Players often worry about what casinos can control on a slot. Oftentimes that worry is unfounded, but we always appreciate being able to help address these questions! Here’s one recent example:
I know the return to player (RTP) is set by the manufacturer, but can casinos change how a bonus is paid? Like having a machine pay a lower percentage for the bonus. I have noticed that a machine I play a lot at max bet is paying a lot less than they did before.
Manufacturers design the RTPs that slots can be set at, and casinos get to choose one, so there is a bit of opportunity at each layers for decisions to be made. But a casino can’t tweak knobs on bonus payouts itself; they can only change the overall RTP they choose to offer on their floor. The bonus payouts, along with everything else, are optimized to achieve that RTP over the long term
So, they can’t go in and say a bonus that used to pay 50x on average will now pay 40x. They could say a machine that was paying 92% is now set to 91%.
How a slot is optimized for each RTP option may vary. I’ve heard varying accounts from different slot designers over the years about how they design a slot. Some start at the lowest RTP, find the balance, and then add more of what makes the slot fun on higher RTP options – say, a slightly higher bonus frequency or slightly bigger payouts in a given bonus.
Others will design for the mid-point of what many operators tend to select for their slots at that bet level or denomination, and then make tweaks to go higher or lower from there.
So this isn’t a one-size fits all thing, but when you’re adding 1% to or taking 1% away from a slot’s overall payouts, you’re not going to see massive swings. If a slot offers about half its payouts in the bonus, for example, that 1% deduction, if taken fully out of the bonus payouts, would work out to a 2% removal from an individual bonus win – think a $100 bonus becoming $98. This isn’t something as players we’d necessarily feel as a heavy change like you’re describing.
Similarly, casinos don’t ratchet down payback settings on older machines – if anything, we periodically see the marketing example of older machines being set (and marketed) with a higher RTP to try to encourage more play on older machines as they slowly lose favor on a casino floor.
And of course, regardless of whether a machine is set to a higher or lower payback setting, players will experience swings that come from the random number generator working within a range of outcomes – there can be peaks and valleys, a key part of the slot experience that makes it fun for so many.
Have a question? Submit yours here!
When a wide area progressive can pay out a cash amount that is sometimes around half of the winning amount, is that calculated into the RTP?
It is! Many of these companies also ran lottery divisions at various points, so the idea of a annual payout for x years vs. a lump sum model mirrors that like you see on games like Powerball and Mega Millions. Generally the RTP would factor in the lump sum payout, as the larger, $ per year model factors in investments that would fund the bigger payouts and what they pay over time, vs. the one-time lump sum.
Thanks for the prompt answer! Frankly, I don’t see that ever becoming as issue for me.