CASINO SCENE: One-cent slots are 'Pennies from Heaven' for casinos

Statistics released on a monthly basis by the Illinois Gaming Board, the Indiana Gaming Commission and other gaming jurisdictions around the country reveal penny slots are making more and more money for casinos nationwide.

"OK", you may say. "So what? I just PLAY the slots. I don't own a casino!" But the fact of the matter is this: The casinos tell you virtually nothing about slot machines. Whatever information you can extrapolate from the statistics that they are required by law to turn over to the state will be as much or more information as you could garner from any other source.

The reason for the increase in the number of penny slots is obvious. The collective "hold" percentage (the amount of money wagered on the machines that is retained by the casino) is higher than any other denomination.

When you consider statistics in terms of unit bets (quarters are 25 times greater and dollars are 100 times greater than pennies) the amount of money wagered on penny slots is high when compared to their higher denomination counterparts. Players aren't just betting a single penny a spin on the machines. Lured by the jackpots and bonus rounds on the multi–line video slots, gamblers are playing DOLLARS per spin.

When players churn through that kind of money on penny games they are subjecting their betting dollars to a much higher casino advantage than they would be by gambling the same amount of money per spin on dollars and even quarters.

Players seem to love the penny slots because casino destinations in this region are filled with them. And it's easy to see why the casinos love them, too. If each machine occupies the same space on the casino floor as a quarter or dollar machine, yet generates revenue three percentage points to over four percentage points higher, why not accommodate the patrons?

This isn't to say that people can't win money playing penny games. Of the tens of thousands of people that play the machines every month, surely there are some winners. But statistics show that, collectively, the players win a lesser share of the total amount of money wagered on the games than their quarter and dollar playing counterparts.

Do we conclude then if you are willing to invest several dollars or more on each spin on a penny slot you'd be better off playing the dollars? Statistically, yes. But that's over an extended period of time. The small windows in time that we chose to play the machines create opportunities to win no matter how the odds are stacked against you.

But if you want to be the smartest, most informed player you can possibly be, make it your business to learn all you can. Don't limit your insight to what the casinos tell you, or to the marketing and advertising illusions that they create for you.

The opinions expressed are solely the writer's. Reach him at jbrokopp@comcast.net. John Brokopp's Beat the Odds tips air Sundays at 8:20 a.m., 2:50 p.m. and 10:42 p.m. on WBBM Newsradio 780.