The island of Macau has become the largest casino market in the world and often referred to as the “Las Vegas of Asia.” The island, located right off the Chinese mainland, is the only legalized casino market in China and attracts wealthy gamblers from the mainland as well as other parts of Asia.

However, Macau’s focus on gambling may be changing in the coming years. A major slowdown in gambling revenue has led to China’s leaders to rethink the island’s focus on casino gaming and some are looking to diversify the economy.

"At present the overall situation in Macau is stable, but the internal and external environment is undergoing profound changes," Chinese President Xi Jinping said during a celebration in December celebrating 25 years of Chinese rule. "Efforts should be made to promote moderate economic diversification ... focus on cultivating new industries with international competitiveness."

History of Macau

Macau had been part of China through the 16th Century, but Portugal began leasing the island as a trading post in 1557 as a key point for merchants shipping from west to east. The country eventually began treating the island as a de facto colony before finally reaching a deal with China in 1887 officially making it part of Portuguese territory.

AfterHong Kong became a British territory in 1842, that island became a more important trading region. Macau responded by legalizing gambling in 1847 and the industry flourished on the island, becoming a key source of revenue.

“By the 1850s, Macao had over 200 ‘fan tan’ [a Chinese gambling game] stalls in operation,” the Association of Certified Gaming Compliance Specialists notes. “The gaming industry began to thrive in the late 19th Century, and gaming taxes became the government's primary source of revenue. Since then, Macao has become well-known for its casino industry, earning the nickname ‘Monte Carlo of the Orient.’”

Several companies were granted monopoly considerations to operate full-scale casinos for much of the 20th Century with the legislative assembly noting in a 1986 law that “the number of concessions granted shall be limited to a maximum of three.Despite that, underground gambling remained and in the 1990s, the island saw rival gangs battle over the island’s underground gambling market with more than 100 people killed in the violence. 

That monopolistic approach to gaming changed after the island was officially handed back to China in 1999. The area was treated as a special administrative region (SAR) in a similar way as Hong Kong – a “one country, two systems” approach.

In 2001, the island enacted new laws to expand the industry on the island, allowing for multiple casino operators and large gaming resorts.

Macau and Casino Gambling

After approving a law for casino bids, Macau received proposals from major gaming operators from around the world including American-based gaming giants like MGM Resorts, Las Vegas Sands, and Wynn Resorts as well as Asian-based firms like SJM Holdings and Galaxy Entertainment Group.

Numerous casino resorts then began being built around the island throughout the 2000s, with the island reaching 42 casinos by 2021. Players could easily hit the roulette wheel or practice their blackjack strategy, Gambling has not only been a boon to the island, but also to the overall Chinese economy.

Once a quiet island, Macau has seen some huge changes over the last 25 years and has become a major tourist destination. The casino industry has led to an economy valued at about $6.5 billion in 1999 to $46 billion in 2023, according to the Associated Press. Many locals have found jobs in the industry and others appreciate the  $1,240 annual payments made to residents from gaming taxes.

However, things certainly took a downturn during the COVID pandemic, when China limited travel to the island. Revenue dried up almost overnight on the island. Chinese authorities also began cracking down on junket operators that provide services for the country’s wealthy high rollers to gamble. 

Gamblers on junkets regularly use borrowed funds to gamble and then repay these loans on mainland China. The industry has faced more scrutiny in recent years. Chinese officials alleged that some operators became involved in operating or owning part of overseas casinos outside of the country.

Revenue Revival After COVID

Travel and junket restrictions led to major revenue declines and the industry struggled. Things began to finally change in 2023. By December of that year, the island saw casino gross income numbers totaling $2.3 billion, an increase of 433% from December 2022, according to the island’s Gaming Inspection and Coordination Bureau.

This marked the industry’s second-largest total since before the COVID pandemic and began what would slowly become a return to normal.

In December 2024, the Macau casino industry accounted for $28.4 billion in gaming revenue, up almost 24% from 2023 levels. This was another good sign as that topped government estimates of almost $27 billion.

That still was short of the pre-pandemic level of $36.5 billion from 2019. The pandemic showed just how reliant the island of just over 700,000 people had become and the Chinese government has set out to make changes.

Transitioning Economy

The first part of that was seeing new leadership on the island. Former judge Sam Hou Fai was elected in an uncontested vote as Macau's chief executive-designate in 2024 and became the island’s first leader born on mainland China. Fai is determined to diversify the island’s economy.

The new leader hopes to do this by improving the island’s overall business conditions and supporting small business, including using public funds to stimulate business sectors outside of gaming.

“Sam has promised to accelerate the current government’s plan to boost tourism and other sectors such as traditional Chinese medicine, finance, exhibitions and commerce,” the Associated Press reports. “However, the city will still need to rely on the gambling industry for government revenues to support the city’s welfare and accomplish other goals laid out by Beijing.”

Xi has said that Macau must move away from being so heavily reliant on the casino industry, which accounts for about 80% of regional tax revenue.

“At present the overall situation in Macau is stable, but the internal and external environment is undergoing profound changes,” Xi said. “Efforts should be made to promote moderate economic diversification… focus on cultivating new industries with international competitiveness.”

However, the gaming industry will remain a major part of the island’s future. More and more Chinese gamblers continue flocking to the island, but recent reports note that the island has seen some changes in who heads to the casinos. Post-COVID, the properties are relying more on middle-income gamblers than well-heeled high rollers. But some headwinds still remain for the island’s gaming industry.

“In a note, analysts Praveen Choudhary, Gareth Leung and Stephen Grambling (with Morgan Staey) said they maintain their mass GGR (gross gaming revenue) forecast assumption at 118% of 2019 levels, representing a 5% increase over 2024,” Inside Asian Gambling reports, “but expect lower EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) than originally expected due to increased reinvestment costs, including in non-gaming capex requirements under operators’ current 10-year concession deals.”

Things are definitely looking up for Macau since the pandemic. The analysts project “slight but steady growth” for the rest of the year.

Nobody likes losing money to casinos. But most of us put up with the financial beatings, accepting that they inevitably happen when you risk cash in games where the other side has the best of it. Some of us find legal ways to turn the tables. Maybe we card count or hole card or seek out lingering bonuses on slot machines. 

But even playing with an edge, no matter how much the casinos despise it, will get us only so far. Hell, I once sat next to hole-carding maestro James Grosjean at a blackjack table. He literally told me the dealer’s hole cards and I still managed to lose money. Decent sized edges do not lead to guaranteed profits. 

Then there are the players so desperate to win that they will risk prison terms in order to do so. They are casino cheaters, people who devise and deploy ingeniously devious techniques to get over on the house. Never mind that such moves often entail enough work and training that the time, better spent, could have led to legal, long-running, profitable occupations.

Cheating Casinos by Being a Magician

A guy who goes by the pseudonym of Dustin Marks told me about becoming a crack sleight of artist to get over on the house. He would land dealing gigs in casinos and use his magic skills to rig decks and deal winning hands to collaborators at the tables. 

Marks' partners played as if they were ordinary gamblers. But they generated wins that were extraordinary. 

He told me about one scam, involving a couple-dozen partners, in which he and his crew played with a 50% advantage. As Marks explained it, he dealt and his collaborator sat at first base. Before the opening hand was divvied out, Marks flashed what the first hit card would be. That prevented the guy from ever going over. Then, as he corralled cards at the hand’s conclusion, Marks flashed his compadre’s first card, and that dictated a bet size for the coming hand.

Asked why he did it, he told me, “I was never fond of gambling. I always wanted a sure thing.”

Getting Over on Slot Machines

Luckily for Marks, he exited the shady game before getting caught. Tommy Glenn Carmichael was less fortunate. A TV repairman turned slot-machine cheat, Carmichael was a wizard when it came to creating devices that triggered unwarranted payouts from slot machines. 

As explained in the Paris Review, Carmichael used a guitar string and a piece of metal shaped like a nine to essentially hotwire machines into making consistent payouts that added up. 

Working with various teams, Carmichael, now deceased, is said to have been a two-armed bandit who illegally extracted millions of dollars from the one-armed bandits. 

It was going great until a fateful day in a Las Vegas branch of Denny’s. Carmichael was plying his trade on a vulnerable machine, when police swarmed the casual dining spot and arrested him. As a result, Carmichael did time in a federal penitentiary.

Sprung five years later, he returned to his craft with a vengeance. Using enhanced equipment – primarily, light wands that tricked the machines – Carmichael earned $1,000 per day.

He described his increasingly high-tech gambits as “credit cards that never ran out.” In the end, though, he was arrested again, went broke, and traded in his black hat for a white one. Carmichael turned to creating anti-cheating devices that were sold to gambling entities.

Marked Cards & Bogus Chips

Others lacked the ingenuity of Carmichael and enjoyed no second acts after the whip came down from law enforcement. 

There were the card-markers who glued grains of sand to their fingertips and altered the backs of cards used in the game of Casino War. Others, including a Chinese gang nicknamed the Jade Blades, employed tiny razor blades under their fingernails. 

And it’s not only games in the pit that get flimflammed. A poker player by the name of Christian Lusardi played a poker tournament at Borgata in Atlantic City and brought his own chips – never mind that the whole point of a poker tournament is that players start with set amounts of chips that are for the tournament only. When Lusardi sensed the heat on him intensifying, he flushed bogus chips down the toilet, clogged the pipes, and wound up getting busted. The next place he played poker was in prison, stuck with a five-year-long sentence.

The Card Eater!

Then there’s at least one baccarat scammer who foiled the cheater catchers. The guy was part of a team that made a habit of slipping an 8-denomination card in and out of the game, Considering that it is a key card in baccarat, the team played with a significant advantage. 

Eventually, though, casino security realized what was going on, surrounded the card man and tackled him to the ground. Before he could be fully apprehended, the cheat folded his card, swallowed it and foiled casino officials.

“He ate the evidence!” a source told me. “It was brought before the Gaming Commission. They said, ‘You have no proof. Pay the man. Have a nice day.’”

‘World’s Greatest Casino Cheat’

Fake slot machine tokens, bribed dealers, and fast fingers for introducing 10s and aces into blackjack games (credit that gambit to a woman nicknamed the Vegas Vixen) all worked until they didn’t. 

Same for the moves engineered by notorious Richard Marcus. Anointing himself the “world’s greatest casino cheat,” Marcus ran a team that made its bones with a ploy known as past-posting. They would surreptitiously swap chips in and out of betting circles, depending on the outcome of the hand. If he won, he’d slip in $10,000 via a pair of $5,000 chips. If he lost, it would just cost him $110, via a black $100 chip and two five below.

Like Dustin Marks, he retired from the cheating life when peril seemed to loom – but before it struck. Also, like Marks, Richard Marcus managed to avoid jailtime. Unlike the rogue magician, though, he found a second career after giving up on scamming the house. He wrote books such as American Roulette and consulted with casinos to catch others of his ilk. 

Hence, as Marcus and Carmichael prove, there is little honor among casino cheats

There are hundreds, even thousands, of video poker players who diligently look for the best video poker games. They learn and regularly practice the proper playing strategy for the games and pay tables that are available. They practice strict money management, and basically do everything they can to maximize each video poker session they have in a casino. 

Most casino video poker players are not this diligent, however. They simply want to relax a little and have some fun playing video poker. They may have heard that video poker has higher returns than standard slots so they choose to play video poker.

They expect to lose, since casinos have the edge. They just want a shot at winning something without a lot of effort. 

This article is for those players. A very basic video poker playing strategy for Jacks or Better or Bonus Poker is given which will help the player win more than a random player. And, with only 12 lines, it can be easily learned and mastered.

Contents

1. What this simple Jacks or Better strategy is and what it is not
2. How to use the simple Jacks or Better video poker playing strategy 
3. Definition of terms in the strategy
4. Video poker games that this strategy applies to
5. The simple Jacks or Better video poker strategy chart
6. Summary

What this simple Jacks or Better strategy is and what it is not

The simple Jacks or Better video poker strategy presented in this article is:

• A real, mathematically developed, video poker strategy that shows the best holds in the proper sequence that allow the player to win more.
• It is very simple to learn and remember when playing in a casino. A short (several minute) review of the strategy before playing in a casino should be sufficient for most players to master it.
• As with any video poker game, always play the maximum of five credits per hand. The royal flush will then pay 800-for-1 (4,000-for-5) rather than 250-for-1 if less than five credits are bet.

This simple Jacks or Better video poker strategy is not:

• A strategy that will get the highest possible return from play. It will get a reasonably good return with very little effort required to learn the strategy.

How to use the simple Jacks or Better video poker playing strategy

This strategy works in the same way as more complex strategies used by advanced video poker players. To use the strategy:

• Start at the top line of the strategy.
• If the hand that was dealt is described by the line, hold the cards indicated.
• If the dealt hand is not described by the line, move to the next lower line in the strategy and repeat the previous step.
• If you reach the last line and it does not describe the dealt hand, do not hold any of the cards dealt. Draw five new cards.

Very straightforward. Very simple.

Definition of terms in the strategy

To properly use the strategy, the player must know the terminology used.

• Royal flush: the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit – (Spades, Clubs, Diamonds or Hearts). They can be in any sequence. 
• Straight flush: Five cards of the same suit that are sequential (but not necessarily in order). E.g., 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 of hearts or 9, 5, 7, 8, 6 of clubs.
• Flush: five cards of the same suit – e.g. 3, 6, 9, 10, jack of diamonds.
• Straight: cards of different suits that are in sequence (though not necessarily in order).
• High cards: Ace, King, Queen, Jack (but not 10 or less)
• If less than five cards of the specified hand are present, there can be gaps in the sequence but the sequence must be able to be completed with five sequential cards.

Video poker games that this strategy applies to

Due to the very simple nature of this strategy, it can apply to more than one game and pay table. This strategy works equally well on Jacks or Better (9/6* or 8/5*) or 8/5* Bonus Poker. * 9/6 means 9-for-1 for a full house and 6-for-1 for a flush, 8/5 means 8-for-1 for a full house and 5-for-1 for a flush.

Example pay tables:

 

 

Make sure the pay table of the selected game matches one that this strategy applies to. 

The simple Jacks or Better strategy chart

• Any paying hand – except always hold a 4-card royal flush 
• Any 4-card straight flush
• Any 3-card royal flush
• Any 4-card flush
• Low pair (22 thru TT)
• Any 4-card straight – no gaps
• Any two suited high cards (e.g. K, J of spades)
• Any 3-card straight flush (e.g. 4, 7, 8 of diamonds)
• Three high cards – different suits
•  Two high cards – different suits
•  Suited KT, QT, JT
•  Lone A, K, Q, or J

Only 12 lines in the strategy. If the dealt hand is not defined in one of those lines, draw five new cards.

Summary 

There are hundreds, even thousands of serious video poker players who are willing to take the time and expend the effort to get every last nickel they can from their video poker play.

There are many times more recreational video poker players that are not willing to spend the time and effort for the same results. This article presents a simple strategy (only 12 lines) that is simple to learn and use in a casino for these casual players. They may not get as high a return as those players who use a more complex strategy, but they will do better than the masses who simply go with their gut.

If you are one of these casual players, consider trying this simple strategy. You may be very pleased with the results.

There are hundreds, even thousands, of video poker players who diligently look for the best video poker games. They learn and regularly practice the proper playing strategy for the games and pay tables that are available. They practice strict money management. They do everything they can to maximize each video poker session they have in a casino. 

Most casino video poker players simply want to relax a little and have some fun playing video poker. They may have heard that video poker has higher returns than standard slots so they choose to play video poker. They may have heard the Double Bonus video poker has a great return, so they choose to play Double Bonus.

They expect to lose, since casinos have the edge. They just want a shot at winning something without a lot of effort. 

A previous article covered a simple video poker strategy for Jacks or Better and Bonus Poker. This article is for those casual players who like to play Double Bonus. It shows a very basic video poker playing strategy which will help the player win more than a random player. In addition, with only 12 lines, it can be easily learned and mastered.

Contents

1. What this simple Double Bonus strategy is and what it is not
2. How to use the simple Double Bonus video poker playing strategy 
3. Definition of terms in the strategy
4. Video poker games that this strategy applies to,
5. The simple Double Bonus video poker strategy chart
6. Summary

What this simple Double Bonus strategy is and what it is not

The simple Double Bonus video poker strategy presented in this article is:

• A real mathematically developed, video poker strategy that shows the best holds in the proper sequence that allow the player to win more.
• It is very simple to learn and remember when playing in a casino. A short (several minute) review of the strategy before playing in a casino should be sufficient for most players to master it.
• As with any video poker game, always play the maximum of five credits per hand. The royal flush will then pay 800-for-1 (4,000-for-5) rather than 250-for-1 if less than five credits are bet.

This simple Double Bonus video poker strategy is not:

• A strategy that will get the highest possible return from play, but it will get a reasonably good return with very little effort required to learn the strategy.

How to use the simple Double Bonus video poker playing strategy

This strategy works in the same way as more complex strategies used by advanced video poker players.

• Start at the top line of the strategy.
• If the hand that was dealt is described by that line, hold the cards indicated.
• If the dealt hand is not described by the line, move to the next lower line in the strategy and repeat the previous step.
• If you reach the last line and it does not describe the dealt hand, do not hold any of the cards dealt. Draw five new cards.

Very straightforward. Very simple.

Definition of terms in the strategy

To properly use the strategy, the player must know the terminology used.

• Royal flush: the Ace, King, Queen, Jack and 10 of the same suit – (Spades, Clubs, Diamonds or Hearts). They can be in any sequence. 
• Straight flush: Five cards of the same suit that are sequential (but not necessarily in order). E.g. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 of hearts or 9, 5, 7, 8, 6 of clubs.
• Flush: five cards of the same suit – e.g. 3, 6, 9, 10, jack all of diamonds.
• Straight: cards of different suits that are in sequence (though not necessarily in order).
• High cards: Ace, King, Queen, Jack (but not 10 or less)
• If less than five cards of the particular hand, there can be gaps in the sequence but the sequence must be able to be completed with five cards.

Video poker games that this strategy applies to

Due to the very simple nature of this strategy, it can apply to more than one game and pay table. This strategy works equally well on two different pay tables of Double Bonus (10/7* or 9/7*). * 10/7 means 10-for-1 for a full house and 7-for-1 for a flush, 9/7 means 9-for-1 for a full house and 7-for-1 for a flush)

Example pay tables:

 

Make sure the pay table of the selected game matches one that this strategy applies to. 

The simple Double Bonus strategy chart

1. Any paying hand – except always hold a 4-card royal flush 
2. Any 4-card straight flush
3. Any 4-card flush
4. Any 3-card royal flush
5. Any 4-card straight – no gaps
6. Low pair (22 thru TT)
7. Any two suited high cards (e.g. K, J of spades)
8. Any 3-card straight flush (e.g. 4, 7, 8 of diamonds)
9. Three high cards – different suits
10.  Two high cards – different suits
11.  Suited KT, QT, JT
12.  Lone A, K, Q, or J

Only 12 lines in the strategy. If the dealt hand is not defined in one of those lines, draw five new cards.

Summary 

Not every video poker player is willing to spend a great deal of time learning and practicing video poker strategy.

There are thousands of recreational video poker players just want to play these casino games without spending a lot of time and effort. This article presents a simple strategy (only 12 lines) for Double Bonus that is simple to learn and use in a casino for these casual players. They may not get as high a return as those players who use a more complex strategy, but they will do better than the masses who simply go with their gut.

If you are one of these casual players who likes to play Double Bonus video poker, consider trying this simple strategy. It will not take a long time to learn – and you may be very pleased with the results.

Back in the day, being a casino dealer meant learning to shuffle cards in specific ways – with all kinds of artful riffles and passes – that were unique to different casinos. There were  special cuts and reshuffles and a variety of techniques employed to make the cards as random as possible when they were dealt.

While casino dealers on some games still do hand shuffles, they usually get a finishing touch via mysterious boxes that execute a final mix before the cards are dealt. The process speeds up games and helps insure that advantage players will find it difficult to beat the games by predicting where slugs of cards will land for the next round of a particular game.

For that protective measure, casino bosses can thank a former truck driver by the name of John Breeding. 

Finding Inspiration

Breeding was working as a long-distance trucker in the 1980s when he read a Wall Street Journal article about casinos having trouble reigning in advantage players. He figured that he had an easy solution: relieve the dealers of hand-shuffling cards and institute the use of automatic shufflers that could mix a single deck.

He somehow managed to borrow $30,000 and commissioned a group of engineers to help him come up with the device. It was some years in the making, but they did it. It worked, too. However, there was just one problem: the casino managers didn’t dig it. They had already begun spreading multi-deck blackjack games and nobody was all that interested in upending game presentations to satisfy Breeding.

Over the course of inventing his machine – amazingly, the earliest iterations were made mostly of wood – Breeding is said to have gone broke more than once. 

Then, as he told the Las Vegas-based journalist Howard Stutz, his wife laid down a challenge. “If you’re so smart,” she is said to have told Breeding, “why don’t you invent a game that uses only one deck?”

Turning Game Inventor  

He did. He came up with Let It Ride, a poker-based game that is now an institution and beloved by gamblers who enjoy the option of reducing their bets by a third. If they don’t withdraw, they, as the name suggests – let it ride. 

Casinos love the game because the house edge is 3.51%, which is quite a bit more than that of blackjack and craps. It’s also difficult for ordinarily sharp players to beat. It’s not the sort of thing that can be overcome through card counting.

Breeding loved the game because the setup included the use of a shuffling machine. It not only earned him money as a game creator, but it also gave casinos the opportunity to experience his automatic shuffler, which was called the ShuffleMaster.

More Games, More Money

Business was good enough for ShuffleMaster that the company went public, developed more games and started buying up other manufacturers of casino-related devices and game creators. Over the years, it's released games such as Three Card Poker, Casino War and Blackjack Switch. 

There’s been a passel of slot machines that exist in casinos and online. Offerings include 888 Fortunes, Monopoly Big Spin and Very Fruity. 

By 1999, the company was doing well enough to have made Forbes magazine’s list of the 200 best small companies. From that elite roster, it was even designated as one of the 10 hottest small American companies.

In 2013, ShuffleMaster was sold to Bally Technologies, which was later acquired by Scientific Games. The latter is now known as Light & Wonder. The trucker turned casino gaming tycoon enjoyed enough of a windfall that he chose to retire.

Back to Basics

While making waves and money with his casino games, prior to taking leave, Breeding and his ShuffleMaster company (now known as SHFL Entertainment) did not lose sight of their original mission. 

The company became a leading designer of shuffling machines. And it was far from limited to the single deck offering that served as a foundation for Breeding’s operation. Over the years, ShuffleMaster has become a master in the wide realm of shuffling machines.

Having gone way beyond the single deck offering, the company pushes out machines that are used to organize poker chips along with continuous shuffle machines that totally thwart card counters by living up to the name: they’re always shuffling, which completely turns card counting into a moot endeavor.

The company’s products are so good that its Deckmate 2 was used by dealers at the World Series of Poker.

Okay, But How Does It Work?

The continuous shuffling machines (known as CSMs) have slots for each card. The cards circulate on a wheel; an automatic number generator dictates which cards will be dealt out when. That would be for a continuous shuffle machine that you see on gambling tables in casinos.

Interestingly, while the so-called CSM is hated by card counters – as mentioned above, you can’t count a blackjack game when the cards are being continuously shuffled – Mike “Wizard of Odds” Shackelford maintains that the CSM games are slightly better for straight-on basic strategy players. He says that this is because a higher number of 10 value cards than expected will be dealt, and that is always good for the player.

When you are playing a shoe game, the dealer takes cards from the discard tray and feeds them into an automatic shuffle machine, which uses hoppers and rollers to mix up the cards. There will be two sets of cards. As one is being dealt out to players, the other is being randomized in the machine. 

Do the machines cheat players? The answer is that they do not. But according to a recent article in Wired, a “hacking device could alter the shuffler’s code to fully hijack the machine and invisibly tamper with its shuffling.”

Of course, this is not to say that anyone has ever done something so nefarious. And no doubt, the high-tech hustle is not something that Breeding had considered when he fashioned his earliest iteration of the fabulous shuffler that now keeps things moving in the casino, set off a load of popular table games and made the former truck driver a casino hero with a place in the Gambling Hall of Fame.
 

How to choose the best casino slot game that is perfect for you.

Ever wondered why some casino slot games seem to reward players with frequent wins while other slot games seem to be all about take and no give? 

What keeps slot players in their seats and hitting that start button is the thought of a big win appearing on the screen and blasting out that winning jackpot melody. It’s that big jackpot carrot dangling over your slots gaming session that keeps you fixated. 

But not all casino slots are the same. Win frequency and payout amounts are regulated by slot volatility. In this article, I’m going to unpack what volatility means in slots so you can choose the casino slot game that works for you.

Slot volatility, or slot variance, is a major factor that forms certain kinds of gaming experiences for slot players. Understanding slot volatility can steer you towards casino slot games that complement your risk tolerance and goals. Whether you’re hoping for a big win or happy with frequent payouts, understanding volatility is key.

Knowing a slot’s volatility helps you manage your bankroll and expectations. From players new to slots to those who’ve been watching those reels spin for a donkey’s years, this knowledge ensures an enjoyable and strategic gaming session.

What is Slot Volatility?

Slot volatility concerns the degree of risk within a slot game. It dictates how often you can expect to win and the size of those payouts.

• Low volatility slots: These offer frequent but smaller wins, helping to keep your bankroll lasting longer — fluctuating below and above your starting bankroll balance. 
• High volatility slots: In contrast, these casino slot games provide less frequent wins, but could produce big wins.

For example, a low-volatility slots game might reward you with a stream of (hypothetical example) £5 wins, whereas a session of playing high-volatility slot games could result in no wins, but then “Voilà”!!—suddenly drop a nice (hypothetical example) £500 win onto your slots balance.

Types of Slot Volatility

Each type of slot game is designed to stand out from the rest, and they function in different ways too. Slot volatility, also known as slot variance, selects how a game operates in terms of payouts. 

Low Volatility Slots

Low-volatility slots are ideal for slot players who prefer a string of frequent wins during a session. However, it should be noted that such games reward players with smaller payouts.

Here are the characteristics of low-volatility slot games:

• Frequent payouts on the whole, ranging from small to moderate amounts.
• Less risk, more suited to beginners or occasional slot players. For instance, groups of birthday party goers on visits to casinos. 
• Slot players experience longer playing sessions and their bankrolls tend to last longer.

Are low-volatility slot games the best?

You can find classic slot games or low jackpot slots in most land-based casinos as well as in your favorite online casino. You may not win big playing low-volatility slots, but given sessions are likely to last longer, the entertainment value alone makes the experience worth it.

Medium Volatility Slots

Medium-volatility slot games allow you a fair chance at winning big, but while you’re trying to land a big slots jackpot, smaller frequent wins should keep you amused.  

Here are the characteristics of Medium-volatility slot games:

• You can expect a lower frequency of payouts compared to low-volatility slot games. And payment amounts are mostly small with the occasional big win landing. 
• Medium-volatility slot games cater for semi-professional players. There’s entertainment value, but if a big win doesn’t land the smaller wins won’t keep a player in a prolonged session. 
• Players will need larger bankrolls to extend sessions hoping bigger wins will drop. Thus, there’s more risk to reward. 

Are medium-volatility slot games the best?

If you’re looking for slot games that pay big jackpots but only keep sessions exciting with smaller wins, then look for the newer video slot games in online casinos. 

 High Volatility Slots

High-volatility slots are for die hard players, and high rollers. High-volatility slots are best suited to the type of people who can sit through a session of watching spinning reels deliver brutal results. But if a jackpot lands it will be a mega amount.  

Here are the characteristics of high-volatility slot games:

• Potentially huge jackpots, but you can feel like you’re feeding the slot game with a large bankroll with little to no rewards along the way.
• You’re most likely going to need a big bankroll since huge progressive slot jackpots don’t tend to payout that often.
• You’ve got to have nerves of steel and hope that you’re playing the right slot games at just the right time.

Are high-volatility slot games the best?

If you win a progressive slots jackpot the thrill should be amazing. But a bit like playing the lottery—it could be years before you win or not win at all. 

At the time of writing (January 2025), of the many slot games on 888casino.com I picked two examples with the following progressive jackpot amounts: Crabbin for Cash Extra Big Catch: Jackpot King £3 Million Plus and Jingle Bells Bonanza £316K Plus.

What level of slot volatility is the best to play? It all comes down to risk and reward and the type of personality looking for slot games to play. 

1. Risk a lot to stand a chance of winning a huge slots jackpot or; 
2. Risking less to stay in the game longer and maybe winning a sizable jackpot, albeit not a life changing amount.   

Slot Volatility vs RTP (Return to Player)

As well as slot volatility the term “RTP” (Return to Player) is going to play a role in your gaming experience. 

What is RTP in slots?

RTP is the percentage of total staked funds a slot game is programmed to return to players over time. The higher the RTP is (for example 95%) the less the house gains as profit.

This means that in the short-term of playing slot games, players are not guaranteed to experience a full—or nowhere near—the RTP advertised percentage.  

How volatility and RTP work together

The function of RTP is to pay back a percentage to players overtime and the function of volatility is to regulate what slot games payout what amounts and how frequently. See some examples in the table below:

What Does Volatility Mean in Slots? Conclusion

To make every spin more transformative to your gaming experience, decide what slot volatility preferences align with your budget, and are likely to meet your expectations. Choosing the right slot volatility can reward you with enjoyment when playing future slot games.

Las Vegas’s storied Tropicana became the latest Sin City casino to face implosion in October 2024. The site was cleared to make way for the construction of a new baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics.

Like past casino implosions, the event drew plenty of media attention and spectators. Bally’s, the casino’s owner, made the property’s destruction quite a spectacle with a seven-minute celebration involving a drone show and fireworks display. Bally’s now plans to build another casino next to the stadium. The historic casino that dated back to 1957, but is now just another chapter in gambling history.

Las Vegas is a city that’s constantly changing and that goes for colossal casinos that dot the famous Las Vegas Strip and at other locations around the city. Casino demolitions receive so much hype that nearby casinos often increase prices as visitors head to town to check out the window-rattling destruction of another property.

“What Las Vegas has done, in classic Las Vegas style, they've turned many of these implosions into spectacles," Geoff Schumacher, historian and vice president of exhibits and programs at the Mob Museum, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal after the Trop. Keep reading to learn more about the history of Las Vegas casino implosions.

Classics Come Down

The 1990s saw several casinos come down. The Dunes got the action going in 1993. The desert-themed casino had been operating since 1955, but the face of Las Vegas began changing in the late 1980s and early ‘90s as megaresorts began becoming more en vogue.

The Bellagio later took the Dunes’ place and became the most expensive hotel and casino ever built at the time at a price tag of $1.6 million. Along with plenty of blackjack, craps, poker, and slots, the property also featured fine art, high-end amenities, 3,000 rooms, and a 22-million-gallon lake.

The Landmark’s implosion in 1995 was coupled with some pop culture appeal. The property was used as the Galaxy Hotel in Tim Burton’s film Mars Attacks!, with the demolition actually incorporated into the movie with Martians blowing up the hotel. They must not have taken over as the casino, which once hosted Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, is now used as a parking lot.

A year later, another casino was cut down. The Sands opened in 1952 and had once been the hangout of the Brat Pack. The property bit the dust and the Venetian soon took its place. The Hacienda was then demolished on New Year’s Day in 1997 to ring in another megaresort, Mandalay Bay.

The Aladdin was demolished in 1998 for a completely new version of the same casino. That property opened in 1966 and the Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts was spared and later became part of the new Aladdin that opened in 2000. However, Caesars Entertainment acquired the property in 2003 and renovated the casino to become Planet Hollywood.

Busy, Booming 2000s

The 2000s were a busy time for Vegas implosions as the city continued welcoming megaresort casinos to take the place of older properties. The El Rancho came tumbling down in 2000 to clear space for a development known as Turnberry Towers.

That property never came to fruition and instead became the home of the new $3.9 billion Fontainebleau, which opened in December 2023. The property was originally scheduled to open in 2008, but delays set construction back for years as the property faced lawsuits, numerous financial issues, bankruptcy, and ownership changes.

The Desert Inn was then the next to hit the dustbin in 2001 with the Wynn taking its place. The property had been open since 1950 and was the fifth casino to open on the Strip. The property is notable in that  Frank Sinatra made his Vegas debut in the property’s Crystal Room in 1951.

Also in 2001, the Boardwalk and Bourbon Street casinos were brought down for bigger projects. The site of the Boardwalk, which had a Coney Island theme and operated since 1966, is now home to the Waldorf Astoria, part of the CityCenter/Aria casino complex. Bourbon Street was a small Strip casino that was simply made into a parking lot for the Westin Hotel.

Next to go was Castaways in 2006, which dated its Sin City history back to the 1930s. The property went through several name changes through the years, including being known as Mountain View, Showboat, and San Souci. Castaways had once been home to the largest bowling alley in the world with 106 lanes. Casino impresario acquired the property to build The Mirage, which opened in 1989.

In 2007, the New Frontier got the axe. Opened 1956, the property was the last casino owned by Howard Hughes and the first Vegas home for Siegfried and Roy. Also that year, the Stardust met the same fate. The property once hosted major acts like Frank Sinatra and inspired the Martin Scorsese film Casino because of the property’s links to organized crime. The film became one of the best casino-related films in history.

Tony “the Ant” Spilotro was in charge of the Stardust and other casinos for the Chicago outfit. He was believed to be responsible for numerous burglaries, thefts, and murders during his time in Las Vegas. As seen in the film Casino, Spilotro was later murdered himself and his body buried in a cornfield in Indiana. The Stardust wasn’t the only Vegas casino known to have connections to the mafia.

Recent Casino Demolitions

Along with the Tropicana, Las Vegas and Nevada have seen a few other demolitions in recent years. In January 2024, Terrible's Casino became the latest to get the wrecking ball. The property is located just 25 miles south of Las Vegas in the city of Jean.

The property was notable as a landmark for California gamblers heading to town on Interstate 15. The demolition won’t pave the way for a shiny new casino in this case and instead a new industrial park.

Before that, the Riviera was the most recent Strip to be exploded into dust and debris. The property dated back to 1955 and was known to host major name acts like Liberace, Barbara Streisand,  Liza Minnelli, Bob Hope, George Burns, Frank Sinatra, and numerous others. The Crazy Girls showgirl show was a popular attraction and the property also became the first Strip casino to add a fast food eatery when a Burger King opened in 1984.

The Riv officially closed in May 2015 to give way for an expansion of the Las Vegas Convention Center. The property’s removal involved two implosions of the casino's hotel towers. The first came in June 2016 and the second came in August 2016. The total cost of demolition reached $40 million because of significant asbestos removal.

*****

Las Vegas isn’t like many other big cities. Huge buildings and major developments seem to come and go as new projects take their place.

It doesn’t look like that will change and the New York Times once noted that in Vegas, “old structures are dismissed as soon as they outlive their usefulness.” No doubt more impositions are set for Las Vegas in the future and the only question is – when?

Much is written about when to stop playing video poker in a casino. Many say to stop playing when you are ahead. While that sounds good at first, that advice is not at all practical. A player does not want to stop playing after winning the first hand. Players may also never be ahead.

Articles that I have written in the past are focused on serious players – players who know and have practiced the proper playing strategies.

The vast majority of video poker players do not fit that profile, however. They are casual players who have neither the time nor inclination to learn and practice playing strategy. They simply want to go to the casino to have a good time and play some video poker while having a few drinks.

They are not particularly worried about winning (though they certainly are hoping that they will). What advice concerning when to walk away from the game can be given to this class of video poker players? Keep reading to find out.

Contents

1. Casual versus serious?
2. When a casual video poker player should quit playing
3. Summary

Casual versus serious?

To understand when casual players should stop playing, one must understand the casual player’s motivations for playing video poker.

What defines a casual video poker player as opposed to a serious player? While the main focus of a serious player is to make money, the main focus of a casual player is to have fun.

A serious player will:

• Learn what game type and pay table to look for to determine which games are best. 
• Take time to search out video poker games with a good return.
• Learn and practice the proper strategy for those games. 
• Monitor how well they are playing the strategy.
• Carefully manage their bankroll.

Casual players:

• Do not care about the return of the video poker game.  They do not even know what to look for. They may know that Jacks or Better or Double-Double Bonus are popular, but not why.
• Have no desire to “work” while in the casino.
  • They do not search for the games with the best return.
  • They do not learn nor practice proper playing strategy.
  • They do not know nor care if they are making the best play.
• When it comes to bankroll, they (hopefully) bring with them an amount they can afford to lose. They expect to lose what they bring (but they have fun), and are happy if they go home with something left over. They celebrate going home with a win.

When a casual video poker player should quit playing

As noted in the previous section, casual players have very different reasons for playing video poker than serious players. Many of their triggers for quitting play are also quite different. However, many of the following tips for stopping play also apply to serious players.

• Many casual players like to play for a short time of one machine – trying their luck as it were. They might insert a 10- or 20-dollar bill. When that is gone, they switch to a different machine, and try their luck there. This process is repeated several times, thus giving the casual player opportunities for a big win at several different machines. While switching machines is not really quitting play, it lengthens the time they can play video poker since when they are switching machines, they are not playing. Not playing means they are not losing.
• Although they are rarer, many casinos offer promotions such as free play, special pays for certain hands, point multipliers on certain days and times, and things of that nature. Casual players who take advantage of these promotions should consider stopping play when the promotions end. At a minimum, they should consider tucking away a portion of any wins during the promotion period before continuing with non-promotional play.
• Another great time to quit playing is after hitting a jackpot. A royal flush or four aces with a 2, 3, or 4 ”kicker” can be quite a windfall for any player – especially for a casual player. Cashing out and quitting play allows the player to relish the win without giving any of it back to the casino. An alternative to immediately quitting completely is to cash out the big win and play another $10 or $20 before leaving. Either way, the casual player is going home a big winner. The extra $10 or $20 played could add even more to that win.

There are also some no-brainer reasons to quit playing. 

• You are tired. Take a break and recharge. The games will always be there. 
• You are hungry. Get something to eat. You will feel better and have more fun if your stomach is not growling.
• You need to go to the bathroom. You may be on a good run, do not play so long that have an accidental “run.”
• Your bankroll is gone. Quit now. Do not go to the ATM for more. You brought what you could afford to lose with you – and you lost it all. It is time to leave.
• You are bored. Yes, casino gambling can be exciting. The prospect of winning large amounts of money is exhilarating. After hours of play, however, it can become tedious and boring. Stop playing – at least for a while. Leave the casino and walk around. Head back when refreshed and once again excited about playing.
• Quit playing when you are no longer having fun. Since this is the casual player's primary motivation for playing, why continue when it is no longer fun?

Summary 

Casual video poker players are not motivated by the same things that serious players are. They are playing video poker to have fun – and possibly become lucky and win. 

The mandatory time to quite playing video poker for casual players is when they run out of money. There are several other options for quitting play that will not only save money (or extend playing time), but will also make the time spent playing video poker more fun. That is what casual players are looking for, right – FUN?

Are video poker machines rigged? Plenty of gamblers believe that they are.

I knew a player who was convinced that certain video poker machines were rigged. His “proof” was winning hands did not appear as often as they mathematically should. The data he collected to prove his point was a few thousand hands and the number of times certain hands (such as a full house) were winners. The number of winning hands he showed me were, indeed, off the mark.

Does this information prove the machine was rigged? Read on to find out more.

Contents

1. What do you mean by the word rigged?
2. Brief description of how video poker machines work
3. Fair (random) video poker games
4. The error in the “proof”
5. Summary

What do you mean by the word 'rigged'?

It is probably a good idea to define what is meant by the word rigged. All video poker games are “rigged” in one sense. 

They are programmed to give the house (and on very, very rare occasions, the player) an edge. This is accomplished by adjusting the pay table. Changes are made to the payoffs of the winning hands so they pay less than the mathematical odds of the hands appearing. 

Certain winning hands might be paid at the true odds, others perhaps a bit higher than true odds, and some at less than true odds. The average amount paid for the entire pay table is virtually always less that the true odds. This gives the casino the edge.

Some players might consider setting returns to favor the house as rigging. In that case, all games on the casino floor are rigged. They either pay fewer winning hands than losing hands, or the winning hands are paid at less than true odds.

The type of rigged machine that the player in the introduction was complaining about was not that the house had an edge by short-paying winning hands, it was that the frequency of winning hands should match the mathematically-calculated frequency.

For the rest of this article, rigged means not random. Tweaking the payoffs for winning hands is not considered rigging, but offering games that are not random is considered rigging.

Brief description of how video poker machines work

Video poker machines (as well as virtually all machine-based casino games) are based on the results of a programmed random number generator. Being a programmed algorithm, it cannot be truly random. However, it is extremely close to random – close enough to be considered random by gaming regulators.

The random number generator (or RNG) is constantly cycling at a rate of thousands per second. At the instant the player hits the Deal or Draw button, the RNG is sampled and the number(s) retrieved are translated into card(s). The rank and suit are based on the number that was sampled.

This process generates random hands – or close enough to random to pass rigid tests of regulators.

Fair (random) video poker games

Depending on where you play, video poker games may or may not be random – or, in other words, fair. 

The good news is the large United States gaming destinations such as Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Tunica, and many others are controlled by gaming commissions. It is their job to certify the casino games in their jurisdiction are fair (random). 

The same cannot be said for some smaller casinos not under the control of gaming commissions. It also cannot be said about all online video poker games. Large online gaming sites such as 888casino are certified to be fair. 888casino is regulated not only by every state in which they are allowed, but also by the Government of Gibraltar, the UK Gambling Commission, and the Malta Gaming Authority.

If the casino, either land-based or online, is so regulated, you can be assured that the games are fair.

The error in the “proof”

Okay, you may be thinking, if the player in the introduction found that the video poker machines he was playing did not produce the proper frequency of winning hands, how could those games be fair?

That is a very good question. 

Any random event, by definition, cannot be predicted. If I randomly flip a coin, the math says that 50% of the time it will land with heads up and 50% of the time it will land with tails up. It will not, however, necessarily alternate with each flip of the coin. It might start out with three heads, then one tail, then three more heads, then two tails, then heads, then tails, and so on. 

In the previous scenario, the split between heads and tails is never exactly 50/50. However, as the number of random flips continues to grow, the balance between heads and tails will edge closer to 50/50.

The player in the introduction kept data for thousands of hands. Assume the math of a particular video poker game and pay table states that a full house will occur once every 87 hands and a flush will occur once every 91 hands. That in no way means a full house will occur exactly once every 87 hands or a flush exactly once every 91 hands.

In the coin flip situation, it is possible in a random flip that 10 or more heads will appear in a row. Using the same frequency for the video poker hands would amount to one full house in 870 hands and one flush in 910 hands. This, clearly, is nowhere near the mathematical average. However, in the coin toss, the fact the heads came up 10 times, also means that in video poker the full house or flush could, in a random machine, come up several times in a row.

Had the player in the introduction kept track of MILLIONS of hands, the results would be very close to the mathematical average.

Summary 

If rigged means that the game is set for the casino to win, all casino games are rigged. If rigged means random, video poker machines in gambling venues and online sites that are licensed and regulated by authorities, are random. They are considered fair, and therefore not rigged.

Mathematically calculated frequencies are based on an infinite number of events. The higher the number of events, the closer to the mathematical average are the results.

You know it, I know it: the casino has an edge on every bet. Except for the few advantage players who are, today, more like dust in a wind storm of the desert. 

Just about every player can’t beat the house. You can thank the mathematicians for that and the folks who fiddle with the computers for that too. You can thank the casino bosses for short-changing the payouts of bets or setting up a game where the casino simply wins more decisions. 

If you are the type of person who thinks it is stupid to play a game where your opponent has an edge over you than you probably don’t play casino games. Why would you? There can be no real reward for that. 

Now you can also be the type of person who doesn’t care about that because going to the casinos is fun. Betting is fun. The casino is the single place of true excitement in many people’s lives. That goes without saying. Otherwise, the games wouldn’t have spread to the Internet so fast.

Of course, there are discussions and (fierce) disagreements about what bets are the better of the bad bets and which bets are the worst of the bad bets. In fact, I have a list of bets that I consider good bad bets and the others are degrees of the worst bad bets. 

You can see I am not a purist. But there are uber non-purists; players that really have no care or even idea that the bets they are making come in various shades of black. They are hearty (or hardy), often thoughtless, players. If the casino were a church, these hearty (or hardy) players would have many a “bless you” said over them by the casinos’ bosses.

But that doesn’t mean the games have remained stagnant. Many have changed or been tinkered with over the almost 40 years I’ve been playing them.

Good and Bad Tinkering

The favorite table game in the casino is blackjack. It has been number one since Edward O. Thorp had his ground-breaking book Beat the Dealer published in the mid-1960s. That book taught an advantage-play method known as card counting that could, if applied properly, beat the house.

Until that time craps had been the number game, played by those great World War II veterans. But in light of card counting, craps fell to a tie with roulette as the number two game, where it still resides.

Casino players flocked to blackjack. Many of them thought just playing the game would give them an edge over the house. Some of them played what was then called (and is now called) basic strategy the method to play every player hand against the casino dealers’ face-up card.

Basic strategy (then and now) is the way to keep blackjack a very, very close game between player and casino – but it did not give the edge to the player. It did bring down the house edge on most games to almost even. Until the casinos started mucking around with the game, that is.

The 1950s style of blackjack was heavenly. A single-deck game where most of the cards were dealt to the players. Those who played the early form of basic strategy had a hair follicle casino edge to play against.

[Please note: I once played a single-deck game at the Maxim Casino-Hotel in Vegas where every card but one was dealt to the players. The game had surrender too and if you got a blackjack with a five-dollar or more bet you received a ticket worth one dollar that could be used anywhere in the hotel. And what if the deck ran out? They would just shuffle the discards and continue dealing. Best blackjack game I ever played. Somewhere around 1992 or so. My wife, the Beautiful AP, and I stayed in Vegas for eight straight weeks to play that game! We each played two hands too. At least eight hours a day.] 

Post 1960s, the casinos started changing the game. They brought in more decks, two decks, four decks, six decks and even eight decks. They put the cut card in shallowly. Fewer cards would be played. That hurt the player who could count those cards.

Today, you can see continuous automatic shufflers at many games. There is no break for the dealer to shuffle in such games because those games just keep going and going and going. Unplayed cards just go right back into the eight decks that are continuously shuffled. There is no way to beat those games other than a hefty dose of good luck. Gamblers who want to win really can’t rely on luck.

Whatever single-deck games remain usually have a blackjack payout of 6 to 5 as opposed to 3 to 2. There are also other limitations on some of those games as well. 

Can a competent card counting player of the old school actually beat those new single-deck games? Not really. These were introduced at Bally’s in Las Vegas if I remember correctly in the mid-1990s or thereabouts.

More cards, and heightened security, more or less did in most card counters. But blackjack still reigns supreme as the number one table game.

And What About Craps?

Craps was originally called carps by the Southerners who played the game in and along the Mississippi River towns. It is a hybrid of the British game Hazard. As it slowly progressed up north the Northerners misheard the Southern dialect and thought the game was called craps. And that’s what it became.

It was one of the two favorite World War II games, along with poker.

I will gladly admit that craps is my favorite casino game. Why? Because everything is in the players’ hands. The players shoot the dice and if a player doesn’t shoot, what then? Simple. The next player gets the dice and on the game goes.

The rules are firmly established and the “does and don’ts” of the game are well spelled out. It can be a loud game too.

Every night coming from the craps tables area one can often hear outbursts of applause and ecstatic cheers. Craps is one exciting game when the shooter is hot (unless you are betting against the shooter hitting his point or the numbers but those darksiders are still relatively rare when a shooter has hit a few numbers).

Craps has several excellent bets coming in with house edges well below 2%. It also has a way to reduce the house edge on such bets even more by using the odds bet once those other bets are up on the layout. 

The smartest players make the best bets. Period. A BIG BUT coming up now friends. Most craps players make more than one or two bets and many of these players, if not almost most, will also make some of the absolute worst bets offered in the casino.

There are craps bets that come in with house edges in the double digits – yes over 10%! Many just under that and a few over that – way over that!

Through the years, the casinos have tinkered with the bets at craps, usually offering “bonus” bets with astoundingly high house edges. 

But craps players are often lured by high-paying bets no matter how awful these bets actually are. Again, players who make these bets are not truly aware of how their prospects are completely dimmed by engaging in such wishful thinking.

For the average craps player, craps is a multiple-bet game. I am thinking many craps players have no idea of what those bad bets make for the casino and how much they cost the player. A close game becomes a “no contest” when a player insists on making many bad wagers. 

But over the decades that I’ve played the game many changes have been made. The original craps game I played had two-times (2X) odds; that is, you could add a bet that was double your pass-line bet.

The best one? One hundred times odds (100X). I played this game in Tunica, Mississippi. It was offered at several casinos. No added house edge either on those odds bets! Yes, a five-dollar pass-line bet could see odds of (hold your breath, Timmy) $500! Okay, very few players could make that odds bet but you could add whatever you wanted under $500. It was the single greatest change in craps ever.

It didn’t last too long but I saw it in action. That was a heavenly change for the players. Of course, such an amazing bet didn’t sweep the country. In fact, it didn’t last all that long even in Mississippi.

But other changes? Not so hot, in fact, truly bad. Rotten if you ask me. 

Adding side bets that would cost more than double digits to the craps players just made it almost impossible to win even a session unless someone got really hot. 

How could someone win who was betting seven or eight or nine or ten or more bets on this, that, or the other thing? Bad bets mostly. That makes craps an almost impossible game to beat except without outlandish heaps of luck.

Today, most craps games have gone away from the double odds game and many will offer 3X or 4X or 5X odds. Prior to the Covid lockdowns many more casinos than ever offered upwards of 10X odds. You won’t see that too much anymore.

Yes, despite all the horrible bets, craps is a great game to play if you play it right.

The Secret Behind Modern Slot Machines 

Oh, yes, the slots have changed immensely since I first started playing in the casinos. 

Most of the old-fashioned slots (circa 1990!) were generally of two types. Type one featured machines that took one, two, or three coins or were hooked into inter-casino progressive machines that could pay out millions with the odds being about 1 in 50 million on a hit. Yes, very, very long odds indeed.

These machines were played with coins and most slot players had as my mother said, “The desire to get a bigger bucket,” in which to hold their coins. If you played slots long enough on a given day your fingers wound up getting somewhat silver from all the “silver” dust floating around in your bucket. 

And that is where it stood. Coins, dust, buckets, progressives, and slot clubs for people with players’ cards.

Today’s slot players do not need buckets, little, medium or big. The majority of casinos use credit and credit monitors. And payouts are made at the cashier. You get a slip of paper when you quit playing a machine which tells you how much you have won or lost. If there is anything on that slip of paper, you can cash it in or play it in another machine.

Many slot machines today go with the idea that it is a good device if the player is multiple betting – no not just three “coins” or credits, but multiple different ways to win something or other.

You will see games where the player can play 10 games or maybe more. The amount of money these machines make can be enormous. They have out-craps craps!

In fact, you can often play table games at the machines! Ouch! That certainly hurts…the dealers especially.

In any modern business it is not good enough to make the same money this year as you made last year. Business always requires a bigger return, year after year. And today’s slot machines are geared to making more and more and more. And that’s why you get more games on them and why the decisions can come faster and faster even than that.

Society is Now a Gambler’s Paradise

You can’t escape it. There are so many commercials for online casinos and sports betting that one would think our countries will soon go broke. Maybe so.

I know that the college kids I’ve met all gamble on the games and some (who are old enough) love to go to the casinos. 

I guess we shall see what will happen when gambling stays so widespread.

All the best in and out of the casinos!