Vegas Q&A: Are Slot Payouts Dropping?
Question: I saw a story recently that said slot payouts in Vegas have been declining recently. What do you think?
Joe in Chicago
Answer: I saw a similar story, Joe, and on the surface it sounds like the casinos in town are getting stingy, with average slot payouts declining as much as 6 percent over the last few years. But I think it's important to look at the information with a critical eye before getting too excited about it.
First, for those of you who don't know, a slot payout percentage is the amount of money the slot machine returns over a period of time (usually tied to spins). By law in Nevada, the payout percentage must be no less than 75 percent, meaning during that machine's cycle it will give back no less than $75 for every $100 it takes in. That does not mean that if you put $100 in you'll get $75 back (which should be obvious to anyone who has ever touched a slot machine), but over time the numbers work out.
As a general rule, nickel machines have lower payout percentages than quarter machines, which in turn have lower payout percentages than dollar machines and so on. So you usually have a better shot at winning money on a dollar machine than you do on a nickel machine. Of course you often have to invest more money to get there, so you take your chances.
This is done because nickel machines take in less money than dollar machines while taking up the same amount of floor space in a casino. The operators figure they'll try and make up for the difference by making it a little harder to win on nickel machines.
Now, here's why this is important in looking at the decline in slot payouts: the popularity of multi-line nickel machines has exploded in recent years. These video-based slots used to be nonexistent in Vegas casinos and it wasn't always easy to even find nickel slots. Now they are everywhere, and as the casinos put more of them in, it makes sense that their overall slot payouts are going to go down. Not only are they dealing with smaller amounts of money, but since the payout percentages are lower anyway on these machines, they drag down the casino-wide average.
Having said all that, it's still a lot easier to blame the casino for your gambling losses than trying to explain all of this, so if you're looking for an excuse to offer your wife when you come back to the room broke, you now have one!
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This Week's Trivia
Q. The following hotels opened in July of their respective years. Which opened first? The International (now the Las Vegas Hilton), Stardust, Bonanza (replaced by MGM Grand/Bally's), The Landmark (torn down in 1995), or the Holiday (now Harrah's). ANSWER
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Rick Garman is the head writer for Vegas4Visitors