PLAYERS TALK

Q: Dear friends at the Arizona Gaming Guide. I have the following questions: Can a casino advertise their slot hold?

Can they say “Our slots have a smaller hold than the casino across the street?”

And, I love video poker! I read somewhere that dollar denominations are “expected to pay more.” How would the machine be adjusted to accomplish this?

We’ll play where we get a better return for our money!! As always, thanks for keeping us well-informed. Elfido Martinez—Tucson, AZ—via letter

A: Elfido, we appreciate your questions very much!

Clearly you have three questions, all equally important, and requiring different discussions in order to answer them. To begin with, as you can see from the picture above, casinos are always promoting their slots in different ways, especially over the years. Investing in a neon sign that says “Loose Slots” is a pretty direct and permanent way to market a casino to potential players. Any casino can advertise their slot hold if they so choose. Here in Arizona, that may become a little complicated as the TribalGaming compact allows for confidentiality regarding financial aspects of regulatory oversight between the individual tribes and the state. This type of arrangement is very common. So, an individual casino may not be allowed, legally, to disclose, via advertising, their slot hold.

And, many casino managers don’t subscribe to advertising “Loose Slots” to their patrons for a variety of reasons. Some don’t want the potential backlash from patrons (as in, “Today these slots sure weren't loose!”). Others think it is too vague and believe it is misleading their guests. Over the years, we’ve heard other reasons as well.

Advertising an actual slot hold can have other ramifications as well. Launching an advertising campaign with the message, “Our penny slot hold percentage is 15%, which meets the state maximum hold!” We’re not sure how well that goes over as a pitch, accurate and truthful as it may be. Better to stick with free play and a drawing for a car. That’s much easier and appeals to everyone.

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(Continued from page 6) That’s probably why you see “Loose Slots” messaging without more specifics than that. The casino either can’t, or doesn’t want to, go into more specific detail. This slogan, “Our $5 slots have a 5% hold!” is also a little hard to swallow. It’s reinforcing the idea the casino will win in the long run. Not something a casino wants to reinforce as a main message. Our readers can understand that point of view, putting yourself in the place of a casino manager in charge of running a profitable business.

In terms of advertising what “the other guy” does or doesn’t have in terms of a slot hold is also tough. How would one casino know what the “other guy’s” hold is? As hold percentages are not public information, that starts a dangerous exchange of information between competitors. And, it would lead to a stalemate between competitors. Where does it end? “Our slots have a negative hold percentage (i.e. they are running at 105% payback) and the other guy doesn’t!” That’s not a sound short or long term business strategy!

So, hopefully that clears up why you won’t see hold percentages advertised by casinos. And, as a final note, when a casino advertises “Loose Slots,” they are correct in their statement as soon as they install just one game that is running at a lower hold than all the other games for that denomination, or has a lower hold than current “industry standards.” Advertising “Loose Slots” does not mean players win, win big, and win all the time. That’s simply not true.

In terms of your source on dollar video poker, don’t believe it. We have yet to find a published source on video poker, slots, and gambling in general that does not outright lie, misstate facts, contain massive and misleading errors, or have a complete understanding of how gambling works. The internet is the worst among them. The internet and social media is not a valid source for facts and “the truth.” Websites about gambling are essentially useless. Always have been. So, stick with us!

The message your source may have been trying to convey is that a higher denomination video poker game is probably using a better pay table and hence a higher payback (lower hold) percentage. If the source was implying anything else, it is wrong. Video poker machines installed in a casino cannot be manipulated by the operator or patrons to “pay more.” An operator, and the gaming regulators, will quickly discover if a patron is exploiting a software malfunction (this is incredibly rare due to the rigorous testing, regulation, and oversight by a computerized, real-time, accounting system) in order to win beyond the prescribed hold and prevent the issue from continuing.

But you have essentially given yourself a way to figure out the house hold by playing video poker! All you have to do is look at the pay table of your favorite video poker games as you change denominations. Most likely, certain wins (the full house and the flush) will increase as the denomination increases. Over time, and on average, you'll be playing a game that “pays more.” Plus, video poker is a determined game, so you know the hold.

Keep the questions coming! Write us at PO BOX 20636 Mesa, AZ 85277 or email us at Editor@AZGamingGuide.com. $