Introduction to Financial Benefits
Have you checked your state’s gaming regulations for theoretical payout limits or return statistics? No? Don’t miss out on these significant financial benefits to improve your performance as you travel along your slots journey.
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The Financial Importance of Payouts and Returns
So, imagine you’re playing a slot machine. How good is it? Are you winning anything?
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Are you losing? How well did slots enthusiasts perform at your casino last month or year? Each question centers on slot machine payouts and returns.
Let’s examine the financial benefits of slot machine payouts and returns. Payouts refer to theoretical payout limits set by state gaming regulations. Returns are the player win-loss and casino revenue report by the casino to the state, then shared with the public.
Theoretical payouts are an electronic setting for the slot machine. Returns are recorded once the someone had played the machine for some time. I’ll be describing both in terms of financial benefits for the player.
Slots enthusiasts use the term “loose” and “tight.” These popular terms are entirely about slot machine payouts and returns. Loose slot machines mean higher payouts and hopefully returns, while tight slot machines have lower payouts and returns.
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“Our slots are the loosest in the state!”, some casinos advertise. But what does that mean? Suppose they are being truthful in their marketing, which is possible. In that case, they are saying that their slot machines have either the highest theoretical and/or actual payout return percentages of any other casino in the state.
Such marketing may be truthful due to the oversight of casino activities by the state gaming commission. If extravagant and long-term, being untruthful could mean losing their gambling license. And that would pretty much be game over for a casino.
But you can still be tricked, despite this protection. For instance, perhaps it’s the only casino in the state. Or maybe it said “#1 in jackpots in Cincinnati”, when it’s Cincinnati’s ONLY casino!
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The economic importance of slot machine payouts and returns comes down to an understanding for slots enthusiasts of what is possible, determining the highest baseline returns of any available casinos, and comparing their gambling performance to others.
Payouts, Returns, and Bankroll Cycling
Each slot machine has both a theoretical payout and actual returns. Returns are casino hold or player win percentages. Hold% equals 100% minus Win%, and vice versa.
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Returns are the money won divided by the bankroll lost. This win or loss percentage might be for a single session of play at a casino for a month of gambling or even for an entire year. As you might imagine, the casino keeps an electronic record of each slot machine.
The casino operator uses this record to understand actual performance versus planned performance of the slot machine. If desired, other statistical information can also be gleaned, such as the performance of groups of slots machines, the quality of each machine’s location within the casino, and overall casino financial performance. How well a position on the casino floor performs is valuable when negotiating lease agreements with slot machine manufacturers all competing for the same spot.
Casinos discuss returns in terms of slot machines, not players. Online slots can easily record every bet for you. But at brick-and-mortar casinos, it isn’t practical to report to a player their performance. Not even the player can conveniently record their gameplay sessions.
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Why? Because it’s too much data. Even if you were to video record your gameplay on each slot machine, analyzing it afterward is problematic.
If you did invest the time for analysis, it’d be for your return to player based on your choices during that casino visit. It wouldn’t be a statistical analysis of the casino’s overall performance or even that of a single slot machine because you can’t play every slot machine all day long.
Besides not having data lakes of statistical information, slots enthusiasts have no practical way to collect how much they bet where along with its outcome. And real-time analysis? That would be an electronic “gaming tool” to help you win, which is strictly illegal.
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What is essential for slot machine enthusiasts is to record their overall performance, including date, gambling establishment, bankroll spent, and any winnings. The IRS is clear about what they want. That much work is possible using a spreadsheet you can create yourself or use mine from my online course 7 Gambling Records Secrets.
But a player’s actual return can’t be accurately known by winnings divided by bankroll. Why not? Because of bankroll cycling.
You can easily track your return in the busy casino environment. I use it all the time to keep track of when I’ve spent my initial bankroll. Knowing when that happens, when the first cycle of a bankroll ends and the second begins, can be challenging to guess.
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So, don’t guess. Keep track. Count!
When you put some or all your bankroll into a slot machine, note how many credits that is and remember it for later. As you play, count how many credits you’ve bet. When credits bet equals your initial bankroll, you’ve cycled your bankroll once.
Now, how many credits remain in the machine? Divide this by the initial bankroll in credits to get your return so far. If you’ve won more than your initial bankroll, your return is over 100%, making you a winner. If less, then the return is under 100% because you’ve lost money.
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Now that you know how to keep track of your performance during a casino visit, let’s talk about financial benefits. First, don’t spend your bankroll on that slot machine if you’re not winning. Yes, this is obvious.
But sometimes, we need to state the obvious to keep our focus. I use my 5 Spin Method as a slot machine assessment tool. With it, I’m searching for slot machines that give a relatively large taste.
Yes, newbies to my 5 Spin Method use it to collect tastes from machine after machine. I show myself doing this assessment in my 5 Spin Method Demo videos. But newbies become advanced users in a hot minute when they consider, “Maybe I should stay?”
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After a huge win, I’ll switch assessment tools to my Tough Love Approach. With it, I’m determining if that slot machine gave me a luck-based win, or it’s been set to win. But which? I show myself doing this assessment in my Tough Love Approach Demo videos.
Second, you may not win back your entire bankroll. For the average slot machine player, losing money is typical. After all, on average players lose, so casinos can pay their bills and stay open.
But if you’re reading this, you’re not an average slot machine player. And if you’re winning a little, are you winning enough? This personal decision entirely depends on your own gambling goals.
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For entertainment gamblers, the bankroll brought to the casino spent. For those earning comps, bankroll cycling is the best way to reach that goal. And is enough bankroll cycling occurring for take-home money after the slot machine gets enough time to cough up a massive jackpot?
Theoretical Payout Limits and Settings
Each slot machine has a theoretical payout setting. Your state gaming commission or tribal compact doesn’t tell your casino what that setting is. Instead, state law often provides limits.
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Thirty U.S. gaming jurisdictions have set a minimum theoretical payout limit. Fourteen of those thirty states have also established a maximum theoretical payout limit. To find out what your state does, look it up using my free online resource.
Another perpetual myth is that slot machine manufacturers set each machine’s payout at the factory. That myth is busted because slot machines cannot be shipped across state lines with a payout setting which does not comply with state gaming regulations. Instead, manufacturers design the electronics of slot machines to have a range of theoretical payouts from which casino operators can select as needed.
Besides these six or so theoretical payout settings, there’s also sixty or so probability distributions, ten per theoretical payout setting, for casinos to switch between. These random distributions aren’t discussed but are necessary (ask any computer engineer) to create a functioning slot machine.
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You can learn more about how the odds of slot machines are electronically changed, unlike table games, in Slots Aren’t Random Like Roulette Wheels. But for now, in general, it’s done in the usual ways. As the saying goes, and with all due respect to slot machine manufacturers, it’s not rocket science.
One enterprising individual created a YouTube video (now gone, unfortunately) selecting each payout setting within a physical reel slot machine. How was he able to do this? He bought a slot machine, then used its manual from the manufacturer of the slot machine to change the odds from constantly winning to losing all the time. You could do this, too.
In his video, and something my former neighbor in Ohio did on his purchased video slot machine, he showed six different theoretical hold settings that could encoded into the slot machine. Further, he explained that the highest setting made almost every bet a win. And for the lowest setting, any winnings at all were relatively rare.
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If the hold percentage is high, meaning that the casino retains a relatively high player’s bankroll over time, then the player considers the slot machine “tight”. If the casino hold% is low, noticed by the player’s cash-in being lost to the casino, it’s considered “loose”.
Slot machine manufacturers and casino operators usually do not make payout settings of specific slot machines available to the public, except in Oregon. But with technology marching forward as it tends to, the number of settings has increased. And remote access to adjusting the odds electronically using a casino’s central server has been part of a casino’s operator system (except at riverboat casinos) since 2012.
The gaming jurisdictions must approve changes in technology. As you might expect, this governmental red tape tends to be a slow process. But the result has been that the advancement of new gaming technologies is slow enough that, in my opinion, it’s almost manageable for us.
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So, a set of theoretical slot machine payout returns by slots manufacturers is given to their casino operator customers. A casino operator selects one specific theoretical return setting at any given time. However, casino choices impact their desired performance metrics and compliance with gaming regulation requirements.
My point is that most games in casinos have known odds of winning, to a high degree of accuracy, because casinos are big money, but players don’t know those odds. Outside of Oregon, the odds of winning are unknown outside of very few casino employees. And they’re not sharing due to serious legal ramifications if they did.
So, what are we to do without theoretical slot machine payout returns being available to slot machine enthusiasts? What we can do is look closely at any available actual returns. For the financial benefits, of course.
Actual Return Statistics
Returns are the actual results obtained from playing slot machines. The theoretical payout setting chosen is just that: theoretical. It’s a setting in all slot machines, and what results from playing it are the returns.
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I’ll put this another way: First, you plan (theoretical), then you see what happens (actual). Returns are gotten five ways, each with practical limitations. They are:
- Analyzing your gameplay performance.
- Historical performance as labeled on a slot machine.
- Observing a casino’s performance over many slot machines.
- Commenting on returns in online forums, groups, and by YouTubers.
- Public posting of casino return statistics by a state gaming jurisdiction.
Your gameplay returns are strictly limited, as mentioned above in bankroll cycling. Understanding your performance is possible, but not the casino’s overall performance. Statisticians call your data collection a small sample size, the statistical analysis of which has limited usefulness.
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Some casinos provide a slot machine’s return as a display. For instance, all hand-pay jackpots from within the last week might be posted. Two casinos post online all W-2G hand pay jackpots won 24/7 for the last four weeks, or all the progressive jackpots won the previous day.
However, posting a machine’s jackpots on the side of that machine is very casino specific and not typically available. Players should investigate if this occurs at the casinos they visit. Unfortunately, too many “slots educators” deny such information exists.
With an extraordinary amount of time, along with a substantial financial investment, it is possible to fully map out the payout percentage settings on a single slot machine. But remember that each slot machine has several possible payout percentage settings available to it, and may be remotely changed at any time. This payout setting switching complicates successfully using that expensive data collection afterward in an advantageous manner.
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Simply put, it is a highly impractical strategy given the vast amount of money required, the lengthy time involved in betting, and the analysis of the results. And the only gain is a brief understanding of a slot machine’s settings at that time. It ignores potential changes to those settings instituted by the casino, perhaps while data is collected.
Online forums and gaming magazines publish payout percentages for players interested in finding supposedly “loose” slot machines. If reviewing such sites, be careful to ask and look for the source of this information. And some YouTubers contradict themselves thirty seconds after they say something.
As usual, a player needs to trust their instincts. And listen! I’m not the first person to say this, but if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.
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From a high-level perspective, only four possible sources for payout percentages of specific game themes exist. These sources are:
- Slot machine manufacturers
- Casino operators
- Gameplay analysis
- Outright guesswork
The first three sources offer potentially accurate information. But getting that info from two sources is illegal. Be wary of online forums, groups, and YouTubers providing slot machine returns, especially if payment is required. I’d be very cautious unless you can confirm the information has been obtained directly from a gaming jurisdiction.
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Finally, some gaming jurisdictions offer actual return statistics because of their established gaming regulations. Put another way, casinos provide statistics when gaming jurisdictions require it. This information is helpful and valuable for players’ financial benefits.
State Gaming Requirements
Twenty gaming jurisdictions in U.S. states, territories, and the federal district legally require casinos to provide monthly slot machine returns, then made publicly available. Seven of those twenty states also break down those slot machine returns by denomination. To learn if your state provides these return statistics or legal limits on theoretical payouts, check with your state’s gaming control board.
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Alternatively, let me do that work for you. I offer state reviews of slot machine casino gambling for each U.S. state, territory, and federal district. See my free Online Resource for U.S. Casino Slots Enthusiasts.
The twenty U.S. gaming jurisdictions that offer full or partial return statistics are CO, CT, DE, FL, IL, IN, IA, KY, LA, ME, MA, MS, MO, NV. NJ, NY, OH, OR, PA, and RI. The seven U.S. gaming jurisdictions that break down those returns by slot machine denomination are CO, CT, IA, LA, MS, NV, and SD. I have an analysis of fifteen of the twenty states with monthly returns and plan to update and expand these articles weekly.
In addition, gaming jurisdictions can set minimum and maximum legal limits on slot machine theoretical payouts. The sixteen with a minimum theoretical payout limit only are AZ, AR, FL, KS, ME, MA, MO, MT, NV, NJ, NM, NY, OH, PR, SD, and WA. The fifteen states with a maximum theoretical payout limit are DE, IL, IA, LA, MD, MI, MN, MS, NC, ND, OR, PA, VA, WV, and WI.
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The lower legal limits on slot machine payout returns are of the most significant interest. However, this limit isn’t quite as simple as it seems. For starters, it goes unused by casinos.
Casino properties don’t set their payouts as low as they could. Why not? Because it’s not good for business.
Casino operators know that their business depends on having an excellent reputation. If their casino property becomes known as a place to lose money, such a blow to their hard-won reputation has dire financial consequences. Another reason is casinos must be careful not to get too close to the edge, such as when a player winning a multi-million-dollar Grand progressive jackpot on the last day of the month could put their gambling license at risk.
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If they attempt to keep their theoretical slot machines returns carefully above the legal requirements, a short-term decrease in actual slot machine payout returns near the end of the reporting period could potentially result in being non-compliant with state gaming regulations. That wouldn’t be good. That wouldn’t be good at all.
Summary to Financial Benefits
Casinos must ensure their actual slot machine payouts and returns ALWAYS stay within their state’s legal limits. And knowing these payouts and return limitations allows for financial benefits. But not if slot machine enthusiasts don’t know about them.
Related Articles from Professor Slots
- State Gaming Regulations and What You Need to Know
- Online Resource for U.S. Casino Slots Enthusiasts
- The 5-Spin Method is So Very Much More Than That
- Use Tough Love to Cheaply Evaluate Slot Machines