Simple Slot Math

You might be interested in some simple slot math if you are like most people and like to give new slot machines a whirl or two. Today's slots are interactive, fun and exciting, but they don't seem to be getting any easier to understand.

In the old days, slot machines had three reels, usually with cherries, oranges, plums, bells and bars as symbols. Each reel had a total of twenty symbols, so the math went: 20 stops on reel one x 20 on reel two x 20 on reel three. This left a total of 8000 outcomes. Usually only one "BAR" symbol was found on each reel, and the jackpot paid on three bars.

Your chance of hitting a jackpot was 8000-1. If you added all the other payoffs, they usually amounted to about a 75 to 80% payback. If I recall correctly, when Atlantic City legalized casino gambling in the late 1970's, the minimum payback for any machine was 86%. Thank goodness we are modern and lucky now!

Today's machines (both reel-type video games and video poker) are more likely to pay back between 92 and 96%. That's a lot better deal, but as several readers mentioned this week, even the penny and 2-cent machines can be expensive to play.

A good example is IGT's Slingo Mah-Jong. This fun reel-type slot allows bets up to 25 credits per line. You can play 27 lines. If you bet the maximum, you are risking 675 credits per spin. On a penny machine, that's $6.75 - that's 27 times more expensive to play than a standard nickle video poker machine with five credits (25-cents per game).

If you tug that old slot machines' handle 360 times per hour with a 25-cent bet and the machine pays back 95%, you risk $90 and your average entertainment cost is about $4.50, but if you play $6.75 per spin, your entertainment cost is closer to $120 an hour. Don't over-bet your bankroll.

So, know what you are betting! You don't have to bet every combination and max credits to enjoy your slot! Find a limit you are comfortable with.