Who Regulates Cruise Ship Slot Machines?

Are cruise casino machines regulated like onshore machines? Is it worth playing the machines to win or are you just making a donation to the ship company?

United States cruise ships have offered gambling since 1991’s Cruise Ship Competitiveness Act. This allows U.S. ships to open the doors to their casinos as soon as they hit international waters.

And once they’re outside U.S. jurisdiction, casino regulation gets a bit muddy. An organization called the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) claims some regulatory control, though a lot less than land-based casinos are subjected to, and enforcement of the regs is spotty at best. For example, you won’t find a Council representative on board your cruise ship in the event of a dispute with the casino.

As far as slots go, the ICCL mandates that cruise ships “meet the regulatory standards of the Nevada Gaming Control Board or other licensed jurisdiction for payback and internal software.”

That’s fine in theory, but our understanding is that cruise ships, especially those flagged in foreign countries, don’t have to release their payout percentages, so who would know for sure what they are?

And it doesn’t take an economist to know that not only does a cruise-ship casino have no competition, it also has a captive audience. The casino isn’t unaware on any level that it’s the only game in town and its clientele are on vacation, looking for a good time, and have pockets full of cash to blow.

Also, though cruise-ship casino patrons are onboard for a week or so and the casino would like them to spend all their nights therein, they’re not exactly repeat customers. Once they disembark, it’s highly unlikely they’ll be back, ever. So the casino has every incentive to slaughter, rather than shear, its sheep.

That’s why cruise ship casinos are fairly notorious for their dismal payback percentages. We’re sure there are some exceptions (and yes, we did hear in the comments to the last answer about a big winner on a cruise ship, but that was 30-plus years ago, on a video poker machine, where the player was preternaturally lucky at picking the high card on the double-up feature), but as gaming writer Mark Pilarski eloquently puts it, “Plan on a bruising when cruising.”

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Comments

Dave Oct-22-2018

Full disclosure...

I was on a Royal Caribbean cruise this past July. 

There was a sign posted on a wall at eye level, next to the cage that said, “Casino reserves the right to reset jackpot progressives between sailings.”

Teresa Harrison Oct-22-2018

Stay away from Slots

Slots are beyond tight on cruises.  I’m a slot player but I rarely play them on a cruise.  I normally stick to table games on cruises.

mofromto Oct-22-2018

Complete ripoff

Unless you have unlimited amounts of money to throw away, don't play the slots on a cruise ship. They are all fixed to the lowest minimum payout and when a jackpot occurs they announce loud and wide as it is such a rare occurrence.

Jeffrey Small Oct-22-2018

Jeffrey

When I hit 4 deuces on the video poker machine on the cruise you would think I had just won the boat--between the flashing lights, the noise and the people showing up with clipboards--I think that the show was put on to convince people that you could win!  I think the blackjack tournaments are a lot better bet!  Also, Celebrity runs a "lotto" game--I hit for $100 twice.  When I asked if anyone had ever won the million dollar first prize they admitted that it had never been hit!  "But someday..." was the answer!

Boomer 55 Oct-22-2018

The exception

Frequent visitors to Vegas since 86 and longtime lva subscribers, my wife and I expect cruise casinos to slaughter not shear.  Barely better than the airport. So we normally stick to table games. The exception happened on a one day casino cruise out of Pt Isabel on South Padre Island during holidays of a year between '88 and '90.  Probably only a couple hundred patrons took on the AYCE buffet on the way out to International waters where the casino could open. Seas were high and many got sick. Wife was one, so wasn't up for dice or 21. Sat at $1 JoB VP machine with a Double Up feature. Demonstrating seeming prescience in repeatedly picking cards to beat the dealer, she emptied the token hopper twice and felt $1400 better.  A huge Christmas gift for a couple young teacher/coaches on annual holiday trek to visit parents retired there in Rio Grand Valley.

kinosh Oct-22-2018

Stick to Craps

The house edge of craps with double odds is 0.6%; roulette with 0/00 is 5.26%. Unless the cruise lines changed the payouts, I would stick to these games and AVOID slots at all costs!  The slots payouts may be similar to these, except you need to move the decimal point over one or two positions to the right.

Susan Miller Oct-22-2018

Winning

I have taken many cruises and I find that the first night produces more winners. I imagine that they like to have lots of people win moderate amounts then because people think that their luck will hold throughout the whole cruise. I think that is how they sucker you in. If people see lots of winners early on, they'll play more the rest of the cruise. Personally, I stick to tabl mes on cruise ships. I find that if you play a lot in the casino, they will give you certain perks, like discounts on future cruises, free drinks for the rest of the cruise once you reach a certain points total, even a future free cruise. The casino host will even send you a free bottle of wine in the dining room, a free dinner in the steakhouse or other perks while on board.

Question of the Day - 22 October 2018

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