Best Casino Slot Machines

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The Las Vegas Strip is no doubt one of the most-popular places to play slot machines. Millions of tourists hit Las Vegas Boulevard every year to spin the reels.

  1. What Are The Best Casino Slot Machines To Win On
  2. Best Casino Slot Machines In Vegas
  3. Best Casino Slot Machines Payouts
  4. Popular Slot Machines At Casinos

Most of these gamblers aren’t too concerned about their exact chances of winning. They just want to enjoy fun games and get a few thrills.

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  • Naturally, this opens the question as to what the best online casinos might be for this. Alongside this, quite a large number of people might want to find the best online slots for real money. Since there’s a wealth of options on offer, this could be difficult for many people. However, this doesn’t have to be impossible.
  • Below you will find a table with all the best and most popular online slot machines in 2020. Simply choose the games that strike your fancy and create an account with the partnering casino. Once you have created your account, remember to take your free spins and your deposit bonuses as part of your welcome offer wherever applicable.

Of course, your bankroll stands to last longer when you do choose slots with fair pay. Therefore, you might be interested to know how Vegas Strip slot machines stack up to the competition.

Whether you’re going to Sin City anytime soon, or just thinking about it in the distant future, you’ll want to know the following info on Vegas Strip slots payback.

A Look at Vegas Strip Slots Return to Player (RTP)

The Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) regularly offers revenue reports on their casino gambling industry. These resources cover gaming wins for the past 12 months, including wins for slot machines.

You can get a composite view on how well Nevada slots pay and their house edges by looking at these reports. You’ll also be able to see a breakdown on prominent jurisdictions within the Silver State.

The Vegas Strip has its own set of numbers, given that it’s the key attraction of Nevada’s gambling industry.

The NGC’s report breaks down how much the Strip’s slot machines pay based on coin denomination.

Here’s how much the most-popular coin denominations delivered in 2018:

  • Penny slots – 88.30% RTP (11.7% house edge)
  • Nickel slots – 91.63% RTP (8.37% house edge)
  • Quarter slots – 89.40% RTP (10.60% house edge)
  • Dollar slots – 92.30% RTP (7.70% house edge)
  • Multi denomination – 93.61% RTP (6.39% house edge)

You can see that penny slot machines are at the bottom in terms of payback. They only offered 88.3% RTP, making them one of the worst choices of all casino games in terms of winning.

The multi-denomination machines featured the best rate at 93.61% RTP. You might want to stick with these games on the Strip, given that they both let you change the coin size and offer the best payback.

How Do Vegas Strip Slots Compare to the Rest of Nevada?

Knowing how much Vegas Strip slot machines pay is a great start. However, a reference point is needed to measure if the Strip’s slots do or don’t pay well.

Again, the NGC provides gaming win for the entire state as well as specific areas. These numbers can be pitted against the Vegas Strip’s figures to make a valid comparison.

Here’s how well slots paid throughout the Silver State in 2018:

  • Penny slots – 90.0% RTP (10.0% house edge)
  • Nickel slots – 94.39% RTP (5.61% house edge)
  • Quarter slots – 92.83% RTP (7.17% house edge)
  • Dollar slots – 93.61% RTP (6.39% house edge)
  • Multi denomination – 94.74% RTP (5.26% house edge)

Comparing the numbers, the Vegas Strip definitely doesn’t pay slots players like Nevada as a whole. All of their coin denominations offer at least 1% lower RTP than the entire state.

The biggest difference can be seen in the quarter slots. The Strip only delivered 89.40% in 2018, while Nevada paid 92.83% overall.

Another large discrepancy can be noticed with nickel slot machines. The Strip delivered just 91.63% against 94.39% for the state.

Popular slot machines at casinos

Numbers Show That Vegas Strip Slots RTP Isn’t So Hot

Vegas Strip slot machines are far from generous. In fact, they’re some of the lowest-paying slots that you’ll find anywhere in the world.

The penny slots are especially awful. They only offered 88.3% RTP last year, which is about as bad as it gets with slot machines.

Penny slots are often thought of as “cheap” games, because they only require one cent per line. But you’re theoretically losing $11.70 for every $100 wagered on Vegas Strip penny games.

Surprisingly, the quarter slots barely paid better than the penny slots. The Vegas Strip’s quarter slot machines offered 89.40% RTP, which is really bad when considering the coin size.

Best casino slot machines 2019

Only nickel, dollar, and multi-denomination slots delivered over 90% RTP. Multi-denomination machines were the best deal at 93.61% payback.

Nickel slot machines paid 91.63% RTP, which is okay by the Vegas Strip’s standards. However, this payout percentage isn’t so great when looking across the board.

Keep in mind that these are merely averages from a single year. But the percentages are fairly accurate when considering how many bets are taken into account each year.

Why Don’t Vegas Strip Slot Machines Pay That Much?

The primary reason why Vegas Strip slots fail to offer reasonable payback is because they don’t have to. Casinos on the Strip can feature low slot machine RTP and still draw visitors.

This iconic four-mile stretch is home to some of the world’s most-lavish casinos. Bellagio, Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, and the Wynn are just some of the headlining establishments on the Strip.

Las Vegas Boulevard also offers many other attractions that draw tourists. The Park, LINQ Promenade, Neon Museum, and Fountain of Bellagio are some of the spectacles located here.

Few people go to the Vegas Strip in search of the highest-paying slot machines. The small number that do would be severely disappointed upon seeing the numbers.

The Vegas Strip is instead about the experience, with gambling mixed into the equation. Slot machines found here could probably pay even less, yet millions would still gamble on this famed boulevard every year.

But the fact remains that the Strip doesn’t offer good slots payback. It lags behind many other areas of Vegas and the rest of the state.

Vegas’ Boulder Strip exemplifies what good land-based slots payback should be. They offer some of the best-paying slots in the country.

Here’s the Boulder Strip’s slots RTP for 2018:

  • Penny slots – 90.21% RTP (9.79% house edge)
  • Nickel slots – 96.23% RTP (3.77% house edge)
  • Quarter slots – 95.93% RTP (4.07% house edge)
  • Dollar slots – 95.13% RTP (4.87% house edge)
  • Multi denomination – 95.42% RTP (4.58% house edge)

You can see a tremendous difference between slots payout percentages on the Vegas Strip and Boulder Strip. The latter offers around 2% or higher RTP with every coin denomination.

A glaring difference can be seen in how much each location pays on quarter slots. The Boulder Strip delivered 95.93% RTP in 2018 — over 6.5% higher than what the Strip paid.

Machines

Another notable difference included nickel slots RTP. The Boulder Strip featured 96.23% payback, versus just 91.63% for Las Vegas Boulevard.

Of course, it’s important to realize that these figures don’t necessarily represent what the machines are programmed to pay. They instead only account for what was realized last year.

However, the numbers are far enough apart to show that the Boulder Strip offers a much-better deal. The Vegas Strip, meanwhile, lags behind the state. But you also have to remember that Boulder Highway doesn’t exactly have the same ring to it.

The Eastside Cannery Casino Hotel, Sam’s Town Gambling Hall, and Boulder Station are all popular casinos. They just don’t have anywhere the amenities as a Bellagio or MGM Grand. You therefore want to consider if the higher slots RTP is worth it.

Getting the Most Bang for Your Slots Buck on the Strip

The Strip isn’t the greatest gambling destination in terms of slot machine RTP. But again, it’s not defined by offering great chances to win at casino games.

Las Vegas Boulevard is instead an all-around entertainment hub that gives you the opportunity to gamble. Nevertheless, you should at least know which games will help stretch your bankroll further.

The best deal is multi-denomination slots for two reasons:

  1. They offered an average of 93.61% RTP last year.
  2. These machines let you choose the coin size.

You should definitely seek out multi-denomination games when you’re in Vegas. They offered at least 1.31% higher RTP than the rest of the slots last year.

Dollar slot machines are your next-best bet purely in terms of payback. They delivered 92.30% RTP. But you’ll actually get more play out of nickel slots.

Here’s a theoretical comparison between both slots to show the difference:

  • You perform 1,000 spins on dollar slot machines.
  • House edge is 7.67%.
  • 1,000 x 1 = $1,000 in total bets
  • 1,000 x 0.0767 = $76.70 in losses on dollar games
  • You perform 1,000 spins on nickel slot machines.
  • House edge is 8.37%.
  • 1,000 x 0.05 = $50 in total bets
  • 50 x 0.0837 = $4.19 in losses on nickel games

The theoretical losses with both types of slots can differ when there are varying amounts of paylines involves. But if all lines are equal, then the nickel games are cheaper.

The same can be said of penny slot machines when compared to nickel slots. They only charge one cent per line, meaning they’re fairly cheap to play.

However, RTP is the problem with penny games. You have to weigh whether it’s worth facing 3.3% lower RTP with penny slots just to enjoy lower risk on a per-bet basis.

Do Some Bankroll Calculations Before Visiting the Vegas Strip

Slot machines aren’t cheap on the Vegas Strip. Penny slot machines are especially expensive, boasting an average house advantage of 11.70% last year.

You therefore want to have a strategy in place for handling your gambling funds before leaving for your trip. The first order of business is to make sure that you don’t bet money you can’t afford to lose.

A good way to do this is by going through your bills and figuring out how much free money you have each week or month.
You can then set aside a percentage of this amount (some should be used for savings) for a slots bankroll.

The next step is to think about important variables, such as your spins per hour, average bet, and hourly losses. You can either come up with these estimates by tracking them yourself or merely thinking about the proper numbers.

Most slots players spin the reels between 500 and 700 times per hour, depending upon breaks. You likely fall somewhere in this range too.

Your average bet size should be fairly easy to figure out. You probably have a typical wager size, such as $0.25 or $0.50.

Hourly losses can be difficult to determine, because they change based on the volatility and house edge of the games you’re dealing with. But a nice round number to consider is 250 lost bets per hour.

You’ll probably lose around 250 wagers each hour until you’re able to hit some big payouts. If you’re wagering $0.50 per spin, this equals $125 in losses per hour.

The final step is to run the variables and figure out how long your bankroll should last. The goal is to get an idea on if you should bring more money or make smaller bets to extend your entertainment.

Here’s an Example:

  • You have a $1,000 bankroll
  • Your average bet size is $0.25
  • 1,000 / 0.25 = 4,000 total bets
  • You lose 250 bets an hour
  • 4,000 / 250 = 16
  • Your bankroll will theoretically last for 16 hours

Slot machines are so unpredictable that it’s tough to determine if your bankroll will last X amount of hours, even with in-depth calculations.

But you can at least get a nice estimate on how long your bankroll will hold up. Of course, you could also win some huge payouts and be up big at the end of your session.

Play Some Online Slots on Your Vegas Trip


You’re probably heavily into the land-based casino experience if you want to play slots on the Vegas Strip. But you might try mixing up your play with online slots during the excursion.

Internet slots pay far better than those on the Vegas Strip or in any other land-based casino destination. The average online slot offers around 95% or 96% RTP, which is unrivaled in most brick-and-mortar casino hubs.

The aforementioned Boulder Strip is about the only place that compares to internet slots RTP. Even then, you have to bet at least a nickel per line to play games with 95% payback.

Online casinos allow you to play penny slots with 95% RTP or better. Land-based casinos, on the other hand, can’t do this and still make money due to their overhead costs.

Again, you probably aren’t going to the Vegas Strip to sit in your hotel room and play online slots. But you might consider lounging around the hotel, a bar, or elsewhere and spinning the cyber reels for a little bit to preserve your bankroll.

Conclusion

Best Casino Slot Machines

It would be great if you could enjoy the amenities of a Mandalay Bay or Wynn and have a great change to beat slot machines. Unfortunately, you can’t because Vegas Strip casinos don’t offer great slots RTP.

Multi-denomination games led the way with 93.61% payback in 2018. But this figure is nothing to get excited about in the overall scheme of things.

Penny slot machines paid just 88.30% RTP on average last year. You’d therefore be facing an 11.70% house edge with the average penny slot, which is horrible.

You’ll get an okay deal with dollar slots (92.30% RTP). Then again, betting $1 per spin and still facing low payback isn’t anybody’s vision of gambling bliss.

What Are The Best Casino Slot Machines To Win On

The truth is that you should head elsewhere in Vegas, such as Boulder Highway, if you want the best chance to win. The Boulder Strip offered over 95% RTP for all of its denominations, except penny games, in 2018.

You can also play online slots on the side during your trip enjoy the best payout percentages of all. Of course, the key drawback here is that internet slots don’t offer the same experience as land-based casinos.

Overall, you can’t go into a Vegas Strip casino expecting to beat the slot machines. They just don’t pay enough to give you a strong chance of winning.

What you can do, though, is combine proper bankroll management with reasonable expectations. Performing bankroll calculations helps you go into each slots session with a realistic mindset. This process also keeps you from betting money that you can’t afford to lose.

by John Robison
Do the slot machines on the ends of aisles pay better than the machines in the middle? How about the machines near the table games? They’retight, right? And are the machines near the coin redemption booths loose? Join us on our journey for finding loose slot machines.
The loose slot machine is the slot player’s Holy Grail. Much as King Arthur’s Knights of the Round Table searched Britain for the Holy Grail of myth, slot players search casinos for loosemachines. Slot players have formulated many theories about where casinos place their loose machines to aid them in their quest.

Before we can figure out where the loose machines are, we have to figure out what they are. There is no U.S.D.A. system for grading the looseness of machines and no national orinternational standard that determines whether a machine is tight or loose.

So, what is a loose slot machine?

Say we have two 94% payback machines. Are they loose? I bet some people say yes and some say no. Why isn’t there agreement? Let me add a little more information to thescenario to see if it gives you an idea of why one person calls a 94% payback machine loose and another calls it tight. What if I told you that one machine was a nickel machine and theother a dollar machine? For most people who play nickel machines, a 94% machine is among the best-paying machines in their area. For most people who play dollar machines, on theother hand, a 94% machine is among the worst-paying machines in their area. The person who called 94% loose probably plays lower-denomination machines, while the person who called 94%tight probably plays higher-denomination machines.
Let me add one more piece of information. The dollar machine is a video poker machine. Dollar video poker players would rather have root canals onall their teeth with no anesthesia while their fingernails and toenails are ripped off than play a 94% payback machine. They have many adjectives for a 94% payback machine, but loose isnot one of them.
You see, loose isn’t an absolute. Looseness depends on your frame of reference. Looseness is actually a comparison. We shouldn’t say “loose.” We should really say“looser”. We should really be asking where the looser machines are. But let’s bow to common usage and continue using the term loose machine.

Best Casino Slot Machines In Vegas

So, what is a loose machine?

Quite simply, a loose machine is a machine that has a higher long-term payback percentage than another machine. The loose machines in acasino are those machines that have the highest paybacks. These are the machines that will take the smallest bites out of your bankroll in the long run. No wonder slot players areconstantly searching for them.
Over the years, players have developed a number of theories about finding loose slot machines. Casinos place loose machines near the entrances, for example, so passersby can see playerswinning and are enticed to enter the casino and try their luck. The loose machines are also at the ends of the aisles to draw players into the aisle, where the tight machinesare.
And, of course, a loose machine is always surrounded by tight machines. You never have two loose machines side by side. That’s done for players who like to play more than onemachine at a time. If they should happen to stumble upon one of the loose machines, they’ll be pumping their winnings from it into the tight machines around it.
More theories. The machines near the table games are tight because table games players don’t want to hear a lot of bells and buzzers going off and happy slot players whooping it up aftera big win. Another reason the machines near the table games are tight is because table games players will occasionally drop a few coins into a slot machine and they don’t expect to winanything, so why give them a high payback.
Similarly, the machines near the buffet and show lines are tight. People waiting in line are just killing time and getting rid of their spare change. They’re not going to play for along time or develop a relationship with those machines, so the machines can be like piggy banks – for the casino! Money goes in and rarely comes back out.
The machines near the coin redemption booths, on the other hand, are loose. Players waiting in line for coin redemption are slot players and the casino wants them to see other playerswinning. Seeing all those players winning will make them anxious to get back on the slot floor to try their luck again.
Finally, finding loose machines in highly visible locations is most likely. Again, casinos want players to see players winning and be enticed into trying to get a piece of the casino’sbankroll themselves.
These are the theories I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe you know of some others. Most of the theories have a basis in psychology. When we see others winning, we’llwant to play too because 1) we’re greedy, 2) we’re envious, or 3) we see that at least some machines really do pay off and if we keep trying we might find one too.
Based on my own discussions with slot directors, interviews with slot directors, and seminars I’ve attended, I don’t think these theories are relevant in today’s slot world. To see why,we have to look at how slot machines and slot floors have changed.
Picture a slot floor of 10-20 years ago. Even if you don’t go back that far, I’m sure you’ve seen pictures on TV or in books. The slot machines on a casino floor in that era arearranged in long rows, much like products out for sale in a supermarket aisle. There’s no imagination used in placing the machines on the floor. The machines are placed using cold,mechanical precision.
On page 193 in Slot Machines: A Pictorial History of the First 100 Years by Marshall Fey, there’s a great picture of Bally’s casino floor in Atlantic City that illustrates my point. Thepicture shows hundreds of slot machines all lined up in perfect rows like little soldiers. The caption reads, “Like a Nebraska cornfield, rows upon rows of Bally slots extend as far asthe eye can see.”

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Compare that image with the slot floor layout at a casino that was designed in the last five or so years. Studies have shown that players feel very uncomfortable playing in longaisles. They feel trapped when they’re playing in the middle of a long aisle, particularly if the casino is crowded. As a result, modern casinos have shorter aisles and when a long aislecan’t be avoided, it will be wider than others so players won’t feel like they can’t get out.
One of the finding loose machines theories has casinos placing loose machines at the ends of aisles to draw people into the aisles. Having shorter aisles means having more machinesat the ends of those aisles. Can all of these machines be loose?
In addition to being uncomfortable in long aisles, players are also uncomfortable being put out on display for the other players. Perhaps they feel like they might become a target iftheir good luck is too visible.
One slot director I heard speak said that he tried to create “comfortable niches” for his players. Instead of being in a fish bowl, visible to most of the slot floor, players in hisniches can be easily seen by only the other players in that niche.
Another theory about loose machine placement is that casinos place them in highly visible areas. Modern casinos still have highly visible areas, but the areas are visible to a smallernumber of players. A loose machine in this area will influence fewer players than before.
The last change in the slot floor that I want to mention is perhaps the biggest change of all. Casinos used to have hundreds of slot machines. Now they have thousands. Oneslot director in Las Vegas said in an interview a few years ago that with so many machines on his floor, he didn’t have time to micro-manage them. He and his management decided the holdpercentage they wanted for each denomination and he ordered payback programs close to that percentage for his machines. Furthermore, he said this was the common practice in LasVegas.
As much as the slot floor has changed, the changes on the floor are dwarfed by the changes in the slot machines themselves. One thing that struck me about that picture of Bally’s is howall the machines look alike. They really do look like soldiers being inspecting, all standing at attention and in identical uniforms, or like rows of indistinguishable corn plants. In fact, it looks like there are only three different games in the 10 machines in the first row in the picture. Granted, the majority of the machines in Bally’s casino were Ballymachines. Still I’m surprised by the lack of variety in the machines in the front row in the picture.
I heard that one theory why Americans have gotten heavier is that we have access to a wider variety of foods today than we had before. When meals consisted of the same thing time aftertime, it was easy to pass up second helpings of gruel and eat just enough to no longer be hungry. But now we have Chinese one night, Mexican the next, followed by Thai, burgers, pizza,and pasta -- it’s easy to overeat on our culinary trip around the world.
Just as variety in food creates desire, so does variety in slot machines. “Hey, I used to watch The Munsters all the time. I’ll try that machine.” “I never miss TheApprentice. I’ll give that machine a go.” “I played Monopoly all the time as a kid.” “I have a cat and a dog and a chainsaw and a toaster.”
Not only is there more variety in themes on machines, there’s also more variety in paytables. Back in the 1920s, a revolutionary change in slot machine design was paying an extra coin fora certain combination. Adding a hopper to the machine in the electro-mechanical era made it possible for the machine to pay larger jackpots itself instead of requiring a handpay from ajackpot girl. Adding a computer to the slot machine made it possible for today’s machines to pay modest jackpots of a few thousand coins all the way up to life-changing jackpots ofmillions of dollars.
The computer also makes it possible to add more gimmicks to machines. Gimmicks like “spin-til-you win,” symbols that nudge up or down to the payline, haywire repeat-pays, and double spinall add more variety and interest to the games.
Today’s machines are immeasurably more interesting and fun to play than those of even just a decade ago. Each new generation of machines has crisper graphics and better sound than theprior generation. Slot designers are working overtime to devise compelling bonus rounds that will keep players playing for just one more crack at the round. How many people playingWheel of Fortune are trying to win the jackpot? Not many. Most people keep playing to get one more spin of the wheel.
Slot directors today don’t need to pepper their slot floors with loose machines to stimulate play. Today’s machines themselves generate more desire to play than seeing a player doingwell.
Now I'll finish our discussion of where slot directors place loose machines with some additional thoughts, with a few anecdotes I've heard at slot seminars, and with what I think will be thefinal nail in the coffin of loose machine placement philosophies.
One of the placement theories says that tight machines should be placed near the table games because the table games players don’t like a lot of noise while they’re playing. Have the peopleputting forth this theory ever been near a craps table? A craps table with a shooter on a hot roll has to be one of the loudest places -- if not the loudest place -- in the casino. Crapsplayers can be a boisterous lot even when the table isn’t hot. Okay, I can see players needing peace and quiet at blackjack tables (It’s difficult to count cards even in a quiet casino.), butnot at craps, roulette, Let It Ride, and other tables. In any case, the casino can adjust the volume level on a machine. The slot director can put a very quiet, loose machine near the tablesand not disturb a single table games player.
Another problem with following a loose machine placement philosophy is that it limits the flexibility slot directors have in moving their machines around on the slot floor. If the directors aregoing to give up a little bit in payback on some machines, they certainly will want to get their money’s worth and ensure that these machines are in locations where they’ll be played, be seenbeing played, and entice other players to play. Slot floors have only a limited number of high visibility areas. Slot directors won’t want to waste any of their high-paying machines in the morenumerous less visible areas, where the machines won’t be encouraging other players.
Now I’d like to share some anecdotes I’ve heard at panel discussions during the big gaming show (first the World Gaming Congress, then the Global Gaming Expo) that’s held in Las Vegas eachyear.
First, one slot director described an experiment he conducted in his casino. He had a carousel of 5 Times Pay machines that all had the same long-term payback. He ordered new chips to lower thepayback percentages on a couple of the machines to see if anyone would notice. The machines with the lower long-term paybacks received just as much play as the higher-paying machines. Noplayer, furthermore, ever complained that some of the machines in the carousel were tighter than others.
In another seminar, a slot director shared the philosophy he used to place some machines that he had inherited from another property. These machines, he said, had lower long-term paybacks thanthe payback he usually ordered for machines on his slot floor. He said, 'I read the same books that the players read. I put these lower payback machines in the spots that the books said shouldhave the high payback machines.'
My last anecdote is about a decision made by the slot director at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas many years ago. He was ordering 10 Times Pay machines for his slot floor and he was concerned aboutthe low hit frequencies available for those machines. (Machines with multiplying symbols tend to have low hit frequencies, and usually the higher the multiplier, the lower the hit frequency.)The slot director was afraid that his players would think the machines were very tight because they hit so infrequently. He said that he ordered higher paybacks than he usually does for thosemachines in an attempt to offset the low hit frequency. The machines would still have a low hit frequency, but at least the average value of a hit would be a little higher than if he hadordered a payback percentage nearer the percentage he usually ordered. He hoped that would be enough to keep his players from thinking these were tighter than the other machines on his slotfloor.
Although I think these anecdotes are the exceptions that prove the rule that some casinos at least order the same long-term paybacks for machines of a particular denomination, there is evidencethat some casinos may not. In the first edition of Casino Operations Management, for example, Kilby and Fox list a number of “general philosophies that influence specific slot placement”including: “low hold (loose) machines should be placed in busy walkways to create an atmosphere of activity” and “loose machines are normally placed at the beginning and end of trafficpatterns.”
They then say that “high hit frequency machines located around the casino pit area will create an atmosphere of slot activity.” I’m not sure whether they’re saying high hit frequencyshould or shouldn’t be placed near the pit. In any case, note that one philosophy said that loose machines create an atmosphere of activity and another said that high hit frequency machinesalso create an atmosphere of activity. This is the perfect segue into what I think puts the final nail in the coffin about loose machine placement theories.
There is no correlation between long-term payback and hit frequency. A low hit frequency machine can have a high long-term payback. High hit frequency machines, in addition, can have lowlong-term paybacks. Larry Mak, author of Secrets of Modern Slot Playing, recently queried the Nevada Gaming Control Board to find out the payback reported on penny machines. The Board said itwas 90.167%. Most of the penny video slots have very high hit frequencies, yet the overall average long-term payback is very low.
The usual reasoning behind putting loose machines in highly visible areas is so slot players can see other players winning. Maybe we should be more precise here and say that players will seeother players hitting and assume that they are winning because they are playing loose machines. But because there’s no correlation between hit frequency and long-term payback, these players canactually be playing machines with low long-term paybacks.
I don’t put much stock in loose machine placement theories, but I do believe slot directors may follow a hit frequency placement philosophy. Slot directors may try to place high hit frequencymachines in visible areas to encourage play. This philosophy says and implies nothing about the long-term payback of the machines.

John Robison is the author of 'The Slot Expert's Guide
to Playing Slots.' His website is
www.slotexpert.com