I received some emails from a player, call him “Sam,” who was trying to talk himself into playing 8/5 Double Double Bonus Poker Multi Strike, a game that returns 97.07% when played well. It returns far less than that for most players because the game requires four separate strategies to play correctly.
As most of you know, Multi Strike is a game where you pay 20 coins for four lines before you start. If you get no score on the bottom line, the hand is over. You’re out 20 coins.
Should you at least get your money back on the bottom line, you get to play the second line at double stakes “for free.” It’s not actually free. It’s simply that you’ve already paid for it. Five of the coins you initially paid go for playing the second line, which happens about half the time, at double payoffs.
Score on this line and you get to play the third line at 4x. Score on the bottom three lines and you get to play the top line at 8x. Each of these two lines were pre-paid, five coins at a time. Periodically, to make the math work, you get a free ride on one or more of the lines which allows you to move up to the next higher line whether you score on the current line or not.
Sam had read enough of my writings to know that I would not be a fan of a game that paid so little. You can play it if you want, but for me, the game plus the slot club, plus the various promotions must exceed 100% to be playable.
However, Sam argued, if he hit a royal on the second line, he’d get $2,000. On the third line this was worth $4,000. And on the top line, the royal was worth $8,000. Surely, he argued, those big numbers would boost the 97.07% payout. Couldn’t that boost be enough to make the game worthwhile?
The answer is ‘no.’ Those rare hits are already included in the 97.07% figure. One or more of those jackpots could make you a winner today, but when you don’t hit them (which is far more likely), you’re going to be losing at a much faster rate than you’re used to. It’s not 97.07% PLUS the royals. It’s 97.07% INCLUDING the royals.
Another factor is taxes. The tax law is different today than it was a few years ago. W2Gs are the same now as they used to be, but for many recreational players who used to itemize, the standard deduction is now high enough so that itemization doesn’t make financial sense. And if you are in that category, W2Gs are taxable.
The only time you can “write them off” is if you itemize, and there are so many things that are no longer deductible. The math behind itemization has totally changed. The first $20,000 or so worth of W2Gs each year are far more taxable than they were a few years ago.
Therefore, playing a game that generates extra W2Gs is a game to be avoided unless you play enough that you’re going to get a lot those jackpots. So, a quarter Multi Strike game should be less desirable this year than last. The same conclusion applies to Ultimate X and other games involving multipliers.
Keep in mind that I’m not a tax expert and my explanations here are simplified. See your tax professional for guidance.
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Couldn’t agree more about Multi Strike being multi hazardous to most players’ financial health. The graphics and sound effects are addicting, folks loved playing it at first. The winnings are few and far between.
Since Bob mentioned W2-Gs and taxes, I’ll digress to that topic. My tax guy last year said that should I hit a big jackpot I should have the casino take federal taxes out at 25-30%. His example of a “big” jackpot was “Twenty five thousand.” I’ve not hit such a jackpot and unlikely to, but I have around 10 W2-Gs of smaller jackpots adding up to almost that amount. Gambling losses are still deductible (up to winnings) on our state tax return, but at what percentage I don’t know. I probably should have had federal taxes taken out of the smaller hand pays along the way this year. That would be having them hold $1000 out of a dollar royal flush…horrors! LOL. Oh, well, I guess it is pay Uncle Sam now or pay later. Will have to see. Rant over. Thanks.
Surprised that “Sam” did his research and didn’t realize that Royals would not “recover” his losses. I *was* interested in Double Bonus as a distraction from Blackjack [burnout] but I quickly realized that Royals would not recover or outstrip losses. A quick trip to “The Wiz” shows this to be the case.
Dropping 4k credits cured me of DB Poker right quick. I’ll stay with my .5% to 2% edge in BlackJack thank you very much.
knowing how to count Cards at Black Jack and counting Cards on Black Jack correctly and applying the right betting Units under the right circomstances is not Always the same thing for many Players I guess. Otherwise I would have to assume that the Vegas style casinos with the “good rules” still offer double-deck BJ with Deep Penetration. I was playing live poker at the Southpoint the other day when there was a guy playing at my table and he was PLAYING LOOSE LIKE A GOOSE. He was great for our table and helped us keeping the action going. He was also Talking about his “bj skills” and he and the dealer both said that they were playing b-j counting the Cards (“of course i can count, it’s part of the game”). Hard to believe that a guy who is capable counting bj and playing on a pro Level Plays poker so poorly…..
Is it really entertainment or just plain stupidity to play this game and others of the same ilk? Stupidity gets my vote.
Candy,
Ask your tax guy why you should have federal taxes withheld on your W2G hits. I’d rather have the money in my hand until April 15th than give Uncle Sam a free loan. I don’t see the advantage.
Take a look at:
https://www.irs.com/articles/what-estimated-tax-and-who-does-it-apply
If you owe too much this year you can wind up paying quarterly next year.
Thanks Jimmy Jazz. I believe a lot of folks (my husband included) think that writing a check at tax time is torture. Of course the best is to invest it somewhere to make a few dollars than to let the gov make interest early on. They will anyway, so I truly think it is a toss up. Pay now, or pay later. Probably makes a big difference for big winners and wealthy folks in general, of which I am not one!
Besides the problem with the itemized deductions to compensate losses against W2Gs income, there is the one about Medicare premium. The income from W2Gs is included in AGI (Adjusted Gross Income) on the first page of the 1040. Medicare premium is based on AGI, not taxable income. So even when you lose at the casinos there is extra Medicare premium to pay as a penalty for the imaginary gambling income. Talk about double whammy! Unfortunately there is no lobby for losers, so no one talks about it.
Now I know why I’m playing nickels all the time. My last, and only W2-G was in Vegas, in the 90s, when I hit a royal on the Crawfish Quarters carousel, at the Orleans. The progressive jackpot (royal) was built up to over $2,700. I circled the carousel several times before finding a seat. The person who left had hit 4 x 6s, and left it on the screen. I thought to myself, if it can hit four 6s, it can hit something else. And it was the only open seat. I started playing, It was a Bonus Poker 7/5 game. After about 15 minutes of play, I was dealt an A, Q, 10 of spades, with 2 8s, one of which was a spade. I tossed the pair of 8s, and was dealt the J, K of spades. Shortly, the temperature dropped about 10 degrees, as the carousel cleared, and the friendly employees were congratulating me. I misplaced the W2-G, and had to go back to the Orleans on the next trip to get another one from the office. It was my only W2-G, but not my only royal. Most recent was last month, 9400 nickels on a Ks or better Joker Poker machine, here in Mississippi, at Treasure Bay. No music, no congratulations, no tip, no W2-G. As it turned out, my winnings in the 90s were canceled out by my losses, so I did not owe any taxes. I do play quarters once in a while, but have not hit anything else over $1200.