The Logic of Loose in Slot Machines
You have to get to know which slots are faster
by Frank Scoblete
I am sure that readers of this magazine are well aware of the fact that the higher the denomination of the machine, the better chance those machines are looser than the ones below them. This fact has a law attached to it: The Higher Denomination Machines are Looser Law it’s called.
You probably also know that the big progressive machines such as Megabucks, Wheel of Fortune, and Quartermania are much tighter than non-progressive stand-alone machines such as Wild Cherry and Red, White and Blue. The law behind this fact is called The Big Jackpot Machines Ain’t Looser Law.
All the readers of this magazine know these facts because just about every writer for this magazine explains these facts in many different ways, over and over, in order to make your slot play return more of your money to you. After all, the money is better in your pocket or purse than in those large casino vaults under the ground.
But no one knows about other types of loose machines. That’s right. Even in stand-alone machines some are looser than others. Yes, even Frank Legato, the Will Rogers of Strictly Slots doesn’t know about these loose machines; and Strictly Slots contributor and computer whiz John Robison, who lives in one of those GIANT slot machines, doesn’t know about these loose machines, and Jeff Compton, who is a slot machine, has no idea about them either. President Bush doesn’t even know about them and he knows about almost every other secret in the world.
Only me.
Only I do.
Only I know which stand-alone machines are looser than less looser stand-alone machines.
Now you will know this too because I am a generous guy and I want to see you all have a better chance to take home the casino’s money—or, at the very least, take home some of the money you brought to the casino to play the slot machines. To do that I have to reveal this secret to you in this column otherwise you would have to wait until my next column.
But before I reveal this secret to you, let me explain something about the difference between you and the casinos. They are richer than you. Yes, even if you are rich compared to other human beings, you are not as rich as the casinos. If you look at their table games closely you will note that the floorperson is always trying to get those games to run faster in order to get more decisions in. The more decisions that a game has, the better it is for the casino because the house edge grinds away that way. Got it?
Okay, in simple words, fast games with a lot of decisions are good for the casino. Less fast games with fewer decisions are less good for the casinos. You might well notice, if you are really sharp, that good and less good are both still good for the casino. That’s the sorry truth of casino games. They are all good for the casino—just some are more good than others.
Using this knowledge of fast is good; we turn our attention to the slot machines, which is the game of your choice. Everything is reversed in the world of slots. That’s the trick! If a slot machine is very fast coming up with decisions, the casino doesn’t have to take as much money from each and every spin because you are going to have many more spins for the house edge to eat away at you.
So faster slot machines are looser.
However, if the slot machine is slow with decisions, the house has to increase their edge on these machines so that they still make the kind of money they desire from them—or rather from you, actually, since you are the one pumping your money into them.
So slower machines are tighter.
Okay, those are general principles but how do you tell which are fast machines and which are slow machines? This isn’t easy—you have to play them! (Oh, the agony!) Let us say you have a machine that hits certain pay lines and tiny little cute creatures come dancing and singing on the screen taking up a lot of time. Then you have another machine that doesn’t have tiny little cute creatures or even big ugly creatures or any other entertainment segment—the reels spin, you learn your fate, and you spin them again.
The machine that has an entertainment component is going to be tighter than the machine without the entertainment component. So you don’t play those machines.
But why should you play the other machine which is faster and therefore its looseness still loses you more money in the long run because of its speed? I am glad you asked that question.
Unlike table games where the dealer has something to say about the speed of the game, you can still play faster machines slower! Do you have that? Play the fast machines slow! Reduce the number of decisions on them and now you are playing a loose machine slowly and getting more pleasure out of it. At least I am guessing you’ll get more pleasure out of it, unless you are insane and enjoy losing faster on faster machines.
Now I do not have absolute proof that what I am saying about playing fast machines slowly is the way to go or that I am correct in my assumptions. In fact, I have no proof that what I am saying is correct…except that about 20 years ago my wife, the beautiful AP and I did a little experiment in Vegas. We played side-by-side machines—of different types—putting in the exact same amount of money the exact same way. We’d play the machines for an hour then see what kind of comps we had wracked up. We never had the same comps! I assumed that the machines that were looser were paying back less in comps and the machines that were tighter were paying back more in comps. Something had to be the reason why one machine would give back more in comps and the other machine would give back less in comps.
Using that little experiment as a guide I am thinking that my current theory is correct also. If it is, you will save money by playing fast machines slowly and if I am wrong, well, you aren’t going to lose any more money than you would have lost had you played the way you always do.
Go to it boys and girls!
Frank Scoblete is the #1 best-selling gaming author in America. He is executive director of the Golden Touch advantage-play seminars in craps and blackjack. His websites are www.goldentouchcraps.com, www.goldentouchblackjack.com and www.scoblete.com in association with CasinoCityTimes.com. His recent books are Break the One-Armed Bandits: How to Come Out Ahead When You Play the Slots!, The Golden Touch Dice Control Revolution! and The Golden Touch Blackjack Revolution! His new DVD is Golden Touch: Beat Craps by Controlling the Dice! which shows over 200 controlled dice throws – many in slow motion. For a free brochure or to order Frank’s products, call 1-800-944-0406.
