VpFree2 Lists a Payout at 239.8 Coins. How Is That Possible?

On the great and indispensable site VPFree2.com, they list 2 Triple Bonus Plus pay tables with the only difference being the 4 Aces payout of 240 on one and 239.8 on the other (1-1-3-4-5-9-50-120-240-100-800 and 1-1-3-4-5-9-50-120-239.8-100-800, respectively). How can a payout be 239.8 coins? Or what am I missing?

[Editor's Note: This answer, of course, is written by Bob Dancer.]

On a dollar game, four aces normally pay $1,200, meaning barely into W-2G range, but in it all the same.

On some old coin droppers, the pay was $1,199. That avoided the W-2G, but made the payout 239.8 "coins"; 239.8 x 5 for the royal equals $1,199.

When it hit, it was still a hand pay and players typically gave $1 to the attendant, so they got paid in one dozen $100 bills, but no W-2G was generated.

Even if you tip for the $1,199 hand pay, it's still cheaper and easier for both the player and the casino than dealing with the tax form.

No part of this answer may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the written permission of the publisher.

Have a question that hasn't been answered? Email us with your suggestion.

Missed a Question of the Day?

Have a Question?

Tomorrow's Question

Where did casino shills work in the '70s and '80s and how much did they earn?

Comments

Gregory Apr-11-2024

I hit one recently

El Cortez still has 2 of these coin dropper $ machines in operation in the "Breezeway" (backroom between the restaurant and parking garage).

AyeCarambaPoker Apr-12-2024

Why hand pay?

Why would they hand pay if there's no W2 needed?

Apart from the cost of employing someone to process the handpay there's the lost time playing plus the chance that someone puts the cash in their pocket and walks away

Gregory Apr-12-2024

RE: Why hand pay

Coin based (coin droppers mentioned in the answer) machines lock up if a certain threshold of coins is hit.  It's not usual with TiTo machines, but it's very common with coin machines.  When Boyd had them, any win over 400 (dollars) was a hand pay.  
El Cortez has their coin based machines set (this is a recent change) to "lock-up" and require a hand pay for any win over 200 coins.  This goes for quarters AND dollars...and yes it makes them pretty unbearable to play.
Even prior to the change, ANY 4 of a kind on Triple Bonus $ was a hand pay.  Today, even a straight flush ($250) is a handpay.  
I have never seen a dollar machine that would actually spit out 1199 coins.  A bag of dollars is 600 coins.  They would have to top off the hopper almost 4 times to pay that out, not to mention that the customer would have to haul almost 100 pounds of coins to the cashier.

Kenneth Mytinger Apr-12-2024

Gregory is correct

The coin-droppers have always had a "cashout limit", that could be set to avoid hopper refills.  When the machines went to TITO, the limit was still there, but the casinos indifferently set it ridiculously high, like in the tens of thousands of $$.

Question of the Day - 12 April 2024

Comments