This is actually straightforward, but seems paradoxical at first glance; the hint here is that the answer is all labor and volume-based, explaining the lesser need to hold more of the action.
A typical group of 5-cent slot machines will both out-number and out-drop the entire group of table games at a typical casino – all without requiring dealers and floor supervisors (and their salaries) to be constantly present, supervising and running every deal of the cards or throw of the dice.
A handful of slot techs can handle a floor full of slot and video poker machines. By contrast, table games are more labor intensive, so in operational terms, it’s like comparing a snack vending machine or a drive-through coffee hut to a steakhouse.
An example here is from the public records of the Missouri gaming commission, from July 2016, for the Ameristar casino at Kansas City: Their 171 nickel slots had a drop of $18.7 million and held just under a million dollars at a 94.87% payback percentage (for a hold of 5.13%).
Quarter and dollar slot machines hold about the same as the nickels, and are about as popular and numerous as them.
Also note that the penny machines (in huge numbers with gigantic drop) have closer to a 12% hold, for an 88% return-to-player); the $5 to $25 machines comprise just a handful and return 95% to the player on a $6 million handle, holding about 5% of it.
Meanwhile, their 72 table games of all stripes had a drop of $11 million at a 19.2% hold, for a hold of about $2 million.
These detailed records are posted online by some states for reasons of good-faith transparency and as a public service, and provide a lot of information.
[This answer was provided by Dan Lubin, author of The Essentials of Casino Game Design. Out hot new book is for anyone who wants to know how casinos games are really put together and why. This is book is the real peek under the hood of all casino table games, especially the new ones you see every time you take a good long look around the pit.]
