Ok, so how do you win, how to you measure your win, how does all that work? Slots usually are programmed to payout back to gamblers somewhere between 82 to 98 percent of the monies that are put in the machine. That means that the house is only keeping between 2 to 18 percent of the cash put into machines for cost, maintenance and profit, depending on the establishment. This is known as the “theoretical payout percentage.” Most payout percentages are determined by the area’s laws or regulations. In New Jersey, the minimum is 78%, while in Nevada, casinos need to payout only 75%. So if a machine is programmed with a payout of 95%, and its spins cost a dollar per turn, then over a longer period of time- say, 1,000,000 spins, $50,000 would be kept by the house, and the other $950,000 would be paid back to players as winnings. This is also known by organizations as “par.” The payout, or par, also lends itself to promotional uses. Many slots will advertise their payouts: “Our slots pay-back 98%! Play here!” In truth, it could be that 2 or 3 machines are programmed that way, within a casino.

Payout percentages are set to a slot machine when they are made, to the factory’s standard. If the casino chooses to change the payout, it is done by physically changing the software. Despite progresses in technology, it is still a time consuming process and therefore is done infrequently. In particular places, like New Jersey, the access is restricted with a tamper-proof seal and can only be changed out in the presence of a gaming official. Nevada, along with other states, randomly audit machines to ensure they meet standards.

Luckily, advances in technology have allowed some changes to be made more easily by linking machines. In casinos where thousands of machines can be in play, it would be a monstrous job to update not only payouts, but odds and game specific on individual machines. Linking machines allow some changes to be made from a central computer remotely, and simultaneously. In Las Vegas in 2006, the Nevada gaming commission teamed up with casinos on these new elements. The changes can not be done instantaneously, but rather are only available to the remote computer and its programmers if the selected machine has been idle for at least 4 minutes. The machine would then display to any potential players that updates are being made, and would be taken offline for about 4 minutes while the data was being uploaded.

History

Description

Terms

Technology

Payout

Linked Machines

Near-Misses

Fraud

Variations

Misconceptions