Pokies and Slot Machine Information

Slot machine players

A recent post recent slot machine blog post explained that there are many types of slot machine player. Well now there are some more - supplied by readers:

From Peter:

The swearer type:
Those who swear or utter profanities everytime something doesn’t work, or the features dont come up.

The touchy-feely :
Those who believe in touching or stroking the machine..
(Don’t know if this works)

The peek-a-boo:
Taking the reserved sign and hiding the screen while the feature is playing..
Is this so the machine doesn’t know who it should pay out to ?

The runaway :
Hiding from the machine while the feature is playing..
This is a cousin to the peek-a-boo, and just as successful.

The hard lucker :
“mate, I just did $300 on that machine, and not one payout - hope it works for you”
Secretly wishing that you have the same luck they did.

Mr Disposable income - aka Last of the big spenders
How to dispose of all your income by betting maximum credits with maximum lines…
(nice if it pays, but a lot of cash can slip into the mysterious black innards of the spinning wheels syphon..)

From Michael:

1) The Hanger-On: one who has put all their disposabe income into the machines, but refuses to go home scared of the miissus/old man and hoping to bump into any sucker to squeeze dry, quite often they aren’t players but merely “hangers-on” out for a free beer or drink, paid for by any head they may know who is having a run of luck;

2) The Rambler: sits silently at a machine, feeding it $50.00 after $50.00, but as things quite often do, they have a change of luck and that is when the metamorphisis takes place, what was once a timid, cofidence-depraved shadow of a human being is now acting Master of Ceremonies at the local After Dinner Speaking Club;

3) Rain-Man: the counter of Double-ups, actually believing they have some sort of God-given talent to pick each and every double-up whether it is “their” machine or not and don’t comprehend why the person playing the machine is starting to get agitated at their constant calling of the double-up, prone to being removed from premises; (No intention whatsoever to demean those amongst us with Mental Disadvantages);

From Kylie:

The Old Man: The old man that sits on the machine next to you with $20 credit but only playing 1 or 3 lines, and you can see all the pays that they are missing.
The Old Lady: Sits there betting max credits but playing only 5 lines. Also annoying when you can see all the missed payouts! My grandmother does this!

From Lucky Bill:

The players that tap,tap ,tap all the buttons at the same time as reels are spinning. That’s a sure fire winner of getting a huge jackpot (not). Never seen it work yet & surprise never will

From Patrick:

The Touchy feely:- Rubs the front screen, pats the sides and even on the rare occasions whispers to it. I love watching these people, some have a pattern they repeat, never seems to work for me…

From Lizzie:

The colour wearer: Also the colour green, figures very prominently in the attire, worn by some ladies I know, and somehow, that has some success attached also to their success, so they say.

No doubt there are more player types out there - keep them coming in.

Petrol damages pokies turnover

The high price of petrol, coupled with a recent interest rate rise appears to be hitting pokies revenue in New South Wales, Australia:

“THE state Budget is facing a $137 million black hole after latest figures revealed clubs and pubs have experienced a dramatic reduction in revenue increases from poker machines.”

Daily Telegraph

Note that the quote references a reduction in increases - real revenue has gone up, but not at the expected rate. If it is hits to discretionary income that is reducing pokies turnover, then its unlikely to be from the chronic players - more likely to be from the casual pokies players.

The overall revenue received by the NSW government from poker machines is around 1.3 billion dollars - from a population of about 6.7 million people. This is around $200 for every citizen, whether of gambling age or not.

Do pokies have secrets?

Do slot machines or their makers have secrets? Is there a behind the scenes secret laboratory or two dedicated to the mysterious psychology of gaming machine player attraction?

Well its certainly possible. An Australian MP wants information, but an industry representative doesn’t seem too concerned:

“No-pokies MLC Nick Xenophon has called for the Independent Gambling Authority to subpoena all data and research from manufacturers on how pokie machines work and are programmed”

Advertiser Article

So what is it about slot machines that makes them potentially addictive? Is it the lights, the sounds, the games? Its hard to boil it down without manufacturers data, but there is perhaps some evidence that certain game types work - look at how many games you see that have the same core game but with different graphics.

Perhaps also there is a certain amount of Pavlovian conditioning - over time the sights and sounds weave themselves into an irresistible pattern of attraction. The first time you hear or see a gaming machine you are unlikely to run over and be immediately entranced - it takes time - and usually a few nice wins.

Pokies tax grab

Do you sometimes wonder why you can lose so much playing the pokies? Its not actually the fault of the machines - they just do what their regulator tells them they must do, and the results are usually engineered to line the pockets of your government as much as possible:

“VICTORIA pockets about $33,000 a year in tax from each Victorian poker machine, almost twice as much as any other state.”

Herald Sun

The $33,000 figure is not what each machine wins in a year - its just the governments cut. They actually make a fair bit of money for the venue they reside in as well. Multiply that amount by almost 30,000 machines present in that state and it represents a major windfall for the state.

Nothing stops the pokies

A recent armed holdup at a gaming venue in Victoria, Australia proved that slot players take their hobby very seriously. From media accounts it has been divulged that during the holdup players continued playing their machines, and even when the police arrived, continued to do so:

“The witness said the crime scene was bizarre, as people continued playing the pokies and turned a blind eye to the incident.”

News Article

How odd is it that people will continue to play in the face of a holdup! Its possible that some players simply didn’t notice - after all the gaming machines do hold your attention. Possibly some others just didn’t want to get involved.

Its hard to think of another situation where people would ignore such an event or not run away and hide under a table.

Slap a slot machine - or a player

Some slot machines have very annoying habits. The most annoying one which comes to mind (besides losing money to them) is the way some machines force you to wait for the first 30 seconds or so of a payout whilst they play a merry tune.

Most slots allow you to over-ride by pressing spin again, but there are a minority which force you to wait while payouts tick over. This seems to occur mainly during free game features. Perhaps its legally mandated, but in that case, all machines should do it - not just an annoying minority.

Slapping the machine might make you feel better - but we don’t recommend it. The venue might just decide to slap you and then remove you from the premises.

Some slot machine players also deserve a slap from time to time. You know the ones:

Lurkers - those folks who wait around peering over your shoulder to see how much you win or lose. Some are subtle, others actually dribble on your clothing as they get too close.

Octopusses - as the name implies - those folks who insist on playing as many machines as they can reach out to with their hands, feet or other supplemental bodily appendages. During busy periods in venues, it can be hard enough to find a favourite machine to play. These multi-machiners may take three or four of the most popular models and play them all at once.

Talkers - talking to a neighbour at your chosen slot machine is ok, but not when they talk at you 90 miles an hour. This is especially annoying when you are losing and just want to be left alone to sulk.

Bumpers - these are the folks who just can’t walk past your chair without bumping it. A slot machine players aisle may be 2 feet wide, or 10 feet - they’ll still knock your chair.

Blockers - related to the multi-machiners, blockers will sit in front of a poker machine and not play it. They may be there to talk to an adjacent friend, or just be sending psychic messages to the machine to get it to pay better next time, but either way they’re not there to play. They usually pick your favourite machine to block.

Chimneys - lots of pokies players smoke at machines - at least until its banned (as in Queensland, from July 2006). Chimneys are those players who take a puff and then aggressively blow their smoke at you. They seem to wait until you are at your most vulnerable - like when you are cleaning your contact lenses, or grooming your cat.

Racers - you know the feeling, you’ve seen your favourite slot machine and are walking over anxiously to insert your hard won dollars. Suddenly you look up and your eyes meet with a racer. You are 10 feet from the machine, they may be up to 1 mile away. You know they are going to try and beat you to the machine, but you choose to maintain your dignity and walk casually. They run, pushing punters aside left and right, causing mayhem in their quest to beat you there. They usually win the race and you silently grumble.

Remoras - the worst of all, and related to the lurkers. Remoras watch discreetly across an array of machines, singling out players who haven’t had free games or a nice win. They wait until you run out of funds and pounce on your machine hoping to garner the free spins you just couldn’t win.

There may well be more player types to explore in later posts. Feel free to let us know any you have encountered.

Once again we don’t recommend actually slapping anyone from the above categories, its quite an anti-social thing to go around doing to people. Wait until you get outside, and slap a tree instead.

Victoria may axe pokies

The main opposition party in Victoria, Australia has announced plans to axe 5,000 or more of that States 30,000 poker machines if it wins the next election.

The Australian

Herald Sun

Victorians lose around 7 million dollars a day on pokies - a great deal of which ends up in government coffers. Around 20 percent of all Victorian Government revenue is now comprised of gambling revenues.

Of note in the Herald Sun article is the following comment:

“Investigations should be held to see if gaming operators’ computer systems were picking up problem gamblers through loyalty card schemes.”

Well there goes your privacy! The loyalty card schemes are of pretty limited value in most cases anyway, but having venues spy on your activity to try and deduce whether you are spending more than you should be is a little over the top.

Pokies nostalgia part 2

More on Pokies, by Lawrie.

Poker machines have been with us for over 40 years and how they have evolved from a bit of fun to play at a registered club to being money grabbers at every drinking spot known to man and woman.

Today’s machines have hypnotic sounds and music, are usually linked to a mega jackpot that someone else always seems to win but never you, how many times have you left a machine and some legend comes along and wins a big one after spending a dollar or two, I’ve lost count.

Today’s poker machines seem to concentrate on big pays that only cough out when Jupiter aligns with Mars, I’ll have to check my astrological chart and see when it is a good time for Sagittarians to donate money to the government.

Back in the dim mists of times gone by a $2 container of ten cent coins would last you a good 15 minutes, lots of small pays (usually every 3rd pull of the handle) on a 3 reel machine, my favourite was the 3 reel Aristocrat Inca machine it usually always paid a $10 jackpot (Incas and Aces in any combination on the center reel) and if you were really lucky you would spin up a massive $20 jackpot (3 Incas on the center line)

Hey I’m not saying we didn’t have problem gamblers back then, it’s just that it took you longer to loose your loot and there were not as many poker machine venues around. Clubs were the only place in NSW where you could play the pokies, pubs were for swilling beer with your mates after a hard day at work and you were still in your work clothes, clubs were for a more sedate pace of drinking and socialising and a flutter on the one armed bandit’s over a Toohey’s or two.

There was one main reason reason that NSW introduced poker machines into pubs and that was to reach a whole new market of clientele, another 500,000 customers that rarely went to clubs were ripe for the picking, and how they picked, the ladies lounge (ladies couldn’t drink in the main saloon back then) became the gaming lounge and the toilet tile walls of pubs gradually began to disappear.

I suppose the revenue from the pokies did gentrify a lot pubs as this new found wealth had to be spent before the taxman took another swipe at it, today it’s carpeted floors and walls, muted mood music and girls in the main bar and blokes behaving themselves (well almost). Kids were once barred from setting foot on pub premises, how that has changed, pubs are more family oriented these days.

More soon from the past and present, hope this blog stirs a few old and forgotten memories.

How to lose $1.8m in 5 hours

The basic theory of slot machine play might be surmised as “the more you bet, the more you lose”. In general this theory holds true, unless venues deliberately increase payout rates on slot machines in order to attract high turnover players.

A new story has come to light which really drives this point home:

“Golfer John Daly…drove to Las Vegas and says he lost $1.65 million in five hours playing mostly $5,000 slot machines”

Fox Sports Article

Its hard to imagine a $5,000 slot machine. Simply adding cash sufficient to play one game would involve inserting 50 hundred dollar bills. Presumably high roller slot machines such as played by Mr Daly offer alternative methods of inserting vast quantities of cash.

If the machines being played were to offer a very high 97% payout rate, at a bet of $5,000 a time a player might expect to lose $150 a spin over the long term.

Queenslands pokie population grows

The State of Queensland, Australia is famous primarily for its temperate climate and impressive hedges. It is rapidly becoming renowned for an entirely new reason - huge growth in slot machine numbers.

“MORE than 100 poker machines a month are being added to pubs and clubs across Queensland…New figures show the number of pokies in the state has topped 40,000, “

Courier Mail Article

Queensland has a population of a little over four million - meaning there is approximately 1 slot machine per 100 citizens (and this does not include slots in the four casinos). If you factor out those under the age of 18, the density of pokies per adult is higher than almost anywhere else on the planet.

If you’re wondering why there are so many pokies in the State, the following statistic from the article tells it like it is:

“The Government expects to collect $527 million in gaming machine tax next financial year, rising to $657 million in 2008-09.”