Dear Mark,
Who sets the payout percentages for large progressives like Megabucks?
Do they change those percentages on the weekends when it is busier?
Douglas D.
To eat up your latter
question first, “do casinos take a screwdriver to their slots on
the weekends to tighten them up?”, the answer is no. It is not
cost-effective for the casino to continually alter the payouts on their
machines. To alter the percentage return in their favor, the casino
must, by law, make a hardware change. They do this by swapping out an
internal component, the ROM portion of the microprocessor chip. ROM,
or read only memory, is a chip the slot manufacturer provides the casino
that tells the slot machine to pay back so many coins every time BAR
BAR BAR appears. Some state gaming commissions won’t even allow
casinos to switch chips in-house. Besides exchanging chips, Doug, they
would also have to physically change the glass payout schedule for each
machine.
As to who sets the
payout percentages for Megabucks, since the progressive jackpot is paid
out by IGT, those payout percentages are set at the factory. Don’t
ask, Doug. It’s a trade secret what those exact percentages are.
You won’t get any hush-hush tittle-tattle from IGT.
Casinos also have
their own proprietary progressive machines, typically with their name
and logo on the facing. On their own machines, the casino sets the percentage
they want returned to them when placing an order with a slot manufacturer.
Once they decide on the payout percentage needed based on the payout
range received from the buyer, the makers of the machine program each
slot based upon the leasing and/or purchasing agreement. When a casino
wants to make a change to those percentages, they usually have to notify
the gaming commission and the manufacturer to have those changes made.
Dear Mark,
What is the casino advantage in Multiple Action Blackjack versus regular
blackjack? Greg N.
The casino advantage
in blackjack is determined by both the playing rules and the number
of decks used. So, Greg, house rules being equal, there isn’t any
difference in the house edge between Multiple Action Blackjack and traditional
blackjack.
Dear Mark,
I just want to say “THANKS” for the brilliant response to
the question about wearing Reynolds Wrap to block a pacemaker signal
from interfering with an electronic slot machine.
I haven’t
had such a good laugh in a long time. It was a nice break to my day!
The sad thing is the guy (Gurth) who wrote the question was probably
being sincere, if that’s possible from a total weirdo. I’ll
keep an eye out at the slots section of the local casino to see if someone
is wearing their beanie. Katie O.
Being a certified
screwball myself, it does give me the inside track into the psychology
of whack jobs, so answering Gurth’s silvery ductile metallic element
question was a no-brainer. Gurth over the years has sent me a whole
slew of dillies, some kooky, some pretty spooky. Look for those in future
columns.
Gambling Wisdom
of the Week: Having an ATM in a casino is like having a lap-dancer
at a Hell's Angels Convention. -- Mark Twain impersonator McAvoy Layne
