What You Must Know about Slots Vs. Video Poker Comps?
Who are the most sought out players in today’s casinos? Yeah, you guessed right! It’s the slot machine players. And casinos are very well aware of that, which is why they reward the players of slots with loads of cashback, free play alongside meals or other such comps. The new player reward systems keep track of how much a player participates in the different games, which is one of the contributions of the ‘slot clubs’ from the early 80s.
It all started with the 24K Club in Atlantic City, after which casinos had been complimenting table players while keeping a track on how much a customer’s playing. For slots, this isn’t practical because there are more players involved in the games. However, since the last five decades or so, the diversity of comps has only increased, and so has the sophistication of player rating systems. Video poker systems are important too, but they end up receiving fewer comps than slot players.
In recent times, most of the rating systems award slots players more than video poker players.
Previously, this didn’t used to be the case. Video poker players earned a lot more points and comps than players of slots. The sudden change is owed to the payback percentage of slots and video poker games, as well as the total profit generated for the casino in each playing style.
Let’s say; a player is having a game of 9-6 Double Bonus Poker with 99% returns in expert play. The betting is of USD 1.25 per hand, five coins on a 25-cent machine. There’s another player who bets 3 cents on a 40-line, 1-cent video slot with a 90% return to players. That is USD 1.20 each hand, only to put the two players on the same track.
If they are able to make 500 players every hour, the video poker player will bet USD 625 every hour, while for slots, it’s USD 600.
If you want to count the losses, with a 99% return, for video poker players, the loss is USD 6.25. This is the average loss despite the winning sessions of royal flush or four Aces, or there could be sessions of bigger losses. The player of slots, on the other hand, would incur a loss of USD 60 every hour. There would be occasional jackpots too, but the average loss is about 10 times that of the video poker player. So, naturally, greater incentives lie for casinos to tempt layers into playing slots.
Casinos also offer multiple point days, which can boost the comps, as well as enhance the payback of the games. These multi-point days, when applied equally to video poker and slots, make the video poker games profitable but not for slots. Consequently, casinos gather and give out comps at different rates for the two kinds of games.
If a casino is getting a 5x points day, it will raise the payback for slots of that day to 91.25 %. That’s a healthy mark of profit, and the value that the casino generates will make more money than on the days of single points.
For high-paying slots that return up to 95%, some online or offline dollar level, the return of about 96.25% still generates profit at the casino’s part. But on Double Bonus Poker, the 5x points on multi-point days turn up a 99% return within a profit of about 100.25% for players. But for video poker games, the profit window would be greater because 9-6 Jacks could jump from 99.5% to over 100% for players. And for Not So Ugly Deuces Wild, the profit margins run up to 100.95%.
EndNote
Therefore, it’s clear that casinos offer and adjust rewards based on a couple of yardsticks. For video poker, a USD 8 play may earn a point instead of a USD 4 play, and that would reduce the club return to 0.125% from 0.25%. The operators may also limit the multi-point days to 3x on video poker while increasing them on the slots.
With all these tactics in place, the casino ensures that the highest accolades will be reserved for all those who bring in the highest profit ratio for them. And they are the slot players. It also prevents the video poker games from generating lower profit margins for the operators.
So, however harsh the rule may be, slot players are more valuable for casinos because of the revenue they bring home.