A fundamental aspect of slot machine games is that there is a precisely defined house ‘edge’. The games are designed to provide a guaranteed winning margin to the venue over time. The amount of the margin depends on the game, the venue and whether the machine is linked to a progressive or other jackpot system.

The game margin is expressed as a percentage. If a game has a payout rate of 90.50% for example, it means that 9.5 cents of every dollar per spin you play, on average, will be lost.

The payout rates vary quite substantially. In Australia casinos generally have the highest payout rates - 90% or more. Pubs and clubs may have the lowest - as low as 85% in some areas. Bear in mind that the game may look identical in either venue, but you’ll lose as much as 50% more quickly playing in a pub than a casino. Unfortunately there is no way of telling what payout rate a machine has been set at.

Progressive jackpot games will often pay out less than other games. A percentage of every bet - say 4 cents in every dollar you invest - is being put towards the jackpot amounts. Unless you win a jackpot your overall payout rate on a progressive machine is going to be less than any other machine you might play. In other words, you might lose more quickly playing a linked jackpot machine.

None of the above considers the impact of doubling up. In many jurisdictions doubling a win using the standard red/black doubleup has no house edge - it’s perfectly even odds. If you’re a lucky person you can actually win quite large amounts using double up - as we’ve personally experienced.

A final aspect of payout rates to consider is their cumulative impact. A common misconception is that the percentage payback applies per session. For example - that if you take $100 to a casino for a night of fun on the pokies, that you’ll have $90 left by the end of the night if you play a machine with a 90% payout rate. The payout rate actually applies per spin over time.

Lets show some examples:

Times may be rounded up to nearest minute. Assumes 4 seconds per spin. All
figures are highly theoretical and are not to be considered mathematically
perfect.

The best advice remains to budget your gaming - take a pre-set amount and be prepared to lose it! Increasing your bets will generally only make your wallet empty more quickly (though it may also increase your likelihood of winning a progressive jackpot).

In a public appearance the Opposition Leader chose to wield a pokie as a prop:

“Victorian Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu is being investigated by the state’s gaming authority after he campaigned to remove pokies, armed with a pokie machine “

Sydney Morning Herald

The pokie being used may have been an empty shell, either way the investigation will be interesting to watch.

Legislation in Victoria provides for a significant penalty for possession of a gaming machine:

“(1) A person must not manufacture, sell, supply, obtain or be in possession of a gaming machine or a restricted component except in accordance with this Act. Penalty: 1000 penalty units or imprisonment for 2 years or both.

(b) the person controls access, either solely or jointly with other persons, to the machine.

A penalty unit is $100. There is a handy exclusion to the above section:

(4) A person may manufacture, sell, supply, obtain or be in possession of a gaming machine or restricted component if-

(b) the person has the written authority of the Commission.”

Lets hope for the Opposition Leader that he sought the written permission.

There is a nice warning here for ordinary folk - don’t possess a gaming machine for private use in Victoria. From time to time they come up for sale on Ebay - always check before purchasing that you are allowed to own such goods in your state.

“Work begins today to connect more than 20,000 poker machines in about 1600 pubs and clubs to an electronic monitoring system.”

New Zealand Herald

Strong oversight of pokies turnover, collection and cash is the only way to ensure fair pays and plays for both patrons and venues. On a trip to New Zealand a few years ago, payouts outside of the casino were noted to be very casually controlled.

As noted in a previous posting, perhaps the best reason for the government of New Zealand to tighten regulation is to ensure its tax cut is properly audited.

“A Liberal Government will cut the number of gaming machines in hotels and clubs by 20% when the current licences expire in 2012 … a reduction of 5,500″

Victorian Liberals

The end of the current pokies regime in 2012 in Victoria is a long way away. If the party is elected, it might opt to change its mind in any case.

Other policy announcements include:

“introduce a maximum cash payout of $1000 for a gaming machine win, the balance as a cheque.”

This is interesting, but of dubious value. Most gaming machine wins are below this level.

“Maintain the ban on ATMs on the gaming floor and ensure daily limits apply.”

In Queensland at least, ATMs are often found just outside the gaming floor area - hardly a disincentive to withdraw cash. Applying daily limits could have an impact.

“Maintain the ban on 24 hour poker machine venues.”

Unfortunately we are unable to locate any research on whether this actually has a positive impact.

The stigma attached to gaming machines will remain in place for as long as the various governments choose to regulate them in the way they do. As mentioned previously, the gaming machines themselves are merely advanced tax collectors in their current setup. By changing the payout levels to 98%+ and reducing maximum bets you could have any number of gaming machines - with considerably less social imact.

“with punters losing almost $2.5 billion in the past financial year”

Mercury News

A startling insight into the demographic of gamblers was revealed in the article, based on prior research:

” 43 per cent of the losses came from 2-3 per cent of players who were problem gamblers”

“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. “

Slot Machine Blog article

Smokers can no longer smoke indoors at any gaming venue (or venue which serves food or drink). Since the first of four casinos first opened in Queensland in the 1980’s, cigarette smoke has been a permanent fixture in the venues and in the hair and clothes of departing patrons. It seems the social pariah status of smokers is extending further and further.

Most casinos and large clubs or pubs have spent the past few months building smoking portals adjacent to their gaming rooms - at quite some cost.

We’ll be watching for news stories in the next few months about gaming turnover in the affected venues and will report back right here. Watch this space.

“The Country Alliance wants the machines taken out of clubs and pubs and limit them to racing venues and casinos.”

ABC online

Great news for the casino and racing venues, worse news for all the pubs and clubs out there.

This is not the case. Every spin on a pokie is independent of every other spin. The random number generator in a poker machine is turning over hundreds or thousands of times per second. Its when you press the button that makes a difference - only then is the final random number selected to provide the outcome for that spin.

There are also books available which boast of offering winning ’strategies’ for playing pokies. We won’t comment on particular titles, but in our opinion, steer well clear. It is possible for you to win playing slot machines but over time the odds are very clearly in the favour of the venues providing them.

Ask yourself - if someone knows how to win consistently on slot machines - then why are they writing a book about it. Surely they’d be travelling from casino to casino - winning all the while.

Compare this situation to Australia, where all machines in most states are linked into central mainframes and every event, down to the tiniest change or gameplay, is logged.

One pokies venue in New Zealand is not happy about the changes, claiming its machines are too old to upgrade:

“RSAs are being forced into debt to pay for government-ordered electronic upgrades of their poker machines, which many rely on for welfare payments to old soldiers”

Stuff NZ

The one time upgrade will ultimately be worthwhile for all venues. At the moment charities in New Zealand are large beneficiaries from pokies turnover. In Australia it is the various governments pocketing most of the profit.

It almost makes you wonder whether the ultimate goal behind the forced upgrades is to put in place a suitably tight audit environment so the New Zealand Government can increase its take. Every time it looks across the Tasman it must be highly envious of the billions of dollars of pokies tax revenues garnered by the states here.

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.