Have casinos cut their slot paybacks?

John:

Just wondering, I live in CT and keep reading about all the economic troubles at the state's two casinos. Is there a chance in the present economic climate that the casinos can adjust the slot payouts to keep more money for the house since less people seem to be playing, and revenue is allegedly falling dramatically?

db

Dear db,

Is there a chance? Yes.

Are the casinos doing it? Probably not.

To change long-term paybacks on today's machines, the casinos have to change a chip in them. In order to do this, the casino has to shut down the machine for a period of time and schedule a slot technician to change the chip. It may even have to coordinate with the local gaming commission to witness the change, if not even have a representative of the commission actually make the change. The casino also has to purchase the chip with the new virtual reel layout and file paperwork with the gaming commission notifying them of the change.

It's expensive and time-consuming to change paybacks on machines.

Finally, isn't increasing the house edge against players during slow times counter-productive? Fewer players are playing less money, so the casino wants to earn more money from them (that is, make them lose more), which will only make the players play less frequently and bet less money.

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. Because of the volume of mail I receive, I regret that I can't reply to every question.