The Advantageous Slot Machines
The king of low-cost gambling is the slot machine.
For as little as a nickel, the player can pull a lever and watch the wheels spin. When the wheels stop on a jackpot payoff, a bell might ring, a light glows, and the player often yells "jackpot!" or "yippy!" at the top of his lungs.
All this might seems a bit childish to sophisticated gamblers, but to thousands of players, it is the most enjoyable game in the casino.
Reno and downtown Las Vegas for years have been the largest slot machine centers in the world, but the south shore of Lake Tahoe is fast becoming the big glamour spot for the slot player. With casinos like Harrah's Club, Harvey's Wagon Wheel Hotel, and the fabulous Sahara Tahoe Hotel furnishing the slot players with approximately 1,000 slot machines each, the machine has taken on a new importance in gambling.
With the fierce competition between casinos for the slot machine business, the house advantage against the player is often small, and this is contributing to the increase in business.
Most slot machines have three reels, and each reel has twenty symbols. The machine payout, or house advantage, depends on the payoff quantity, the number of types of symbols, and the combination of symbols on each reel.
There are thousands of combinations of symbols that can be placed on the reels, and by varying the payoff amount for each type of symbol, an infinite number of ways can be made to vary the house advantage.
When the payout is high, the machines are described as loose, and when the payout is low, the machines are described as tight.
The most common types of symbols used on slot machines, and their payout in coins are cherry, orange, plum, bell, bar (or the name of the casino), seven (or the casino emblem), lemon, and melon.
However, The Palace King slot machine in Nevada has no lemons and has only six types of symbols. The pay-back to the customer for this Palace Club machine is 94 percent.
This should give a clue as to what to look for when selecting a machine. With only six types of symbols, no lemons, and the full payoffs - chances are good that the machine will pay back a high rate of return.
On a slot machine such as this, the windows are large and the player can see a good part of the reel. The player, after a few coins, should be able to see the approximate number of jackpot symbols.
In payout percentages for slot machines vary from a high of 94 or 95 percent to under 50 percent. The low payout machines are generally found in Nevada drug stores, grocery stores, and casinos that do not depend on the slot machine business.
A casino paying back an average of 92 percent for slots is generally considered a competitive casino.
