Oregon lottery Video Poker

I'm going to be in Oregon and will probably pass some time playing Video Poker (which is operated by the Oregon State Lottery). I was looking up some of their rules and reg's and found a couple interesting things.

First of all, the max payout on a video poker game is $600, regardless of coins bet. So it's actually to your disadvantage to bet max coins.


The other thing I noticed was that the rules say that once the deck is shuffled, it must remain static. Also, the first card you throw away must be replaced by the first card off the top of the deck (the replacement cards aren't dealt 'behind' the cards that are thrown away), etc.

My question is, does it matter which of those methods is used to deal the replacement cards? A card I can't see is a card I can't see so it doesn't matter right? Or does it matter because potentially one of the cards I am looking for to make my hand could in theory be unavailable if it was dealt 'behind' a card that I held?

(According to the Oregon lottery site: "In video poker games, player choices affect the actual payout percentage of the game." so the outcome is not predetermined)

Oregon lottery VP games are indeed like Nevada games, but for the paytables and top-award limits you noted. They're based on RNGs and proper deck shuffling, not like the predetermined pull-tab games as in Washington.

It's not a disadvantage per se to make a max-coin bet, it's just a different paytable. The top award is capped so the lower parts of the paytable get fatter on a per-coin basis. I haven't done an analysis on the RTP of each coin level, but I'd be surprised if it went down as you increased your wager. Plug the paytable numbers into the Wizard's calculator to verify.

Either method of dealing replacement cards for discards is equivalent. The card you wanted to see is equally-likely to show up (a) next in the deck or (b) behind a given initial card.

Quote: slyther

A card I can't see is a card I can't see so it doesn't matter right?

You are correct, it makes no difference.

In Montana, games are capped at a $800 win and a $2 max bet, so VP is often set to pay 400 for a royal, but the other pays are increased to compensate for the lower royal.

Quote: CrystalMath

You are correct, it makes no difference.

In Montana, games are capped at a $800 win and a $2 max bet, so VP is often set to pay 400 for a royal, but the other pays are increased to compensate for the lower royal.

Same with bars/restaurants in Illinois: max $500 win with a max $2 bet. And paybacks do increase all the way to 8 quarters, but playing max bet only seems to add about 0.1% from 5 credits and 0.4% from 1 credit and at max bet you have to hold a lot more straight flush draws since any straight flush is often worth the max payout at max bet.

And Oregon bar poker is generally terrible. Like 92% terrible. You'd be better off visiting an Indian casino in the state if you could.

Thx everyone. Ya I know it's 92% terrible, it says so right on their site. I won't be within range of any of the Tribal casinos and this will be just to pass some time.

They do have the 'double up' feature available. In theory I should play that all the way up to the $600 max right? It appears to be a 0% edge feature.

Quote: slyther

Thx everyone. Ya I know it's 92% terrible, it says so right on their site. I won't be within range of any of the Tribal casinos and this will be just to pass some time.

They do have the 'double up' feature available. In theory I should play that all the way up to the $600 max right? It appears to be a 0% edge feature.

Theoretically it would be better since you will have less hands of actual vp, but it's a very high variance way to play. And also I would make sure they don't charge taxes on a $600 win. That's the usual threshold for other games run by the lottery.

Quote: tringlomane

Theoretically it would be better since you will have less hands of actual vp, but it's a very high variance way to play. And also I would make sure they don't charge taxes on a $600 win. That's the usual threshold for other games run by the lottery.

South Dakota and Montana do not write tax forms for $600+ wins. Also, as for Montana, the game I played called something like "Montana Mania" (some double joker game) only improved the bottom pays the same increments as the bet went up, even if the $800 max was reached for the royal. I am nearly positive the return went down as you wagered more coins, at least on that game.

"For Video Lottery℠ Platinum Series (PS) jackpot prizes, the Oregon Lottery is required to report all Video LotterySM PS jackpot prizes of $1200 or more to the Internal Revenue Service. The Oregon Lottery is required to report all Video LotterySM PS jackpot prizes over $600 to the Oregon Department of Revenue. For prizes over $5,000, the Lottery is required to withhold 8% for state income taxes."

From this page:
http://www.oregonlottery.org/About/FAQ/

If you read that literally, cashing in a ticket for $600.01 would generate a 1099 or W-2G.

If you hit a $600 jackpot, play it down to $600 (or better, $599.99 or less) before you cash out.

So you have to pay state taxes on a $600+ video lottery winning. Makes it even more of a ripoff.

Quote: Pokeraddict

So you have to pay state taxes on a $600+ video lottery winning. Makes it even more of a ripoff.

Well, sort of...

The reporting requirement would only apply to a single ticket with a value of $600 (or perhaps $600.01+) and the max payout is $600 even on 4/5/6 coin bets. I don't think I've ever seen someone put more than $100 into a machine at once and usually they're feeding $20 bills as needed. With that style of play, it would just be a matter of playing it down to $599.99 or less before you cash out.

You could cash in multiple $599 tickets and never pass the mandatory reporting threshold.

There are some non-poker games with progressive jackpots that exceed $600 by quite a bit, and in that case you'd be stuck with a tax bill even if you were an out-of-state visitor. But if you stick to video poker it should not be too difficult to avoid the tax man even if you hit the top of the pay table multiple times.

Quote: CrystalMath

You are correct, it makes no difference. In Montana, games are capped at a $800 win and a $2 max bet, so VP is often set to pay 400 for a royal, but the other pays are increased to compensate for the lower royal.

There is a video poker game on a few thousand machines in this state that I wong. It's a joker game. There are multipliers in the game.

5K pays either 100,150, 200, or 250 for 1
The natural 4K pays either 28, 42, 56, or 70 For 1.
The wild 4K pays either 12, 18, or 24 for 1.

When you hit a hand you draw a card to see what the next multiplier will be. I pretty much ignore the 5K multiplier. When I find the game where the next natural 4K pays 70 and the next wild 4K pays 24 it's a no brainer of a play. It's around a 6% advantage depending on where the 5K multiplier is at. The natural paying 56 and the wild 4K paying 24 is around 4% advantage.

You can bet anywhere from one nickel to $2. At a $1 bet the Natural Royal pays 800 for 1 ($800) and the Joker Royal pays 200 for 1. Betting anywhere from $1.05 to $1.95 the royal pays only $800 and the Joker Royal pays 200 for 1. So when you lock in the 40th coin the Natural Royal pays 400 for 1. But the Joker Royal jumps from 200 for 1 up to 400 for 1, paying $800.

There is a video poker game called Flush Fever that can be found in Oregon only. Click the link for my analysis.

Quote: Wizard

There is a video poker game called Flush Fever that can be found in Oregon only. Click the link for my analysis.

Yeah, this is worthy of noting because I think this is the best Oregon lottery VP game available.

Quote: Wizard

There is a video poker game called Flush Fever that can be found in Oregon only. Click the link for my analysis.

We have the game in Montana too. It's called Flush Fever on the IGT machines, Flush Bonus on the Spielo machines and Hot Flush on the Summit Gaming machines. The game was in Nevada in the nineties. It has something in common with Ultimate X. You can manipulate the card to show a loss.

First time I seen this game was on the VLC games @ one of the fist dottys casinos.

Quote: tringlomane

Quote: Wizard

There is a video poker game called Flush Fever that can be found in Oregon only. Click the link for my analysis.

Yeah, this is worthy of noting because I think this is the best Oregon lottery VP game available.

A 95% pay table on a video lottery machine is almost unheard of. If I see this game, I'll throw $20 at it (I live in OR).