Slot Machine Percentages

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Return to player (RTP) is very important in regard to the long-term chances of winning with slots. RTP (a.k.a. payback) refers to how much slot machines are programmed to pay out in the long run.

The Monthly Video Gaming Reports and the corresponding Comma Separated Values (CSV) File agree to Illinois Gaming Board data. The CSV file can be downloaded into other file types and managed for the ease of the user, however, the Illinois Gaming Board is not accountable for the reliability of disseminated information resulting from changes to the Illinois Gaming Board's data that are made. Your favorite online slot has a payout percentage of 90%. On average, the machine will return $90 in winnings to the player. It's easy to see that a higher payout percentage favors the player. That machine gave 56 cents in comps, which would correspond to a theoretical return of 90.48%, versus the same machine in Hollywood which came in at 92.01% So, interestingly, the theoretical payback percentages for the first eight slot machines in Tampa were either equal to, or better than, the same machines in Hollywood.

Higher payback means that a game gives you a stronger chance of winning. Therefore, you'll do well to know the RTP behind any game that you play.

Super monopoly money slot online. You'll discover that it's really easy to find payout percentages for online slot machine games. A simple Google search will produce the RTP for most internet games.

Unfortunately, you'll have a much tougher time figuring out the RTP of land-based machines. In fact, this information is rarely available.

Is there still a way for you to determine payout percentages for slot machines in brick-and-mortar casinos? I'll answer this question by covering more on the difficulties of finding RTP for land-based slots and if it's ultimately possible.

Why Isn't RTP Available for Land-Based Slots?

Unlike with many online slots, you can't just find the RTP for land-based slot machines through Google. Your efforts will turn up little to no results.

The problem with slots in brick-and-mortar casinos is that they don't have uniform payback across every casino. Instead, game developers allow casinos to select payout percentages based on a list of options.

Here's an example on how this works:

  • WMS is offering Monopoly Party Train slot to Vegas casinos.
  • They feature the following RTP options: 92.5%, 93.5%, and 94.5%.
  • Caesars Palace orders this game at 93.5% payback.
  • The Venetian orders Monopoly Party Train at 92.5% RTP.
  • Treasure Island orders this slot at 94.5% RTP.

You can see the obvious challenge in trying to provide payback numbers for such games. A website could list Monopoly Party Train at 93.5% RTP, which is middle ground. Spanish 21 game.

But this figure will only be true for the casinos that have selected this amount. Meanwhile, it'll be false across all of the other gambling establishments that choose a different pay schedule.

Most online slot providers differ because they offer their games at a uniform RTP across every casino. For example, Rival Gaming will feature Spy Game with 95.1% payback at each online casino it serves.

Some exceptions do exist in the online gambling world. RealTime Gaming (RTG), for instance, allows its casino clients to choose 91.5%, 95%, or 97.5% RTP for a given game.

You can't find payout percentages for RTG games either. Nevertheless, you can still learn the payback for the vast majority of internet slots.

How Can You Figure Out the RTP?


You won't be able to find the exact payout percentages for most land-based slot machines. But you can at least get a good idea on the matter through a few different methods. Here are some ways to learn the RTP for brick-and-mortar casino slots.

Slot Machine Percentages

Make General Guesses Based on Coin Denominations

Casinos like to reward gamblers who are willing to risk more money per bet. Therefore, they order higher RTP for games with larger coin denominations.

Here's an example on how this works:

  • Penny slot machines = 88% to 90% RTP
  • Nickel slot machines = 91% to 94% RTP
  • Quarter slot machines = 93% to 95% RTP
  • Dollar slot machines = 94% to 96% RTP
  • $5 slot machines = 95% to 97% RTP

Penny slot machines are almost always the worst games with regard to payout percentages. Larger denominations ranging from a nickel to $5 are all closer in terms of payback.

Your theoretical losses will be higher on nickel games and up just because you're betting more per spin. Nevertheless, you can still get more value per dollar wagered with the higher-denomination machines.

Read State Gaming Reports

Rather than making generalizations about coin sizes, you can always check out state gaming reports. These reports show the average payout percentages (or house edges) for each coin denomination within a given state's casinos.

For example, you might look at a Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) release and see that dollar slot machines are offering 94.79% RTP on average.

Interestingly enough, the NGC reports specific payout information for Megabucks. This IGT product is the most popular slot in all the popular Las Vegas casinos and warrants more detailed info.

Largely speaking, though, these reports only give general information about each coin denomination.

You won't find the exact payout percentage for an individual game, but you'll at least have a better guideline with these reports.

Email a Casino and Ask

One more option involves emailing a casino directly and asking them about their RTP for a specific slot machine.

The problem here is that customer service will often state that they don't have this information available. But in certain cases, you may actually receive a real answer.

You shouldn't count on this method majority of the time. It's at least worth trying, though, if you're desperate to find out the RTP for certain slots.

What to Avoid When Searching for Land-Based Slots Payback

You can see that there are a few different options for determining the payback for land-based slot machines. But there are also measures that you want to avoid on your payback-finding quest, including the following.

Relying on Signs Inside of Casinos

Slot Machine Percentages Game

Many casinos hang signs above a bank of slot machines that will read something like, 'Pays up to 99%.'

These signs are very effective at drawing players to slot machines. After all, who wouldn't want to play a slot that only has a 1% house edge?

Unfortunately, these signs are also very misleading. Only one of the machines within the section has to offer 99% RTP.

The rest could pay as low as 90% RTP and still make the sign valid. Therefore, you can't rely on much information that the casino supplies you with.

Furthermore, you have no real way of knowing which of the machines offers 99% payback. The only way to make a solid determination would be to play each game for a long time and judge their payout percentages.

Using One Good Session to Determine Quality Payback

Slots are extremely volatile games that may pay a lot one session, then offer very few prizes for the next five sessions. Therefore, you can never use any single outing to judge how a game pays.

Many gamblers still make this very mistake. They'll have one hot session with a game and believe that it offers a high payout percentage.

It would be great if finding RTP for land-based slot machines was really this simple. The reality, though, is that it's anything but.

Blindly Believing Ads for the 'Loosest Slots'

I've seen plenty of ads for loose slot machines when driving on the interstate. These billboards suggest that a given casino features slots with high RTP or frequent payouts.

However, 'loose' is a broad term that doesn't really mean anything. State gaming laws don't put parameters on what constitutes a loose game.

Casinos can make this claim, regardless of whether it's true or not. That said, you should take any such advertisement with a grain of salt.

Conclusion

You may think negatively about land-based casinos upon being unable to find RTP for their slots. After all, you don't have to spend much time at all finding payback for online slots.

However, providers are the ones who choose whether to or not to release payout percentages. They can't accurately do this with slot machines at brick and mortar casinos, because providers feature different RTP options.

Zeus 2 slot machine free. One casino may order a slot at 93% payback, while the next orders it at 95% RTP. Developers are therefore unable to offer a uniform payout percentage for each slot.

Slot Machine Percentages

The good news, though, is that you don't have to give up hope. Instead, you have a few options for finding general RTP figures.

The easiest method is to make generalizations based on coin denominations. Simply put, the higher coin denominations usually offer better payback.

You can also read state gaming reports. Www penny slots for free. These releases show the average amount that each coin denomination pays out within a given state's gambling venues.

Finally, you can always email a casino directly and ask about a specific game. You won't get the desired answer most of the time, but it's worth trying.

In summary, finding the RTP for an individual land-based slot is impossible in most cases. But you'll still have a general idea on how much these slots pay by following the previously covered tips.

by John Grochowski

Every slot player has tough days when the wins aren't coming. And many a player has had the same thought: 'How can they say these machines pay 90 percent when I've lost everything I've put in? Seems more like zero percent to me?'

That's a leader among questions players ask about percentages and the slots. Others include the basic 'How do they calculate slot payback percentages?' and the more esoteric 'If state reports show higher casino win percentages on tables than slots, how can they say slot paybacks are lower than tables?'

Basic answers:

**Slot paybacks are calculated by dividing the amount paid to players by the amount wagered, then multiplying by 100 to convert to percent.

**You get a 90-percent return and still lose your whole buy-in because of the effect of re-betting winnings.

**Casino win percentages or hold percentages on slots and tables measure different things. The percentages on table games are based on buy-ins, while those on slots are based on wagers.

Let's get into more detail, one at a time.

**How are slot payback percentages calculated?

Those you see in state gaming board reports or in magazines or websites that report how much casinos pay on slots are casino-wide averages.

A gaming revenue report for Iowa casinos showing the payback percentages for each casino's slot machines and also for their table games.

If you see 'Casino X paid 90.5 percent on slots in May,' it means that in that month 90.5 percent of all money wagered on all that casino's slots combined was returned to players as winnings. If you see 'Casino Y paid 95 percent on $1 slots,' it means 95 percent of the money wagered on dollar slots was returned as player winnings.

Slots: How payback percentages really work:

How can a machine take all your money and still pay 90 percent? How is a 90 percent payback on a slot somehow worse than a 20 percent hold on a table game?

For example, if players make $1 million worth of wagers at Casino Y's dollar slots and they pay out $950,000, then you'd divide $900,000 by $1 million to get 0.95. Multiply that by 100, and you get 95 percent.

If you see a payback percentage for an individual slot machine, it's usually a theoretical percentage. The odds of each game are set to drive results toward an expected average return, just as the odds of roulette, craps or any other table game are set to drive results toward expected averages.

In the Unites States, slot machines are the most popular games in the casinos.

A slot machine's theoretical payback might be 92 percent, but that doesn't mean it will return 92 percent every player, every day or even every month. There will be big jackpots that send a short-term return soaring, and there will be hot and cold streaks. Over hundreds of thousands of plays, the odds will drive the results to settle in near the expected average.

**If a given slot pays 90 percent, how can I leave with zero?

Players need to understand that any payout you receive counts on the payout side, even if you then lose it.

Let's say you start with $100 and bet $1 a spin, and that for the first 100 spins you receive $90 in payouts. For the next 90 spins, you receive $80. Then you get a nice hit or two, and the next 80 spins take you back to $100. After that, you decline $10 each time — 100 spins for $90, 90 for $80, 80 for $70, 70 for $60, 60 for $50, 50 for $40, 40 for $30, 30 for $20, 20 for $10 and 10 with no return.

Casino music playlist. At the end, you haven't made $100 worth of wagers. You've bet $820. And your return isn't zero, it's $720.

You'd had a slot machine payback percentage of ($720/$820)*100, or 87.8 percent.

It's probably no consolation as you walk away having lost your entire $100, but the machine has paid something close to a normal percentage.

Sometimes we lose money a lot faster than that; sometimes we walk away without losing it all and sometimes we win. The total of all payouts and all wagers by the many who play the games lead to the overall payback percentage.

Percentages

Make General Guesses Based on Coin Denominations

Casinos like to reward gamblers who are willing to risk more money per bet. Therefore, they order higher RTP for games with larger coin denominations.

Here's an example on how this works:

  • Penny slot machines = 88% to 90% RTP
  • Nickel slot machines = 91% to 94% RTP
  • Quarter slot machines = 93% to 95% RTP
  • Dollar slot machines = 94% to 96% RTP
  • $5 slot machines = 95% to 97% RTP

Penny slot machines are almost always the worst games with regard to payout percentages. Larger denominations ranging from a nickel to $5 are all closer in terms of payback.

Your theoretical losses will be higher on nickel games and up just because you're betting more per spin. Nevertheless, you can still get more value per dollar wagered with the higher-denomination machines.

Read State Gaming Reports

Rather than making generalizations about coin sizes, you can always check out state gaming reports. These reports show the average payout percentages (or house edges) for each coin denomination within a given state's casinos.

For example, you might look at a Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) release and see that dollar slot machines are offering 94.79% RTP on average.

Interestingly enough, the NGC reports specific payout information for Megabucks. This IGT product is the most popular slot in all the popular Las Vegas casinos and warrants more detailed info.

Largely speaking, though, these reports only give general information about each coin denomination.

You won't find the exact payout percentage for an individual game, but you'll at least have a better guideline with these reports.

Email a Casino and Ask

One more option involves emailing a casino directly and asking them about their RTP for a specific slot machine.

The problem here is that customer service will often state that they don't have this information available. But in certain cases, you may actually receive a real answer.

You shouldn't count on this method majority of the time. It's at least worth trying, though, if you're desperate to find out the RTP for certain slots.

What to Avoid When Searching for Land-Based Slots Payback

You can see that there are a few different options for determining the payback for land-based slot machines. But there are also measures that you want to avoid on your payback-finding quest, including the following.

Relying on Signs Inside of Casinos

Slot Machine Percentages Game

Many casinos hang signs above a bank of slot machines that will read something like, 'Pays up to 99%.'

These signs are very effective at drawing players to slot machines. After all, who wouldn't want to play a slot that only has a 1% house edge?

Unfortunately, these signs are also very misleading. Only one of the machines within the section has to offer 99% RTP.

The rest could pay as low as 90% RTP and still make the sign valid. Therefore, you can't rely on much information that the casino supplies you with.

Furthermore, you have no real way of knowing which of the machines offers 99% payback. The only way to make a solid determination would be to play each game for a long time and judge their payout percentages.

Using One Good Session to Determine Quality Payback

Slots are extremely volatile games that may pay a lot one session, then offer very few prizes for the next five sessions. Therefore, you can never use any single outing to judge how a game pays.

Many gamblers still make this very mistake. They'll have one hot session with a game and believe that it offers a high payout percentage.

It would be great if finding RTP for land-based slot machines was really this simple. The reality, though, is that it's anything but.

Blindly Believing Ads for the 'Loosest Slots'

I've seen plenty of ads for loose slot machines when driving on the interstate. These billboards suggest that a given casino features slots with high RTP or frequent payouts.

However, 'loose' is a broad term that doesn't really mean anything. State gaming laws don't put parameters on what constitutes a loose game.

Casinos can make this claim, regardless of whether it's true or not. That said, you should take any such advertisement with a grain of salt.

Conclusion

You may think negatively about land-based casinos upon being unable to find RTP for their slots. After all, you don't have to spend much time at all finding payback for online slots.

However, providers are the ones who choose whether to or not to release payout percentages. They can't accurately do this with slot machines at brick and mortar casinos, because providers feature different RTP options.

Zeus 2 slot machine free. One casino may order a slot at 93% payback, while the next orders it at 95% RTP. Developers are therefore unable to offer a uniform payout percentage for each slot.

Slot Machine Percentages

The good news, though, is that you don't have to give up hope. Instead, you have a few options for finding general RTP figures.

The easiest method is to make generalizations based on coin denominations. Simply put, the higher coin denominations usually offer better payback.

You can also read state gaming reports. Www penny slots for free. These releases show the average amount that each coin denomination pays out within a given state's gambling venues.

Finally, you can always email a casino directly and ask about a specific game. You won't get the desired answer most of the time, but it's worth trying.

In summary, finding the RTP for an individual land-based slot is impossible in most cases. But you'll still have a general idea on how much these slots pay by following the previously covered tips.

by John Grochowski

Every slot player has tough days when the wins aren't coming. And many a player has had the same thought: 'How can they say these machines pay 90 percent when I've lost everything I've put in? Seems more like zero percent to me?'

That's a leader among questions players ask about percentages and the slots. Others include the basic 'How do they calculate slot payback percentages?' and the more esoteric 'If state reports show higher casino win percentages on tables than slots, how can they say slot paybacks are lower than tables?'

Basic answers:

**Slot paybacks are calculated by dividing the amount paid to players by the amount wagered, then multiplying by 100 to convert to percent.

**You get a 90-percent return and still lose your whole buy-in because of the effect of re-betting winnings.

**Casino win percentages or hold percentages on slots and tables measure different things. The percentages on table games are based on buy-ins, while those on slots are based on wagers.

Let's get into more detail, one at a time.

**How are slot payback percentages calculated?

Those you see in state gaming board reports or in magazines or websites that report how much casinos pay on slots are casino-wide averages.

A gaming revenue report for Iowa casinos showing the payback percentages for each casino's slot machines and also for their table games.

If you see 'Casino X paid 90.5 percent on slots in May,' it means that in that month 90.5 percent of all money wagered on all that casino's slots combined was returned to players as winnings. If you see 'Casino Y paid 95 percent on $1 slots,' it means 95 percent of the money wagered on dollar slots was returned as player winnings.

Slots: How payback percentages really work:

How can a machine take all your money and still pay 90 percent? How is a 90 percent payback on a slot somehow worse than a 20 percent hold on a table game?

For example, if players make $1 million worth of wagers at Casino Y's dollar slots and they pay out $950,000, then you'd divide $900,000 by $1 million to get 0.95. Multiply that by 100, and you get 95 percent.

If you see a payback percentage for an individual slot machine, it's usually a theoretical percentage. The odds of each game are set to drive results toward an expected average return, just as the odds of roulette, craps or any other table game are set to drive results toward expected averages.

In the Unites States, slot machines are the most popular games in the casinos.

A slot machine's theoretical payback might be 92 percent, but that doesn't mean it will return 92 percent every player, every day or even every month. There will be big jackpots that send a short-term return soaring, and there will be hot and cold streaks. Over hundreds of thousands of plays, the odds will drive the results to settle in near the expected average.

**If a given slot pays 90 percent, how can I leave with zero?

Players need to understand that any payout you receive counts on the payout side, even if you then lose it.

Let's say you start with $100 and bet $1 a spin, and that for the first 100 spins you receive $90 in payouts. For the next 90 spins, you receive $80. Then you get a nice hit or two, and the next 80 spins take you back to $100. After that, you decline $10 each time — 100 spins for $90, 90 for $80, 80 for $70, 70 for $60, 60 for $50, 50 for $40, 40 for $30, 30 for $20, 20 for $10 and 10 with no return.

Casino music playlist. At the end, you haven't made $100 worth of wagers. You've bet $820. And your return isn't zero, it's $720.

You'd had a slot machine payback percentage of ($720/$820)*100, or 87.8 percent.

It's probably no consolation as you walk away having lost your entire $100, but the machine has paid something close to a normal percentage.

Sometimes we lose money a lot faster than that; sometimes we walk away without losing it all and sometimes we win. The total of all payouts and all wagers by the many who play the games lead to the overall payback percentage.

**How can the house edge be lower on tables and slots but the casino win percentage be higher on tables?

First off, let's make clear that the casino win percentage is the inverse of the payback percentage. A game with a casino win percentage of 5 percent has a payback of 95 percent — per $100 wagered, the casino keeps $5 and the player gets $95. Best slots in shreveport.

Many states like to list win percentages in their statistical reports, where are geared toward casino operators and regulators.

Slot machines with large progressive jackpots are popular with slot players.

There's sometimes some confusion that comes with comparing win percentages that almost always are higher on tables than slots despite table games having lower house edges.

The key is that the win percentage on the slots measures something very different from that on the tables:

Slot win percentage measures the portion of money wagered won by the casino.

Slot Machine Payout Percentages

Table win percentage measures the portion of BUY-INS that is held by the casino.

The difference is important, because players don't just bet their money once and leave the machine or table. They rebet their winnings again and again, until a relatively small buy-in has led to thousands of dollars worth of wagers.

Slot and table players alike rebet winnings, but on slots that's all electronically monitored and the win percentage reflects the rebets. Casinos don't have the same quality of information on table players, so they use buy-ins instead.

As noted earlier, when I slide $100 into the bill validator on a slot machine. I win on some spins, lose on more, and continue to play. Let's say I've had about average luck on a dollar machine, and before I lose my $100, I've had enough winning spins to make $2,000 in wagers. In the end, I lose 100/2,000ths, or 5 percent, of my total wagers. That 5 percent is the slot win percentage for my play.

Now let's say I sit down at a blackjack table, and push $100 across the layout to the dealer, who then gives me $100 in casino chips. I bet $5 a hand, and I win some and lose a little more. A couple of my $5 chips bring smaller denomination tokens when I win 3-2 payoffs on blackjacks. I stick around to replay my winnings until I've made $2,000 worth of bets, and find I've lost $14. So I go to the cage to cash in $86 worth of chips.

What is the casino's hold on my table action? It's $14 of my $100 buy-in, or 14 percent.

Both at the slot machine and at the table, I've bought in for $100 and made $2,000 worth of wagers. On the slots, I've blown the full $100, while at the table, I've lost only $14.

Slot Machine Win Percentages

My table results sure look a lot better than my slot results, don't they? But the win percentage would show that the casino kept 14 percent at the table, and only 5 percent on the slot.

Best Slot Machines To Play

Bottom line: Table games can have a lower house edge than slots and still have a higher casino win percentage just because slots and tables are measured differently.

John Grochowski has been covering casinos and casino games for nearly 40 years. He is the author of six books
and his work appears in newspapers, magazines and websites around the world.

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