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Best of John Robison
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Gaming Guru
Slot Tournaments, Slot Clubs and the IRS8 January 2004
Dear Nancy, There are many different formats for slot tournaments. The strategy is the same regardless of the format: Get in as many spins as you can in your session. The most common format is to have a timed session with machines in free-play mode, that is, you don't have to put in any money to play the machine. In this format tournament, you just want to hit the Spin button as quickly as you can. Watch the session before yours. Look to see if the machines short-circuit the awarding of credits for jackpots. Some slot machine tournament programs take as long to award 1,000 credits as they do to award 10. In these cases, you have to keep hitting the Spin button all the time. Other tournament programs do not short-circuit the awarding of credits and 1,000 credits takes much longer to award than 10. In these cases, you can take a rest while your machine is racking up the credits. Best of luck in and out of the casinos--and in your tournament,
Thanks for the kind words about my column. To answer your questions: 1) Collecting the money from the machines does not affect how they pay in any way. 2) Yes, it is silly to think that putting $5 in twice is different from putting in $10 all at once, no matter what you do in between the two $5 bills. It doesn't affect the RNG at all. 3) The number of coins you play does not affect the RNG. The only time the number of coins you played is considered is when the machine has to figure out how much to pay you. A spin is one spin, regardless of the number of coins you played. The only advantage in altering your bet is that you will risk less money than if you played max coin all the time. Altering your bet doesn't affect the results of the spins. 4) I have never recommended switching machines if you don't get a hit after 3 to 4 spins--at least, I have never recommended it without a qualification. The odds of landing a winning combination are the same on every spin, so there's no mathematical reason to switch machines after any number of losing spins. On the other hand, you may feel frustrated playing a machine that is not paying off. If it makes you feel better to switch machines after a certain number of losing spins, then do it. That's a good emotional justification for switching, but there's no mathematical justification. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Teri, There must be another change to the paytable because when I calculate the payback I get a number well over 100%. I tried to find the paytable on the Skip Hughes Video Poker Homepage (www.vphomepage.com), but I couldn't find anything similar. If you (or someone else) could note the complete paytable on your visit and send it to me, I'd be happy to calculate the payback. John
Dear Lenny, Thanks for the kind words about my column. Rhode Island does not release payback numbers, but I find it very unlikely that the video lottery terminals at Lincoln Park pay back 65%. Lotteries typically pay back around 65%, but not gaming devices. I found some information about paybacks at www.americancasinoguide.com. According to William DiMuccio, Gaming Manager for the Rhode Island Lottery, the machines are programmed to pay back from 92% to 99%, depending on game and denomination. Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
Dear Chris, Casinos do not report cashback, gifts, and comps to the I.R.S. The only thing casinos have to report to the I.R.S. is a slot win of $1200 or more. And you don't have to report them either. I believe these items are not considered income, but instead are considered a return of some of the money you paid to the casino--sort of an "after the fact" discount or a reward for your patronage, like a free cup of coffee after buying five. You bring up an interesting point. If you're deducting losses to offset a W-2G win, should you reduce your losses by the cashback, gifts, and comps you received? And if you're filing as a professional gambler, should you include these items in your income? I don't file as a professional gambler, but I know pros who include cashback when they file and I know pros who don't. Personally, I never include these items when I figure out my losses to offset reported wins. From what I understand, the I.R.S. regulations for reporting gambling wins are very vague. 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. 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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