The Inside Scoop on Insider Slot Secrets

John,

What is your opinion of Insider Slot Secrets? Supposedly they have a money back guarantee if you don't make money.

Sincerely,
Jeff

Dear Jeff,

I haven't found a single slot system that wasn't a waste of money. Wait, I have to take that back. There was one that almost wasn't a ripoff. It consisted of reprints of many articles written by Frank Scoblete. Any text that indicated that Frank was the author was blacked out, as if the articles were released through the Freedom of Information Act.

It's easy to offer money-back guarantees if you don't win using these systems. Ignoring the fact that many of these companies just ignore your refund requests, they have one thing going for them that limits the number of requests they will get. No matter how bad and nonsensical the system may be, some people will win using it.

I remember showing one system I had read about to a friend. He used it to play a machine in Atlantic City and hit a $900 jackpot on it. The system, of course, had nothing to do with his win, but he did leave a winner using it.

I visited their web page and my internal warning lights started flashing. Numerous typos and ungrammatical statements. ("Very Important for Gambling Players who wants to become successful!" "You'll discover a very simple system that will def explode the casino members so you win more.") Why does The $1000 Crap Strategy bonus book have a picture of someone playing a slot machine on it?

This system usually sells for $97, but you can get $50 off instantly plus get five free bonus books if you order before February 15. The interesting thing is that I looked at the source for the web page and I saw that they send a little JavaScript function to add two days to the current date and display the result as the deadline. The deadline is always two days after the current date.

Forty-seven dollars buys three or four good books on slots, which I think will give you a lot more correct information than this system. If the publishers of Insider Slot Secrets would like to send me a review copy, I would be happy to review it.

Best of luck in and out of the casinos,
John

John,

I really enjoy your column.

My question involves multidenominational slots. Do these machines have multiple computer chips that change the payback percentage as you switch from dollars to fifty cents to quarters?

Also, is it better odds to play one coin on a dollar machine (non-progressive) vs max coin on a $0.25 machine?

Thanks,
Jean

Dear Jean,

Thanks for the kind words about my column.

The games on multidenomination machines typically have higher long-term paybacks as the denomination rises. It's really irrelevant whether the games are stored on one chip or many. The key point is that the long-term paybacks rise with the denomination. You can see this trend in action if you look at the video poker paytables on multidenomination machines.

As for your second question, it's impossible to answer definitively. It's entirely possible for the long-term payback playing max coin on a quarter machine to be higher than playing one coin on a dollar machine -- and vice versa. I would guess that one coin played on a dollar machine more often than not has a higher long-term payback than max coin on a quarter machine.

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 send a reply to every question. Also be advised that it may take several months for your question to appear in my column.