Many players in online and land based casinos believe that Slot machines are the bottom of the barrel and provide the worst betting odds in comparison to other casino games. While it may look like slots hold a larger house advantage than the other games, this is actually not the case. There are many games in casinos with lower pay outs and a larger house advantage than slot machines offer.

Generally Slot machines have a house advantage of approximately 8 percent, based on available data provided by the Nevada Gaming Commission. These averages can vary greatly depending on the casino and can range between 2 percent and 15 percent.

To compare these figures with the available data on other games it becomes quite clear that other games hold much higher house advantages than Slot machines. For example, based on the same information from the Nevada Gaming Commission, Baccarat holds on average a 14 percent in house advantage, while craps has an average of 11 percent. The popular Keno game actually holds the largest house advantage ranging between 25 and 30 percent.

The averages as displayed above do not take player errors into account and are examples of natural game advantages which are all higher than those of Slot machines. Next we need to take the player into account as low house advantages can only be utilized with maximum effect if the game in question is played without making mistakes. Therefore new and often inexperienced players can easily increase the house advantage in comparison to experienced players of the game.

Slot machines are among the easiest games to play at any type of casino so the error rate on those games for all players is usually quite low or non-existent. This in turn obviously makes Slot machines one of the safer bets in any casino.

Win ratios on Slot machines are generally higher than most of the other casino games. For example, winning $100,000 by betting $10 in a hand of blackjack is quite unheard of, while it has happened playing slots on many occasions. Therefore, while playing slot machines the chances of winning while investing a relatively small amount of money is much higher than while playing the other casino games.

It is safe to assume that Slot machines are not the worst type of game one can play, they have a relatively low house advantage, offer larger wins than many of the other games, and due to their simple nature it is possible for even new players to play them flawlessly.

M.A.H.