Slot Machines players shouldnīt look upon the game
There may be no strategy or skill associated with slot machines as there is with poker, blackjack and some other table games, but that doesn't mean playing them should be looked upon as passive entertainment.
When it's your hard-earned dollars at stake, viewing slot machine play as merely hoping to get lucky can take a lot of the fun out of gambling outings for average people who make regular visits to the casinos.
What you don't know about slot machines can hurt you. Just because you don't need skill to play them doesn't mean you shouldn't take the time to learn everything you can about them. Knowledge is power for slot players.
Just ask slot machine guru John Robison, author of The Slot Expert's Guide to Playing Slots (Huntington Press) and a casino gambling columnist.
When I asked him what, in his opinion, is the most important thing slot players don't know, Robison gave the question a twist:
"It isn't so much what they don't know, but what they think they know that just isn't right. The results on these machines really and truly are random from one spin to another. What happened in the past has absolutely no effect on what's going to happen in the future. All the patterns that people think they see is the result of the random draw and not because there's any overriding intelligence that's trying to alter the events."
Players with the smallest gambling budgets are most likely to gravitate to the machines with the lowest average payback percentages: The penny and nickel video games, the very ones that can wear down a bankroll the fastest.
"I recall a number of years ago when video slots were first starting to become popular and listening to gaming executives from Australia," Robison revealed. "They said, 'You are going to have people betting $5 a spin on these machines and they deserve a payback for a $5 average wager.' I don't think the U.S. casino operators were really buying that because they really didn't think people would be betting 50 coins a spin on these things."
Today the low-denom penny and nickel games are the "cash cows" for casinos across the country, yet players are privileged to know very little about them.
"We don't really know the exact payback percentages the slot directors are ordering on these machines," Robison said. "I am assuming the slot directors are still ordering based on denomination, not on the average bet on the machine. I would guess the penny units are close to whatever they're ordering for nickels because the slot directors aren't stupid and they know the people are going to be betting dollars on them.
"People are betting $4.50 or more per spin in some instances at a very low payback. The casinos have no incentive to try to raise the payback on them. Why should they? They are immensely popular at the low payback."
There's something to be said for the entertainment video slots provide, but just remember you're paying for it at a rate higher than any other slot game in the casino.
There may be no strategy or skill associated with slot machines as there is with poker, blackjack and some other table games, but that doesn't mean playing them should be looked upon as passive entertainment.