Penny Slots are NOT Your Friend

As I’ve mentioned before, the lower the denomination on a slot machine the worse the payout. Todays Press of Atlantic City goes a little deeper into that subject. Here are some nuggets from the article.

Penny machines outperformed all other slot machines in 2008.

While Atlantic City’s casino revenue has plummeted overall, the take from penny slot machines and their 2-cent counterparts rose 8.4 percent last year, compared with 2007, to nearly $698 million.

Every property in town except for Showboat Casino-Hotel added more penny machines last year. There are currently 7,584 penny slots, a nearly 20 percent increase from 2007, New Jersey Casino Control Commission statistics show.

They represent 22 percent of Atlantic City’s 34,000 total slot machines.

Borgata boosted its penny slots inventory last year by 32 percent and trails only Bally’s Atlantic City and Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort in the number of 1-cent machines. At the end of 2008, Bally’s had 991, the Taj Mahal 946 and Borgata 927 of those slots

Casinos will only add a game if it makes them money. Clearly there are of these machines and they are making casinos money. It’s humnan nature to think anything that costs a penny will allow your dollar to go farther. When it comes to gambling, that is counter-intuative.

I’ve noticed more slot machines in casinos, but never consciously thought about it. Now that I think about it, I’ve definitely been drawn into some of these penny slots over the past year. For me, they are little more than entertainment. I enjoy playing slots with bonus games like Top Gun or Golden Monkey. If I win, it’s a bonus. I know going in that I shouldn’t expect to win. With that mindset I can happily enjoy these games for what they’re worth.