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Let's take a shuffle through my e-mail bag and dig out a few questions on the slots.
Q. My friend told me that on the five-reel video slots, you don't have to play the maximum coins, like you do on the reels. Is that right?
A. You don't HAVE to make maximum-coin bets on any slot machine. It's the player's choice. Yes, on most three-reel-spinning slots, the long-term payback percentage is highest when you bet the max. But that's often not the case on video slots. Programs are evolving, and incentives such as more frequent bonus rounds are evolving to encourage bigger play, but for now, a player who bets one coin on each payline will get the same payback percentage as one who bets the max on the majority of five-reel games.
Such incentives will become more widespread faster in online gaming than in offline gaming, where the costs of replacing physical equipment make a difference, along with the slow pace of change mandated by many regulators.
I do recommend playing all the paylines, even if your bet is only one coin per line. On some games, bonus rounds are triggered only if the bonus symbols land on an active payline. Bonus rounds extend the player's time on the machine and are usually the most entertaining parts of video games. While some bonuses are launched by scattered symbols even if you're playing only one coin on one line, you don't want to cost yourself a chance at the bonuses on other games.
Besides, I find a lot of the fun in five-reel video slots is that having all those paylines means you get something back so often on at least one line. If you play only one payline on a five-, nine, 15-, 20- or more-payline game, you reduce the frequency of winning spins to where it's lower than that on three-reel games. Why limit one of the game's most attractive features.
Q. I like to play roulette, and I like to play the slots. Which do you think is a better game?
A. Which do you have more fun playing? That's the better game for you.
If you're asking which game give the player a better shot to win, that's a different matter. Both have fairly high house edges. In roulette, the house edge on most bets on a double-zero wheel is 5.26 percent. (The exception is the five-number bet on 0, 00, 1, 2 and 3. It has a house edge of 7.89 percent). What that means is that in the long run, you'll lose $5.26 of every $100 you wager. You can do better on a single-zero wheel, with a house edge of 2.7 percent.
On slot machines, the house edge varies widely. It's not uncommon for dollar slot machines to hold about 5 percent --- roughly the same as the house edge on roulette, with players getting a better deal on higher denomination games while lower denominations hold a little more, giving the house a little extra edge.
Do keep in mind that we play slots much faster than we play roulette. A casino marketer once told me that before bill validators and before online gaming, when players had to drop coins in the slot for every spin of the reels, they figured a steady player for about 230 spins per hour. Nowadays, it's more like 500 spins per hour, and a really dedicated speed demon can play 800, 1,000 or more.
In an offline casino, a player who bets three quarters per spin of the reels bets about as much per hour as a roulette player who bets $10 per spin of the wheel. The difference in speed isn't as great in online casinos, where roulette moves faster. It's still not as fast as slots, because you need time to make your bets and for the virtual wheel to spin and drop the ball. But you're usually not waiting for other players to make their wagers, and that makes the game move faster.
At either game, losing sessions will outnumber the winners. Of course, we will win sometimes, and anytime we win at any game it's going to be fun.
It's up to you to decide which game offers more in the way of entertainment value to make the times you don't win more enjoyable.
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