It takes several months for slots on the floors to reach payback numbers similar to their theoretical settings. Billboards began to herald “loose slots” as something to differentiate one casino from another.Īnd, when Player began tallying up each year’s actual payback numbers for annual “Loosest Slots” awards, the awards themselves became badges of honor, to be shouted from billboards and advertisements.Īnnual calculations of the loosest slots by casino and jurisdiction are recognized as a much better gauge of casino payback policy than examining the charts from any single month. It didn’t take long for the casinos to get over their initial misgivings about having their generosity logged by a magazine, and to start considering “loose” as a potential marketing hook.

The charts grew as the industry grew, to include every new riverboat and Native American jurisdiction as their payback numbers became public.īefore long, players were referring to casinos with low slot paybacks as “tight.” Generous casinos inevitably became known as having “loose slots.” The regulatory agencies reported the information to the public every month, so we began publishing monthly charts showing slot payback in Nevada and Atlantic City. Shortly after the magazine published its first issue in 1988, our editors decided to take the information publicly reported by regulatory agencies (only two at the time, in Nevada and New Jersey) on slot “hold” or “win”-the percentage of slot wagers kept by the casino as profit-and presenting it in a way that would be useful to slot players.ĬP took the reported hold percentages and reversed them to show the “payback percentage”-the percentage of slot wagers returned to the players in jackpots. Players, in fact, began referring to slots as “loose” or “tight” in response to information first published by Player. This is where we tell you the casinos and regions in North America that have, for the past year, given their players back the highest percentage of the money put into their slot machines.Īs we do every year, we first mark the occasion with the story of how the awards-and the concept of “loose slots”-got started. Welcome to the 13th edition of our annual “ Loosest Slots” awards. It was 1994 when the magazine first issued awards to the casinos with the “ loosest slots.” It has been a dozen years since Casino Player first gave recognition to the casinos that had shown themselves to be the most generous in the nation. Editorial Staff | Posted on Ap| Our 13th Annual Guide to the Best Slot Paybacks in the Nation by Frank Legato

Boulder station casino slot machine