John, your August
5th article on slot "loss limits" is confusing!
Let's say you
start with $40 and you set a loss limit of the whole thing. You play
and hit a nice payoff and you have $120 on the machine. You raise your
loss limit to, say, $50. If your credit meter hits $50, you cash out
with a $10 profit. Your good luck continues and you now have $200 on
the machine. You raise your loss limit to $100. You continue to play,
but Lady Luck has left the building and you have only $100 on the machine.
You cash out a nice $60 profit.
If I have 120
on the credit line and allow it to go to 50, I have lost 70 credits
and not 50! The other example appears to fit.
Enjoy your articles.
Dean
Dear Dean,
You're right. The
terminology was confusing. Instead of loss limit, I meant to say "quit
point". Let me try again:
Let's say you start
with $40 and you're willing to risk whe whole thing. You set an initial
quit point of $0. You play and hit a nice payoff, and you now have $120
on the machine. You raise your quit point to, say, $50. If your credit
meter hits $50, you cash out with a $10 profit. Your good luck continues
and you now have $200 on the machine. You raise your quit point to $100.
You continue to play, but Lady Luck has left the building and you have
only $100 on the machine. You cash out a nice $60 profit.
Best of luck in
and out of the casinos,
John
I used to patronize
Trump Marina in AC, mostly because of their promotions, But I stopped
because of the tight slots. They have recently advertized that they
have loosened up.
Your comment?
Tim
Dear Tim,
I haven't been to
Trump Marina in quite a while. It used to have a good selection of high-paying
video poker, but those machines gradually disappeared over the years.
New Jersey releases
slot payback figures by casino, so we can compare their current paybacks
with past figures.
The latest numbers
I have available are for May, 2004. Here's a comparison with the paybacks
reported in April, 2003:
- 5-cent: 90.1
vs. 89.8 -- increase
- 25-cent: 91.8
vs. 91.7 -- increase
- 50-cent: 92.9
vs. 92.0 -- increase
- $1: 93.4 vs.
92.8 -- increase
- $5: 96.1 vs.
94.8 -- increase
It looks to me like
they have indeed raised the average paybacks on their machines. You'll
never know the difference on nickel and quarter machines, though, and
it will take a year's worth of spins to feel the difference on the higher
denominations.
Best of luck in
and out of the casinos,
John
"According to
the American Casino Guide (www.americancasinoguide.com), West Virginia's
slots (they call them Video Lottery Terminals, but if it walks like
a duck and quacks like a duck, let's call it a duck) by law must pay
back between 80% to 95% and the maximum bet is $2. The machines at
Charles Town pay back about 91%, the same as at the other race tracks."
After reading
the above excerpt in your Casino City Q&A, I have to mention that
I just returned from my first trip to Charles Town, and they had (at
least) one carousel of $5 slot machines. They also had 3-coin dollar
slots. Have they changed the rules on the $2 maximum bet, or is the
American Casino Guide behind the times? (You can also play much more
than that on the multi-line 25-cent video reel machines.)
It does look like
West Virginia has changed its slot rules.
Steve Bourie does
an incredible job keeping the American Casinon Guide up to date, but
it is updated only once a year. I'm sure the new edition will have the
current situation.
Best of luck in
and out of the casinos,
John
What is the difference
in playing a $5 slot machine that is out in the main casino floor
as opposed to one that is in a separate high roller room? Which would
offer the beter odds?
Thank you for
your response,
Linda
Dear Linda,
Probably the only
difference between playing a $5 machine on the main casino floor and
playing a $5 machine in the high-limit room is that you don't have to
deal with lookie-loos gawking at you playing $5 or more per spin.
Some people may argue
that the slot director would order a higher payback percentage for the
machines on the main floor so many players can get excited seeing high-limit
machines hitting. But that's hit frequency, not payback. A high hit frequency
machine can have a low payback. Most slot directors today order roughly
the same percentage payback for all of their machines in a particular
denomination. There's probably very little if any difference in payback
between machines on the main floor and machines in the high-limit room.
Best of luck in
and out of the casinos,
John
Hi,
I have been going
to Biloxi for a few years now. And recently to the Silver Star/Golden
Moon in MS as well. I find nowhere do we get as good a service and
comps as we do at the TREASURE BAY CASINO/Hotel. I am baffled as to
why at Beau Rivage I have 600 points on my card and can't even get
a comp for dinner/email discounts, or coupon mailings till I have
a thousand! THE same seems to be for all those bigger casinos and
the indian reservation. But at least the indian reservation makes
the trip worth it in some ways, coupons for cash, incentives on hotel,
but no one else even bothers. WHAT is wrong with these guys?
Just the NICE
TREASURE bay has done anything worth bragging about for us. I have
always been treated there as good as the high rollers I feel. And
have always left there feeling like I invested my losses in my hotel
rooms and comps for future come backs and stays. They are the only
reason we have been to Biloxi so much since our first stay there.
They went out of their way for us on many occasions and we don't usually
have a hundred to lose for each of us. My friend does table games
and gets more free room offers, but she tends to spend more than I
do on a trip as well.
She seems to think
she wins more at the table games as well. But I do like the slots,
just wish I could hit more than a hundred or hundred and eighty dollars
which just about breaks me even for a session. LOL. Have seen many
others win though. And hear more bells going off at two to three in
the mornings it seems.
I just wanted
to let you know there is not enough information printed about the
gulf coast and they are getting more casinos all the time. Even thought
about putting what I know into a book of information and selling it
to help pay for my car repairs. Any suggestions on how I should go
about it? But like I said TREASURE BAY is the only one I have had
good luck with comps with.
Thanks,
Kathy
Dear Kathy,
You can either try
to publish your book yourself or have a publisher produce it. The advantages
of using a publisher is that you have access to their editors, artists,
and publicists. You have more control when you self-publish, but you
also have to do all the work yourself.
First, I suggest
getting your book about 75% done. Then you can shop it around to publishers
or start investigating print-on-demand services while you complete the
rest. Keep in ming that you can also skip publishing completely and
distribute it as an electronic document.
Best of luck with
your venture,
John