Casinos vary widely in size – visiting Winstar in Oklahoma is going to be very different than visiting a small locals casino like those many of us visit. So a player was curious:
Is it just as lucrative to win big in a small casino as it is in a large one? Are your odds the same?
Loretta B.
In general, casinos are buying the same games from slot makers based on what’s available and approved for them to choose from. So from that aspect things will often be the same.
Each casino, however, can select what payout percentage (out of a range of choices they’re given), and there’s no guarantee that the casinos will make the same choice. As players we don’t have any visual confirmation of what they’ve chosen, but if you live in an area where payback data is shared publicly, you might be able to learn some details around this.
The biggest differences is smaller casinos are often going to have less resources to offer games with massive jackpots, so it will be less likely to see games on the casino floor with this sort of element on it unless it’s part of a Wide Area Progressive structure where the requirement to pay it out isn’t specifically on them.
The reason for this is casinos need to be able to payout jackpots they’re liable for instantly if a player wins – if they don’t have enough cash on hand to pay the jackpots on the casino floor that can occur, that is a risk – one of the biggest risks as that’s part of the trust players have in casinos is for them to honor those obligations when they occur.
In the most regulated markets, casinos must have enough cash on hand to satisfy certain minimums, which reduces the risk of issues occurring. Smaller casinos will have less money to work with because their operations are smaller, so that will generally lead them to having less of them out there to worry about.
This is why, for instance, you don’t see the Million Dollar Dragon Link offered at too many casinos – those jackpots are within the walls of the casino, and that means they need to be able to pay it out if won.
If having a chance at some massive progressive jackpots is your preference, you’re often going to be better served finding larger casinos. But that doesn’t mean you can’t win big at smaller casinos, or that the odds are worse – it’ll just be a different menu to choose from.
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