- How Do Class Two Slot Machines Worksheets
- How Electronic Slot Machines Work
- Slot Machines How They Work
- How Do Class Two Slot Machines Work In
- Best Slot Machines To Win On
- How Slot Machines Work Inside
Class II machines are connected to a centralized computer and mimic the results of a scratch-off lottery ticket (each machine has an equal chance of winning). Class III machines are known as “ Vegas-style slots,” and these are the slots most often found in places like Nevada and Atlantic City. “Michael Bluejay's comprehensive explanation of how slot machines work is, in my opinion, the best one out there.” —Gaming the Odds. NOTES: (1) This page covers normal slot machines (aka 'Class III'). Many Native American casinos instead use 'Class II' slots based on bingo or the lottery because local laws don't allow regular slots.
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Summary: Class II slot machines are found in Indian casinos (Class III is Vegas-style, or RNG). The reason why Class II exists is because originally, Indian casinos were only allowed to offer bingo, including electronic bingo. Modern Class II slot machines look and act just like an RNG slot machine.
At least two people must be playing in order for a Class II machine to run (one time I was unable to play because no one else was there). A bingo server draws a number about once a second. When you hit spin, the computer generates your bingo card and then it goes through all 23 possible winning patterns (22 normal patterns like T, corner spots, diamond, etc., and then this bizarre final 23rd one that a blackout in 75 balls wins a penny). A winning bingo pattern makes the reels stop at just the right spot so you win that much (no different than an RNG slot machine, just a different way of determining whether you win or lose). I read the help files on the machine but it doesn't explain everything. It doesn't explain how you get a red screen. Sometimes when you win, the screen turns red and the reels spin again, and when this happens, you always win something which is more than what you just won (i.e., not a regular free spin which can lose). I have never won a penny (that weird 23rd winning pattern). Probability of winning on a single payline is about 1 in 5 with the distribution of wins similar to an RNG machine, with lots of small wins and few large wins.
I've played these early in the morning when the casino is almost empty and at busy times to see if I can detect any pattern of advantage or disadvantage, and I can't tell. I've won when it's dead and lost when it's dead and I've won when it's busy and lost when it's busy.
Does anyone know if there is a player advantage or disadvantage to playing Class II slot machines when the casino is quiet or busy? Is the probability of winning exactly the same for bet 3 as it is for bet 1? (with the only difference being that the jackpot pays a bigger multiple of bet amt, similar to video poker)
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In general, the competitive element of a class II slot accounts for only about 1% of the return. It will generally go to whoever completes a certain pattern first. You could be competing with other players anywhere in the casino or even the world. The competitors may be playing on entirely different themed machines too.
The other 89%, or so, of the return comes from 'consolation prizes,' which are fixed prizes for fixed patterns.
It is that 1% of the competitive element that makes them legal.
In my opinion, if you're going to legalize slots, then just legalize them. Quit kidding yourself that class II slots are really bingo.
I've designed some class II slots so know a fair bit about the regulations and how they are designed.
In general, the competitive element of a class II slot accounts for only about 1% of the return. It will generally go to whoever completes a certain pattern first. You could be competing with other players anywhere in the casino or even the world. The competitors may be playing on entirely different themed machines too.
The other 89%, or so, of the return comes from 'consolation prizes,' which are fixed prizes for fixed patterns.
It is that 1% of the competitive element that makes them legal.
In my opinion, if you're going to legalize slots, then just legalize them. Quit kidding yourself that class II slots are really bingo.
Hey Wizard, I hate to necro this thread, but I was wondering - how is the RTP calculated for class II bingo slots when you never know how many people are going to be competing for that prize? As you mentioned, it's a small portion (1%), but how is that 1% calculated, if it can be? And wouldn't a busy casino theoretically bring down the RTP of the machine? Is there some sort of universal assumption on the average numbers of players that might be in on a game or something?
Thanks so much!
Class II slot machines look and act just like an RNG slot machine. Does it similar to skill based gaming machine or slot machines?
I would say they operate most similarly to Pace-O-Matic machines. Some other machines just, “Play,” the pre-seeded pool of spins over and over, whereas (from what I can tell from the patents) POM’s randomly select a result from the remaining pool of spins, kind of similarly to the Class II central server.
I also thought POM banks had a linked pool of spins, but that’s apparently not necessarily true is because I found two POMs in one location—one is out of $0.40/bet spins on a particular game and the other isn’t.
How Do Class Two Slot Machines Worksheets
fitzbeanI would say they operate most similarly to Pace-O-Matic machines. Some other machines just, “Play,” the pre-seeded pool of spins over and over, whereas (from what I can tell from the patents) POM’s randomly select a result from the remaining pool of spins, kind of similarly to the Class II central server.
I also thought POM banks had a linked pool of spins, but that’s apparently not necessarily true is because I found two POMs in one location—one is out of $0.40/bet spins on a particular game and the other isn’t.
I wouldn't say Class II slot machines operate like POMS. The results are actually completely random & based on a math model, just like traditional slots. The difference is that the randomness is not based on where the reels land, it's based on the outcome of the bingo draw. Making it play 'like a slot' as a designer can be challenging because getting the desired volatility etc can be difficult to translate from traditional math models.
I wouldn't say Class II slot machines operate like POMS. The results are actually completely random & based on a math model, just like traditional slots. The difference is that the randomness is not based on where the reels land, it's based on the outcome of the bingo draw. Making it play 'like a slot' as a designer can be challenging because getting the desired volatility etc can be difficult to translate from traditional math models.
I agree with you, and that's actually kind of my point. The Class II slot machines randomly choose a result from the, 'Pool,' of remaining results in the central server and POM's do the same exact thing, according to their patent. The difference with POM is that the entire pool of results seems to be exclusive to an individual machine, (or maybe they can sometimes be linked) but either way, it's randomly chosen from the remaining results.
Administrator
Hey Wizard, I hate to necro this thread, but I was wondering - how is the RTP calculated for class II bingo slots when you never know how many people are going to be competing for that prize? As you mentioned, it's a small portion (1%), but how is that 1% calculated, if it can be? And wouldn't a busy casino theoretically bring down the RTP of the machine? Is there some sort of universal assumption on the average numbers of players that might be in on a game or something?
Thanks so much!
The way it tends to work is the game will group 2 or more players together who made a bet at nearly the same time, say within a second of each other. Then the first player to complete some particular pattern (in the fewest balls) will win a very small prize. I wish I could take it further, but that's about all I know. When I do a class II game, the game maker will somehow tack on a competitive element, I only get asked to do the 'base game.'
Administrator
I would say they operate most similarly to Pace-O-Matic machines. Some other machines just, “Play,” the pre-seeded pool of spins over and over, whereas (from what I can tell from the patents) POM’s randomly select a result from the remaining pool of spins, kind of similarly to the Class II central server.
I also thought POM banks had a linked pool of spins, but that’s apparently not necessarily true is because I found two POMs in one location—one is out of $0.40/bet spins on a particular game and the other isn’t.
The ones I have seen don't work like that. The outcome is based on a fair bingo card and ball draw. I'm not saying there isn't anywhere that does it the way you describe, but I think I can speak for California (when there were class II), Oklahoma, and New Mexico.
I agree with you, and that's actually kind of my point. The Class II slot machines randomly choose a result from the, 'Pool,' of remaining results in the central server and POM's do the same exact thing, according to their patent. The difference with POM is that the entire pool of results seems to be exclusive to an individual machine, (or maybe they can sometimes be linked) but either way, it's randomly chosen from the remaining results.
Hmm, as far as I know, Class II (Bingo) slots are not selecting a result from a pool of remaining results or a pool at all. Class II bingo is legal because you are actually playing Bingo behind the scenes, so mechanically, it must actually operate exactly like live bingo.
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The gaming industry is big business in the U.S., contributing an estimated US$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.
How Electronic Slot Machines Work
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.
Slot Machines How They Work
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 4 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.
How Do Class Two Slot Machines Work In
Getting away with it
Consequently, many operators resist increasing the house advantages of their slot machines, believing that players can detect these price shocks.
Best Slot Machines To Win On
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 3 feet away.
How Slot Machines Work Inside
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.