Question of the Day - 02 May 2024

"My quick answer is that for the same game and denomination, the payback percentage will be the same throughout the casino."  I've always heard that slots are available to the casino with a variety of expected return, so identical $1 Double Diamond machines, for example, might return 88% or 92% or 96%; this will be indicated on the PAR sheet that comes with the machine, but only the slot director will have access to that information.  I've also heard that most casinos buy (or lease) machines with a variety of expected returns, so you never know if you're playing the 88% machine or the 96% machine (and you can't tell in the short term because the variance of all machines are high).  Isn't this true?

Add to that, now with the prevalence of video slots, is it even possible to determine the sequence of symbols on the reels?  I would think not.

The answer seems to indicate that different payout percentages would have different reels on them.  This might have been true back in the mechanical slot days, but in the computer-controlled slots, I would think this would be irrelevant.  The RNG decides the result and then the machine just displays the correct result on the reels.  No need to actually change the reels out.

I'm no expert and I would consider the author to be an expert, so I defer to Mr. Shackleford.  But I would be interested to hear his take on these questions.

After a 45 year long study of playing Slot Machines with a 90-95% payback... 90-95% of the time I walked out of the Casino without my small bankroll! My Hypothesis, Payback = Unicorn    So,if every time I went to Vegas I spent my time hunting Unicorns in Red Rock canyon. I'd be in much better shape, as would my Bank Account!

I thought the question was a good one but the answer, based on a 23 year-old "survey," was not.  
Try again!

OUR FRIENDS , MIKE AND CAROL, CAROLE , KNOW HOW TO PICK THE GOOD ONES . I CANNOT , UGH .

Conspiracy theorists and theories are the norm in these United States of America. You can believe any parts or all parts stated in the opinions rendered; however, it could be costly. Here is my spin on the whole thing: GOD KNOWS, you and I are on our own when we enter any place filled with slot machines! Period…..

I was playing a slot with a wheel bonus. Yea! It stopped on a jackpot win. As I sat there amazed at my good fortune, it suddenly jumped to the next space. I figure the jackpot win would have put it over its payback percentage. So sad.

Sit by me.  It is very reliable.  Machines on either side of me will be producing good returns for their players.  LOL.

Candy

Slots starting back in the early 80’s use virtual reel stops.
There might be 16 symbols on the reel strips but there may be as many as 256 virtual stops.
The reel strips between a 86.5% payback and a 98.5% payback are identical.


What differs is the PAR table. 
The table is loaded with a list of winning combinations 
On a 92% chip there are more entries than a 86% table.

This is internal to the machine. The  PAR sheet  defines the payback for each, details the reel strip numbers, game volatility etc  but unless you know what chip is in the machine - there is no outward way to telll what the payback %% is or If one machine has a higher payback than  the identical one on the other side of the floor.

There is usually a different reelstrip Between a 5 line game and a single line game but again this doesn’t outline the %% payback.

The only time that the payback is guaranteed to be identical is when you have several machines connected to the same progressive .

If anyone wants to look at a par sheet
You can go to Newlifegames.com 
Bottom right of the home page is Rick’s FAQs 
Followed by a link to the IGT S+ game bible. 
The S+ series are 40 year++ old slots, you can choose the theme see what chips are available for any particular payback percentage, there is a listing of the reel stop numbers etc.  these are just a minimal  version of the par sheet but the full sheet has much more info
For the theme.

As I read the answer, with past discussions in mind, I believe that any of the slots could be set with different paybacks.  Logically though, if I'm managing slots in a casino of any size and have multiple identical machines of the same denomination, I would want them all set to the identical payback because the analysis of the performance and effect on our bottom line is going to be so much easier and more efficient.