Ask The Slot Expert

Dear John,

At one time I had a formula for figuring out the cashback percentage at a slot club. Do you know what it is?

Thank you,
John

Dear John,

Slot clubs sure don't make it easy to figure out what their cashback percentages are. It can get confusing going from how many dollars it takes to earn a point to how many points it takes to get a dollar back. I always have to think about it when I do the calculation. Fortunately, the calculation isn't difficult when you have the formula.

To find the cashback percentage: divide 1 by the number of dollars you need to play to earn $1 in cashback and multiply by 100.

Example: It takes $30 to earn 1 point and 10 points to get back $1. 10 x 30 = $300 to earn $1 in cashback. 1/300 * 100 = .33%.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos!
John

Dear John,

I believe I understand how comps are calculated on the table game side of the business -- take the expected win and multiply that by, say, 25-40% and that would equal the value of my comp. But how do they do it on the slot side of the business where there is a tremendous more "churn"?

Let me know. Thanks.

Every casino has its own formula for how it will reward slot players. In some casinos, you get 1 point per dollar, regardless of whether you play slots or video poker. In other casinos, video poker players have to play anywhere from a little to a lot more than a slot player to earn one point. Then each casino has its own redemption schedule to determine how many points it takes to get a comp or cashback.

Other casinos take into account the payback of the game you're playing and rebate a portion of their expected win. Although this formula most closely resembles the table games formula, it's the most universally disliked formula among slot players. I think slot players don't like this formula because they usually don't know what the house edge is on the game they're playing, while table game players usually do.

Further complicating matters today is that some casinos are taking into account whether you win or lose when they decide on comps. Tracking results is easy to do on slots, and many slot players have said that they were denied some comps on winning trips.

As much as I hate to say it, the fairest system is one that rebates a portion of your expected loss. Even though $1 for one point is a very simple-to-understand system, shouldn't someone playing a 92% payback slot machine earn more comps than a video poker player playing a machine that pays back 99.5% or even 101%?

Best of luck in and out of the casinos!
John

Send your slot and video poker questions to John Robison, Slot Expert, at slotexpert@home.com.

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