Dear Mark,
On my last two trips to Las Vegas I have found slots
($1 machines at the Stratosphere) advertising a return
of 98%. I didn’t seem to get a decent return on
them. Shouldn’t the casino, in such a regulated
business like gambling, at least pay back the percentage
they advertise? Dottie C.
When
a casino advertises that its slot machines return 98
percent, it means the machine is pre-programmed “over
the long run” to return 98¢ of every dollar
played. Don’t come to expect that for each dollar
inserted you will automatically get 98¢ dribbling
back into the tray. The operative phrase here is “over
the long run.” A “long run” could mean
weeks, months, and even years on any given machine.
But let’s assume the machine you were playing was
paying off 98¢ for
each and every dollar
bet. Using a liberal definition of the word “good”
machine, we’ll allow the casino a measly 2%
edge. Well, Dottie, if you were to insert $60 per
minute into a 98% payback slot machine (not difficult
on a dollar machine at $3 a whack using a credit
button), you will lose about $72 an hour. Multiply
that by eight hours of play and you will come up
$576 short in the purse. Even on those advertised
high payback machines, the casino still has a way
of grinding away at your gambling capital.
The way you avoid this $576 grind is to behave more
conservatively by playing on smaller denomination
machines (25¢), for shorter increments of time.
Casino operators know all to well that such cautious
behavior has negative implications on the casino
win for the house. They would much prefer you ante-up
silver slugs and play all day.
Oh, by the way, Dottie, all too often players like
you believe that the casino is in the gambling business.
Wrong! They are in the math business. On pre-programmed
slot machines that give the house a certain percentage
return, you are the only one doing the gambling
here.
