Additionally, the only kind of slot machines allowed are electronic video slot machines. Therefore, you will not find any mechanical slots that have traditional reels - only video screens According to the terms of the compact between the state and the tribes, however, the minimum and maximum payouts are regulated as follows: video poker. In summary, who controls slot machine odds is answered by understanding they are controlled by the machine, the casino staff, both, possibly the state if the machine is a video lottery terminal, and by slot machine manufacturers themselves in the case of most Progressive slot machines. Instead, slot machine odds are expressed in the form of payback percentages. As a player, you want to search for games that give you the biggest payback percentage you can find and online that should be at least 99 percent or better. Again, if you choose to play free slots for fun, you don’t have to worry about slot machine odds.
When Connecticut's two casinos opened in the early 90s, they did so by reaching an agreement with the State of Connecticut to pay the state 25 percent of their monthly slot revenues.
As a result, both Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods must report their total slot earnings to the state each month. In December 2010, Foxwoods earned $45 million on its slot machines, an increase of 1.2 percent over December 2009.
Mohegan Sun took in $53.5 million dollars in December slot revenue. That's a 6 percent decline over December 2009, according to The Day of New London.
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In reporting its numbers, Mohegan Sun actually revealed some interesting information some gamblers might want to pay attention to.
Overall in December, $673,412,991 went through Mohegan's slot machines. It's a staggering number, referred to as the handle, by casinos. But Mohegan Sun only kept 7.94 percent of that total amount. That means more than 92 percent went back to gamblers.
What may be even more valuable information to the millions of people who drop dollars into those ringing, buzzing and screeching machines is that Mohegan Sun also breaks down which machines actually give gamblers the best odds at winning.
The casino has 6,404 slot machines scattered throughout it's sprawling gaming floors, and as most gamblers know, you can toss your money into those machines in many different denominations. But what the casino's December numbers show is that some of the 'cheapest' slot machines, actually have the worst odds for patrons.
For example, Mohegan Sun kept 11 percent of all of the money that went into its penny slot machines, with 89 percent returned to the players. That must be why the casino has more penny slots, 2,532 machines, than any other type. Not surprisingly, the majority of Mohegan Sun's slot revenue comes from these penny slots. Nickel slot machines took 12 percent, and give back 88 percent in December.
On the other side of the scale, the casino's $2 slots kept just 2.03 percent of the money that went in, giving back just under 98 percent to gamblers. The best deal for players, if you can afford it, was the casino's $10 slot machines, which kept a minuscule 1.77 percent of the money put into them, returning 99.23 percent to those spending their hard-earned cash.
In the middle were the casino's quarter slots, which returned more than 91 percent of the money put in back to patrons, and the $1 machines gave back more than 93 percent to gamblers.
But for those who want to play those machines, their best bet may be to play Mohegan Sun's multi-denomination slots. Those are machines on which a player can choose to bet in different amounts. In December, they returned 95 percent of the money that went into them. So gamblers had better odds dumping quarters into a multi-denomination machine, than playing those same coins on the quarter slots.
Many players know all too well about the concept of high-paying slots and low-paying slots. These are not misnomers or fallacies; they are real-life realities. For example, there are slot machine games that are notorious for low payout rates, while there are other slots games that have significantly higher overall payout rates, usually owing to higher coin denominations required to play those slot games. You often hear the terms house advantage or house edge being used interchangeably when it comes to odds in casino games. However, when we are discussing Illinois slot machines games the term that is used by operators is payout percentage. It is essentially the same concept, but it is viewed from a different angle. If you want to know what the basic definition of a payout percentage is, it is simply the house edge subtracted from 100%.
RNGs and Slots Payouts are Linked
The concept of a random number generator is one that needs further illumination in order to understand how payouts of Illinois slot machines work. For the purposes of discussion, a random number generator simply randomizes the outcomes of slot machine games. The random number generator (RNG for short) is a computer program that has been designed and independently tested by third-party authorities affiliated with regulatory bodies to ensure the fairness and randomness of all outcomes. It is important not to confuse the purpose of an RNG and that of the casino’s payout percentage rate. These are two completely different aspects and they are for the most part unrelated to one another.
The casino is responsible for establishing its payout combinations to ensure that it remains profitable. The RNGs feature stops for every combination and every reel, but the payout for any combination hitting is determined by the casino. If you have for example 20 stops which each have an equal possibility of hitting over 3 reels, the calculation would be as follows: 1/20 X 1/20 X 1/20 equals 1/8,000 of all 3 spinning reels to land on a specific stop. Now the actual casino may have a payout for that combination of just 75:1 or 100:1 for example. This brings us to one of the most important aspects of Illinois slot machines and casinos: the payout is always less than the odds of winning.
Which Slot Machines Have The Best Odds
Typical Payouts and Payout Percentages
Casino Payouts By State
A standard online casino will have slot machine payout rates in the region of 95% – 98%. And the reason why these payout rates are so much higher than land-based casinos is a result of lower fixed costs of operations. Since everything is online, there is no need to maintain slot machines, no need to employ scores of personnel, no need to rent facilities other than servers, etc. Another important thing to bear in mind is PARS. Illinois slot machines players will typically not have access to things like this, but it is something that is important in the industry and is known to the casinos themselves. Many players believe that slot machine games which offer higher payout percentages will pay out more, but this is once again also open to interpretation.