Minnesota tribes were the first in the nation to negotiate and sign gaming compacts with a state government. Both the tribes and the state agreed to limit casinos to video games of chance (slots) and blackjack. Additionally, both parties agreed that the compacts should be effective in perpetuity. Now if the jackpot payout was $625, the machine would be a break-even proposition, as on average you’d pay $1 624 times without winning anything, and then you’d hit once in every 625 spins for the $625 prize, breaking even overall.
Many players know all too well about the concept of high-paying slots and low-paying slots. These are not misnomers or fallacies; they are real-life realities. For example, there are slot machine games that are notorious for low payout rates, while there are other slots games that have significantly higher overall payout rates, usually owing to higher coin denominations required to play those slot games. You often hear the terms house advantage or house edge being used interchangeably when it comes to odds in casino games. However, when we are discussing Illinois slot machines games the term that is used by operators is payout percentage. It is essentially the same concept, but it is viewed from a different angle. If you want to know what the basic definition of a payout percentage is, it is simply the house edge subtracted from 100%.
RNGs and Slots Payouts are Linked
The concept of a random number generator is one that needs further illumination in order to understand how payouts of Illinois slot machines work. For the purposes of discussion, a random number generator simply randomizes the outcomes of slot machine games. The random number generator (RNG for short) is a computer program that has been designed and independently tested by third-party authorities affiliated with regulatory bodies to ensure the fairness and randomness of all outcomes. It is important not to confuse the purpose of an RNG and that of the casino’s payout percentage rate. These are two completely different aspects and they are for the most part unrelated to one another.
The casino is responsible for establishing its payout combinations to ensure that it remains profitable. The RNGs feature stops for every combination and every reel, but the payout for any combination hitting is determined by the casino. If you have for example 20 stops which each have an equal possibility of hitting over 3 reels, the calculation would be as follows: 1/20 X 1/20 X 1/20 equals 1/8,000 of all 3 spinning reels to land on a specific stop. Now the actual casino may have a payout for that combination of just 75:1 or 100:1 for example. This brings us to one of the most important aspects of Illinois slot machines and casinos: the payout is always less than the odds of winning.
Typical Payouts and Payout Percentages
A standard online casino will have slot machine payout rates in the region of 95% – 98%. And the reason why these payout rates are so much higher than land-based casinos is a result of lower fixed costs of operations. Since everything is online, there is no need to maintain slot machines, no need to employ scores of personnel, no need to rent facilities other than servers, etc. Another important thing to bear in mind is PARS. Illinois slot machines players will typically not have access to things like this, but it is something that is important in the industry and is known to the casinos themselves. Many players believe that slot machine games which offer higher payout percentages will pay out more, but this is once again also open to interpretation.
So who pays for those Volcanic eruptions? Pirate Battles? Carnival Parades? and Glittering Showrooms? Slot Machines. 60-65% of casino revenue is generated by those bell-ringing one armed bandits that seem to multiply on casino floors like rabbits. So how does the average player gain an advantage and possibly win? Well... aside from cheating (which we really don't suggest you get involved in) the only way to gain some sort of advantage is to choose your slots with utmost care and discrimination.
Slot machines in Las Vegas are required by law to payout 75% of the money that goes into them, actual payout in Las Vegas is approximately 95%. Will you be the one that takes the money instead of gives it? That is up to luck, but with a little investigation one can easily learn to identify which machines are more favorable to the player than others. Slot machines are all about the payout... Red White and Blue, Double Diamond, Dick Fucking Clark, Cherry whatever. At the end of the day what every slot player needs to do is look at the pay schedule on the machine they want to play. Very often the same machine one row over will pay 5,000 credits on 3rd credit jackpot while you're playing on a 2,000 3rd credit machine. Plain and simple you're cheating yourself.
Slot Spotlights
A few notable slot machines we here at VT have found more playable, or more interesting, than the other nonsense out there like Leprachaun's Gold or Tabasco Slots or whatever.
We like machines that have the best payouts on the lowest winning spins. These will keep you going longer between larger wins and not enact the ATM-In-Reverse principle seen at many of the larger joints (Venetian being the worst we've experienced).
100 or Nothing
Red, White and Blue
Slot Machine Jackpots Photo Gallery
Wheel of Fortune
Wild Cherry
Slot Machine Payback Percentages
Below are the slot payback percentages for Nevada's fiscal year beginning July 1, 2002 and ending June 30, 2003:
5¢ Slot Machines
The Strip - 90.32%
Downtown - 91.50%
Boulder Strip - 93.03%
N. Las Vegas - 92.97%
25¢ Slot Machines
The Strip - 92.59%
Downtown - 94.83%
Boulder Strip - 96.47%
N. Las Vegas - 96.63%
$1 Slot Machines
The Strip - 94.67%
Downtown - 95.35%
Boulder Strip - 96.48%
N. Las Vegas - 97.21%
$1 Megabucks Machines
The Strip - 89.12%
Downtown - 88.55%
Boulder Strip - 87.76%
N. Las Vegas - 89.41%
$5 Slot Machines
The Strip - 95.33%
Downtown - 95.61%
Boulder Strip - 96.53%
N. Las Vegas - 96.50%
All Slot Machines
The Strip - 93.85%
Downtown - 94.32%
Boulder Strip - 95.34%
N. Las Vegas - 95.32%
Slot Machine Payout Odds
The Math of Casino Slot Machines
For every dollar you wager in a slot machine, you will lose 100% - Payback% of that dollar. For example, you're at Bellagio playing the $1 Double Diamond slot, wagering Two Credits ($2) per spin. According to the table, for every $2 spin you will lose 5.33% of that bet... just shy of 11¢. Granted these 11 cents don't get extracted instantly... this is computed over time. So if your bank roll limit is $10 it will take you, on average 52 spins before your bankroll is toast (under $1) and you are out of credits.
How was this number derived:
STAKE x (Payback Percentages) = STAKE x (Payback Percentages) = STAKE x (Payback Percentages) = ...
Repeat calculation until the number gets below the minimum bet - if you play long enough, you're gonna go broke. THAT is a FACT. Slot machines are entertaining, relaxing, require little thought beyond pressing a button. IF you want to truly GAMBLE, you might want to look into Video Poker, and eventually Blackjack as other options.
Granted, sometime in there you just might hit that $500 win on the Wheel of Fortune, or The Elvis progressive might shake rattle and roll $1000 your way... but the math inside the machine determines that you will in fact lose a certain percentage of your wager on each spin, and the more you spin... the more you will lose despite short runs of successful jackpots. If you find you are UP... leave. Every spin of a slot machine generates a random number that has NOTHING to do with previous numbers. SLOT MACHINES do NOT run in streaks (even if you might wish to think they do). Don't expect to get any of the money you put into a machine out of it unless you learn to press the CASH OUT button.
Gamblers Library
VT fully recommends the following books to help you decrease the house advantage on casino card games.
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