Answer: Let's look at this theory. New machines on the slot floor are loose so players will get used to winning on them. When the players are hooked, the casino tightens the noose — er, machines — so players lose now and some keep playing trying to recapture the old magic. While a casino can tighten a slot machine, they can also loosen them which is to ensure the slot pays out more often, though in smaller increments. The decision to make either of those changes though, isn’t taken lightly and forms part of the casino’s annual and quarterly business and revenue plan. Slot machines MUST turn up symbols and numbers according to probability theory. Gaming commissions check software code to ensure that no attempt is made to alter the actual probabilities of a certain combination coming up. So, NO, a casino cannot. Contrary to popular myth the casinos don’t tighten the machines on weekends or whenever it is busy. Here in Las Vegas the casinos have to fill out a form every time they change the percentage on each game. My wife and I are regular slot machine players, and have noticed that when a new slot machine gets into a casino, the 'good hits'.
Server-based slot machines are now a reality. But are players ready?
By Bill Burton
I wrote an article about server-based slot machine more than five years ago. It was in April 2007 that the Nevada Gaming Regulators approved International Game Technology’s (IGT) sever-based gaming system, following the field testing of 20 machines. The server-based slots, also referred to as “downloadable slots,” were being touted as the future of casino floors.
I’d seen a demonstration of this technology a few years earlier at the Global Gaming Expo, the annual trade show for the gaming industry. Although the commission approved IGT’s system first, they aren’t the only slot maker with sever-based technology. WMS and Bally’s have spent millions of dollars in research and development of similar systems and they got approval shortly after IGT. Since that time, other gaming jurisdictions have approved the server-based slot technology, including California, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Indiana and Iowa.
Gambling In the Cloud – How It Works
Server-based slot games are connected to a central computer system. The slot machines on the casino floor are basically generic terminals. Different slot games can be downloaded into the slot cabinets. Slot managers will have the ability to change a slot machine’s games, denominations, and bonus payouts from a central computer server, rather than requiring technicians to perform the work manually.
Zeus slots free download. Instead of having to buy a slot game that could soon go out of favor with the players, the server-based system gives the casino the ability to replace an unpopular game with a new one in a matter of seconds. This would save the casinos the expense of buying a completely new slot machine when they want to bring a new game onto the casino floor. They would merely pay a licensing fee for the particular game they downloaded.
A Myth Comes True – gambling in the cloud
For years, slot players have believed a myth: that casinos can change the payback of a machine with the flip of a switch. They worried that the casino could tighten the machines during busy times (such as weekends), and then loosen them up to pay out more during the week. Casino moons no deposit bonus codes.
With a server-based system, this myth could actually become a reality, as casinos will be able to change the payback of the machines, along with the denomination of the game, through the server. 99 slot machines review.
The one consolation for the player is that the casinos must also deal with the regulatory requirements of their home state. In most jurisdictions, casinos must notify the regulators at least 24 hours in advance if they want to tighten the payout percentages.
Also, casinos can’t simply kick players off the slot machines if they want to switch themes. A machine must be idle for at least four minutes before themes are switched. No changes will be made while a customer is still playing the slots, or while any credits are left on the machine.
A Slow Transition
When the decision by the Nevada board was made in 2007, many gaming analysts predicted that the machines would start finding their way onto the casino floors and be in full swing by 2009.
In the article I wrote in 2007, I predicted that the proliferation of server-based slots would not happen by 2009 as some of the analysts forecasted. I did not think that players would readily accept this new technology of having the games residing on a server in some distant location. I had conducted an online survey for an internet site I wrote for, and I received hundreds of negative responses when I asked player how the felt about server-based games. The majority said they would not trust them.
My prediction proved to be correct for that time period. However, over the last few years there has been a shift in the way people have come to look at server-based products, and it really only took a simple name change to make the idea more acceptable.
We’re now in the age of “Cloud Computing or gambling in the cloud,” which is nothing more than having your data stored on remote servers that can be accessed from different computers or any device with an internet connection. Many of us have an online e-mail account through companies like Yahoo or Google, and we can easily check our e-mail remotely when we are not at our main computers.
Accepting the Cloud
There is no definitive answer as to who originally coined the phrase “Cloud Computing” although many credit Google CEO Eric Schmidt with making it popular. And of course when Apple started offering their iCloud service, where you can store your digital music online to access from any device, this only brought wider acceptance to keeping data on remote servers.
Regardless who was the first to use the term Cloud instead of server-based, it was a stroke of genius. In our minds, clouds are soft, puffy objects floating around the sky. It sounds friendly and non-threatening. In contrast, when you use the term “Server-Based” it evokes a completely different feeling. I would not be surprised if you start hearing server-based games being referred to as cloud-based games sometime in the future.
Regardless of what they’re called, our overall acceptance of remote data will probably mean that we will start to see more of these games on the casino floors.
In a press release in January of this year, IGT announced that Barona Valley Ranch Resort and Casino in San Diego, California went “live” just before Christmas in 2011 with the first IGT server-based gaming system and machines ever installed. Lee Skelley, assistant general manager of casino operations at Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino said, “For the first time, an up-to-the-second slot experience, customized to the players’ expectations, will become possible.”
The new Revel Casino that opened in Atlantic City earlier this year also offers server-based slot games on their casino floor. This may be the start of a trend that was predicted over five years ago, and I believe you will see more expansion in the near future.
Of course, the final test of this new technology will lie in the hands of the players. If they do not accept and trust these systems, then other casinos will not be in a hurry to convert their casino floors. Only time will tell. However, if the games are fun and entertaining, I don’t think the players will care if they are located in the cloud or not.
Until next time, remember: luck comes and goes, but knowledge stays forever. I hope you enjoyed this article of “gambling in the cloud“.
Bill Burton is the author of “1000 Best Casino Gambling Secrets” and “Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em,” which are available online at www.billburton.com. He’s also an instructor for Golden Touch Craps: www.thecrapsclub.com
Can Indian Casinos Tighten Slot Machines
Which types of slot machines make the casinos more money?
by Frank Scoblete
Slot players are always looking for their one true love. Unlike in affairs of the heart, they want that one true love to be loose.
One can take a quick glance at the slot payback tables in this issue, or any issue, of Strictly Slots to get an idea of which regions of the country have the highest slot machine payout percentages. Conversely, one can also see which areas have the lowest payout percentages. In jurisdictions that report individual percentages, you can also compare one casino to another. Slot or video poker machines that have higher payback percentages are referred to as “loose” while those with lower returns are “tight.”
The slot payout percentages published in Strictly Slots and Casino Player represent the average percent of each slot wager that is returned to the players in jackpots. For penny, nickel, quarter, 50-cent, one-dollar and even five-dollar machines, these percentages tend to reflect a large amount of play. You can be relatively certain that the payback percentage numbers are not only accurate, but valid. However, you can’t be as confident in the statistics for the higher denomination machines such as the 25-dollar and higher limits. These machines generally receive less play and the actual returns can vary widely in the short-term making statistically valid comparisons much less reliable. However, by comparing the payout percentages over a given period of time, readers can get an idea where the loosest and tightest slots can be found.
Realize, of course, that my designations of loose and tight are relative and based on a comparative study. A loose slot is loose in relation to one that is not as loose. Read that sentence again. A loose slot is loose in relation to one that is not as loose. It makes sense doesn’t it? This is Albert Einstein’s Special Slot Theory of Relativity. Now it doesn’t take a genius or a rocket scientist to see that a quarter slot machine returning 95 percent is looser than a quarter slot machine returning 89 or 90 percent.
Let’s suppose a casino’s slot aisles are filled with machines paying back 95 percent and a competing casino’s slot inventory only had 89 to 90 percent payback machines. All other things even, which casino property would make the most money in the long run? I say the casino property with the loose machines would make more money! There are several reasons for this.
First, with looser machines, players have a tendency to have more winning sessions, or lose less during losing sessions. They can also play longer without draining their bankrolls in a short period of time – their session bankrolls last longer! When players tend to win more or lose less at a particular casino, they tend to come back to that casino. The more they win, the more they prefer to play at the casino where these wins take place. Winning makes players happy. A happy customer is one who will come back time and time again. This is the repeat business scenario. The looser casino might not make as much from a player in one visit as a tight casino would, but when that player returns for multiple visits … Let’s just say, I can literally hear the cash register ringing!
Second, a casino with looser slots might win less per player per visit, but it will have many more players to win less from. This means they stand to make more money over time than the casino winning more money from fewer players. Read that again. It makes complete sense, doesn’t it? This isn’t rocket science!
Third, the more repeat visits casino players make to a casino property, the more money they tend to spend in the restaurants, bars, and sundry shops. Not to mention they spend money on hotel rooms and in other retail venues like clothing stores or specialty shops. This can be considered the reverse of collateral damage. It’s actually collateral profitability.
Let’s not forget that happy players tend to tell other players which casinos have made them happy. In short, they spread the glad tidings to their friends, relatives, and even strangers. So our happy player not only returns to play at that casino, but often brings friends and relatives with them on these subsequent visits. One might consider this a “friendly relative enhancement” for that particular casino.
Now, how about those casinos that have relatively tight slot machines? Are they in the forefront when it comes to a player’s long-term slot play? Not hardly!
Slot aficionados tend to hunt for the better payouts. When they can’t find them or simply get tired of losing, they make fewer trips. These players stay home and eat in their own kitchens and dining rooms. A casino restaurant can’t be full of diners if those potential diners decided to stay home. I think that these tight casinos are simply asking for long-term trouble.
To the casino executives at these tight properties, I say, “Come on! No one likes a tight wad.” These “Silas Marner” properties might make some money in the short-run, but they must recruit new players all the time.* Their crop of current players will often divorce them. Slot players are always looking for their one true love. Unlike in affairs of the heart, they want that one true love to be loose.
So what can you do if you find yourself in an area of the country where your local casinos have super-tight machines? Well, you could write a letter to the slot director. Chances are that that won’t work, however. More than likely the slot directors are probably looking at their bosses for guidance and in hopes that such a boss might promote them from slot director to casino director. I’ve found that casino directors often resemble sloths when it comes to the change department. Of course, you could just moan and bare it. I’ll admit that isn’t much fun and by accepting the status quo, nothing changes. Another course of action you could choose is to save your money and take a trip where the slot sun is shining. Sure the trip will cost you money, but such a trip is a vacation. Plus, you might have more fun playing longer and might even come away a winner! Your trip will cost the tight casino some money too. If enough players choose that path, maybe that will change the slot director’s mind to loosen payouts.
So, here’s the plan. Plain and simple: you must steel your mind against any machines that are tight. Don’t play them! Look up the figures and be aware of who’s who and what’s what on the casino slot frontier. Tell your friends and relatives the good places to play. Shoo them away from those casinos where the players represent the proverbial nail and the slot machines the hammer.
I think we should have a slot players’ rebellion in this country. To heck with the Tea Party! To heck with the Occupy Wall Street folks! To heck with everything that annoys you like high gas prices and nuclear war – we want slot machines that are really, really loose! We will not settle for anything less. If slot players win more, the casinos will ultimately win more. It’s a win-win!
Truth About Slot Machines
I proclaim that we must have freedom! “Freedom to be loose,” I say. “Let freedom ring in the form of bells, cherries, bonus spins, and Triple 7’s!”
Whew. Sorry. I got a little carried away there. By now, I’m sure you get the picture when it comes to loose versus tight slots. After all, the picture is in high-definition and in 3-D. We can’t make it any clearer, we want loose machines everywhere!
Do Casinos Control Slot Machines
*Editor’s Note: Silas Marner is a friendless weaver who cares only for his cache of gold before undergoing a life-altering event in George Eliot’s 1861 novel “Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe.”
Frank Scoblete’s newest books include Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines! featuring advantage-play slots; Casino Craps: Shoot to Win! which comes with a DVD showing controlled throws. Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players! and Beat Blackjack Now! These items are all available from Amazon.com or at your favorite bookstore. To order by mail or for a free brochure, simply call 1-866-SET-DICE.