Two Things to Know to Find Loose Slots Better
One word describes the gaming business--entertainment. But unlike in show business where the audience is entertained by actors on stage, in the gaming business, the casino player is the actor himself. He plays his part with other players on the game table and on the slots floor. He gets entertained in slots, for instance, because of the thrill and expectation of winning the big prize. Sure, he knows that the machine will take most of the money he puts in, but still, he relies on the notion that he has that chance--slim though it may be, that he may get lucky and win that prize. To be realistic about it, many slots players will go home losers and casinos must grapple with that image so as not to give losing players the feeling that they did not get a fair entertainment deal. When machines on the slots floor get too stingy, people will still play but when they leave the casino you can bet that they'll never come back.
Loose slots are there to attract and retain the patronage of players. And a lot of serious thought and common sense goes into how loose slot machines should be. The table below showing average payback percentages on slots and video poker reported three years ago illustrates this point.
Typical Slot Machine Payouts In Average Payback Percentage
Jurisdiction 5 ¢ 25 ¢ 50 ¢ $1 $5
Las Vegas Strip 89.7 92.0 NA 94.5 95.0 Las Vegas Downtown 90.9 94.6 NA 95.7 95.0 North Las Vegas 92.9 96.3 NA 97.2 96.0 Reno 91.8 93.8 NA 95.9 96.8 Atlantic City 89.7 91.8 91.8 92.3 94.1 Mississippi North River 90.7 92.8 93.3 95.5 96.3 Mississippi Coast 92.0 94.1 95.0 95.1 96.0 Connecticut 89.2 90.7 90.7 92.2 94.1
It can be gleaned from the table above that slots are looser in North Las Vegas than those in the more glitzy Las Vegas Strip. Loosening up slot machines is a marketing ploy to attract players and make North Las Vegas casinos more competitive. Apparently, local casinos have looser slots than those located in tourist destinations.
Notice also that the lower the denomination of the machine the tighter it is and conversely, the higher the denomination the looser it becomes. The logic for this is that casinos spend the same amount of overhead expense on their slot machines regardless of denomination. Nickel slots, for instance, would require the same amount of maintenance cost, occupy roughly the same floor space and consume the same amount of electricity as a dollar machine. Tightening up small denomination machines to make them retain more of the coins you put in is a compensating factor for the small amount of profit that they make. On your next gaming trip, you now have a pretty good idea where to get some action and how to find loose slots that would pay you more for your play.
