• Tight Slot Machines
• Loose And Tight Slot Machines

Which types of slot machines make the casinos more money?

Slots for Dummies: 5 Things You Should Know. Tight Machines. Finding a loose machine is just about the best thing that can happen to a slot player. Loose machines are really the only advantage you’ll get playing the slots because every other factor is completely random. What makes a machine loose or tight is its payout percentage. A loose slot is loose in relation to one that is not as loose. Read that sentence again; it makes sense. This is Einstein’s Special Slot Theory of Relativity. It does not take a rocket scientist to see that a 25-cent slot machine returning 95 percent is looser than a 25-cent machine returning 89 to 90 percent.

by Frank Scoblete

Slot players are always looking for their one true love. Unlike in affairs of the heart, they want that one true love to be loose.

One can take a quick glance at the slot payback tables in this issue, or any issue, of Strictly Slots to get an idea of which regions of the country have the highest slot machine payout percentages. Conversely, one can also see which areas have the lowest payout percentages. In jurisdictions that report individual percentages, you can also compare one casino to another. Slot or video poker machines that have higher payback percentages are referred to as “loose” while those with lower returns are “tight.”

The slot payout percentages published in Strictly Slots and Casino Player represent the average percent of each slot wager that is returned to the players in jackpots. For penny, nickel, quarter, 50-cent, one-dollar and even five-dollar machines, these percentages tend to reflect a large amount of play. You can be relatively certain that the payback percentage numbers are not only accurate, but valid. However, you can’t be as confident in the statistics for the higher denomination machines such as the 25-dollar and higher limits. These machines generally receive less play and the actual returns can vary widely in the short-term making statistically valid comparisons much less reliable. However, by comparing the payout percentages over a given period of time, readers can get an idea where the loosest and tightest slots can be found.

Realize, of course, that my designations of loose and tight are relative and based on a comparative study. A loose slot is loose in relation to one that is not as loose. Read that sentence again. A loose slot is loose in relation to one that is not as loose. It makes sense doesn’t it? This is Albert Einstein’s Special Slot Theory of Relativity. Now it doesn’t take a genius or a rocket scientist to see that a quarter slot machine returning 95 percent is looser than a quarter slot machine returning 89 or 90 percent.

Let’s suppose a casino’s slot aisles are filled with machines paying back 95 percent and a competing casino’s slot inventory only had 89 to 90 percent payback machines. All other things even, which casino property would make the most money in the long run? I say the casino property with the loose machines would make more money! There are several reasons for this.

First, with looser machines, players have a tendency to have more winning sessions, or lose less during losing sessions. They can also play longer without draining their bankrolls in a short period of time – their session bankrolls last longer! When players tend to win more or lose less at a particular casino, they tend to come back to that casino. The more they win, the more they prefer to play at the casino where these wins take place. Winning makes players happy. A happy customer is one who will come back time and time again. This is the repeat business scenario. The looser casino might not make as much from a player in one visit as a tight casino would, but when that player returns for multiple visits … Let’s just say, I can literally hear the cash register ringing!

Second, a casino with looser slots might win less per player per visit, but it will have many more players to win less from. This means they stand to make more money over time than the casino winning more money from fewer players. Read that again. It makes complete sense, doesn’t it? This isn’t rocket science!

Third, the more repeat visits casino players make to a casino property, the more money they tend to spend in the restaurants, bars, and sundry shops. Not to mention they spend money on hotel rooms and in other retail venues like clothing stores or specialty shops. This can be considered the reverse of collateral damage. It’s actually collateral profitability.

Let’s not forget that happy players tend to tell other players which casinos have made them happy. In short, they spread the glad tidings to their friends, relatives, and even strangers. So our happy player not only returns to play at that casino, but often brings friends and relatives with them on these subsequent visits. One might consider this a “friendly relative enhancement” for that particular casino.

Tight Slot Machines

Now, how about those casinos that have relatively tight slot machines? Are they in the forefront when it comes to a player’s long-term slot play? Not hardly!

Slot aficionados tend to hunt for the better payouts. When they can’t find them or simply get tired of losing, they make fewer trips. These players stay home and eat in their own kitchens and dining rooms. A casino restaurant can’t be full of diners if those potential diners decided to stay home. I think that these tight casinos are simply asking for long-term trouble.

To the casino executives at these tight properties, I say, “Come on! No one likes a tight wad.” These “Silas Marner” properties might make some money in the short-run, but they must recruit new players all the time.* Their crop of current players will often divorce them. Slot players are always looking for their one true love. Unlike in affairs of the heart, they want that one true love to be loose.

So what can you do if you find yourself in an area of the country where your local casinos have super-tight machines? Well, you could write a letter to the slot director. Chances are that that won’t work, however. More than likely the slot directors are probably looking at their bosses for guidance and in hopes that such a boss might promote them from slot director to casino director. I’ve found that casino directors often resemble sloths when it comes to the change department. Of course, you could just moan and bare it. I’ll admit that isn’t much fun and by accepting the status quo, nothing changes. Another course of action you could choose is to save your money and take a trip where the slot sun is shining. Sure the trip will cost you money, but such a trip is a vacation. Plus, you might have more fun playing longer and might even come away a winner! Your trip will cost the tight casino some money too. If enough players choose that path, maybe that will change the slot director’s mind to loosen payouts.

So, here’s the plan. Plain and simple: you must steel your mind against any machines that are tight. Don’t play them! Look up the figures and be aware of who’s who and what’s what on the casino slot frontier. Tell your friends and relatives the good places to play. Shoo them away from those casinos where the players represent the proverbial nail and the slot machines the hammer.

I think we should have a slot players’ rebellion in this country. To heck with the Tea Party! To heck with the Occupy Wall Street folks! To heck with everything that annoys you like high gas prices and nuclear war – we want slot machines that are really, really loose! We will not settle for anything less. If slot players win more, the casinos will ultimately win more. It’s a win-win!

I proclaim that we must have freedom! “Freedom to be loose,” I say. “Let freedom ring in the form of bells, cherries, bonus spins, and Triple 7’s!”

Whew. Sorry. I got a little carried away there. By now, I’m sure you get the picture when it comes to loose versus tight slots. After all, the picture is in high-definition and in 3-D. We can’t make it any clearer, we want loose machines everywhere!

*Editor’s Note: Silas Marner is a friendless weaver who cares only for his cache of gold before undergoing a life-altering event in George Eliot’s 1861 novel “Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe.”

Frank Scoblete’s newest books include Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines! featuring advantage-play slots; Casino Craps: Shoot to Win! which comes with a DVD showing controlled throws. Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players! and Beat Blackjack Now! These items are all available from Amazon.com or at your favorite bookstore. To order by mail or for a free brochure, simply call 1-866-SET-DICE.

Loose Vs. Tight – Slot.

How to find loose slots? Here we will give main guidelines and tips on how to find the loosest slots in any online casino.

The knowledge on how to find loose slots have always been the Holy Grail of casino players. There are a lot of myths surrounding that topic, especially regarding land casinos: near the entrance, in the end of the line, etc, and although there is no buffet in online casinos, there are still certain guideline you can follow in order to find loose slots and avoid the tight ones.

Online the situation is a bit more simple since many slot developers publish the expected return on their machines. Below you can see a list of best paying slots by software and then updated overall rating.

Loose Slots by Type & Country

Best Paying Slot Machines Online

Unfortunately, not all providers publish these details. In this article we will go over the key rules on how to find loose slots in any online casino. For specific slots and more info on how online slots work, how they differ from land slot machines, feel free to click through to the relevant pages.

Best Overall Slots

If you find our loosest slots list helpful, we would appreciate if you share it with others. Thank you!

What is a loose slot machine?

There are endless speculations regarding loose slots. It’s natural, since finding a loose slot is the Holy Grail of every casino player. Before we go into that, we need to be clear: there is ONLY one sure way to know if the slot is loose or tight and that is to check the RTP (Return to Player).

RTP of a slot machine is the single number that defines what is the average return the player will get. The higher the RTP – the looser that particular slot. Luckily, many of online slots developers are forced to publish the RTP of every slot they make, so you have no reason to search for various signs and follow ridiculous beliefs. All you need to do is check the number and that’s it. As simple as that.

Generally speaking, when it comes to internet slots, 97% and higher is considered loose. 95%-96% is average. Below 94% the slot should be considered tight.

Which Slots Tend to be Tight

It’s hard to give general guidelines as each slot is different and the best solution is just to check the official RTP, it is published. However, here are two general rules:

Progressive Slots

Stay away from Progressive Slots. Progressive slots sound like fun- Who wouldn’t like to win $1,000,000 in one spin, but the chances of hitting the jackpot on a progressive slot are similar to winning in lottery. The casinos promote them and their huge jackpots in order to attract players, but for every player that hits the jackpot, 1,000,000 players loose all their bankroll. Our first advice: stay away. If you must, limit yourself to 10% of your bankroll or lower.

Online Slots by Land Based Manufactures

There are exceptions, but in general land based focused manufacturers, such as Amaya, SG, Bally, Aristocrat, tend to have lower RTPs than online focused developers (NetEnt, Microgaming, Rival, BetSoft, Thunderkick, etc). It’s not precise on individual slot bases but more as a general rule.

The main reason for that is that monsters like Bally or Amaya are aware that their slots are played in all brick and mortar casinos across the globe, and they assume that players will stick to the familiar titles. Even then, the online versions have higher returns – for example Cleopatra slot online can offer 95% return while in land based casinos the returns are usually below 90%.

Loose Slots Myths

Loose And Tight Slot Machines

Of course, there is also endless number of myths surrounding slot machines. Many of them are completely false while some cannot be truly verified. The main problem is that these beliefs can be very misleading, give players false sense of security and cost them more money than what they intended to risk.

We will go over a few, but for example look at this article at WikiHow. Here are the things they recommend players to do:

1. “Play the maximum number of coins” – true but only for specific slots. There are some slots that offer higher payout for maximum number of coins. However, on the other 99% of slot machines, it won’t help you at all and can just cause you to loose more money by increasing your bet per spin.
2. “Test the payout of your machine” – that’s simply bulls**t.Even you if you spent the last 10 years playing slots in Vegas, you cannot make a few spins and understand if it’s loose or not. Each machine has different variance and settings. In reality, you need to make 10000 spins to be able to analyze the RTP.
3. “Play multiple machines at once” – not true or false. That’s something that varies between casinos and cannot be verified.
4. “Don’t play multiple payline slots” – false. There are plenty multiple line slots that offer much higher returns. Maybe it was true 30 years ago when multiple line slots just entered the market but it’s not correct now.
5. “Gamble in casinos”– true. It’s better to play in casinos and not in airports for example.

Old Slots vs New Slots

The theory is that old slots tend to be more loose than the new ones. The reason behind this rule is simple: most of the players that visit the “New Slots” section of the casino are the regular players, the loyal customers that are checking the new game. The casinos are aware of that. They know that new slots is what the regular players are looking for and it’s very unlikely for them to abandon the casino after few bad sessions on the “exiting- one of the kind- special-new” slot machine and take advantage of that.

Boring is Good

Another theory is boring slots. In most cases they are more loose than the exciting ones with special graphics and effects. The reason behind it is that the casinos like to post that their payout is up to 97%/98%/99%/etc. Of course it doesn’t mean that all slots pay 99%, but still there are one or few that do have that payout. The highest chances to find those slots are between the “forgotten” slots, the ones the almost no one plays. It takes some time and some testing, but if you go over few slots and you are patient, you will find it.

FAQ

So, can I make money by playing loosest slots?

In general the answer is no. However, there are exceptions that allow you to get a small edge over the house. The main one is a combination of favorable bonus + highest payout slot. In some cases we checked you can get even to +10% over the house, but it’s limited as the maximum bonus amount is $100. So we would say it’s not a way to make money but a way to increase your winning odds while playing online.

Are high limit slots have higher odds?

Not necessarily. When it comes to online casinos, 95% of the slots offer the same payouts for all range of bets. However there are exceptions. For clearest example are some of Barcrest slots where you get much higher return on Big Bets. Monopoly Bring the House Down is a good example where the regular RTP is 94.1% but it goes to 98.1% on big bets. Bottom line: read the rules before you play.

Can I trust the published RTP?

Yes, you can. The reason why many providers list the RTP data is due to UK Gambling Commission Regulations. Those RTP’s are being tested intensively and they will suffer enormous fines if they post misleading information.

Is there a way to tell when a slot machine will hit?

No. There is not. As simple as that.

Do online slot have different return than land based slots?

Yes, they are. The average return on online slots is much higher than in land based casinos. The average return in brick and mortar establishments varies based on specific country and state rules but on average stands on 85% while in online casinos it is 10% higher – 95%.

Does a slot machines pays the same in all casinos?

In most cases yes, but there are few exceptions. There are few software providers, the most familiar are RTG and Play’n Go, which have three different settings for their slots – loose, medium and tight. And each casino can define which of these settings they use.

Can a casino change the payout percentage?

No, they cannot. The exception is the software providers we listed in the previous question, but even here they cannot alter the slots, but choose different setting from those allowed by the software developer.

Will I improve my odds by redeeming a bonus?

Not always. It depends fully on the bonus terms. In general only cashable bonuses will increase your winning odds. Plus they should have low wagering requirements and no maximum cashout. The last part is extremely important so make sure the bonuses you redeem don’t have this term.