Guide to Payback Percentage for Casino Slot Games
While table games are usually referred to in terms of their house edge, slots are ranked by Payback percentage. In simple terms, this is the average of all money put into a slot than will be paid out in prizes over a reasonably long period of time. For example an individual slot might have taken a million dollars in coins over the past year, and paid out $950,000 in prizes. The Payback Percentage for this game is exactly 95%.
This article takes you through the subject of payback percentages, showing you how to use this information to your advantage. First I have covered the typical range of payback for different types of slot games. After that I have introduced the vital factor of variance, showing how time can make a big difference to how you define ‘average’. After that some ways of making sure you keep your bankroll in play long enough to enjoy the occasional windfall are discussed. While you can’t beat the average over the long run, there is no reason why individuals can not enjoy short term wins.
Average Payback Percentages
The average for all casino slots when you look at payback varies between 95% and 96.5%. This is the sum total of a lot of slots and a seriously large amount of play. At some Las Vegas casinos, slots take totals coming into the billions of dollars every year. This overall average includes the jackpots and big feature wins, and also includes those people that ‘ran bad’ and saw their money disappear into the slot very quickly.
This does hide a lot of potential variations between different types of slot and even mistakes that some people make playing them, reducing their potential for a larger win. Unfortunately, few casinos break down their overall paybacks. Math wizzes in the industry have estimated that penny slots have a smaller return that the dollar games – often as low as 90%. There may also be differences between the latest video slot games with interactive feature rounds and some of the traditional 3-reel slot games.
The most common mistake people make is to play fewer coins than is needed to hit a progressive jackpot. Since the overall payback includes the very occasional, but very big, jackpot wins – playing coins that would leave you with less means you are putting yourself at a significant mathematical advantage. It pays to read the pay-tables before you get started playing.
Payback Percentages and Variance
Variance simply describes the short term ups and downs in wins and losses which occur on the way to hitting a true average. An extreme example would be if you put all your bankroll on a single spin of a slot game. It would not matter what the average payout was, you would either win or all your money would be gone.
Any one individual’s results are subject to variance. What you will find is that this is more marked on machines with big jackpots. For example, a certain slot pays out its $1 million top prize once during a year. This is calculated along with the other payouts and shows that this is a generous 98% payback percentage machine. What you need to keep in mind is that for most people, the payback is lower, much lower. This machine might pay only 94% when you exclude the lucky jackpot winner. Having a jackpot can be said to have increase the variance of the machine from the perspective of the individual.
On the opposite side of this, we have machines like Video Poker games, which have a very steady payout percentage for individuals and a payback of 99% in many cases.
How to Increase the Payback Percentage of Slots
The math of slots is designed into them, and can’t be directly influenced by any individual player. What you can do is make sure you minimize the effects of this by managing your casino bankroll effectively and by making use of bonuses and comps.
Bankroll management is simply a way of making your bankroll last long enough so that you have a chance of hitting a short-term windfall. At the same time, you need to spin amounts that are enjoyable and meaningful to you. There are many schools of thought on bankroll management. My view is that 250 times your spin amount is a great starting point for a session. You can always increase this if you run well early on.
Most casinos have a player card where you can collect reward points for your slot play. While this is not the biggest amount of money for most players, those extra dinners and slot tournament entries will add up over time. You can also take advantage of casino bonus offers at online casinos, these will be administered automatically, and can add up nicely over time.