Ask The Slot Expert

I usually play in Atlantic City. Do the Casinos set the payback on slots differently on the higher end machines?

Marshall

Dear Marshall,

Yes. Casinos in Atlantic City--and everywhere else--generally order higher payback programs for higher denomination machines. According to the paybacks for October 2001 printed in Strictly Slots magazine, nickel slots paid back about 90%, quarters 91%, dollars 92%, and five-dollar 95%.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
John

Dear John,

My wife left a Double Down Stud machine and the next person to play hit two four-of-a-kinds and a striaght flush in less than a 1/2 hour. She is very upset! She feels if she had played a little longer, those hits ($3000 total) would have been hers. Do you have any comforting wisdom?

Thanks

It is very frustrating to see someone hit it big on a machine you gave up on. I hope I can provide some comfort.

The machine cycles through hundreds, if not thousands, of outcomes each second. Your wife would have had to have hit the deal button at the precise instants the other player did for her to have hit the same hands. A fraction of a second earlier or later and she would have gotten different hands.

I hope those words provided some comfort.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
John

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

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