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Ask the Slot Expert: Another good casino change due to Covid

13 July 2022

Last week I wrote that I could think of only one good thing in casinos that resulted from the pandemic. I thought of another one.

This change doesn’t affect other people, only me. It’s a change in my attitude.

I've stopped picking up almost every gift a casino offers. I really don’t need another logo T-shirt or messenger bag. I don’t know what lounge shirts and lounge pants are, so I don’t think need them and I don’t think I need to pick them up to find out what they are. The gadgets and small appliances sometimes aren't as useful as I thought they would be.

Now I only pick up a gift when it’s something I really think I can use. Like the Wolfgang Puck chopper I got on Friday.

Okay, I know there’s nothing this device can do that a chef’s knife can’t, but maybe the chopper can make quick work of chopping veggies and the benefit of using it will outweigh having one more thing to clean.

I haven’t been playing much the past month or so, I had to earn this gift. As long as I was playing, I decided to make some headway towards requalifying for elite.

Even though it pains me to not play the best video poker machines on a normal points day, I decided to play Hundred Play again and rack up the status points quickly. I wasn’t able to play the machine I wrote about in past columns, so I played the other Hundred Play machine in this high limit room.

I used the strategy of altering my bet that I described a few weeks ago. I bet $15 when credit meter below a certain amount, $25 when above. I earned the 10,000 status points I wanted and I won about 200, to boot.

On my way in, I noticed a new Frankenstein-based slot that looked like it might be fun to play. Wait for a point multiplier day, I thought.

I passed by the machine again on my way out. I was up a few bucks from video poker and I was already in the casino, after all, why not give it a try now? I really don't like playing slots on a normal points day, but the machine might be gone the next time I come back.

I planned to play 100 spins. I almost always hit a bonus event on a machine at least once in 100 spins. (Almost always, but definitely not always.) I put $100 in and started playing $5 per spin. It looked like this machine was not going to hit often and my c-note wouldn't last long, so I dropped down to $2.50 after a few spins.

The bonus round on this machine is a Credit on Reel type bonus. Landing six symbols that display credit amounts lock them in place and begins the bonus. You get three spins to land and lock enough credit symbol. Each time you get another credit symbol, your remaining spin count goes back to three.

I got this bonus twice and won $200 the first time and $50 the second. I won the Free Games bonus near the end of the session. I got the Credit on Reel bonus again on one of the free spins. I won only $27 on that invocation. Overall, I won $130 on the free spins and almost $300 for the session.

I'm waiting for another point multiplier day to give the machine another shot. I probably won’t do as well the next time I play it. I may even have a loss.

I can see why players think casinos tighten new machines when they’re no longer new if the good luck they had the first time they played a machine does not revisit them the next time. It's easier to blame the casino than to accept the difference as a natural result of randomness.

If you’re more likely to have a losing session than a winning one, should you really be surprised when a winner session on a slot is followed by a losing one?


Click here for the latest Covid data.

John Robison

John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots
John Robison
John Robison is an expert on slot machines and how to play them. John is a slot and video poker columnist and has written for many of gaming’s leading publications. He holds a master's degree in computer science from the prestigious Stevens Institute of Technology.

You may hear John give his slot and video poker tips live on The Good Times Show, hosted by Rudi Schiffer and Mike Schiffer, which is broadcast from Memphis on KXIQ 1180AM Friday afternoon from from 2PM to 5PM Central Time. John is on the show from 4:30 to 5. You can listen to archives of the show on the web anytime.

Books by John Robison:

The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots