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Gaming Guru
On slot volatility and hit frequency5 January 2009
Dear Frank, I don't know what your question to Casino Player was, but I'm not sure why they would recommend staying at a machine because of volatility. I suppose that your question was whether you should stay at a machine that isn't hitting. Your chances of hitting any winning combination are the same on every spin. No matter how volatile the machine, your chances of hitting something haven't changed just because the machine has been cold. The Volatility Index doesn't tell a casino how much money it will earn from a machine. The long-term payback does that. The Volatility Index, instead, measures how bumpy a ride it will be to that long-term payback percentage. The casino doesn't really care about volatility because it has sufficient bankroll to see it through cold streaks (i.e., player hot streaks). It will take volatility into account, however, when ordering games because some players like volatile games and some don't. The casino will have a mix of low and high volatility machines on its slot floor. Many multi-line machines can be configured to have, for example, 5, 9, 15 or 20 paylines. I don't know why Borgata configured their machines for only 9 paylines. Someone who wants to play nine lines and can play them on a 20-line machine, but someone who wants to play 20 lines can't play that many on a nine-line machine. Decreasing the number of paylines does decrease the hit frequency, but it also decreases the risk, assuming the max bet per line stays the same. That would tend to make your bankroll last longer, not less time. Borgata didn't choose nine paylines to try to limit your time on the machines. Best of luck in and out of the casinos, 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. This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net. Recent Articles
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