A
Reader Writes in with his Opinions on My Slot Machine Tips
I received an email from one of the readers of this site indicating
that he disagreed with some of the information on both the
slot machine
tips section of the website and also the article about
slot machines and cheating. His comments were legitimate viewpoints,
so I asked his permission to publish the text of his email on this site.
My comments are italicized in the body of the content.
The Email
Slot Machine Players' Clubs, Promotions, and Payback Percentages
First. You are absolutely right about using your players club card and reaping the rewards of the promotions offered. My disagreement here is when you say that the comps are calculated into the payout for the machine. (Practically speaking, then yeah, it's calculated into the payout of the machine, but they probably don't consider it when publishing and/or reporting payout percentages.)
I guess that technically you could say that the comps are figured
into the game, but not into just one game. The pars that we select are
based on the income that we expect to derive from ALL of the games on
the slot floor. Without a slot club we may select games with an average
payback of 97% where with a slot club we may place games with an average
of 95%. (Probably entirely correct here.)
What plays a more important part in the strategy is the location of your
property. If you are the only casino in the area you may have a payback
of 91% or so. If you have several casino in your immediate area you have
to keep your par even with the competition. If you don't, pretty soon
you won't have any slots players. They'll be next door! (Good point.)
Slots Payback Percentages
Second. You appear to infer that if a player is on a slots game with a 95% payback, they'll actually receive $95 back for every $100 played. We all know that that isn't necessarily true. The par is based on hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of games played.
Obviously your results will vary. Payback percentages are calculated over the long term, yes, but they do exist, and they are a valid guideline, even if your results are going to vary. (i.e., just because the long term is based on hundreds of thousands of spins doesn't mean that the long term payback percentage suddenly becomes meaningless.)
Higher Denominations and Higher Payback Percentages
Third. Higher denominations don't always have a higher payout. It depends on several things in each casino.
Just FYI, none of the tips in the previous slot machine tips article are written in stone. In general though, higher denomination machines will have higher payback percentages. All guidelines and strategies have exceptions, and there might be exceptions to this one, but I don't think that this "tip" is invalid because casino circumstances might differ.
Comp Drinks
Fourth. The comp drinks are getting harder and harder to get. A guest player lower denominations will see a lot less of the waitress than the higher denominations. A rule of thumb is one drink every 20 to 35 minutes. Naturally, the higher the tip the better the service. Not to be mercenary, but the cocktail waitresses are there to make a living also.
I'm not sure how this invalidates what I said in my original article, but I've never had a problem finding a waitress or getting a free drink. But then, I am a generous tipper. You should always make a large tip on the first drink order you receive, like $5, and that will usually keep the waitress coming back. You can tip $1 a drink after that.
Gaming for Fun, Not Profit
You are absolutely right about gaming for fun rather than for profit. Those of us that living in gaming jurisdictions are looking for "time on device". How long will our $20 last? Personally, I am the unluckiest person in the world on machines. I can play a 7-10 poker game, play it correctly, and lose my tail.
I agree that this is the most accurate and most important strategy in the original slot machine tips article.
Slot Machine Cheating and Scamming
I found your sight for the first time this evening and have enjoyed browsing through it. Most of your information is correct although not all up to date. I'm referring to the information about slot cheats. If somebody has been scheming on how to cheat a casino with coins, they've waited to long. With the advent of TI/TO the coins will soon be a thing of the past.
I agree 100% with this read on this particular comment. That article is of more interest from a historical perspective than anything else.
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