Slots Strictly Slots - Annual Loosest Slots article

I just read the article on the loosest slots and looks like Baton Rouge, Louisiana and Mesquite had the highest cumulative payback percentages exceeding 100%. Reno also scored higher then Las Vegas. The article also talks about the take by the casinos and how it has increased over the past few yeasr with pennies having some of the worst payback percentages which really wasn't a surprise. They also mentioned that they payback percentages for quarters and dollars hadn't changed much over the years and remained fairly steady. Once again North Las Vegas had better payouts then the strip and then it was downtown. The strip appears to improve once you start playing dollar, five dollar and 25 dollar machines.

Here is the percentages by denomination: As of January 2015

1 cent slots
Downtown Las Vegas 89.8&
Las Vegas strip 87%
North Las Vegas 91%

5 cent slots
Downtown Las Vegas 93.5%
Las Vegas strip 92.2%
North Las Vegas 96%

25 cent slots
Downtown Las Vegas 95.6%
Las Vegas strip 91.3%
North Las Vegas 95.4%

1 Dollar slots
Downtown Las Vegas 96%
Las Vegas strip 93.3%
North Las Vegas 96.8%

5 Dollar slots
Downtown Las Vegas 96.7%
Las Vegas strip 94.7%
North Las Vegas 83.2% (note they had very few of this denomination type of machine)

25 Dollar slots
Downtown Las Vegas Not Applicable
Las Vegas strip 93.6%
North Las Vegas Not Applicable

Megabucks
Downtown Las Vegas 48 slots 104.6%
Las Vegas Strip 209 slots 98.2%
North Las Vegas 22 slots 100.2%



I didn't put the the other locations in such as Reno and Lake Tahoe but it appears their percentages are much higher then Vegas but fewer machines in the higher denominations.

So there you have it. If you playing in Vegas and want to find the loosest slots probably the strip although beautiful and exciting may not be the best choice if you want to make your millions playing slot machines.

However I am a die hard strip person so I guess I will take my chances but plan on upping my game to the higher denomination machines.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this?

 

Lake Tahoe was a big 0% when I was there last month...lol

 

Are video poker machines grouped into this cohort? How do they account for the growth of multi-denom machines relative to both single-denom VP and non-VP slots?

 

I don't know much about slots for sure. Wouldn't the Downtown casinos lose money on slots with a 104.6% payout? O r was this just a one year anomaly?

 

I thought megabucks were horrible machines... is this just because large jackpots where hit in each location?

 

That makes sense, especially if Megabucks machines are also located elsewhere in the country. The money gamblers lost in those places could account for the apparent house loss in downtown and North Las Vegas casinos.

 

Las Vegas still has a much better payback than Council Bluffs. I forget what it is, but it's posted. I'm supposed to do breakfast at Horseshoe tomorrow so I'll try to remember to look.

 

I went to American Casino Guide slots payback percentages. Does not list as of January 2015 but does list fiscal year July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014 as reported by the Nevada State Gaming Control Board.

Megabucks
Downtown LV 88.45%
LV Strip 87.89%
North LV88.30%

Maybe both sources are giving correct info or maybe neither is. The rule I follow is never believe anything you read/hear unless it can be backed up by other sources. Can anyone confirm the data given out by the Loosest Slots magazine or the American Casino Guide?

 

Say you jump on a penny machine and increase the denom to 5 cents....does that increase the % payout? Or do multiple denom machines have a set payout regardless of which denom is selected?

 

I do know that if you're on a VP machine and you change the denom from $.05 to $.25, the pay table usually (but not always) improves. I would assume that the same holds on multi-denom slots, but it may be a closely-held secret.

 

Not as easy to answer with slots. Because you can have a .25 machine with a higher hold that a .01....

 

These are all really good questions. I wish I knew the answers. All I learnt from this article is to find a denomination I can afford to play and avoid pennies. Pennies seem to be the greedy machines. I think the mega bucks high percentage is definitely related to the payouts in those areas and the low number of machines giving them the 100% or more payout.

When I go into a casino first thing I do is shop around so to speak. I look for areas of the casino where there is lots of action and noise then I look at individual machines to see what kind of credits everyone has on them. If I see all low credits I immediately know its a dry spell and I should avoid until the action picks up. I believe in cycles with the server based systems. Some of you may not believe in this theory but when people are hitting on a certain back and I jump in while the noise and action lasts. If they are getting alot of free spins then all the better I want to join the fun and hope to some too. If I lose my first 20 right away then off to another noisy area to try and find where the action is lol. Sometimes it works other times it doesn't. I will try anything once or twice lol.

 

1 - Just one set of numbers. Doesn't really tell me much unless you are stating these rankings are the same every time, but I have seen some months where the Strip does actually beat the other locations. Rare but it happens.

2 - For recreational gamblers, the numbers are way too insignificant to avoid the strip if that is really where one enjoys going.

 

Three percentage points is very significant, mathematically speaking. Imagine what you'd save if your state sales tax rate were to be lowered by three percentage points. In some states, they'd be paying you to buy stuff.

 

Do you know of any place to get historical data? Would be interesting to plot this over time and see what the variance is.

 

Huh?

If the sales tax dropped from 7% to 4%,

I still pay for the stuff and pay3% on top

????

 

Yeah not sure if I get the analogy... I mean 3% drop in sales tax nothing to sneeze at... but still...