The search for examples of casinos having absolute control over payouts continues. Here’s a question that is fair, but has an easy answer:
Most casinos have slot tournaments where the payback per spin is very high. How does the casino change the payback percentage on these machines and then later use these same machines as a normal play machine? Seems like all they do is flip a switch somewhere.
Tom
There’s a couple of parts to our answer here, which should help demystify things.
First, casinos can change a slot’s payback when they want, within the parameters of what’s allowed. So if they want to open up a machine and make settings changes, that’s not against the rules, but there may be timing and procedural steps that must be followed.
For instance, in Las Vegas, if a machine has credits in it, they can’t just randomly change the payout while a player is actively playing it.
When it comes to slot tournament machines, unlike in a previous era where a specific set of machines solely for slot tournaments had to be used, machine banks can be set for real money play during non-tournament times, and then switched into tournament modes during those times.
These aren’t actually payout changes, but a completely different game altogether. Even if the themes are familiar, or these are using the same mechanical reels used for the real money gaming, it’s running in a different mode altogether.
So, the prizes awarded for various combinations, the speed of the reels, etc. are all calibrated for slot tournaments when actively in that mode. Like the changing of the payback percentage, this is a setting the machine is designed with, and casinos use to run their business.
So in this case it’s a benign control setting for banks of slots designed to have this ability to run in both modes. Compared to having to maintain separate and distinct machines just for tournament mode, it’s more cost effective, and allows casinos to generate revenue off those machines when tournaments aren’t active
Have a question? Submit yours here!
