There’s a segment of casino visitors who don’t trust casinos to the point where we wonder why they go. Casinos are able to make money quite readily with the business model they have, and taking players’ money too efficiently would likely turn off players from coming back – an issue that already is bubbling up as slots get more volatile and lower budgeted players are skipping trips to Vegas.
Today’s question dabbles in these topics:
The last time casinos stuck to the 90-95% rule on slot machines was in the 1990s. Ever since, with increasing computerization tracking, the theft is open and increasing. Especially today, with artificial intelligence levels of tracking, the theft has gotten so bad that we, gamblers who once loved Vegas, are backing away.
Thomas G.
While slots can be designed to pay out a variety of percentages, the data reporting what casinos are paying back generally offers the most useful information around what slots are paying. So let’s review that claim first.
We’ll start with some payback information. We’ve chosen a few examples of long-established locations with gambling and transparent data for the sake of illustration, but we’ve shared links to other places where the reporting is available previously on the site. We also chose locations where denomination-specific data was available, as opposed to a simple roll-up of all machines.
The data here covers a 12-month window for each market. Since markets roll up data at different times, the windows don’t always align, but we chose the best 12 month window for the purposes of comparison (which were either calendar year 2024 or the year ending June 30, 2025, depending on what was available).
The numbers below are the percentage paid back to players during that timeframe; the inverse, the remainder of the pie, is the “hold,” or the percentage of wagers casinos held during that time.
These cover electronic machines beyond slots as well, which often incorporate games like video poker and keno, but as this is generally the norm, all numbers below would be affected similarly.
| Market | Nevada | Mohegan Sun (CT) | New Jersey |
| 12 months ending | 6/30/25 | 6/30/25 | 12/31/24 |
| 1 cent | 90.69% | 89.52% | 88.0% |
| 5 cent | 94.12% | 89.42% | 91.1% |
| 25 cent | 91.80% | 91.96% | 89.7% |
| 1 dollar | 92.93% | 92.78% | 91.5% |
| Multi-denomination | 92.89% | 91.53% | 91.9% |
| Overall | 92.62% | 91.59% | 90.7% |
While payback percentage numbers are certainly lower than the 1990s for a variety of reasons (the proliferation of penny denomination machines being a major driver), they’re also not well below 90% either like you’re claiming.
Penny slot machines have for quite some time now offered a payback range of 85-98%, so it’s not surprising to see some properties/markets below 90% specifically in that bucket, but the most common machine type on casino floors today, multi-denomination machines, remains above 90%, as does the overall average.
What has changed more recently are the slots and the volatility of them. Players have shown, despite grumbling and complaints by many that they’ve gotten harder over the years, they’re willing to play slots that have harder to reach bonuses, more wild swings in the ups and downs, in pursuit of those bigger slot wins. The addition of big progressives also shifts a small percentage of the machine’s overall payback into a jackpot few will win, so that can also be meaningful (and can be avoided by simply not playing machines with giant jackpots on them).
Casinos don’t need to crank up the payouts to generate the revenue – the slots make great money, especially when compared to other games like Blackjack or even Roulette, which has a lower house edge over time than slots (the casinos make it up in higher required bet levels).
They’re also not using AI – they don’t need to with margins like this. Players who willingly walk into casinos where all the games offer the house an advantage are not victims of theft.
If you think the casinos are stealing, we certainly hope you’re not gambling, and are instead spending your entertainment dollar on other things you find more rewarding.
