulations. Based on current technology, this is a time-consuming process and as such is done infrequently. In certain jurisdictions, such as New Jersey, the EPROM has a tamper-evident seal and can only be changed in the presence of Gaming Control Board officials. Other jurisdictions, including Nevada, randomly audit slot machines to ensure that they contain only approved software.

Historically, many casino both online and offline have been unwilling to publish individual game RTP figures, making it impossible for the player to know whether they are playing a 'loose' or a 'tight' game. Since the turn of the century some information regarding these figures has started to come into the public domain either through various casinos releasing them - primarily this applies to online casino - or through studies by independent gambling authorities.

The return to player is not the only statistic that is of interest. The probabilities of every payout on the pay table is also critical. For example, consider a hypothetical slot machine with a dozen different values on the pay table. However, the probabilities of getting all the payouts are zero except the largest one. If the payout is 4,000 times the input amount, and it happens every 4,000 times on average, the return to player is exactly 100%, but the game would be dull to play. Also, most people would not win anything, and having entries on the paytable that have a return of zero would be deceptive. As these individual probabilities are closely guarded secrets, it is possible that the advertised machines with high return to player simply increase the probabilities of these jackpots. The casino could legally place machines of a similar style payout and advertise that some machines have 100% return to player. The added advantage is that these large jackpots increase the excitement of the other players.

 

From the UK Gambling Commission:

How much should a gaming machine (also known as a fruit machine or slot machine) pay out in winnings?

 

Gaming machines (fruit machines, slot machines) offer different prize amounts depending on their category.

All gaming machines are required to clearly display the percentage return-to-player figure (% RTP), or the odds of winning a prize, from use of the machine.

It is important to realise however, that the % RTP is an average achieved over a significant number of game plays* and not each time the gaming machine is played. For example, if a gaming machine displays an 85% RTP, you should not expect to win an average of 85 pence for every £1 you stake during a playing session.

*Average % RTP is generally measured over 10,000 or 100,000 games or greater for compensated (1) and random (2) machines respectively, dependent upon their category.

Gaming machine (fruit machine, slot machine) minimum percentage payout

 

There is no statutory minimum percentage payout for a gaming machine. The technical standards for legacy gaming machines however, do put a lower limit of 70% as a % RTP.

(1) Compensated machines vary the chance of winning a prize as a result of the outcome from previous play. Where such a machine is below its target %RTP it may become more generous dependent upon design and vice versa, though the prize distribution is still determined by chance.

(2) Random machines rely purely on statistical probabilities to achieve their target percentage return to player. The odds of achieving a win remain constant, and are not affected by previous wins or losses.

Gaming machines must make information available about their category; % RTP; and whether they are compensated or random.

 

And finally, one simple question, which I have already asked you in the other thread, dedicated to the RBGs. How is it even possible to have some many winners out there from online gambling, if everything you say is true?

[billyboy]

Hi ValDes, I'm not trying to yank your chain here, this is just the way I have it figured. I would be glad to hear what you think.

 

I'm not sure how/where you feel what I've written is 90% not true? The articles you've posted pretty much collaborate my statements. Let me try to explain where I'm coming from. Let's start at the beginning.

 

First, we know that playing at slot machine games some players come away with more coins than they started with, some with less than they started with. So as it is, some players win, some lose. Right?

 

Now, the slots do not pay exactly 90% back to every player for every play session. If they did, here is what you could expect: --- start with a 100 coins, drop them in the slot one at a time and spin each coin, repeat until gone, pick up 90 coins out of the slot win hopper. Voila, there's 90% RTP and 10% hold/take to the house/casino.

 

Now suppose that machine was only ever played that one time in a full year and at the end of that year the machine is audited, coins in = 100, coins out = 90. The audit can state a 90% RTP.

 

Now, suppose I repeat the play with those 90 coins that was the RTP, and I again get 90% of the 90 coins as the RTP, and the house gets their10%. Now keep on repeating this over and over, and soon enough the house has all the coins, and the player has gotten their 90% RTP, but they will have no coins left. That continuous repeating/spinning/ betting is called the churn, whereby the house can end up with all the coins. That's why the faster you play/spin, and the bigger your wager, the more the house makes. Right?

 

As for setting the machines to pay small wins (peanuts) or the occasional big win, it's true they can be programed for that. It is definitely in the casino's best interest to pay many small wins (peanuts) as opposed to the occasional big win. Why? Because with an occasional big win the player is more likely to cash it out. With many small wins the player will keep re-playing the coins over and over (the churn) at 10% of each bet as the house take.

 

Even a win of 2 coins on a 5 coin bet/spin is considered as RTP.

 

 

A well respected casino consultant says:

 

"Should we program our machines so slot players get many small wins but therefore extremely few big wins; or do we program our machines so slot players get very few small wins but many more big wins?"

 

I can provide the link if requested to.

 

Cheers,

b.b.