Welcome to Online Casino Gamester: Traditional Slots
How Do You Win?
So if the more you know, the more you win- knowing how you win can certainly be of value. This section will give information on payouts for traditional slots.
Slot machines as a standard are programmed to pay back to gamblers anywhere from 82 to 98 percent of the money that is put into the machine. That means that the casino is only keeping two to eighteen percent of the money that is put into the machine via coin, receipt, or chips for their maintenance, utilities costs and whatever profit might remain. The amount that is kept by the house varies depending on the casino, and can differ greatly between land based casinos and online casinos. The amount that is not kept by the casino is called the theoretical payout percentage, most commonly referred as the payout, though it is also referred to as the par. Most of these percentages will stem from regulations and laws determined by the area in which the
casino slots are based. For example, Nevada’s minimum payout percentage is 75% while the payout in New Jersey has a minimum of 78%. This is setting to the machine that remains until changed by the casino. If a game is programmed with a payout of 95% and each of the spins require a minimum bet of a dollar, then over a significant period of time such as 1,000,000 spins- $50,000 would be kept by the house casino for profit and maintenance, and $950,000 would be paid back to bettors via wins. The payout amount, though regulated, can also be utilized for promotions. 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.
One of the enticing qualities of the game is the ability to win at any time, and though they are heartbreaking, “almost wins” can keep a player coming back for more time and time again. Because the modern machines are all monitored by computers, and can be programmed with limitless detail, it is entirely plausible to program a game to “almost win.” For example, for games whose winning combinations are 7-7-7, a game can be instructed at regular intervals to display a 7-7-(non-7), as an incentive to the player that they almost won. This is called Near-Miss Programming, and is illegal in Nevada and New Jersey. Because it is not truly random, the gaming commissions have ruled the practice unacceptable. Nevada has caught games programmed in this matter and refused to allow them available for play.
There is another phenomenon that is sometimes referred to as a near-miss. When a winning combination, 7-7-7, occurs not on the main (center) payline but rather on above or below, not resulting in a jackpot. The Nevada Gaming Commission also investigated this event but determined that it was legal, as long as the computers were not specially programmed to give those combos in those locations. Meaning, when it happens, it happens, but it cannot happen any more often than it would naturally when truly random programming occurs. Even if all the paylines are being played, gamblers aren’t necessarily entitled to a full jackpot on the lines above and below.
Slot games are programmed to be random, but that’s not to say that they are immune to fraud. Though cheating at slots machines will vary greatly from the techniques used when doing so in a game monitored by humans (and their errors), frauding slots is a constant battle for land based casinos.
One such example of a successful scam was to trick the coin receiver into crediting the scammer with credits. A regular coin would be altered by tightly wrapping a piece of plastic wire along the edge. The coin would then be placed into the machine, as the sensors read that is was of correct dimensions and weight, credits would be added. The length of plastic wire, however, would cause it to be rejected by the coin hopper and the coin would drop back into the front bin, to be reused by the bettor, costing him or her no actual money to play. The cheat was eventually, of course, caught and alterations have been made to modern machines to prevent this kind, and similar types of fraud.
Current slot machines are controlled by computer software and, considering the amounts of money played in modern machines, bill acceptors often are preferred over coin acceptors, with few exceptions for posterity. Because of the technology, machines are programmed with anti-cheating devices, and anti-counterfeiting options are built into slots that are difficult to out-maneuver. Earlier versions using computers were fooled by using devices such as the “monkey paw” or the “slider” made famous by Tommy Glenn Carmichael. Although these types no longer work, more recent successes involves the use of advanced technology to mess with the computer inside the slot machine; the software itself is the victim of winning manipulation, rather than the physical machine. Ronald Dale Harris is one such fraud story in relation to modern machines.
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