Some machines get played more than others. Some players play machines for longer sessions than others. Some worry that playing slots for too long can lead them to slam up, payout-wise:
Do you think a game can be played too much until it won’t pay out?
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No – that would sort of defeat the purpose of a slot to begin with.
Slots are designed to make money for the casino over time. The more they’re played, the more they make. But it’s not because they stop paying – it’s because they have a house edge baked into them.
For every $1 wagered, they’re designed to keep a percentage back for themselves, somewhere between 5 and 15 cents, based on the setting a casino opts to use. The setting will depend on the casino’s financial goals, whether it’s a high or low denomination, whether there’s competition in the market… all sorts of thinking goes into those decisions.
That is accomplished over time, which means in the short term it can be a wide variation from that (which is how players can win a jackpot on small bets and leave the casino well up), but the more a slot is played, the closer it will approach its expected payback, and expected income held for the casino. In fact, slot payback is often achieved from millions of spins.
So slots won’t stop paying out a percentage of bets as wins, but the longer you play it, the more and more likely the casino will make its money and you’ll make a donation to the casino. This is why hosts often encourage players to play for four hours – at that point, thousands of bets on slots have been made, making it much more likely they’ll come out ahead on that visit.
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