I did some quick math recently and I’m approaching 2500 articles written about the casino industry over the years. Often the most popular topics I broach are ones that strike a chord with players because it relates to some concerning fairness, paybacks, etc. Here’s just a few recent examples (with articles we’ve written to push back on these notions):
- Casinos would rather pay a fine than meet minimum payouts
- Tribal gaming casinos pay way less than commercial casinos because they can
- Casinos can control payouts based on who’s playing or if they won recently
- Server-based gaming means casinos can do whatever they want
- Casinos are constantly tightening the payouts, especially after the pandemic
Oftentimes people reference reading about these topics elsewhere and therefore they disagree with us, but it’s always interesting trying to trace back what they might have read, because it doesn’t generally match what’s out there – in some cases the information is really old, and the industry has never rallied around the idea (in the case of server-based gaming, for instance).
In other cases, it’s ultimately hearsay or they only got part of the details right, leading to inaccurate understandings of what actually happened.
Take the casinos would rather pay a fine scenario. Since starting Flip The Switch we’ve reached out to a few gaming commissions that oversee casinos that were said to have done this. We’ve spent time looking into articles that talked about casinos getting fined. We have never come across an example of this happening.
Have casinos been fined? Sure – we see examples of casinos accepting bets from underaged individuals, serving alcohol to those under the drinking age, and other types of infractions like this that break the rules – they absolutely do pay the fines and make updates to their procedures to avoid repeats of this, because it’s an infraction of the law.
But these sorts of infractions are never a willful scenario to purposefully avoid paying what they have to by law, which is an entirely different scenario altogether. And this, like all of the other topics mentioned at the start of this piece, fall into a bucket of topics that indicate an overall mistrust of the casinos, usually presuming the greediest worldview of them.
Meanwhile, talk to anyone in the industry and they bend over backwards to make sure games are fair. Game designers want paybacks to be as generous as possible because they want the games to be fun. Casinos want winners because it’s great marketing – if everyone always lost, there’d be no reason to return.
And the thing these players often seem to miss – slot machines are extremely profitable devices for the casino, without needing to resort to any craziness. Most slots can be set to as low as 85 percent payback in today’s modern games – that means for every $100 a player wagers, in the long term, the casino will keep $15 for itself and give the player back $85.
Compare that to American roulette, where the house keeps more than $5 for every $100 over the long term, or Blackjack, where even 6:5 Blackjack is closer to $2 for every $100. And slot machines don’t require a dealer and pit boss to run the game like live table games do.
Slots are getting tougher, however, and average bet sizes are being nudged up by game design and other subtle techniques. More volatility in slots means it can be harder to get a sizable win, although those that do achieve it can potentially win more. It means the ratio of winners and losers is shifting more in the losers column. And being forced to bet higher on newer games means less chances, on harder games, to reach that big win or bonus.
Studies have tried to prove or disprove that players can feel the difference in paybacks between more generous machines and less generous ones. But just seeing the player feedback in recent years, I think many of them are feeling the difference between less volatile machines and more volatile ones, but don’t know where to place the blame, so those examples of beliefs tend to congeal in the absence of any other good reason.
It’s still not healthy though, and it concerns me when an unhealthy relationship with gambling is a sign to watch out for when it comes to responsible gaming. It’s also why we take the “knowledge is power” approach here at Flip The Switch.
If you’re someone who believes in the worst in casinos, it’s healthy to ask why – and consider whether it’s time for a break from the casinos. Gambling is a form of entertainment, and if you’re not having fun and believing casinos are out to get you, is it really worth spending the money on it?
For me, it’s one of the items that belong on the “When Gambling is No Longer Fun” brochure to consider whether it might be a hobby to reconsider.
