Play the lowest denomination machine you're comfortable with.
Even though lower-stakes machines have worse odds, you'll still lose less money on them. A 90% 5-coin nickel machine loses $18.75/hr. on average, while a 98% 2-coin dollar machine loses $30/hr. (The disparity in payouts between different denominations usually isn't that extreme, but I'm just showing that even when the difference is extreme you'll still lose less money by playing the lower denomination machines.)
Play machines which are advertised as paying back a specific high percentage.
Most casinos won't tell you how much their slots pay back, but some do. On the Vegas Strip, Stratosphere and Riviera have 98% dollar slots, and Circus Circus has 97.4% dollar slots. Fitzgeralds in Reno has a section of about 50 dollar slots whose average payback is 97.4%. If you're playing dollar slots, I recommend that you play only at these casinos, or other casinos which advertise a specific high payback.
Ignore claims such as "Loosest Slots" or "High Payback". Those terms are meaningless since they're not specific. Also ignore specific numbers married to vagueness, such as "up to 98% return" if the casino doesn't tell you specifically which machines are 98%.
Limit play on progressives.
Progressives are the machines with the LED marquees that show the ever-increasing jackpots. They typically pay back 2-7% less than standard machines, so you should play them sparingly, if at all. If you must play (because you want a shot at a huge jackpot), play a two-coin machine instead of a three-coin machine, and look for a $0.05 or $0.25 machine instead of a $1.00 machine.
Avoid video reels.
Video reel slots often pay back a percentage point or two less than their mechanical counterparts. Also, the ability to play five coins on each of nine lines ($1.45/spin) could seduce you into betting a lot more than you should.
Use a slot card.
Get a slot card and use it at any casino you play at. While the cashback rewards for slot points are usually insignificant, playing on a slot card means that the casino may give you free meals and will usually mail you offers for free or deeply discounted rooms, and that can save you a bit of money.
Contrary to popular myth, using a slot card has zero effect on whether you win. I won several jackpots at Fitzgeralds in Reno with my slot card in. (I was playing only because they were running a special promotion which improved the odds of winning. Normally I don't play slots because I can get better odds at table games.)
Learn other games.
Since you'll likely be bored by playing nothing but slots (especially if you're losing, and you probably will be), learn a table game so you can play it when you want to take a break from slots. Over time you may play the tables more and the slots less, especially since you have a better chance of winning at the tables, and because it's more fun to play with other people.
Every gambler has the dream of having a system that allows him to take a casino for a considerable amount of money. For some people, it was no dream…
Albert R. Hibbs was a noted mathematician. In 1949, he and fellow graduate student Roy Walford, took time away from school and went to Nevada. Their aim was to study the roulette wheel bias of Las Vegas and Reno casinos, then exploit that mathematical “edge” and win big. They were said to have made over $42,000. in their schemes.
The idea of a biased wheel is not new. Because some roulette wheels are not properly balanced, the ball is often thrown into some areas more than others; more than random mathematical probability. By studying the wheel and it’s results for a long period, certain numbers show a higher percentage of winners than others, and they are bet upon more frequently by those who gather and analyze this information.
Joe Jagger was a British engineer who, in the late 1800’s, earned the title of: The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo. (Yes, he is a distant relative of Mick Jagger.) Another gambler and possibly more famous still, was Charles Wells. He too had the title. Both gamblers found and exploited biased roulette wheels in Monte Carlo’s famed “Casino.” Wells was also a con man responsible for bilking hundreds of people on bogus inventions. He died broke in France, after having spent several prison terms in two different countries.
As late as 1970, a woman named Carol Jarecki and her husband studied and played roulette wheels in Monte Carlo and San Remo, making a series of very successful runs on those biased roulette wheels. So even in this “modern era” of gambling, it seems that there are still a few places where the roulette wheels are not checked nearly often enough.
The new way casinos avoid bias is by recording every spin on a computer program. The program analyzes then reports any bias to casino management. Once reported, the wheel is serviced and the bias is removed. This system is used in only the larger casinos, but it’s a safe bet that even the smaller casinos would simply send you packing if you won too much. Bias or no.
Craps dealers and floor supervisors have been charged with cheating the casinos out of thousands of dollars at 2 of Connecticut's casinos
Twelve people have been taken into custody so far by the Connecticut states casino police unit. The twelve are all craps dealers and are suspected of colluding with players on the casino floor to cheat the casinos by allowing them to place let bets at the craps table and splitting the winnings later on
The scam involved dealers and supervisors and at least one player on the floor. So far only Richard Sequoia Taylor of Memphis Tennessee has been named by the police. The investigation involved workers at Foxwoods Resort Casino and the Mohegan Sun. the investigation started after an unnamed casino employee told a floor manager at Foxwoods that he had witnessed a craps dealer cheating
The police interrogated several of the casino employees that were suspected of being involved in the scam and several described the methods they used to cheat the casinos. The police then issued arrest warrants for 13 people. All those involved in the scheme have been fired from their jobs at the casinos and they are being charged with cheating at gambling and conspiracy to cheat at gambling. The twelve have also been ordered to have no contact at all with each other.
They are: Chandler Alfred Jr., a Foxwoods dealer; Johnny Baker, a dealer at Mohegan Sun; Joshua Cagle, a Foxwoods dealer; Tim Cahill, a table games manager at Foxwoods; David Kelley, a scheduling and floor manager at Foxwoods; Pierre Langlois, a manager at Foxwoods; Anthony Leyko, a dealer at Foxwoods; Brian Miller, a Foxwoods dealer; Roger Morris, a floor supervisor at Foxwoods; Steve Panarella, a dealer at Foxwoods; and Mattie Tarlton, also a Foxwoods dealer.
According to the police Taylor was in charge of the scam, he and several other players would place bets on high payout areas of the table after the results were already called by the dealer. The players and dealers would get together later in the evening and split the take.
Just released, we now have “Profile of The American Gambler,” an exhaustive survey compiled by Scripps Survey Research Center for the gaming heavyweight, Harrah’s Entertainment. It covers casino play, to be sure, but it’s more about who we are as people. Do we support casino gambling in our states? (Yes, the survey says.) Do we save as much as non-gamblers? (Yes, again.) Some very interesting profiles emerged from this research, and it’s a safe bet this will not be the last survey of its kind.
Highlights of the study include:
58% of adults (21+) have gambled in a casino at least once during 2005.
There were 209 million adults that gambled in a casino in the last 12 months.
The average gambler visited a casino six times in one year.
A majority of adults favor licensing casinos in their own state.
Gamblers save more and invest more than non-gamblers.
They are more likely to use technology (email, computers, satellite, cable etc.) than non-gamblers.
They travel more, and spend more than non-gamblers.
They expect to have more money for retirement than their non-gambling counterparts.
Understandably, those people with higher incomes gamble more than lower incomes.
Working older couples 45+ comprise the highest percentage of all sub-sets at 19%, with young singles at only 3%.
By far, Slot players comprise the largest group (71%) with table gamers making up the balance.
There’s more Video Poker played than Live Poker (despite the TV hype of late), and BJ is played twice as much as any other table game.
Gamblers are less religious, donate more to charity, and are twice as likely to travel.
Men are equally likely to gamble as women.
Non-gamblers eat out only ½ as much as their gambler counterparts.
Gamblers own newer cars; travel further on vacations, and are more “optimistic” about the future.
These facts seem to fly in the face of many preconceived notions of the irresponsible, gambler prototypes we’re used to hearing about, especially around election time. Whether we like it or not, it seems gaming has become very Mainstream America. I hope Harrah’s will do follow-up research with these same barometers being reviewed and re-tested. It will be interesting to see how, and maybe why, things change in the future.