Most jurisdictions mandate that slots return a set minimum amount to players (85 percent is the magic number in Nevada, though most machines return more than that on average). “The math of the game ensures that casinos generate a consistent positive win for themselves.”īut the player can benefit from one thing: if slot machines never paid out anything, players would stop playing, and casinos would go out of business. “There is a statistical advantage for the casinos,” Ambrose says.

So while the potential payoff from a high volatility game can be bigger, your money will usually buy you more time playing on a low volatility game.Ĭan a player get an edge on a slot which relies on pure chance? Not really. Games with low volatility, like video poker, pay back more frequently but in smaller amounts, while high volatility games, like the Megabucks progressive, have fewer, bigger (think several million dollars at most) hits. Video poker games, which have elements of skill, often return more to players than other slot. Each game, Ambrose says, has a set hold percentage and a pay table that details how often and how much games will pay back. Pressing spin activates the random number generator, which is an algorithm that determines whether each spin is a win or a loss, and how big a win is.

So how do slot machines decide who wins and who loses? “Payouts on slots are statistically calculated,” says Ambrose.

What’s left after the machine pays out its jackpots is the casino win, also known as revenue. How can a player bet more money than she puts in? Well, if she puts in $100, wins a $50 jackpot, and keeps on playing until all her money is gone (including that $50 'win'), she has generated a drop of $100 and handle of $150. Another number you might hear is handle, which Ambrose defines as the total amount bet by a player. That is the money deposited by the player in the machines. When casinos look at how a slot machine is performing, the most basic number they look at is the drop. “It is all,” he says, “about the game math.” To explain why they are so reliable for casinos, I talked to Bob Ambrose, who broke into the industry at the Tropicana Atlantic City in the early 1980s and is today a gaming consultant and casino management instructor at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Slot machines appeal to casinos because they are, as long as enough people play them, stable money-makers.

How a slot machine is programmed