House Edge for High Limit Slots

I have read that dollar slots normally have about a 3% house edge, quarter slots about an 8% house edge and nickle slots about a 15% house edge. (Please correct me if these above numbers are wrong).

What is the house edge for the high limit slots? Would the $25 machines, the $100 machines and the $500 machines have a smaller house edge? If so, what would you guess them to be?

Your numbers are essentially close. The higher the denomination, generally, the lower the house advantage. About 10 years ago, I did a reporting gig for a gambling institution and was able to learn their slot house advantages; it was about 8.5% for nickels, 5% for quarters, and about 2.5% for dollars (they didn't have penny slots back then).

Yeah, the higher the denomination, the lower the edge.

But don't let that fool you into thinking the casinos are more generous simply because it's a higher denomination.

If you multiply the house edge by the typical coin-in per spin, you'll get a higher amount retained by the house with the higher denominations. So the casino makes more, even though it is taking a smaller cut.


Of course, that begs a question: Does that theory hold true all the way to the highest denominations?

The $100 and particularly $500 machines don't get much play. So do the casinos still take such a small slice, or do they start to think about how much it costs to keep the machine on the floor when they set it's edge?

Hmmmm. I spend most of my slot time going between .25 and $1 machines, and I don't find a whole lot of difference between them. I do notice that the $5 machines are more likely to hit, but the bank required to play them is such that they are not worth it, considering that with that bankroll I could play craps or BJ. I wouldn't walk up to a $5 slot with less than $500 to put in it, and figuring how quickly that could get funneled through, I would think that a session bankroll for an evening of $5 slots would be about $2500.

But I do notice a difference between a .01 machine played at a penny per line (20 cent bet) and played at .10 per line ($2 bet); crank it up and watch it start to hit.

My guess is that this effect is based on a very small sample and not really the case; as humans, we try to make everything have a narrative, and the narrative would be "I wasn't hitting, then I upped my bet and got 3 diamonds and played the bonus game!" When the truth is that I played out the $100 in about the same amount of time I would have anyhow.

The HA of 2.5% on Dollar Slots is a myth. I Put $100 in a $1 slot and spun it 100x, and I NEVER ended up with $97.50. This math is probably from 3000 year old slot machines when people thought the earth was flat.

Try putting ten million in, and THEN share your results.

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Try putting ten million in, and THEN share your results.

Sorry; I thought my tongue was pretty firmly in my cheek with that comment :)

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Try putting ten million in, and THEN share your results.

But, but but....that would be a hoax and a myth then!

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Try putting ten million in, and THEN share your results.

That would probably take 3000 years....

Quote: cclub79

Quote: DJTeddyBear

Try putting ten million in, and THEN share your results.

Sorry; I thought my tongue was pretty firmly in my cheek with that comment :)

Oh.

Sometimes it's hard to tell here.

Things will get easier when the new version of the forum gets implemented. Avitars help memory of who is who, and emoticons help mark satire....

Actually, I've seen som qtr reports from the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun Slots. They are generally flatter (90-92% except nickles are like 85-86%) and not worthy of more than a 25c base, because the high limit slots are just as bad.

Quote: NandB

Actually, I've seen som qtr reports from the Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun Slots. They are generally flatter (90-92% except nickles are like 85-86%) and not worthy of more than a 25c base, because the high limit slots are just as bad.

It's hard enough finding any non-VP slots in AC that pay over 97% (advertised or not), much less so in CT.

If any of you AC veterans remember about 2003 or 2004 (don't remember when exactly), Bally's AC experimented with those 99% payback $5 slots (game was called 99ers(?) with the mining theme) for a few months. Needless to say, I never saw some many people hit multiple $1000-2000 hand pay jackpots in the same day. I saw one guy put in $1000 and he hit about 10 $1000 jackpots within the course of 4 hours. People had to camp out for an average of an hour or two just to get on the machine. To no one's surprise, the machines were removed after 6 months or so.

Quote: gambler

I have read that dollar slots normally have about a 3% house edge, quarter slots about an 8% house edge and nickle slots about a 15% house edge. (Please correct me if these above numbers are wrong).

What is the house edge for the high limit slots? Would the $25 machines, the $100 machines and the $500 machines have a smaller house edge? If so, what would you guess them to be?

I've done analysis of the Indiana casino numbers over the last few years and here the HA is about 7-8% on the 25c machines, and about 6% on the $1 machines. Everything above $1 doesn't get enough consistent play to be able to easily analyze on a monthly basis. Intrestingly, the 1c and 2c machines aren't that much worse than the 25c...usually around 9% HA.

Do you think that the $25 slots and $100 slots have a much smaller house edge then the $1 and $5 machines? Or would they still be about the same?

Quote: gambler

Do you think that the $25 slots and $100 slots have a much smaller house edge then the $1 and $5 machines?

A casino probably has no reason to sweeten the deal for the 100.00 slot player. Anyone playing slot machines is rarely going to switch over to table games. They are confirmed button pushers and all the casino will need to do is have the waitress come around more often. Why monkey around with chips or settings: just give them some more flashing lights and some more booze.

Quote: gambler

Do you think that the $25 slots and $100 slots have a much smaller house edge then the $1 and $5 machines? Or would they still be about the same?

I think it's harder to tell on these - as others have said it's not like they get the amount of play that .25/$1/$5 machines get just because of the bankroll required. If you look at AC's financial reports on the NJ casino commission website - they typically will break out the slot payback percentage month-to-month.

Sometimes you can see that the short term payback is even worse on those machines - in April Caesar's $25 and $100 had higher "holds" than the lower denom (7.9 and 13.5%) versus (8.6/7.6% for $1/$5).

-B

Here is another question--has anyone here ever seen anyone playing $50-500 machines? There was one $500 machine at Rivers Casino. I think they sometimes put these machines in for show. "Casino Player" magazine sometimes shows payback of 125% on these level machines in AC. I just wonder how big the sample size on that is.

Quote: AZDuffman

Here is another question--has anyone here ever seen anyone playing $50-500 machines? There was one $500 machine at Rivers Casino. I think they sometimes put these machines in for show. "Casino Player" magazine sometimes shows payback of 125% on these level machines in AC. I just wonder how big the sample size on that is.

At the Borgata AC high limit pit, there is usually decent play on $25 wheel of fortune and the $100 double diamonds. Most of the $500 and the 3coin in $100 machines are sitting, but they do get a little play since they always show the last jackpot of the last hit and run guy who was there.