How can a casino claim to have loose slots and what exactly does this mean?

Wouldn’t this be proof that slot machines are rigged and that payouts are not random and left up to chance?

6 Responses to “How can a casino claim to have loose slots and what exactly does this mean?”

  1. LegFuJohnson says:
    May 1, 2010 at 12:35 am

    No, not all.

    Slots are programmed to pay out a certain % of the money taken in. That’s a total average, obviously some days it’ll take more, some days less. That’s common knowledge.

    If they increase the percentage of the payouts, then the slots are “looser”… but that’s a relative term, so they can claim whatever they want.

  2. jerryb says:
    May 1, 2010 at 1:13 am

    A slot machines pay out percentage is on the chip in the machine. from about 80% to 99.9%.

    Loose slots means higher pay out percentage.

  3. Ranger4402 says:
    May 1, 2010 at 1:44 am

    A casino can claim that over the long run their slot machines pay out 95% or 97.5% of the money they take in. This claim of course can be verified for honesty.

    If Casino A has a payout rate of 98% and that is the highest rate around then it can claim it has the loosest slots.

    What the term loose slots does not mean is:

    You will win more than you lose.
    If you put in $100 then you get back the payout rate.

    The payout rates are an average over the long run.

    Finally, slot machines are not rigged. They are programmed to pay out at a specific rate when a specific amount of money is put into the machine.

  4. Vince says:
    May 1, 2010 at 2:31 am

    Having lived in Las Vegas (aka “Lost Wages”), I found that there do seem to be times of the day when casinos “pay”-off better. Usually, late at night. Or, in the wee hours of the morning. ‘Course that’s not “carved in stone”. I had also worked at a casino in Tonopah, Nv. where I was a slot tech. I found that very “few” of the slots were ever “loose”. By that, they meant that the chances of “winning” were (suppose to be) better. With all my “experience”, I found that the video poker and duces wild were the best machines, for me anyway.

  5. JackAce says:
    May 1, 2010 at 2:43 am

    A casino that advertises “loose slots” is like a restaurant that advertises “tasty food”. You can’t take them to court and sue them because their machines weren’t loose, because it’s just a subjective term.

    When they call their slots loose, it can mean one of two things (or both):
    * The long term pay out percentage is high
    * The ratio of spins to wins is lower than other slot machines

    Slots are programmed to pay out a percentage of the money taken in. A slot with a pay percentage of 99% can be considered “looser” than one with a percentage of 91%.

    A slot machine can also pay more often than another. This is often true when the wins on the machine are smaller. Even though the wins are small, a player may be less frustrated by this type of machine because they go through shorter “dry spells”. For example, a machine that pays out 9x$100 jackpots per 1000 spins might be considered looser than a machine that pays out a single $950 jackpot per 1000 spins even though the latter has a higher pay percentage.

    Since it’s all subjective, it doesn’t really matter.

  6. TheDoverPro says:
    May 1, 2010 at 2:16 am

    Slots are programmed to payout a certain percentage. This can vary from 50% to 101% depending on the casino and the location. Loose is a relaotove term, meaning a higher percentage payout is claimed for the slots. Some Casinos will advertise a block of slots as 99% payback, and this means that those slots AVERAGE a 99% payout, not that every one of them is set that way.

    Slots are not rigged, per se, but produce a jackpot based on a random number generator, and this random number generator is what sets the number of wins based on the preset payout percentage.

    Good luck!

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