Video Poker Handpay Question?

On my recent trip I spent a lot of time playing the bartops at the good pay-table machines downtown (Four Queens, and Boars-Head). I never hit any big winners but was able to pretty much stay even. The one time I sat down at a bar (Holo Holo at The Cal) to just play through a twenty and get a drink before heading out I got lucky and hit the hand below.



Obviously, I was happy to take the money any way that they wanted to give it to me, but I was curious as to why it required a hand-pay?

 

Weird -- usually they're issued at $1,200 or above.... Some people exclusively play quarters in order to avoid the w2g

 

Boyd felt like wanting to make it a handpay making their employees work harder slash hope you grease their palms with a tip for the effort that didn't need to be made? There is really no other reason as far as I know.

I sorta bad for the attendants at MSS. Having to give out all those 4 of a kind scratchers... People love the promo, but that has to be a lot of extra work for them.

 

AFAIK, it depends on the casino, the machine, and the local rules. Next time I think about it, I'll ask a slot attendant at the D, where they have some machines that require hand pays below the W2-G number. ($1200.00)

 

The casino decides where they want to set hand pays. At $1,200 they have to issue a W2G and so it makes sense. Below that, who knows? I once got a hand pay from The Mardi Gras Casino on Paradise Rd when I hit a $400 win. Really?

 

Often VP royal progressives also get hand paid regardless of the amount.

 

Years ago, casinos did handpays on smaller amounts. Not sure if they wanted to make sure the machine was okay, or wanted to have flashing lights and hoople to entice others to play. I think at some point they decided it was not worth spending money on staff to do those handpays and went to the legal amount of $1,200.

And, before someone asks, if the amount is under $1,200 and a handpay - there is no W2-g issued.

On a related note, there some machines that will spit out a TITO when you hit a large payment. Say you have $300 in credits and win $500 on a bonus - it spits out a $500 tito. It confuses people often.

 

Fremont did the same thing on $1 NSUD for me last year. No W2G, but a hand-pay for the four deuces.

Sounds like a Boyd thing.

 

If the payout on VP is under $1200.00 the only reason I could think of for a hand pay would be a possible tip to the person handing you the money. I can not think of any other business reason why a casino would have hand pays for below W2G's since it certainly adds employee costs to the process vs. the machine spitting out a voucher.

 

In Vegas, yes, it's mostly a Boyd thing. Ive heard Native American casinos like to do this more often as well.

 

I don't know if it is different for different machines at the bar, but it was the one second from the right side.

 

It's a Boyd thing but no longer an absolute. There are some machines at Boar's Head which will now spit out a ticket for a quarter royal. No hand pay involved.

 

I don't want to turn this into a tipping thread, but do you tip if there's no w2g required? I've never had a hand pay under $1,200 before.

 

Same as with a W2G handpay. Your choice.

Generally people tip less on a non W2G handpay though. Some not at all.

 

I am a 72 year old woman who never knew that I should tip for a handpay until I joined this board. I always tip well in every other area, but never even thought to give a slot employee a tip. Although I've only had 2 handpays ever! If I ever get another one, I will definitely tip well. Thank you VMB.

 

I didn't know what to do and/or wasn't prepared either, so I just gave the guy a ten.

 

Yep they did it to me at Fremont playing quarters, I didnt tip.

 

It never occurred to me to tip on a handpay. I haven't had one since I read about on here.All of my W2Gs since reading about it have been on table game progressive side bets, and the pit critters handled those.

 

I don't understand either. I play my favorite VP machine next to the craps tables at MSS every trip and had 3 Royals so far on that quarter machine and it just spits out a TITO.

 

Yeah if you're gonna tip a non W2G handpay, I feel like $10 is a pretty common number among what I have read for others. All my thousand or more hits didn't lock up. But since I was at a bar twice out of the three times, I tipped $20 each time to the bartenders as that's often done too...