Slot Machine Statistics
Tons of statistics come into play in slot machine gaming. Only two are important to most slot machine gamblers- payback percentage and hit frequency. A slot machine’s payback percentage is a theoretical representation of what portion of a slot machine’s intake gets paid back out in winnings to gamblers. Luckily for slot fans, there are ways of finding out some machine’s programmed payback percentage.
Hit frequency is a bit more complicated. A slot machine’s hit frequency is not written down anywhere–figuring it out requires some time, a roll of quarters, and a little slot machine know-how.
Hit Frequency and Slot Machines
A slot machine’s hit frequency is an educated guess about the number of losses you’ll have for every win. The higher the number of wins, the higher the machine’s hit frequency. This number is both a guess and an average, so sometimes it’ll pay out a little more and sometimes it’ll pay out a little less.
How do you figure out a hit frequency? Put enough credits into the machine you’re testing for at least 100 spins. In fact, start with exactly 100 spins, to make the number easier to figure. Make mental note of how many times you win during those 100 spins–any amount, from the smallest 2 coin win to the biggest jackpot. Good hit frequency will be a different number for every gambler and every type of machine, but generally under 10% is considered really low frequency while the highest frequency multi line slots win up to 99% of the time.
The amount of the winnings can be added to an understanding of a slot machine’s hit frequency. Some machines are designed to pay out often, but to pay out in tiny amounts. That’s a poor hit frequency even though it may be above 75%. By the same token, if you only win once per 100 spins but that one win was worth 5,000 tokens, you’ll have a different kind of skewed hit frequency to deal with. So use common sense when estimating a slot machine’s hit frequency.
Payback Percentage and Slot Machines
You can look up different payback percentages in the current issue of magazines like Strictly Slots and other gambling industry magazines and newsletters. These numbers are different for different gambling jurisdictions–some areas require casinos to publish percentages for each type of game while some states are satisfied with a simple statewide payback percentage average.
Las Vegas Slot Machine Statistics
Here are the most recently published payback percentage averages for all Las Vegas casinos. Nevada law does not require the publication of each casino property’s payback percentages, choosing instead to publish this information by four different “region” totals. These numbers are from 2009 – 2010.
Penny Slots
- The Strip – 88.35%
- Downtown – 88.68%
- Boulder Strip – 90.03%
- N. Las Vegas – 90.69%
Nickel Slots
- The Strip – 89.23%
- Downtown – 91.12%
- Boulder Strip – 95.41%
- N. Las Vegas – 94.81%
Quarter Slots
- The Strip – 91.93%
- Downtown – 94.54%
- Boulder Strip – 96.82%
- N. Las Vegas – 96.44%
Dollar Slots
- The Strip – 93.65%
- Downtown -95.38%
- Boulder Strip – 96.77%
- N. Las Vegas – 96.89%
$5 Slots
- The Strip – 94.84%
- Downtown – 95.11%
- Boulder Strip – 96.02%
- N. Las Vegas – 94.75%
$25 Slots
- The Strip – 96.16%
- Downtown – 96.38%
- Boulder Strip – 95.42%
- N. Las Vegas – 95.2%
Average of All Slot Machines
- The Strip – 92.98%
- Downtown – 93.42%
- Boulder Strip – 94.96%
- N. Las Vegas – 94.36%
Some trends you can pick out without doing much digging–in general, the further you go away from the Vegas Strip, the better your payback percentage. There are some cases in which this isn’t true, especially for higher-end slots. In fact, the best odds on the Strip come at the $25 per spin “high roller” slot level. This isn’t a big surprise, as Strip casinos want to attract heavy dollar business, while off-Strip properties don’t mind paying out as much as 5 or 6 percent above the Strip casinos in penny and nickel slots. That’s their audience, an older crowed that plays cheaper slot machines.
Atlantic City Slot Machine Statistics
For giggles, let’s compare these payback percentages to those posted by casinos in Atlantic City. New Jersey law requires that all casinos release their own payback percentage averages–this may seem like a more useful number until you realize that the numbers aren’t broken down by game type or minimum bet or anything like that. Still, in case you’re itching to hit the Jersey Turnpike and play some slots, here are the payback percentages offered in the Garden State. These numbers are for 2008-2009.
- Borgata – 92.6%
- Trump Plaza – 92.0%
- Trump Taj Mahal – 91.8%
- Harrah’s – 91.8%
- Hilton – 91.7%
- Trump Marina – 91.7%
- Tropicana – 91.5%
- Resorts – 91.4%
- Bally’s – 91.0%
- Caesars – 91.0%
- Showboat – 90.6%
The main thing to notice about Atlantic City slot paybacks is that it doesn’t really seem to matter where you play, you’re not gonna do as good as you can off-Strip in Vegas, or even in some cases on the Strip. Stick to the Borgata for your Atlantic City slot machine fix.
If you look up the payback percentages in the gambling jurisdiction for your next slot machine trip you can give yourself slightly better odds. If you learn how to estimate hit frequency and use both of these statistics to choose the best possible slot machine returns, you might even win a little more cash in the short term.