1dcde4Casinos are glamorous places where glitzy gambling games can make you tons of money overnight. Or so it may seem. The reality is that casinos are designed to keep you playing, and the games are mathematically stacked in the casino’s favor. With a little know-how, however, you can flip the odds in your favor.
The first thing to understand is that casinos are designed to keep you playing as long as possible. While the plethora of games on offer can be a bit overwhelming, they are all essentially variations on just a few core games. These games are:
• Blackjack
• Roulette
• Baccarat
• Craps
• Poker
• Slots
Of these, the most popular and lucrative for casinos are slots, which are by far the biggest source of income for the average US casino. Slots are popular with players because they are easy to play, exciting, and can pay out life-changing sums of money. Unknown to most players, however, is that the odds are set so that the house has an overwhelming mathematical advantage.
The paybacks for slots at any casino are a closely guarded secret, known only to the casino and occasionally to state gaming regulators, but the general rule of thumb is that they range from 85% to 90% (the payback percentage refers to the average percentage of each dollar played that is returned to players in the long run). This means that for every dollar that is inserted in the machine, the casino expects to make between 10 and 15 cents over the long run. Indeed, the longer you play, the more likely it is that the casino will end up with your money.
The reason for this is that all slots games are programmed with what is known as a random number generator (RNG). This is a computer program that is constantly generating a sequence of random numbers, hundreds or thousands every second. These random numbers directly correspond to positions on the reels of the machine you are playing. When you pull the arm of the slot machine or hit the spin button, the computer pauses the generation of numbers and freezes the values that directly correspond to the positions of the reels at that moment. The computer then translates these numbers into a visual representation of the reels on your screen, and determines whether the combination of symbols across the reels results in a win or a loss, and how big the win is.
Because the RNG is continually generating numbers, even when no one is playing the game, this means that the game does not have to be “due” to hit. It also means that the odds are identical no matter whether the player is betting one coin or the maximum. The only difference is that when you bet more, you have more chances to win. For example, in a typical slots game with three reels and 20 different symbols on each reel, the odds against any particular outcome are 20 x 20 x 20 = 8,000 to 1 against you. Yet because you are playing multiple spins every minute, the odds are simply a long-term average. In the short run, anything can happen. Players who watch someone win on a machine that just paid out don’t realize that their win simply puts them back where they were before the last spin — back to “even”.
Over time, the law of large numbers guarantees that the machine will pay out at its programmed payback percentage. The casinos know this, of course, and they count on the fact that most players will lose more money than they will win (especially when you take into account the complimentary freebies that keep you playing).
There are, however, some things that you can do to improve your odds when playing slots:
• Choose your machine carefully. Avoid slots with progressive jackpots; these may look attractive, but the odds on these machines are much worse. Also, avoid slots with multiple lines if you can. Although the odds on these machines are not any worse, it is harder to tell if you have won or lost, which makes it harder to keep track of how much you have spent.
• Play less lines at a higher bet per line. Though this sounds counter-intuitive, because the odds on all slots are the same, you can get more bang for your buck when playing fewer lines if you increase the bet per line. For example, if you play one line at 5 coins, you total bet is 5 coins, and winning combinations on any other line don’t count. If you play 20 lines at one coin a line, your total bet is 20 coins, and you are more likely to get a winning combination, but many of these lower-paying wins will be simply increments toward the bigger prizes.
• Go for the jackpots. Although you should avoid slots with progressive jackpots, it is usually worth it to try for the biggest jackpot available. On some machines, this means betting maximum coins, while on others it requires a separate bet.
Of course, slots are not the only game in the casino. There are also dozens of table games, from blackjack to baccarat to poker to craps. These games offer better odds than slots, with payout percentages ranging from a modest 85% or so, all the way up to nearly 100%.
At the upper end of this range are games like blackjack and baccarat, where the house advantage is very small or even negligible. At the lower end of the range is games like craps, which despite offering some of the best odds in the casino is also one of the most intimidating games for new players. Fortunately, many casinos offer classes in how to play, suggesting that they are aware that this fear of intimidating games like craps is something they can use to their advantage.
While many people think of poker as a game of chance, in fact it is a game of skill. The casino does not win money on poker for the most part, but makes its money by taking a small percentage of each pot (known as the rake). This means that the casino makes money whether you win or lose, so it makes sense to learn the game as well as you can.
The core advantage that the casino has at every game, however, stems from the fact that you are essentially playing with “their” money: They give you chips to play with, and you have to give them back at the end of the night. Because you are playing with chips that are essentially a credit line provided by the casino, it is easy to get caught up in the game and keep playing until all of your chips are gone. This is part of the reason they are so eager to give you complimentary rooms and perks to keep you playing.
The practical tip here is to set a budget for yourself before you go to the casino, and to stick to it. Decide how much money you can afford to lose, and when it is gone, it’s time to go home. You may not win every time, but you can make sure that you have a better time at the casino if you understand how the games work, and how the casinos make money.
It is important to remember, however, that while the casino will almost always win in the long run, it is certainly possible to win in the short run, and to have a lot of fun doing so.
