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Gaming Guru
Always Play Max Coin?21 August 2004
The minimum gambling age is 21. I didn't find any regulation giving a minimum age to enter a casino. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Don, Video poker machines must deal randomly, as if you were dealing from a deck of cards at your kitchen table. This should be the case for any machine you find in a U.S. casino. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Carl, There is a statutory minimum payback for slots in Nevada, but it's incredibly low, something like 75%. No machine pays back that little because competitive pressure forces the paybacks higher. As for the Indian casinos in Oklahoma, I think they are a mix of Class II and Class III gaming. The tribes with Class III, Las Vegas-style slots have compacts with the state and must follow the state regulations. The tribes without compacts have Class II devices and are self-regulated. I doubt that the machines are paying back 10%. You can't put in $100, cash out $90, and say the machine pays back 10%. I think you're neglecting to include replayed winnings in your calculations. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Gee, I wish I could but even the manufacturers won't say which casino has which machines, unless there's an exclusive for the launch of a new machine. There are so many new machines introduced each year, and so many machines on casino floors today, and casinos change machines so frequently, I could tell you that Casino A has this machine and it might not be there by the time you get to the casino. Even inside information doesn't always pan out. When we did the loose slot tour in Tunica for Frank Scoblete's Jamboree, we were assured by one casino that a particularly high-paying bank of penny machines would be there for many months to come. By the time I led the tour, a few weeks later, the machines were gone. Your best bet is to ask a slot floorperson if the casino has the machine. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Curious, First, the easy question. The handle on a slot machine is a vestigial appendage now that there's a Spin button and it's just another thing that can break. Goodbye handles. Now, the harder question. Some Indian casinos do not have state compacts to offer Las Vegas-style (called Class III) gaming, so their games have to be based on bingo drawings. These games (called Class II) do not require state compacts. The method of determining the result may differ on Class II and Class III games, but the advice for playing is the same. The results are determined at random on both types of games, so there's no way to predict what will happen in the future. Thus, play only with money earmarked for entertainment, and have some sort of money management method in mind to ensure that your bankroll lasts as long as you want to play. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Chuck, If it weren't for "simple logic" and "conventional wisdom", corporations wouldn't be able to build billion-dollar resorts. Or, to quote Penn Jillette, "Las Vegas is a city built with money won from people who aren't very good in math." It is true that you will have a higher payback when you play full coin on a Bonus Multiplier. But that is not your expectation. You have to take into account the amount you are wagering per spin to get your expected win or loss. Let's put some numbers on your example. Let's say the one-coin payback is 95% and the two-coin payback is 97%, and that this is a dollar machine. Our expected loss playing one coin at a time is 5 cents per spin (5% of $1) and our expected loss playing two coins at a time is 6 cents per spin (3% of $2). The only time it makes economic sense to increase your bet is when there is a corresponding decrease in the house edge. Another example: Your expected losses would be the same playing one coin at a time and two coins at a time if the paybacks were 90% and 95%, respectively. In both cases, your expected loss is 10 cents (10% of $1, 5% of $2). I have analyzed over 1,000 slot machine payback programs and I can say that it is almost never the case that it makes economic sense to bet more than one coin at a time on a Bonus Multiplier. As I always say, even large bonuses on the jackpot lead to small increases in long-term payback. I do however recommend betting full coin on Buy-A-Pays and progressives. For more info, see my series called The Best Number of Coins to Play on this site. Best of luck in and out of the casinos, Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@comcast.net. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't send a reply to every question. Also be advised that it may take two or more months for your question to appear in my column. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Related Links
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