Is this progressive slot cheating players?

John,

Can a progressive slot's payoff be less than what the payoff on a non-progressive would be? Case in point: At one of the casinos where I play, I noticed a $1 Triple Diamond two-reel machine where the progressive payoff is less than $2,500. The payoff on a Triple Diamond non-progressive machine is $2,500.

I mentioned this to one of the machine techs, who said she would check it out. However nothing has been done in making a correction. I feel anyone playing this machine, and believe it or not it does get play, is being cheated. Should I pursue this further? If so, where and how?

Regards,
Bob

Dear Bob,

How are people playing the progressive machine being cheated?

You're assuming that the math (the virtual reel layouts) are the same on both machines, but that's not necessarily the case. The progressive machine may hit its jackpot more frequently than the non-progressive or it may hit its lower-level combinations more frequently. The progressive machine may have a higher long-term payback than the non-progressive and therefore be a better long-term bet.

The progressive could also be worse. We have no way to know because we can't tell the layouts on the virtual reels just by looking at the machine. Slot machines that are the same on the outside (same paytable) can be very different on the inside (virtual reel layouts).

There's nothing to pursue.

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.