Every now and again, someone who doesn't go to casinos all that often will
ask what they should play. He or she has a trip coming up with their
spouse/out-of-town friend/park district group and would like a little
advice.
Years ago, I used to just rattle off the list of the best bets: blackjack,
especially if you take the time to learn basic strategy; craps, if you stick
to pass/don't pass, come/don't come and place bets on 6 and 8; the best
video poker games. Stay away from roulette, I'd tell those who asked,
because the house edge is too high. And stay away from slot machines because
the house edge is high AND they play too fast.
Nowadays, I'm more inclined to ask what the individual wants out of the game
before I make suggestions. Reading your letters and e-mails has pounded home
the point that not everyone has making the best percentage play as the top
priority when they gamble. Players flock to the slots, fully understanding
that they're going to lose a lot more often than they win, simply because
they're easy and fun to play.
There are pluses and minuses in every game. Let's spend the next few weeks
breaking down the games you'll find in casinos, with the strengths that can
be attractive to players, along with the weaknesses that should make players
wary. Today, I'll start with the most popular games in the casinos - slot
machines.
REEL-SPINNING SLOTS
Strengths: Easy to play - just drop your money in, push the button or pull
the handle, and watch the reels spin. No complex strategies to learn. Small
minimum bets - you can get a spin of the reels for a quarter in the Chicago
area, and in some markets you still can play reel-spinners for a nickel.
Potential for large jackpots worth hundreds or even thousands of times the
amount wagered. Players like the thrill of chasing a big jackpot for bets of
just a few coins.
Weaknesses: High house edge. In the Chicago area, reel-spinning slots keep
about 7 to 8 percent of everything wagered on quarter games, 5 to 6 percent
on dollars. Play is very fast. It's easy to get in 500 spins of the reels
per hour, and really fast, focused players can spin the reels 1,000 times an
hour, if their money lasts. Even though most reel-spinning games have
maximum bets of only two or three coins, fast play leads to a very high
wager total per hour.
The combination of high house edge and fast play makes the slots the fastest
way to lose your money in the casino. Frequency of winning spins is low,
roughly 10 percent to 18 percent depending on the game, and that makes long
losing streaks inevitable.
VIDEO SLOT MACHINES
Strengths: Like reel-spinning slots, easy to play, with no strategies to
learn. Small minimum bets, as low as 1 cent if you play one line at a time
on a penny slot.
Bonus rounds give added entertainment value as you select your Chinese menu
(Fortune Cookie), grow your carrots and beets (Cash Crop), answer trivia
questions (Ripley's Believe It or Not) or play bonus rounds on any of the
dozens of themed games on slot floors. Games are more interactive than reel
slots, as players make decisions in bonus rounds.
Bonus rounds also slow down the game a bit, so that players make fewer bets
per hour than on reel-spinners. Multiple paylines - with nine lines being
the most common - leads to higher frequency of winning spins, usually around
40 percent, but with some games exceeding 50 percent.
Weaknesses: Paylines that zig and zag across the screen confuse some
players. It's more difficult than on reel slots to tell at a glance just
what you've won and how you've done it.
Average bets often are larger than they seem. You can play a nickel game for
one nickel, but most players bet all the paylines. Bet one nickel on each of
nine paylines, and you're betting 45 cents a spin, nearly as much as betting
two quarters at a time on a reel-spinner. Bet five coins per line on a
nine-line nickel game, and you're betting $2.25 a spin - up there in
dollar-game territory on a reel-spinner.
House edge is high - in the Chicago area, the majority of video slots are
nickel games that keep roughly 12 percent of everything wagered, even though
players are wagering as much as on quarter or dollar reel-spinning games.
High frequency of wins is offset by the fact that many wins bring less
return than the amount wagered - a single winning payline with a four-coin
return doesn't offset a nine-coin wager. Though slower than reel-spinners,
play is still much faster than table games, with 400 spins an hour being an
easy pace.
