Understanding how video poker pay tables work is the first step in becoming a
smart gambler-at least if you like gambling machines. How much money you get as
a payout for each hand is the determining factor for the overall payback
percentages for the VP machines.

Every slot machine has a payout for specific symbols as well as the number of coins that are played. For example, if the machine you are playing pays five coins for three bells then it will pay ten for the second coin that you play and fifteen for three coins played. There are also bonus multiplier games. Pay tables matter a lot! It is very important to always check on the payout rates of every single slot machine you decide to play and most importantly, you must check on this before choosing a slot machine. Each slot machine has its own set-up with different payouts, and the outcome can really make a difference.

The goal of this page is to explain what a payback percentage on a gambling
machine is, how the payback table on a video poker game determines that
percentage, and what all of this means to your gambling bankroll.

What Is a Payback Percentage?

We’ve explained on other pages of our site what the house edge is and how it
works.

But we’ll cover it again briefly here, because it relates strongly to a
gambling machine’s payback percentage.

The house edge is a theoretical percentage of each bet that a gambler
mathematically expects to lose over the long term.

In roulette, the house edge is 5.26%. This means that if you place enough
bets (thousands+), you can expect to lose $5.26 for every $100 you wager.

In the short run, anything can happen. You might bet on a single number and
hit, winning 35 to 1 on your money. More likely, you’ll miss, and you’ll lose
100% of your bet.

But if you average out your losses over an extremely large number of spins,
you’ll eventually start getting close to the theoretical average.

Gambling writers use house edge when talking about table games.

But when they talk about gambling machines, they talk about payback
percentage.

This is the expected percentage of each bet that you’ll win back over a lot
of trials.

One of the reasons for this distinction is because table games pay off at X
to Y odds, while gambling machines pay at X for Y odds.

Here’s what that means:

If you bet $100 on a single number at the roulette table and win, you get
paid $3500. That’s 35 to 1. You keep your original bet and get the winnings on
top of it.

But if you buy $100 in credit on a slot machine or video poker machine and
wager that entire amount on a single spin or hand, you don’t get your wager
back. It’s included in the winnings.

You bet $100 on a hand of video poker and get a pair of jacks. That payoff on
that hand is 1 for 1, which means you win $100.

But you don’t get your original $100 back.

It’s gone.

In other words, the lowest paying hand in video poker is a break-even
proposition.

As a result, when you talk about gambling machines, you talk about payback
percentages.

If a slot machine has a 96% payback percentage, you can expect to win back 96
cents for every dollar you wager over time.

The Big Difference Between Slot Machines and Video Poker

Slot machines and video poker are remarkably similar. Both games deal with
combinations of symbols on a payline. Both games have payouts for specific
combinations.

The difference is that on a video poker game, we can calculate the
probability of getting a certain hand. That’s because video poker bases its
random number generator on a deck of cards.

We know the possibilities available with a deck of cards:

• You have a 1 in 52
  chance of getting a specific card.
• You have a 1 in 13
  chance of getting a card of a specific rank.
• You have a 1 in 4
  chance of getting a card of a specific suit.

But on a slot machine game, you have no way of knowing the probability of
getting a specific symbol. It could be 1 in 10, 1 in 20, or 1 in 200.

If you know how much a result pays off, you can compare that with the
probability of getting that result to get an expected return for that
combination.

In jacks or better, you win 1 for 1 if you get a pair of jacks or higher.
You’ll see that hand roughly 20% of the time, so the expected value for that
hand is about 20 cents on the dollar.

You can calculate that for every possible outcome, including outcomes where
you win nothing (50% of the time). Add those numbers together, and you have the
theoretical expected return (payback percentage) for that pay table.

On slot machines, you’re missing that crucial piece of information-the
probability.

This is the big advantage video poker has over slot machines.

Understanding Slot Machine Pay Tables

The secondary advantage is that video poker payouts are almost always better
than slot machine payouts.

An average video poker game has a payout percentage of 96% or higher.

An average slot machine game has a payout percentage of 95% or lower.

You’ll rarely find a video poker game with a payback percentage lower than
90%.

But it’s easy to find slots with payback percentages in the 75% – 80% range.
Just visit a bar, a supermarket, or an airport in Las Vegas.

The Importance of Strategy and How It Relates to Video Poker Pay Tables

The other thing to keep in mind about video poker is that the expected return
for a game assumes you’re playing each hand correctly. When you decide which
cards to discard and which ones to keep, you’re making 1 of 32 decisions. And
only one of those decisions has the highest expected return.

Suppose you have a hand which includes a pair of jacks, but it also includes
4 cards to a royal flush.

The pair of jacks is a 100% winner of even money.

To fill the royal flush, you only have 1 card out of 47 which can fill your
hand. For simplicity’s sake, we’ll call that 2%.

But if you hit the royal flush, you’ll win 800 for 1.

Would you rather have a 100% chance of winning $1, or a 2% chance of winning
$800?

The mathematically correct say to make that decision is to multiply the odds
of winning by the size of the jackpot. That’s your expected return for that
decision.

In this case, 100% X $1 is an expected value of $1.

2% X $800 is an expected return of $16.

Since $16 is clearly more than $1, the choice if obvious.

The reason we call this example “super-simplified” is because it doesn’t
account for the possibility of getting other hands.

If you keep the pair, you also have the possibility of getting 3 of a kind, 4
of a kind, or a full house.

If you keep the royal flush, you also have the possibility of getting a high
pair again on the draw.

But the odds of those are so small that you can safely ignore them. Drawing
to the royal flush is correct in this case.

You’ll find more about video poker strategy in our comprehensive guide.

Specific Pay Tables for Specific VP Games

We obviously can’t list all the possible pay tables for every possible video
poker game on a single page. But we can provide some specific examples to
illustrate the concepts you need to be familiar with.

We’ll start with a classic pay table for Jacks or Better video poker:

The columns list the payoffs for how many coins you’ve wagered if you get a
specific hand. All the payoffs save one are multiplied by the number of coins
you’ve wagered. That’s an important distinction.

The royal flush is the top hand in almost all video poker variations. The
games are programmed to pay off at 800 for 1 for that hand, but only if you
wagered 5 coins on the hand. If you wager fewer than 5 coins, the payoff for
that hand is only 250 for 1.

This has a huge effect on your bottom line. In fact, it’s the first rule of
video poker strategy:

This isn’t true for most slot machine games-although it is true for some.

But it’s always true for video poker games.

You give up so much expected value for paying for fewer coins that you’re
always better off playing for 5 coins at lower stakes than playing for 1, 2, 3,
or 4 coins at higher stakes.

The other thing to notice about the Jacks or Better pay table is the payoff
for the full house and the flush. You’ll notice that the full house pays off at
9 for 1, and the flush pays off at 6 for 1.

On most Jacks or Better video games, the only variables on the pay table are
those 2 hands. In fact, this specific pay table is called a 9/6 Jacks or Better
pay table. An 8/5 Jacks or Better game has the same payouts on all the hands
except those two, which pay off at 8 for 1 and 5 for 1 respectively instead.

You can find other variations, but they’re rare enough that most people don’t
worry about that.

But here’s the key number for a 9/6 Jacks or Better game:

99.54%

That’s the payback percentage if you’re playing with correct strategy on
every hand.

This means the house edge for this game is only 0.46%. That’s better than
almost any other game in the casino. It’s even better than the house edge for
blackjack, which hovers around 1% at most casinos.

The payback percentage for this game drops dramatically as the payoffs chance
for Jacks or Better:

• 8/5 Jacks or Better pays
  off at 97.3%.
• 7/5 Jacks or Better pays
  off at 96.15%.
• 6/5 Jacks or Better pays
  off at 95%.

How the Payback Percentage Affects Your Bottom Line

Casino managers and game designers like to forecast what kind of money a
specific game will make them over time.

As luck would have it, the math for this is easy enough that even someone
like me (and you) can understands it.

You simply multiply the average bet size by the number of bets per hour to
get the amount of action the game sees per hour.

You multiply that number by the house edge to get the amount the casino
expects to win (and you expect to lose) per hour.

An average Jacks or Better player probably gets in 600 hands per hour. (It’s
a fast-paced game.)

Let’s assume you’re playing a dollar machine at max coin, so you’re putting
$5 into action per hand.

This means you’re putting $3000 per hour into action.

On a full-pay (9/6) game, you’re expected to lose 0.46% X $3000, or $13.80.

That’s not bad for an hour of entertainment at a casino.

Deduct the cost of a couple of free premium liquor drinks from the cocktail
waitress, and you’re playing a close to even money game.

But how much can you expect to lose per hour on the 8/5 game?

The house edge for this pay table is 2.7%, which means you’re expected to
lose $81 per hour.

That’s a huge difference in your bottom line.

Play the 6/5 game, and you’re expected to lose $150 per hour.

And that’s still a better deal than most slot machines.

Conclusion

You can find pay tables for individual video poker games on the game guides
page on this site. We also offer specific strategy advice to help you get close
to the expected return for those games.

If something about our explanation of these concepts (pay tables, payback
percentages, and payouts) wasn’t clear, please contact us and let us know so
that we can update this page accordingly.

• Appendices
• Slots Analysis
• Miscellaneous

Introduction

When it comes to gambling, the easier a game is to understand the worse the odds usually are. This is certainly the case with slot machines. Playing them is as easy as pressing a button. However, between the high house edge and fast rate of play, there is no quicker way to lose your money in a casino.

Before going further, let me make clear that this page addresses the way slot machines work in most parts of the United States and the world. However, some parts of this page do not apply everywhere. For example, I state that slot machines have a memory-less property, where the odds of every spin are the same. In some places, like the UK, some machines in bars, called 'fruit machines,' have a mechanism that guarantees a certain profit over the short run, which causes the game to go through loose and tight cycles. These games do not have the usual independence property of the major slot makers.

How They Work

Whether you're playing a 3-reel single-line game or a 5-reel 25-line game, the outcome of every bet is ultimately determined by random numbers. The game will choose one random number for each reel, map that number onto a position on the reel, stop the reel in the appointed place, and score whatever the outcome is. In other words, the outcome is predestined the moment you press the button; the rest is just for show. There are no hot and cold cycles; your odds are the same for every spin on a given machine.

Slot machines are just about the only game in the casino where the odds are not quantifiable. In other words, the player doesn't know how the game was designed, so it is difficult to look at an actual game to use as an example. So, to help explain how they work, I created the Atkins Diet slot machine (link). It is a simple, five-reel game with a free spin bonus round, much like IGT's Cleopatra game.

For information on how it works and all the odds, please visit my Atkins Diet par sheet.

For a more complicated example, featuring sticky wilds in the bonus, please try my Vamos a Las Vegas slot machine.

For information on how it works and all the odds, please visit my Vamos a Las Vegas par sheet (PDF).

Odds

The following table shows the casino win for Clark County Nevada (where Las Vegas is) for all slots for calendar year 2012. They define 'slot' as any electronic game, including video poker and video keno. I've found video keno to be about equally as tight as reeled slots, but video poker has a much higher return. So, the return for reeled slots should be higher than these figures.

Clark County Slot Win 2012

Source: Nevada Gaming Control Board, Gaming Revenue Report for December 2012 (PDF, see page 6).

Most players play penny video slots. Based on past research, I find the house edge on those to usually be set from 6% to 15%. In general, the nicer the casino, the tighter the slots.

Advice

While there is no skill to playing slots, there is some skill in selecting which machine to play and ways you can maximize your return. What follows is my advice, if you must play slots at all.

• Always use a player card. Slots may be a lousy bet, but the casinos treat slot players very well. A $1 slot player will probably get comped better than a $100 blackjack player. Of course, don't play for the reason of getting comps. You'll give them a lot more than they'll give you.
• The simpler the game, the better the odds. The fancy games with big signs and video screens tend to not pay as well as the simple games. However, slot players always tell me the fancy games are more fun.
• The higher the denomination, the better the odds. For that reason, it is better to play one coin per line on a 5-cent game than five coins per line on a 1-cent game.
• Don't forget to cash out and take your ticket when you leave. It is easy to forget after hitting a jackpot.
• Try to play slowly and as little as possible to get your fix.
• In some games there is a skill feature, like Top Dollar. In such games, advice is usually offered, which you should take.

Myths and Facts

Just about everything that players believe about slots is untrue. Here are the most common myths and facts. As a reminder, this page is based on slot machines commonly found in the United States. Some machines, like 'fruit machines' found in the United Kingdom work differently.

• Myth: Slot machines are programmed to go through a cycle of payoffs. Although the cycle can span thousands of spins, once it reaches the end the outcomes will repeat themselves in exactly the same order as the last cycle.

  Fact: This is not true at all. Every spin is random and independent of all past spins.

• Myth: Slot machines are programmed to pay off a particular percentage of money bet. Thus, after a jackpot is hit the machine will tighten up to get back in balance. On the other hand, when a jackpot has not been hit for a long time it is overdue and more likely to hit.

  Fact: As just mentioned, each spin is independent of all past spins. That means that for a given machine game, the odds are always the same. It makes no difference when the last jackpot was hit or how much the game paid out in the last hour, day, week, or any period of time.

• Myth: Machines pay more if a player card is not used.

  Fact: The mechanism that determines the outcome of each play does not consider whether a card is used or not. The odds are the same with or without one.

• Myth: Using a player card enables the casino to report my winnings to the IRS.

  Fact: That makes no difference. If you win $1,200 or more they will report it either way. If you have a net losing year, which you probably will, at least the casino will have evidence of it. Such annual win/loss statements may be used as evidence to declare offsetting loses to jackpot wins.

• Myth: The slot department can tighten my game with the press of a button remotely. Thus, you better be nice to the staff and tip them well, or they will use a remote control to have the machine take you down in a hurry.

  Fact: There is now some truth to the myth that the odds of a machine can be changed remotely. Such 'server-based slots' are still experimental and in a minority. Even with server-based slots, there are regulations in place to protect the player from the perceived abuses that could accompany them. For example, in Nevada a machine can not be altered remotely unless it has been idle for at least four minutes. Even then, the game will display a notice that it is being serviced during such changes. (source) Meanwhile, for the vast majority of slots, somebody would physically need to open the machine and change a computer chip, known as an EPROM chip, to make any changes.

• Myth: The machines by the doors and heavy traffic flow areas tend to be loose while those hidden in quiet corners tend to be tight.

  Fact: I've studied the relationship between slot placement and return and found no correlation. Every slot director I've asked about this laughs it off as just another player myth.

• Myth: Slots tend to be looser during slow hours on slow days of the week. However, when the casino is busy they tighten them up.

  Fact: Nobody would take the trouble to do this, even if he could. The fact of the matter is the casinos are trying to find a good balance between winning some money while letting the player leave happy. That is best achieved by slots loose enough to give the player a sufficiently long 'time on device,' as they call it in the industry, with a reasonable chance of winning so he will return to the same casino next time. If the slots are too tight, the players will sense it and be unlikely to return.

  The kind of place you're likely to find tight slots are those with a captive audience, like the Las Vegas airport. So, if the slot manager feels that 92% is the right return for a penny game, for example, he is likely to set every penny game all that way, and keep them that way for years.

Play

Understanding Slot Machine Pay Tables Without

Reviews

• Dazzle Me (NetEnt)
• Mr. Vegas (Betsoft)
• Sparks (NetEnt)

Internal Links

• Appendix 1 shows the details and analysis of almost 4000 actual spins on a Reno slot machine.
• Appendix 2 shows an example of the virtual reels behind a hypothetical slot machine and how the average return is calculated.
• Appendix 3A: 2003 Las Vegas slot machine rankings.
• Appendix 3B: 2002 Jean/Primm slot machine rankings.
• Appendix 3C: 2002 Tunica slot machine rankings.
• Appendix 3D: 2002 Henderson/Lake Mead slot machine rankings.
• Appendix 3E: 2002 Quarter and dollar returns for Las Vegas slots
• Appendix 4 shows how the return is calculated for my Wizard's Fruit Slot Machine.
• Appendix 5 analysis of the 21 Bell Slot Machine.
• Appendix 6 Analysis of Red, White, & Blue Slot Machine.
• Lock and Roll analysis of the skill-based slot machine found in North Carolina.
• Deconstructing Jackpot Party analysis of the video slot machine.
• Deconstructing Lion's Share analysis of the classic MGM progressive game.
• Deconstructing Cleopatra analysis of the popular IGT game.
• Deconstructing Lionfish analysis of the slot game found on many Game Maker machines.
• Deconstructing Megabucks.
• Deconstructing the Atkins Diet slot machine.
• Deconstructing Lucky Larry's Lobstermania.
• Deconstructing Hexbreaker.
• Deconstructing Blazing Sevens.
• Deconstructing Hot Roll.
• Mystery progressives on Ainsworth slots.
• Mystery progressives on WMS slots.
• Baltimore Sun article, in which I am quoted.
• 100% Rebate on Slot Losses Promotions: When to quit playing when all losses are refunded.

External Links

• For a simplified explanation of slots, please see my companion site Wizard of Vegas
• German translation of this page is available at richtigspielen.com
• Another decent overview of how slots work and some practical advice for playing them is How Slot Machines Work at VegasClick.com.
• PAR Sheets, probabilities, and slot machine play: Implications for problem and non-problem gambling by Kevin A. Harrigan and Mike Dixon, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. This is an outstanding academic paper that details how some popular slot machines were designed.
• PAR Sheets, probabilities, and slot machine play: Implications for problem and non-problem gambling - Academic paper based on the par sheets for some modern slot machines