Odds Of Winning Casino Jackpot
Many people will be visiting a casino this summer, whether on a trip to Vegas, on a cruise ship, or just at a local casino during a 'staycation.'
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- Odds Of Casino Jackpot
- Odds Of Winning Casino Jackpot Players Club
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- Odds Of Winning Casino Jackpots
I have seen various estimates as to the odds of winning Megabucks. Were mapped to each jackpot symbol the odds of hitting the jackpot would be in 1 in 256^3 or 1. A record-breaking jackpot. Jackpot amount: $34,959,458.56 When: Jan. 26, 2000 Where: Desert Inn (imploded in phases in 2001 and 2004 to make room for Wynn Las Vegas) Gobs bigger than any tip she’d received, cocktail waitress Cynthia Jay-Brennan, then 37 years old, hit the second largest Megabucks slot jackpot in Vegas (at that time it was the city’s highest Megabucks payout).
But before you go, you may want to know which games give you the best chance of winning.
So we went behind the scene at two casinos, and spoke with the game managers, to find out which games give you an edge.
Table Games Your Best Bet
Jay Bean, a Caesar's floor manager, agreed to sit down with us and talk about the games with the best odds.
He said many people don't realize that table games have much better odds than slots. They are intimidated by thoughts of card sharks taking their money, with images of an intense Texas Hold 'Em tournament in their minds, and so they stick with the safe games: the slots.
But they are doing themselves a disservice, he said.
Bean's advice? After you've spent some time on the slot machines, move on to the Blackjack table, and start by just observing.
1. Blackjack
Blackjack has the best odds of winning, with a house edge of just 1 percent in most casinos, Bean said.
Plus, you are playing against only the dealer, not hooded poker champions.
'Blackjack is one of our easiest games to play,' Bean said. 'You're just looking for a number that beats the dealer's number without going over 21.'
If you're a novice, Bean said to sit down during a less busy time, such as the afternoon, and the dealer will walk you through the game.
But the same is not true with poker: You should practice the game with your friends first, at home, Bean said, until you are comfortable with it. Bean said novices are best off passing on the poker tables, where yes, the competition can be tough.
You can find out more information about the game of blackjack at the following link:
http://wizardofodds.com/games/blackjack/
2. Craps
So from the Blackjack table, he suggests moving on to the dice game Craps, the game with the second best odds, also nearly 50-50.
The Craps table can be a bit intimidating for the beginner with all the boxes on the table, Bean admitted. But it's really not tough, and it has one of your best chances of winning. In the end, all you are really doing is betting on a dice roll.
For more information on craps, visit:
http://wizardofodds.com/games/craps/
3. Roulette
Bean said your next stop should be the Roulette wheel. It's simple, and pays fairly well.
'So you bet on your favorite numbers,' Bean said. 'The dealer spins, and if your number comes in you win.'
If you stick to betting on just Reds or Blacks, you have nearly a 50-50 chance of walking away a winner. If it lands on red when you choose red, you will double your bet, Bean explained.
While it may seem you have an even chance of winning by simply choosing a color, there is one catch that gives the house its edge: the extra green 0 and 00 position on the wheel. It's on all American roulette wheels.
Or, if you feel lucky, play just one number. It's hard to win, but if you do it pays out 36 to 1.
For more information on roulette, visit:
http://wizardofodds.com/games/roulette/
Worst Odds
Your worst odds? The casinos, understandably, did not want to talk about games with poor odds.
So we turned to Forbes Magazine, which in a report about Best Bets at the Casino, said two popular games -- the Wheel of Fortune and the ever-popular slot machines -- have the lowest odds of winning, with a house edge of 10 percent or more.
The Experts Agree
Professor of Analytics Michael Magazine has crunched the numbers, and agreed that blackjack is the best way to go home with money in your pockets. He said if you take a little time to learn the game, you have the best odds of winning.
'You are somewhere between 44 percent to 48 percent in every single hand of winning,' he said, noting that no other casino game gives you odds that good.
But Magazine cautioned that he's not promoting gambling, because he said even games with the best odds still favor the house.
'Play it long enough and you will lose. In the long term the house doesn't lose,' Magazine said.
If You Love The Slots....
Finally, if you really enjoy playing the slots, here is some good information to know, from state casino reports we examined.
With slots, the more money you put in per bet, the higher your chance of winning. If you put the max in a penny machine, which is usually around 50 cents, you have much better odds than if you put in 2 cents.
In addition, penny slots have the lowest odds, with $1 and $5 slots paying much better.
Always gamble responsibly, and don't waste your money.
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You can learn more about specific odds of slots machines in each state that has casino gambling by visiting the American Casino Guide.
Don't Waste Your Money is a registered trademark of the EW Scripps Co.
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Additional information: My wife cannot afford to play the maximum bet, but when she hits the jackpot combinations, she thinks she missed out. I keep telling her that I believe the odds of hitting those combinations would significantly decrease if she paid the maximum, but she doesn’t believe me. In statistics terminology, it would make sense to maintain the same expected return (payout multiplied by probability), in order to obtain the same overall percent payback for different players (although I doubt they are required to maintain such consistency). Using this assumption, if the payout increases disproportionately relative to the size of the bet, the probability would have to decrease. This would also be a good way for the casino to dupe players into increasing their bets to the maximum.
Slot machines are pegged to payout at a certain % by a computer chip. This percentage does not alter due to bet size at any time, so increasing your bet is essentially just losing your money faster. Higher denomination machines are typically programmed to payback a higher % than lower denomination ones, so that a $.25 machine will pay better than a $.05 machine which will pay better than a $.01 machine.
Regardless of bet size, even with the inflated jackpots for max bet, the expected payback remains the same on slot machines to the best of my knowledge. I don't think it's like video poker where betting max bet inflates jackpot size and increases expected value, but i'm not 100% sure.
As to MAX COIN... Most, but not all, slot machines offer inducements for players to play max coin but read the payout table to be sure that final coin actually buys you something. However, whether you put in Minimum Coin, Maximum Coin or Something in between, once you hit that little red button... its all up to the random number generator and the random number generator just goes along and does its thing with no knowledge at all about how many coins are in there or whose player card it is or if they've been tipping the waitress or not. So the EVENT is not influenced by the number of coins, only the payment for that event.
Expected payback? You mean each and every press of the little red button has to be a certain expectation?
The general rule is that a higher denomination machine returns a greater percentage, yes, but going to max coin on a lower denomination has to be compared. Its amount bet times expectation.
Odds Of Winning Casino Jackpot Slots
The odds do not change when you bet max. I believe that some jurisdictions require identical odds. I've never, out of hundreds of games, seen a game that behaves differently.
There would be no advantage for a gamemaker to do that kind of manipulation. The probability of hitting the jackpot is so low, that the manufacturer is free to riase the payout without changing the EV of the game very much.
It is very popular for the machines to be designed so that the player to be denied an entire class of high payouts if he does not put in max coin. Even though the house edge may not be that much worse, the player will eventually see hit a case where he would have been paid a much higher payout if he had more coins.
But every machine design can honestly say it has a lower house edge if you play more coins. It doesn't say how much lower.
Odds Of Casino Jackpot
An example from a real machine is 8.04% HA for 1 coin, and 7.48% and 7.30% for 2 or 3 coins.One thing I will say now is that I think more of the average payout is related to the jackpots than you might think. For example, one local casino (Hollywood, FL) states that it pays out 94% of the bets wagered (i.e. a house advantage of 6%). I would conjecture that 5% or 10% if that payout is related to the jackpots. If it was really small – say 1% – then you would expect that, on the average, your credits would decrease by only $7 for every $100 you wager (such as 100 pulls on a $1 machine). But I will bet your average losses are much higher than that, unless of course, you hit a big win. This is because a significant portion of the 94% payback is related to the big wins.
I may be confusing the issue by using the word “jackpot”. I am not talking about the huge progressive jackpots of 100’s of thousands or millions that are rarely ever paid, but rather the smaller payouts of $1,000 to $10,000 that you might find on nickel and quarter machines. My wife, who only plays slots 5 to 10 hours a week, hits 3 or 4 of these “jackpots” every year. I know because I have to claim them on our tax return. Maybe I should call them 'big wins' rather than 'jackpots'?
Our next casino trip is later this week, so I should have a decent example to post sometime this weekend. If I am right about this, it is very important for players (such as my wife) to understand, so they don’t get duped into losing a lot of money, especially mine!
Odds Of Winning Casino Jackpot Players Club
Question: Many slot machines offer a disproportionately higher return on the jackpot combination when the maximum size bet is played. Do they also decrease the odds of hitting the jackpot combination when the maximum bet is played?
Additional information: My wife cannot afford to play the maximum bet, but when she hits the jackpot combinations, she thinks she missed out. I keep telling her that I believe the odds of hitting those combinations would significantly decrease if she paid the maximum, but she doesn’t believe me. In statistics terminology, it would make sense to maintain the same expected return (payout multiplied by probability), in order to obtain the same overall percent payback for different players (although I doubt they are required to maintain such consistency). Using this assumption, if the payout increases disproportionately relative to the size of the bet, the probability would have to decrease. This would also be a good way for the casino to dupe players into increasing their bets to the maximum.