Slots Difference between High Limit $1 Slots and Non-HL $1 Slots?

Last weekend in Tunica I ventured into the High Dollar slot area for my first time (inspired by this board!...my TR is in the Non-Vegas forum). I noticed the denom's start at $1 and go up to at least $25 (or maybe higher).

But I also noticed $1 (and even $2) slots in the Non-High Limit areas.

What is the difference? Do the drinks flow quicker in the HL area? Do they comp you better if you are in HL?

I know hitting 40 credits on my very first $5 spin was sweeeet!

 

Generally, yes - you will get better service in the HL room - so I'd say, if you see slots of the same denomination in the HL room that you're playing on the main floor, I would definitely switch to the HL room. Besides the drinks service being much, much quicker, you can also probably request top shelf no problem, they often have a dedicated cage & attendants in there, you're definitely more likely to have a host approach you in there [they're usually trolling in there], there's even free food & other perks in many of the HL rooms, etc.

 

Everything you said except the comps being better. For slots, coin in is coin in, so on the floor, in the HL area...doesn't matter.

 

Awesome.

At a minimum I play craps and slots, sometimes blackjack and roulette. Usually it's the 5¢ or 25¢ slots but I am all about moving up to 1 and $5 now.

It goes quicker but it's such a rush!

 

I've never been in a HL slot room, but I was thinking about it for this next trip (I'll play up to $1).

Forgive my ignorance, but is there some sort of protocol playing in a HL slot room? I mean, if I want to play in the HL room at Mandalay Bay, do I just walk in, put my card in a machine and start playing?

 

Yes, it's that simple. Although I'm not sure you'll find $1 slots in the HL room at MB (can't be sure, but that would be a bit low for them.) Just remember that HL has different meaning, depending on the property.

 

Yes, the M-Bay has many $1 video slots in the high limit room. Problem is that for one to cover the maximum line-typically 15 , 20 , 30, 50 lines-you end up betting at least $15 plus per spin.

Other than $1,000 or $5,000 per spin reel slots at the B, ARIA, and Wynn, COSMO high limit room requires most bank roll as their machines are mostly $5 and up denomination (even for the video slots). They only have 2-3 dollar machines. So if you play Cleopatra for instance, per spin will be $100 to cover the 20 lines.

 

HL at Horseshoe has mostly $5 and up. A few multi line $1 machines are in there. $9 minimum on many of those.

They have a few in the front that are $1. You could play only $1 if you want. Or up to $150. First time I played, I hit max thinking it was $20 or $30. Wrong, $150 later I backed off.

Anyways, a few months later I played them at $15 a spin. Hit a bonus round. Wound up at $17,000+. Out - fkng - standing!!

If I had played max, it would have been $170,000. Of course, I would have gone broke before getting to that magical spin.

 

Just keep in mind that there's no reason to think the payback % on a $1 or a $5 machine inside the high limit room is any better than the same machine at $1 or $5 outside the HL room.

At MB, the HL slots room is really nothing special. There is an attendant desk, but no cage. I took a marker once and it took about 10 mins. There's also a smattering of $1, $5 and higher machines in the area immediately outside the HL area.

Cocktail service might be a little better in that immediate area, because it's right near where the CW's go in and out to pick up and drop off their orders.

 

We were treated pretty good in the HL room playing video poker at Cosmo. it was pretty dead in there maybe that's why. but anyways one of the guys dressed in suit started talking to us and we ending up talking about how we were going to eat soon at the buffet at cosmo. well like 3 hours later we go back to play some more and he remembered us and asked us how it was, etc. so nice to feel like he cared.

 

I think all I could afford to do is go look at the high limit area. I'm a 3 card poker player or BJ or craps player. I don't see myself doing $15 a spin, though I would put $15 on a table...just seems like the slot is going to take it quicker!

Reminds me of this summer when I was in Europe on a cruise. We stopped somewhere in France for a tour. We went to a little resort to tour it. I looked at the drink menu posted outside, cheapest was $1000 a drink. I cloud only afford to look at the menu.

 

A decent rule of thumb I've gone with is divide your table game bet by 100 and that is an equal slot bet. There are a lot of factors that go into this(type of table game and type of slot), but it just shows how very different a 50 cent bet on a penny machine is compared to a $25 or $50 bet on a blackjack table.

 

I often wonder if the HL area has machine with worse odds for the machines with the same $$$ as outside the HL room.
After all you are getting better service and usually the people playing have a bigger bankroll than the people outside the HL room.

 

I sometimes wonder if some smart ass slot manager figures he can do this since people THINK they are better.

 

I find this rule of thumb idea very interesting and would love to hear more about it. Does the casino really see slots to table bets as a 1:100 ratio ?? I'm curious to hear what other forum members' thoughts are on this.

 

Here's a back-of-the-envelope estimate on this:

$25 blackjack, 70 hands/hour (+ 10% doubledowns/splits) = $1925 at risk.
$1925 / 600 spins/hour = $3.20 a spin.

So I show a factor more like 8, not 100 to just look at total dollars at risk. However, if you want to look at expected loss, you have some more figuring to do.

$1925 at risk at 1% house edge (decent rules with some player errors) at BJ = $19.25 expected loss per hour.

Each spin at a 25cent machine (3 coin = 75cent) has an edge of about 8% so .75 * .08 = .06 cents loss per spin.
$19.25 / .06 = 320 spins so to get a similar loss per hour you'd actually want to spin at (.75 * 320/600) = 40 cents per spin.

$25 / $0.40 = a factor of 62.5. So maybe not 100 but 60 is probably a good estimate you are talking about equal expected loss of a .25 slot machine vs. blackjack.

 

Gee, just when I was having fun at the casino, and now I have to do this!