Return to player (RTP) is one of the most-important concepts to slots players. Payback determines how much the average player wins from a slot machine.
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How to Win at Slots – Tricks to Improve Your Odds. Some players have been known to walk away with hundreds of dollars from a penny slot machine. They're certainly worth a try if you're on. As can be seen from the chart, the slot machine with the best odds is the $25 machine, but only by a few percent. The best possible odds with the $25 machine using the average numbers for 2012 tell us that for every $25 you put in, you'll end up with 25.0397.25 = $24.00 The chart also tells us that the 1 cent and mega bucks machines should be.
In December 2010, Foxwoods earned $45 million on its slot machines, an increase of 1.2 percent over December 2009. Mohegan Sun took in $53.5 million dollars in December slot revenue.
A slots game with 95% RTP, for example, would theoretically deliver $0.95 back for every $1 wagered. A slot machine with 88% payback would only offer $0.88 for each dollar wagered.
Gamblers want to know slots' RTP for obvious reasons. Knowing a machine's payout percentage provides an indication on your long-term odds of winning.
But one of the most-common fears is that casinos can simply change slots odds whenever they feel like it. Many gamblers are convinced that casinos alter RTP for a variety of reasons, whether it's to lower payback during busy hours or simply earn more overall profits.
This fear seems valid when considering that players don't see the inner workings of slot machines. But are casinos really able to alter payback on a whim?
I'm going to discuss this matter by looking at how casinos change RTP, common beliefs on the subject and casino limitations in controlling payback.
Slot machine RTP is determined by the pay table and how often each prize is programmed to hit.
The pay schedule shows how many credits each symbol combination delivers. The pay table only tells so much, though, and doesn't show how often each payout is programmed hit.
Each symbol features a certain number of 'stops,' which determine how often it'll land on the reels. Low-paying icons are always programmed with more stops than high-paying symbols.This aspect makes perfect sense when considering that casinos would lose money if they showered you with the jackpot and other large payouts. Instead, games offer lots of smaller prizes and rarely pay the jackpot.
A random number generator (RNG) ultimately determines which symbol combinations come up on each spin. Contrary to common opinion, the RNG does not determine payback.
Instead, this program merely cycles through different symbol combinations to determine the results of your spin. The RNG is more likely to include symbols that have a higher number of stops.
An RNG has no recollection of what happens on your previous spins. Instead, its main job is to come up with random results.
Again, icons with many stops will be chosen by the RNG more frequently than other symbols.
Casinos don't need to worry about programming payout percentages — this is the game developer's job. Instead, they simply consider what RTP they want to order for a given game.
Providers give land-based casinos a number of options to choose from when ordering payback.
Here's an example:
- MGM Grand wants to order Aristocrat's Game of Thrones.
- Aristocrat offers RTP choices of 88.0%, 90.0%, 92.0%, and 94.0%.
- MGM selects the version with 92.0% payback.
Online slots developers usually offer a uniform RTP for any game that they produce. Internet casinos that license their slots are then forced to use the provider's chosen payout percentage.
But a minority of online slots providers do let casinos choose from preset RTP amounts (covered later).
How casinos change payout percentages depends upon the style of game. Payback for most land-based slot machines is determined by the EPROM chip located inside.
A gambling establishment can alter a machine's RTP as long as they have the EPROM chip, which is sometimes the case. Theoretically, any casino that has these chips can change payback whenever they like.
The catch, though, is that many gambling jurisdictions require the casinos to report when they alter a game's RTP. This process requires that a casino manager spends time filling out paperwork.
Some slot machines operate on downloadable software, which comes from a central server. In these cases, the casino doesn't have to open a game and change a chip.
Instead, they can simply download the software to alter RTP. But just as with replacing an EPROM chip, casinos need to follow their jurisdiction's guidelines when changing server-based payout percentages.
For starters, gambling venues can't make these changes when somebody is playing a machine. Furthermore, they have to wait a certain amount of time before altering any game settings.
What's the Common Belief about Casinos Changing Slots Payback?
Some slots players believe that casino owners and management can change RTP across the board by simply flipping a switch. This theory has been furthered propelled bythe rise of video slots.
Very few land-based slot machines operate on mechanical reels and levers these days. Instead, casinos mainly feature video slots that run through software programs.
Of course, gamblers' fears are only magnified when dealing with online casinos. These websites are headquartered far away from most players, leading to concerns that internet casinos can do anything they want to slots payback without anybody knowing.
But what else beyond suspected greed leads players to believe that casinos will cheat them through lower RTP?
A driving force behind conspiracy theories is how slot machines are the streakiest casino game. Most slots only see players win around 20-40% of their spins, even with every payline activated.
Such low hit frequency leads gamblers to experience long losing streaks. In turn, these cold streaks cause players to theorize that casinos have changed RTP.
What's the Real Story Behind Casinos' Ability to Alter RTP?
Contrary to what some players believe, casinos don't simply alter payout percentages whenever they feel like winning more money. Instead, gambling venues must go through the proper channels.
Earlier I covered how many jurisdictions require casinos to submit paperwork before changing the EPROM chip inside a slot machine.
Not only does an important employee waste time filling out paperwork and sending it to the local gambling control commission, but the casino must also pay for another EPROM chip. These chips are expensive, meaning it's not economically viable to continue changing RTP.
Of course, server-based slot machines can be altered faster without opening machines. But there are deterrents from doing this as well.
Some Las Vegas slot machines are so popular that they have people standing off to the side waiting to play. Therefore, casinos can't change RTP for these games until things slow down in the middle of the night.
More importantly, gambling establishments don't like tying up games and preventing people from playing. This creates another situation where it doesn't make economic sense to put games down for maintenance just to constantly change payback.
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Casino employees' time is valuable, especially with regard to managers. It would be a waste of resources and manpower to alter RTP from machine to machine.
Of course, none of this subsides fears that online casinos can change payout percentages as they please. But gaming sites face roadblocks in this regard too.
In fewer cases, online casinos can choose from different RTP options just like land-based establishments. Realtime Gaming (RTG) commonly does this by offering their clients payout percentages ranging from 91.0% to 97.5%.
Casinos must decide on the chosen payback when ordering a certain game. They can't, however, ask RTG to change payout percentages back and forth every day.
RTG allows gaming sites to choose from different payout percentages due to the various bonuses offered through their software setup. RTG offers total casino packages where they handle the bonuses, games, and more. Clients have some flexibility here and can either choose high bonuses with low slots RTP or vice versa.
In any case, you can see that there's nothing nefarious going on with the average online casino and game provider. This is especially true when considering that many slots developers and casinos undergo third-party auditing to ensure that their games offer fair and random results.
Is there Any Truth to the Idea That Casinos Can Change Payback with a Switch?
Earlier I mentioned how some players believe that casinos can merely flip a switch to change all of their slot machines' RTP.
I dismiss this idea, because casinos need to go through the proper channels to change payback. But is there any shred of truth to the switch-flipping concept?
A 2006 New York Times piece offers evidence that it's possible for casinos to quickly change RTP for many different games.
This article revolves around a Treasure Island casino executive named Justin Beltram, who discusses how his casino was undergoing a technology experiment at the time.
The piece reads that 'with a few clicks of his mouse' Beltram can reprogram the 'denominations required to play, payback percentages, even game themes' for all of Treasure Island's 1,790 slot machines.
Much of the article deals with how easy it is to change settings in server-based slots versus the EPROM-chip games. Beltram notes that he could change a game's settings within '20 seconds' using this technology, compared to the lengthy and complicated process of opening machines to alter settings.
The executive also squashed the notion that his casino would abuse this power to win more money from players. Beltram insists that such practices would be bad for business and possibly lead to trouble with gaming regulators.
David G. Schwartz, director for UNLV's Center for Gaming Research, did express concerns about casinos changing payback through servers. 'Let's say you're playing at 2 and you're doing great and you come back at 6 and the pay tables have changed,' explains Schwartz.
While this is a valid concern, lowering odds and causing players to lose more is counterproductive to business. Nobody wants to play at a casino where they think that the odds are stacked against them.
Beltram notes that the goal of server-based slot machines is all about quickly catering to players' demands. He told a story about a high roller who wanted to play a $25 Double Diamond machine. This game didn't have server technology, forcing Treasure Island to order the chip from IGT and quickly replace the coin denomination before the high roller could begin playing.
Overall, the article suggests that while it's possible for casinos to quickly change slots payback with server technology, this concept is more about meeting customer demands than anything.
Long story short, casino managers don't have time to sit in their back office and switch RTP every time that they see somebody winning. Casinos already have the edge over players, and it's not worth the time or repercussions to con gamblers.
The thought that casinos instantaneously change all of their slots payback is only one misbelief regarding the subject. Here are a few more myths surrounding how casinos handle slots RTP.
Slots Payback Happens on a Cycle
Some gamblers are convinced that slots payout percentages happen on a cycle. This idea stems from the belief that slot machines are programmed to offer payouts at specific intervals.
Here's an example of how one might conceptualize this:
- Jackpot pays exactly once every 1 million spins.
- 1,000-coin prize pays every 250,000 spins.
- 500-coin prize pays every 50,000 spins.
- 100-coin prize pays every 10,000 spins.
- 50-coin prize pays every 5,000 spins.
- 5-coin prize pays every 50 spins.
- 1-coin prize pays every 10 spins.
Players who believe that slot machines work like this often think that they can win a jackpot by playing at the right point. They look for a jackpot that hasn't been won in a while and start playing in hopes that the game is nearing the end of its payout cycle.
But slots results are determined by an RNG, which has no recollection of previous payouts and merely continues generating random results.
Jackpots and other payouts are programmed with specific odds. Certain jackpots may very well be programmed to pay every 1 million spins on average.
But the key is that this prize doesn't have to pay out after exactly 1 million rounds. Instead, the jackpot can hit at 500k spins or 2 million spins.
Casinos Change RTP during the Day and Night
Another common slots myth is that casinos alter payout percentages throughout the day. This theory is based on the logic that slot machines are more generous during the less-busy day hours and tighter during the busier evening hours.
It makes sense to believe that casinos would tighten payback when they have more slots customers. Doing so would enable them to earn far more profits.
If a slot has a 5% house edge, this means that casinos are winning a nickel for every dollar wagered by players. Assuming a gambler bets $600 per hour, the casino is making $30 on average (600 x 0.05).
The last thing a gambling establishment wants to do is lower payback and discourage people from playing during busy hours.
Many gamblers already become suspicious that payback has changed when they go through cold streaks. Casinos don't want to add fuel to this fire by actually altering RTP just to increase an advantage that they already have.
Native American Casinos can Do Whatever They Want
I've covered the limitations facing gaming sites and commercial land-based casinos when altering slots payout percentages. But what about Native American casinos?
Some slots players believe that US tribal casinos can do whatever they want, because they're located on sovereign ground. The reality, though, is that Native American casinos don't have as much free rein as people think.
These casinos must comply with gambling regulations set forth by the tribe's gambling commission. These standards are defined by negotiations between tribes and the state where they're located.
Once the state and tribe come to an agreement, the pact must be approved by the US Department of the Interior.
Contrary to some players' opinions, Native American gambling venues don't make rules as they go and change slots payback whenever. Instead, they too have regulations that are discussed and approved by multiple parties.
Many gamblers picture casinos fiendishly lowering slots RTP to maximize their profits. But these theories are the result of misunderstandings about how the gambling industry works.
Most land-based and online casinos operate in jurisdictions that impose restrictions on alerting payout percentages. Some jurisdictions go as far as to require paperwork every time that casinos want to change RTP.
In other cases, gambling venues can quickly change payback through server technology. Even this comes with restrictions, though, including a machine being down while the casino changes payback.
You can generally assume that most land-based slot machines offer anywhere from 88% to 95% RTP. Penny and nickel slots comprise the lower end, while quarter denominations and above constitute the higher end.
Online slots usually deliver between 95% and 97% payback. You can google individual slots or game providers to research online payout percentages.
You have little reason to fear casinos lowering RTP to a ridiculously small percentage. They have too much at stake if they're caught, and gambling jurisdictions have rules against doing so.
Some people might want to know how to find the payout percentage on a slot machine. Sadly, it's not something that's printed on most games — at least not here in the United States.
This post is for them.
Understanding this topic involves some rudimentary understanding of probability as it relates to casino gambling. You'll need to understand three separate concepts thoroughly:
- Payback percentage
- House edge
- Return to player
This post explains each of those in enough detail that even a beginner should understand what they mean.
Some Basic Facts Related to Probability, the House Edge, Payback Percentage, and Return to Player
Probability is the branch of mathematics that deals with how likely an event is to happen. If you want to measure how likely you are to win a jackpot on a slot machine, probability is the way to figure that out.
But the word also refers directly to that likelihood.
In other words, if I say the probability of getting heads when I flip a coin is 50%, I'm not talking about that branch of mathematics. I'm talking about the actual statistical likelihood of that event.
You should understand a few things about probability in general.
Probability is always a number between 0 and 1. An event with a probability of 0 will never happen, and an event with a probability of 1 will always happen. The closer to 1 the probability is, the more likely the event is to happen.
Probability can be expressed multiple ways. It can be expressed as a fraction, a decimal, a percentage, or as odds. The probability of getting heads on a coin flip can be expressed as 1/2, 0.5, 50%, or 1 to 1.
An event's probability is the number of ways it can happen divided by the total number of possible outcomes. When you're discussing a coin toss, you have two possible outcomes. Only one of those is heads. That makes the probability 1/2.
The probability that an event will occur added to the probability that an event won't occur always equals 1. Therefore, if you know the probability that something will happen, you also automatically know the probability that it won't happen, and vice versa.
The house edge is a statistical measure of how much the house expects to win (on average, over the long run) from every bet you make on a game. The house edge is a theoretical number that accounts for the probability of winning versus the probability of losing AND the payout if you win.
All casino games carry a house edge. In the short run, it doesn't matter much, but in the long run, it's the most important thing.
If I say a game has a house edge of 4%, this means that over time, you should average a loss of $4 for every $100 you bet on the game. This is a long run statistical average, though. In the short run, you're unlikely to see results that mirror the house edge.
The return to player and the payback percentage are the same thing. Some writers use one to refer to the statistical expectation and the other to refer to the actual results, but most writers use these terms interchangeably.
The payback percentage added to the house edge always equals 100%. The payback percentage is the amount of each bet that you get back, and the house edge is the amount of each bet that the casino wins. Again, these numbers are on average over the long run.
A game with a 4% house edge has a 96% payback percentage.
In the United States, slot machine payback percentages are impossible to calculate and not posted on gambling machines. To calculate the house edge or the payback percentage for a casino game, you need two pieces of data:
- The probability of winning
- The amount of money you'll win (the payoff)
Slot machines include their payouts on their pay tables, but they don't include the probability of achieving any of the winning outcomes.
In some countries, the payback percentage is posted on the machines, but not in the United States.
To make things even worse for a slot machine player, the random number generator program can be set differently even if the slot machine is identical to the one next to it. You could be playing The Big Lebowski slots at Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma, and your buddy could be playing the identical machine right next to you.
The payback percentage on his machine might be 94%, and the payback percentage on your machine might only be 88%.
The difference comes from how the probabilities are weighted for each symbol. On one game, the bars might show up 1/4 of the time, but on the next, they might only come up 1/8 of the time.
This has an obvious effect on the payback percentage.
The payback percentage would be easy to calculate if you knew the probabilities. The payback percentage is just the total expected value of all the possible outcomes on the machine.
Let's assume you have 1000 possible reel combinations. Let's also assume that if you got each of those in order, from 1 to 1000, you'd win 900 coins.
The payback percentage for that game would be 90%.
You'd put 1000 coins in, and you'd have 900 coins left after a statistically perfect sampling of 1000 spins.
If you knew the payback percentage and house edge for a slot machine game, you could predict your theoretical cost of playing that game per hour in the long run. You'd only need to multiply the numbers of bets you made per hour by the size of those bets. Then you'd multiply that by the house edge to get your predicted loss.
Most slots players make 600 spins per hour. Let's assume you're playing on a dollar machine and betting three coins on every spin, or $3 per spin. You're putting $1,800 per hour into action.
If the slot machine had a 90% payback percentage, you'd lose $180 per hour on that machine. You'd have $1,800 at the start of the hour and $1,620 at the end of the hour — assuming you saw statistically predicted results.
In the real world, though, where you'd be seeing short-term results, you'd see some hours where you won and some hours where you lost. If you played long enough, the Law of Large Numbers would ensure that you'd eventually see the statistically predicted results.
But in the long run, the math will ensure that the casino will win a net profit.
How You Could Calculate a Payback Percentage Based on Actual Results
Of course, you have some data that you can directly observe when you're playing slot machines.
But tracking this data and calculating the payback percentage on a specific session can add to your enjoyment of any slot machine game. It can make you more mindful because you'll be paying more attention to what's happening.
Here's how to do it.
Start by tracking how many spins you're making per hour. This is easy to do, but it takes more effort than you might think. It might help to get one of those clicky things people use to count stuff with. You will probably also need a stopwatch of some kind. Gator case epiphone casino buffet. I just use the timer function on my phone.
Make a note (mental is fine) of how much you're betting per spin. It helps to bet the same amount.
Also note how much money you started with so that you can calculate how much you've won or lost. The slot machine will convert your money into credits. The easiest thing to do is to keep up with how many credits you had at the beginning of the session and again at the end of the session.
Now, let's do the math using a hypothetical 45-minute session.
I made 300 spins in 45 minutes. I was betting $3 per spin, and I started with $600.
After my playing session, I had $500 left. At times I was up, and at times I was down.
But my net loss was $100. (My starting bankroll was $600, and I finished with $500.)
Over 300 spins, that means I lost an average per spin of 33 cents. $100 in losses divided by 300 spins is 33.33 cents per spin.
How much was I betting per spin?
Since I was playing a $1 machine, and my max bet was three coins, I was risking $3 per spin.
33 cents is 11% of $3, which means my actual loss was 11%. The machine paid back 89% for the session.
Does this mean that the payback percentage for the machine is 89%?
Probably not.
In the scheme of things, 450 spins is a small sample size. To have any confidence in your statistics, you really need to have at least 5,000 spins under your belt.
Even then, depending on how volatile the game is, your actual results might be wildly different from the mathematically expected payback percentage.
Here's another example that will prove that point.
My friend Leo went to the Winstar last weekend and played the $5 slots. He started with $3,000, and when he left, he had $4,800, which means he had an $1,800 profit for the day.
He played for seven hours.
I've watched Leo play. He's slow, but not much slower than average. He makes about 500 spins per hour.
This means that he made about 3,500 spins.
Sports gambling north dakota cities. $1,800 in winnings divided by 3,500 spins is an average win of 51 cents per spin.
Since he was betting $5 per spin, his return was 10.3%.
His actual return for the trip on that slot machine was 110.3%.
I have friends who design slot machines for a living — more than one, in fact. They'll be happy to tell anyone who asks that the algorithm is never set up to have a payback percentage of more than 100%.
What About the Casinos That Advertise a Specific Payback Percentage?
Some casinos advertise a specific payback percentage. This is almost always stated as an 'up to' number.
So you might see an ad for a casino that says, 'Payback percentages up to 98%!'
They're almost certainly telling the truth, too. They probably have one slot machine in their casino that has a payback percentage of 98%. Of course, it isn't labeled, so you don't know which one it is.
And in the short run, which is what you're going to be playing in as an individual gambler, there's not much difference between a 98% payback percentage and a 92% payback percentage. You could walk away a winner or a loser at either setting.
Also, keep in mind that the games aren't designed to tighten up after a win and loosen up after a lot of losing spins. That's not how it works at all.
The machines are designed to allow you to win a certain specific percentage of the time because of the probability. Then there's an average amount that you'll win based on the payout for the specific combination of symbols that you hit.
But every spin of the reels on a slot machine is an independent event. You can hit a jackpot on a spin, and your probability of hitting the jackpot on the next spin hasn't changed at all.
What About the Denominations and Location Reports I See Advertised on the Internet?
You'll find websites like Strictly Slots and American Casino Guide which post payback percentages for specific denominations and specific casinos. These are AVERAGES.
These averages have little bearing on the machine that you're sitting in front of.
Here's an example:
- MGM Grand wants to order Aristocrat's Game of Thrones.
- Aristocrat offers RTP choices of 88.0%, 90.0%, 92.0%, and 94.0%.
- MGM selects the version with 92.0% payback.
Online slots developers usually offer a uniform RTP for any game that they produce. Internet casinos that license their slots are then forced to use the provider's chosen payout percentage.
But a minority of online slots providers do let casinos choose from preset RTP amounts (covered later).
How casinos change payout percentages depends upon the style of game. Payback for most land-based slot machines is determined by the EPROM chip located inside.
A gambling establishment can alter a machine's RTP as long as they have the EPROM chip, which is sometimes the case. Theoretically, any casino that has these chips can change payback whenever they like.
The catch, though, is that many gambling jurisdictions require the casinos to report when they alter a game's RTP. This process requires that a casino manager spends time filling out paperwork.
Some slot machines operate on downloadable software, which comes from a central server. In these cases, the casino doesn't have to open a game and change a chip.
Instead, they can simply download the software to alter RTP. But just as with replacing an EPROM chip, casinos need to follow their jurisdiction's guidelines when changing server-based payout percentages.
For starters, gambling venues can't make these changes when somebody is playing a machine. Furthermore, they have to wait a certain amount of time before altering any game settings.
What's the Common Belief about Casinos Changing Slots Payback?
Some slots players believe that casino owners and management can change RTP across the board by simply flipping a switch. This theory has been furthered propelled bythe rise of video slots.
Very few land-based slot machines operate on mechanical reels and levers these days. Instead, casinos mainly feature video slots that run through software programs.
Of course, gamblers' fears are only magnified when dealing with online casinos. These websites are headquartered far away from most players, leading to concerns that internet casinos can do anything they want to slots payback without anybody knowing.
But what else beyond suspected greed leads players to believe that casinos will cheat them through lower RTP?
A driving force behind conspiracy theories is how slot machines are the streakiest casino game. Most slots only see players win around 20-40% of their spins, even with every payline activated.
Such low hit frequency leads gamblers to experience long losing streaks. In turn, these cold streaks cause players to theorize that casinos have changed RTP.
What's the Real Story Behind Casinos' Ability to Alter RTP?
Contrary to what some players believe, casinos don't simply alter payout percentages whenever they feel like winning more money. Instead, gambling venues must go through the proper channels.
Earlier I covered how many jurisdictions require casinos to submit paperwork before changing the EPROM chip inside a slot machine.
Not only does an important employee waste time filling out paperwork and sending it to the local gambling control commission, but the casino must also pay for another EPROM chip. These chips are expensive, meaning it's not economically viable to continue changing RTP.
Of course, server-based slot machines can be altered faster without opening machines. But there are deterrents from doing this as well.
Some Las Vegas slot machines are so popular that they have people standing off to the side waiting to play. Therefore, casinos can't change RTP for these games until things slow down in the middle of the night.
More importantly, gambling establishments don't like tying up games and preventing people from playing. This creates another situation where it doesn't make economic sense to put games down for maintenance just to constantly change payback.
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Casino employees' time is valuable, especially with regard to managers. It would be a waste of resources and manpower to alter RTP from machine to machine.
Of course, none of this subsides fears that online casinos can change payout percentages as they please. But gaming sites face roadblocks in this regard too.
In fewer cases, online casinos can choose from different RTP options just like land-based establishments. Realtime Gaming (RTG) commonly does this by offering their clients payout percentages ranging from 91.0% to 97.5%.
Casinos must decide on the chosen payback when ordering a certain game. They can't, however, ask RTG to change payout percentages back and forth every day.
RTG allows gaming sites to choose from different payout percentages due to the various bonuses offered through their software setup. RTG offers total casino packages where they handle the bonuses, games, and more. Clients have some flexibility here and can either choose high bonuses with low slots RTP or vice versa.
In any case, you can see that there's nothing nefarious going on with the average online casino and game provider. This is especially true when considering that many slots developers and casinos undergo third-party auditing to ensure that their games offer fair and random results.
Is there Any Truth to the Idea That Casinos Can Change Payback with a Switch?
Earlier I mentioned how some players believe that casinos can merely flip a switch to change all of their slot machines' RTP.
I dismiss this idea, because casinos need to go through the proper channels to change payback. But is there any shred of truth to the switch-flipping concept?
A 2006 New York Times piece offers evidence that it's possible for casinos to quickly change RTP for many different games.
This article revolves around a Treasure Island casino executive named Justin Beltram, who discusses how his casino was undergoing a technology experiment at the time.
The piece reads that 'with a few clicks of his mouse' Beltram can reprogram the 'denominations required to play, payback percentages, even game themes' for all of Treasure Island's 1,790 slot machines.
Much of the article deals with how easy it is to change settings in server-based slots versus the EPROM-chip games. Beltram notes that he could change a game's settings within '20 seconds' using this technology, compared to the lengthy and complicated process of opening machines to alter settings.
The executive also squashed the notion that his casino would abuse this power to win more money from players. Beltram insists that such practices would be bad for business and possibly lead to trouble with gaming regulators.
David G. Schwartz, director for UNLV's Center for Gaming Research, did express concerns about casinos changing payback through servers. 'Let's say you're playing at 2 and you're doing great and you come back at 6 and the pay tables have changed,' explains Schwartz.
While this is a valid concern, lowering odds and causing players to lose more is counterproductive to business. Nobody wants to play at a casino where they think that the odds are stacked against them.
Beltram notes that the goal of server-based slot machines is all about quickly catering to players' demands. He told a story about a high roller who wanted to play a $25 Double Diamond machine. This game didn't have server technology, forcing Treasure Island to order the chip from IGT and quickly replace the coin denomination before the high roller could begin playing.
Overall, the article suggests that while it's possible for casinos to quickly change slots payback with server technology, this concept is more about meeting customer demands than anything.
Long story short, casino managers don't have time to sit in their back office and switch RTP every time that they see somebody winning. Casinos already have the edge over players, and it's not worth the time or repercussions to con gamblers.
The thought that casinos instantaneously change all of their slots payback is only one misbelief regarding the subject. Here are a few more myths surrounding how casinos handle slots RTP.
Slots Payback Happens on a Cycle
Some gamblers are convinced that slots payout percentages happen on a cycle. This idea stems from the belief that slot machines are programmed to offer payouts at specific intervals.
Here's an example of how one might conceptualize this:
- Jackpot pays exactly once every 1 million spins.
- 1,000-coin prize pays every 250,000 spins.
- 500-coin prize pays every 50,000 spins.
- 100-coin prize pays every 10,000 spins.
- 50-coin prize pays every 5,000 spins.
- 5-coin prize pays every 50 spins.
- 1-coin prize pays every 10 spins.
Players who believe that slot machines work like this often think that they can win a jackpot by playing at the right point. They look for a jackpot that hasn't been won in a while and start playing in hopes that the game is nearing the end of its payout cycle.
But slots results are determined by an RNG, which has no recollection of previous payouts and merely continues generating random results.
Jackpots and other payouts are programmed with specific odds. Certain jackpots may very well be programmed to pay every 1 million spins on average.
But the key is that this prize doesn't have to pay out after exactly 1 million rounds. Instead, the jackpot can hit at 500k spins or 2 million spins.
Casinos Change RTP during the Day and Night
Another common slots myth is that casinos alter payout percentages throughout the day. This theory is based on the logic that slot machines are more generous during the less-busy day hours and tighter during the busier evening hours.
It makes sense to believe that casinos would tighten payback when they have more slots customers. Doing so would enable them to earn far more profits.
If a slot has a 5% house edge, this means that casinos are winning a nickel for every dollar wagered by players. Assuming a gambler bets $600 per hour, the casino is making $30 on average (600 x 0.05).
The last thing a gambling establishment wants to do is lower payback and discourage people from playing during busy hours.
Many gamblers already become suspicious that payback has changed when they go through cold streaks. Casinos don't want to add fuel to this fire by actually altering RTP just to increase an advantage that they already have.
Native American Casinos can Do Whatever They Want
I've covered the limitations facing gaming sites and commercial land-based casinos when altering slots payout percentages. But what about Native American casinos?
Some slots players believe that US tribal casinos can do whatever they want, because they're located on sovereign ground. The reality, though, is that Native American casinos don't have as much free rein as people think.
These casinos must comply with gambling regulations set forth by the tribe's gambling commission. These standards are defined by negotiations between tribes and the state where they're located.
Once the state and tribe come to an agreement, the pact must be approved by the US Department of the Interior.
Contrary to some players' opinions, Native American gambling venues don't make rules as they go and change slots payback whenever. Instead, they too have regulations that are discussed and approved by multiple parties.
Many gamblers picture casinos fiendishly lowering slots RTP to maximize their profits. But these theories are the result of misunderstandings about how the gambling industry works.
Most land-based and online casinos operate in jurisdictions that impose restrictions on alerting payout percentages. Some jurisdictions go as far as to require paperwork every time that casinos want to change RTP.
In other cases, gambling venues can quickly change payback through server technology. Even this comes with restrictions, though, including a machine being down while the casino changes payback.
You can generally assume that most land-based slot machines offer anywhere from 88% to 95% RTP. Penny and nickel slots comprise the lower end, while quarter denominations and above constitute the higher end.
Online slots usually deliver between 95% and 97% payback. You can google individual slots or game providers to research online payout percentages.
You have little reason to fear casinos lowering RTP to a ridiculously small percentage. They have too much at stake if they're caught, and gambling jurisdictions have rules against doing so.
Some people might want to know how to find the payout percentage on a slot machine. Sadly, it's not something that's printed on most games — at least not here in the United States.
This post is for them.
Understanding this topic involves some rudimentary understanding of probability as it relates to casino gambling. You'll need to understand three separate concepts thoroughly:
- Payback percentage
- House edge
- Return to player
This post explains each of those in enough detail that even a beginner should understand what they mean.
Some Basic Facts Related to Probability, the House Edge, Payback Percentage, and Return to Player
Probability is the branch of mathematics that deals with how likely an event is to happen. If you want to measure how likely you are to win a jackpot on a slot machine, probability is the way to figure that out.
But the word also refers directly to that likelihood.
In other words, if I say the probability of getting heads when I flip a coin is 50%, I'm not talking about that branch of mathematics. I'm talking about the actual statistical likelihood of that event.
You should understand a few things about probability in general.
Probability is always a number between 0 and 1. An event with a probability of 0 will never happen, and an event with a probability of 1 will always happen. The closer to 1 the probability is, the more likely the event is to happen.
Probability can be expressed multiple ways. It can be expressed as a fraction, a decimal, a percentage, or as odds. The probability of getting heads on a coin flip can be expressed as 1/2, 0.5, 50%, or 1 to 1.
An event's probability is the number of ways it can happen divided by the total number of possible outcomes. When you're discussing a coin toss, you have two possible outcomes. Only one of those is heads. That makes the probability 1/2.
The probability that an event will occur added to the probability that an event won't occur always equals 1. Therefore, if you know the probability that something will happen, you also automatically know the probability that it won't happen, and vice versa.
The house edge is a statistical measure of how much the house expects to win (on average, over the long run) from every bet you make on a game. The house edge is a theoretical number that accounts for the probability of winning versus the probability of losing AND the payout if you win.
All casino games carry a house edge. In the short run, it doesn't matter much, but in the long run, it's the most important thing.
If I say a game has a house edge of 4%, this means that over time, you should average a loss of $4 for every $100 you bet on the game. This is a long run statistical average, though. In the short run, you're unlikely to see results that mirror the house edge.
The return to player and the payback percentage are the same thing. Some writers use one to refer to the statistical expectation and the other to refer to the actual results, but most writers use these terms interchangeably.
The payback percentage added to the house edge always equals 100%. The payback percentage is the amount of each bet that you get back, and the house edge is the amount of each bet that the casino wins. Again, these numbers are on average over the long run.
A game with a 4% house edge has a 96% payback percentage.
In the United States, slot machine payback percentages are impossible to calculate and not posted on gambling machines. To calculate the house edge or the payback percentage for a casino game, you need two pieces of data:
- The probability of winning
- The amount of money you'll win (the payoff)
Slot machines include their payouts on their pay tables, but they don't include the probability of achieving any of the winning outcomes.
In some countries, the payback percentage is posted on the machines, but not in the United States.
To make things even worse for a slot machine player, the random number generator program can be set differently even if the slot machine is identical to the one next to it. You could be playing The Big Lebowski slots at Choctaw Casino in Durant, Oklahoma, and your buddy could be playing the identical machine right next to you.
The payback percentage on his machine might be 94%, and the payback percentage on your machine might only be 88%.
The difference comes from how the probabilities are weighted for each symbol. On one game, the bars might show up 1/4 of the time, but on the next, they might only come up 1/8 of the time.
This has an obvious effect on the payback percentage.
The payback percentage would be easy to calculate if you knew the probabilities. The payback percentage is just the total expected value of all the possible outcomes on the machine.
Let's assume you have 1000 possible reel combinations. Let's also assume that if you got each of those in order, from 1 to 1000, you'd win 900 coins.
The payback percentage for that game would be 90%.
You'd put 1000 coins in, and you'd have 900 coins left after a statistically perfect sampling of 1000 spins.
If you knew the payback percentage and house edge for a slot machine game, you could predict your theoretical cost of playing that game per hour in the long run. You'd only need to multiply the numbers of bets you made per hour by the size of those bets. Then you'd multiply that by the house edge to get your predicted loss.
Most slots players make 600 spins per hour. Let's assume you're playing on a dollar machine and betting three coins on every spin, or $3 per spin. You're putting $1,800 per hour into action.
If the slot machine had a 90% payback percentage, you'd lose $180 per hour on that machine. You'd have $1,800 at the start of the hour and $1,620 at the end of the hour — assuming you saw statistically predicted results.
In the real world, though, where you'd be seeing short-term results, you'd see some hours where you won and some hours where you lost. If you played long enough, the Law of Large Numbers would ensure that you'd eventually see the statistically predicted results.
But in the long run, the math will ensure that the casino will win a net profit.
How You Could Calculate a Payback Percentage Based on Actual Results
Of course, you have some data that you can directly observe when you're playing slot machines.
But tracking this data and calculating the payback percentage on a specific session can add to your enjoyment of any slot machine game. It can make you more mindful because you'll be paying more attention to what's happening.
Here's how to do it.
Start by tracking how many spins you're making per hour. This is easy to do, but it takes more effort than you might think. It might help to get one of those clicky things people use to count stuff with. You will probably also need a stopwatch of some kind. Gator case epiphone casino buffet. I just use the timer function on my phone.
Make a note (mental is fine) of how much you're betting per spin. It helps to bet the same amount.
Also note how much money you started with so that you can calculate how much you've won or lost. The slot machine will convert your money into credits. The easiest thing to do is to keep up with how many credits you had at the beginning of the session and again at the end of the session.
Now, let's do the math using a hypothetical 45-minute session.
I made 300 spins in 45 minutes. I was betting $3 per spin, and I started with $600.
After my playing session, I had $500 left. At times I was up, and at times I was down.
But my net loss was $100. (My starting bankroll was $600, and I finished with $500.)
Over 300 spins, that means I lost an average per spin of 33 cents. $100 in losses divided by 300 spins is 33.33 cents per spin.
How much was I betting per spin?
Since I was playing a $1 machine, and my max bet was three coins, I was risking $3 per spin.
33 cents is 11% of $3, which means my actual loss was 11%. The machine paid back 89% for the session.
Does this mean that the payback percentage for the machine is 89%?
Probably not.
In the scheme of things, 450 spins is a small sample size. To have any confidence in your statistics, you really need to have at least 5,000 spins under your belt.
Even then, depending on how volatile the game is, your actual results might be wildly different from the mathematically expected payback percentage.
Here's another example that will prove that point.
My friend Leo went to the Winstar last weekend and played the $5 slots. He started with $3,000, and when he left, he had $4,800, which means he had an $1,800 profit for the day.
He played for seven hours.
I've watched Leo play. He's slow, but not much slower than average. He makes about 500 spins per hour.
This means that he made about 3,500 spins.
Sports gambling north dakota cities. $1,800 in winnings divided by 3,500 spins is an average win of 51 cents per spin.
Since he was betting $5 per spin, his return was 10.3%.
His actual return for the trip on that slot machine was 110.3%.
I have friends who design slot machines for a living — more than one, in fact. They'll be happy to tell anyone who asks that the algorithm is never set up to have a payback percentage of more than 100%.
What About the Casinos That Advertise a Specific Payback Percentage?
Some casinos advertise a specific payback percentage. This is almost always stated as an 'up to' number.
So you might see an ad for a casino that says, 'Payback percentages up to 98%!'
They're almost certainly telling the truth, too. They probably have one slot machine in their casino that has a payback percentage of 98%. Of course, it isn't labeled, so you don't know which one it is.
And in the short run, which is what you're going to be playing in as an individual gambler, there's not much difference between a 98% payback percentage and a 92% payback percentage. You could walk away a winner or a loser at either setting.
Also, keep in mind that the games aren't designed to tighten up after a win and loosen up after a lot of losing spins. That's not how it works at all.
The machines are designed to allow you to win a certain specific percentage of the time because of the probability. Then there's an average amount that you'll win based on the payout for the specific combination of symbols that you hit.
But every spin of the reels on a slot machine is an independent event. You can hit a jackpot on a spin, and your probability of hitting the jackpot on the next spin hasn't changed at all.
What About the Denominations and Location Reports I See Advertised on the Internet?
You'll find websites like Strictly Slots and American Casino Guide which post payback percentages for specific denominations and specific casinos. These are AVERAGES.
These averages have little bearing on the machine that you're sitting in front of.
25 Dollar Slot Machine Odds Jackpot
For example,
you might be looking at a casino that reports an average payback percentage of 94% on its dollar slot machines. That casino might have half their machines paying off at 90% and the other half paying off at 98%.
And you won't be able to differentiate between the two because the hit ratio might be the same from one of those machines to another.
What Do Hit Ratio and Volatility Have to Do With It?
The hit ratio is the percentage of time that you can expect to hit a winning combination on a slot machine. Something like 30% isn't unusual, but it can vary 10% or more in either direction. The casinos want you to a hit a winning combination often enough that you won't lose interest in playing the game.
But hit ratio is only part of the equation. The average size of the prize amounts is also important. Volatility takes this into account. A game that hits less often but has higher average prize amounts might have the same payback percentage as a game that hits more often but with lower payouts.
Either way, in the short run, it will be all but impossible to discover this number, too.
If you wanted to, you could track how many spins resulted in wins for you and calculate the percentage, but you're facing the same obstacle you are with the overall payback percentage of the machine.
You just don't know what it's programmed to accomplish in the long run.
Online Slot Machines
Some online casinos post the payback percentages for their slot machine games. I think this information is of limited use, but I also think it's fairer to the gambler than not providing them with that information.
After all, table games are transparent. You can calculate the house edge for any casino table game there is because they all use random number generators with known quantities — cards, dice, and wheels.
There's been a push to label food, both at the grocery store and at restaurants, with nutritional information that includes caloric amounts.
Requiring casinos to provide similar information about their gambling machines only makes sense.
We'll see if it ever happens, though.
Conclusion
You can't find the payout percentage on a slot machine — at least not in the United States.
I've heard that you can get this information on slot machines in Europe, but I've never seen an actual photograph of this kind of labeling.
You can, though, have some fun calculating actual payback percentages in the short run. This at least gives you something to keep track of while you're playing slots, which is honestly one of the more mindless activities in the casino.
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