Ask The Slot Expert

Dear John,

Is there a difference in video slot and electro-mechanical slot payouts? I was told that there are two types of payouts--one is actual, the other is dynamic percentage. If you are playing a dynamic percentage game, it calculates hands won and hands played. This is the type of machine that is set at 98% and the end cash payout is approximately 68%. These are usually multi-lines or a video poker.

Thanks

The dynamic percentage model you described is illegal in all US jurisdictions. No machine is allowed to alter the probabilities of hitting winning combinations based on what it has paid out in the past. Every outcome on every machine, video or mechanical, is chosen at random without regard for what was chosen in the past. In addition, I think a machine that pays back only 68% is also illegal everywhere.

If a machine is set to pay back 98%, the actual amount of money it returns to its players will be very close to 98%. Because each outcome is chosen at random, it may take a million or more spins before the actual percentage gets within about one percentage point of the payback the machine is set for. But as the machine gets played more and more, the amount returned to the players gets closer and closer to the payback for which the machine is set.

It's possible that the situations you described may be true for foreign machines and possibly in Native American casinos, but not in Nevada, New Jersey, Mississippi, Colorado, Illinois, Detroit, or any of the other state-regulated jurisdictions.

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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