Do the casinos tighten and loosen the slots on a daily/hourly basis, to attract business when its slow and rake it in when its busy?

The EPROM chips, which control the theoretical return percentages on slots, are generally changed very rarely. It would be bad business to loosen and tighten the slots according to the day of the week. For any given casino there is some optimal return to maximize profit. Wherever that is, a smart slot manager would find that point and then just leave the EPROMS set to that return.

Michael V.

Sure. There are lots of ways. Putting in fake coins just to name a simple one. Be warned that in Nevada cheating in a casino carries the same kind of penalty as bank robbery, or so I hear. Let the record show that I disapprove of all forms of cheating.

I’m happy to see that you’re once again taking questions on your site. Being a math teacher, I especially love how me must pass the gauntlet of solving a basic, two-step algebra problem. My question pertains to the bonus rounds that are extremely prevalent in many of today’s slot machines. Are the bonus round winnings already pre-determined, even before I enter the new screen, or do my choices really affect my amount of winnings? On a game like Price is Right, for example, I seem to always win the lower of the two prizes in the bonus round. When it comes down to picking one of the two remaining tags, I always seem to pick the one giving me the less favorable outcome. Am I just continuously unlucky or does the machine already know that I will get the lower result before I even pick? Thanks so much. Keep up the great work!

Thanks for the kind words. I always enjoy hearing from high school math teachers out there because I almost became one myself. Based on seeing par sheets and speaking to industry insiders I can confidently say that if the alternative choices are shown at the conclusion of a bonus round then the game is honest about them. In other words the prizes were randomly determined and what you see at the end is truly how they were hidden. However in games where the alternative choices are not shown the odds are likely similar to a prize wheel, with lower probabilities for the higher wins. I played Price is Right enough to see the Showcase Showdown twice. As you said, the values behind the price tags are revealed at the end. So I maintain that the game is indeed truthful and speculate that you have just been unlucky.

Under the cat's paw sign were a slot to put money in and a lead tube. From the tube would come a shot of gin, poured by the bartender inside the pub. Old Tom Gin was formerly made under licence by a variety of distillers around the world; however, one was recently relaunched. The Money pouch is a storage area for up to 2,147,483,647 coins (the maximum number of coins, or 231-1 coins), released on 6 December 2011 with the loyalty programme batch 3 update. It is used to handle all financial trading, and all coins received as drops, picked up, or withdrawn from the bank will automatically be placed in the pouch. It functions similarly to an inventory slot purely for.

I like coming and checking on your website and reading your analysis of games and various probabilities. My question is one that I believe can only be answered by someone who is close to the slot machine industry. There is a slot machine that my girlfriend and I like to play. It is a regular three-reel slot machine with either quarter or dollar denominations. The fun part of the machine is if you get the 'hamburger lady' in the 3rd reel and it starts a bonus game. The game involves the player pushing a button that starts a digital die moving and stopping on 1-6 and then the player moves along the hamburger and obtains credits as you go along ultimately trying to get to the top for the huge bonus of 5,000 credits. My question then is that is the bonus already decided for the player before the bonus starts or since after every die move the player has to push the button is the bonus amount completely random. There are various points in the bonus game that if you get a specific die roll the bonus will end but can the player avoid these early terminations or is the bonus amount predetermined even before the start of the game. I say that the bonus is predetermined but my girlfriend believes otherwise. Please help with this argument.

Your girlfriend is right. Nevada Gaming Control Board regulation 14.040.2(b) states..

'For gaming devices that are representative of live gambling games, the mathematical probability of a symbol or other element appearing in a game outcome must be equal to the mathematical probability of that symbol or element occurring in the live gambling game. For other gaming devices, the mathematical probability of a symbol appearing in a position in any game outcome must be constant.'

In other words a representation of dice must have the same odds as real dice. Thus there would be no way to predestine an outcome because the player could roll anything during the course of the game.

In your March 27, 2006 column someone asked about who would win the money if someone put money into your machine and hit the spin button and won. You replied 'According to my understanding of the law, the person who pressed the spin button wins the money. Whoever is sitting in front of the machine, and why, or even who put the money in, or even whose money it is, does not matter.' Are you telling me someone can just run through a casino hitting other peoples spin buttons and any winnings are theirs to keep?

I asked three casino executives about this hypothetical situation. They all said that you can’t win a bet if you don’t make a bet. In the case where betting somebody else’s money is consensual then they will pay the person pressing the buttons. However in the case where it is not consensual they will not pay the person who pressed the button. A more difficult question is whether they will pay the person who did put money in the machine. That seems to be taken on a case by case basis. Considerations include whether the player was vigilant in guarding his machine, how much the player was playing for, and if he is a known good customer. Basically a player should follow the McDonald’s rule of 'keep an eye on your fries.' However even if the player was remiss in guarding his machine the casino may not want to anger a good customer. It also helps to be playing a high denomination game.

When the house awards me free play on a slot machine, ex. $100, how much does it actually cost them?

It depends. If the slot play may be used in any machine in the casino, including video poker, then it can be worth 99 cents on the dollar or more, depending on the video poker offerings. For example, the MGM Mirage casinos award $1 in free slot play for every one point earned. It can be used in any machine in any casino connected to the MGM Mirage player card. Most MGM Mirage properties offer 9/6 Jacks or better, so the value of $1 in free slot play is worth 99.54 cents, with correct strategy.

However, sometimes free slot play must be done on particular promotional machines that don’t accept money. The value of this kind of free play is hard to estimate closely, but generally very little. For example, the Las Vegas World used to sell “$1000” vacation packages for $400. Of the alleged $1000 value $600 was in promotional slot machine play. In his book “Million Dollar Video Poker,” Bob Dancer writes that he did this deal numerous times over, and estimates the value of the free slot play to be about ten cents on the dollar.

What is an appropriate tip for the dealer (they keep their own tips) if a person hits a royal flush at Caribbean Stud if the JP is $230,000? Also, what would one tip for a straight flush if the gross pay was $23,600 but net $17,000 after 28% is withheld for federal taxes? Thank you. Love your website!

Thanks. As I say about machine jackpots, 0.5% to 1% of the jackpot amount after taxes is good. Whether the dealers pool their tips or not should not make a difference.

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Wizard, what do you think about the new 'server based' slot machines currently being used at the Treasure Island in Las Vegas? Apparently this technology allows the casino to instantly change the machines from their back offices — including the games offered, denominations, and...the payouts! I think this is going a bit far. I mean what’s

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