Slot machine hold percentage
Can anyone explain to me what is the "hold percentage" that I see on the screen of a slot machine when the attendant is restarting a game?
Thanks
At 5Dimes casino they referred to the 'hold' as the percentage of money made on the machine.
For instance if their JoB returned 98% of all money put into it for the year, they would say that JoB had a 2% hold.
Quote: wudgedAren't you all expressing the house edge? I thought hold meant the percent of money retained by the machine vs. the amount put into it. At least that's my understanding for table games. Is the definition of hold different for machines?
Hold for a machine is technically the current amount the machine has won. For a slot machine with no skill, the hold percentage should approach the house edge over millions and millions of spins.
If a machine gave out a jackpot on its very first spin though, the hold percentage would temporarily be something like -100,000%.
Quote: wudgedAren't you all expressing the house edge? I thought hold meant the percent of money retained by the machine vs. the amount put into it. At least that's my understanding for table games. Is the definition of hold different for machines?
Yes, slot machines are different. If you can see it from a menu, without the attendant going into the meters, this is probably the expected house edge as calculated by the designers. The actual return is calculated based on total wins/total bets. Although machines track money in and money out, I've never seen a meter which tracked a table game style hold%.
Quote: CrystalMathYes, slot machines are different. If you can see it from a menu, without the attendant going into the meters, this is probably the expected house edge as calculated by the designers. The actual return is calculated based on total wins/total bets. Although machines track money in and money out, I've never seen a meter which tracked a table game style hold%.
Interesting, thanks for the insight.
