I have a gambling partner, “Abe,” and, in 2024, we split gambling wins and losses 50-50. Our partnership encompasses video poker, slots, and occasionally other games. I am the stronger partner when it comes to video poker, although the difference between us is shrinking. He is stronger on slots, overall, but I am more knowledgeable about certain games.
Abe and I recently played at an out-of-Las Vegas casino, accompanied by our wives, and also accompanied by “Bo,” who is one of our slot gurus. Bo is a man who lives outside of Nevada, makes a very nice living playing slots, and sometimes shares information with us. We saw a new game at the casino. Bo had heard about it and had some good ideas about how to beat it.
The game needed to be played a lot by others before it was ready for us to play it. The right conditions didn’t happen at this casino, so we didn’t play.
When we returned to Las Vegas, we found that game in several casinos, but usually not in a beatable condition. Eventually we found a game that met our criteria. I took a picture and texted that to Bo. He agreed conditions were right. He said that if he were in town, he’d snap it up. Although he didn’t have data on this particular game, he believed that it was similar to other games he knew well and that we should hit the jackpot within the next six hours or so.
Over the next 18 hours, Abe and I played this game and proceeded to lose $27,000, at which point we “pulled the plug” and gave up on it. The top jackpot was still on the machine and not in our pockets. Possibly we’ll play this game in the future, once more data is obtained, but right now we’re not sure if it’s not as Bo believed it was, or if we were just plain unlucky. Either explanation could be correct.
Most players wouldn’t have lost that much on the game. To do that, you had to have the bankroll and a lot of confidence that you’re on the “right side.” Relatively few players have that combination of bankroll and knowledge, at least on this game at the present time.
The vast majority of slot players believe the house has the advantage on whichever game they’re playing. They might try a game, see how it goes, and leave before they’ve lost too much. They probably would never have played this game for the stakes we were playing simply because they were unfamiliar with the game and didn’t recognize what a profitable opportunity it presented.
The three of us, Abe, Bo, and me, are now analyzing what happened. Our current “best guess” is that we were on the right side of the game and got unlucky. Over time, we’ll collect more data and come to a more definite conclusion as to the profitability of this particular game under these conditions.
The knowledge and willingness to gamble that we have has served us well over time — just not this time.
Oh well, we’ll shake it off and keep doing what we’re doing.
Advantage slots do NOT sound fun to me. The boredom alone might kill me.
We readers can’t experience your experience because there is too much about the story that is kept hidden. What is the name of the slot machine? Is there a specific pay table for the machine that needs to be present? Why do other players have to play the machine for a while before the machine is ripe for your playing it? Is there one specific hit/jackpot that would make the play be positive? Why did Bo estimate that the positive payoff would occur within 6 hours? This is a big mystery that has been imposed on us, but not subsequently accompanied by a “reveal” or an explanation. It winds up having the feel of “This is our inside story, and you outsiders don’t get to know all about it.”
These hustlers are easy to profit from. The new games are designed to appear profitable, but they are not. The odds shrink as the progressive jackpot increases. Overall, the outcome remains negative.
Even after losing $27,000, they continue to hide the game details from the public. Thanks for preventing others from losing that much, suckers…
I can’t believe all the whiners who want you to basically spoon feed them everything. You have been hinting about slots for a year or so people need to do some research. Loose lips sink ships
@John James you are such a dimwit if you think people here either don’t have knowledge about the advantage slots or haven’t done any research…