So if it accepts $1 million in wagers over 2 million spins, it would be expected to pay out $900,000, resulting in a casino gain of $100,000. This means that over the long run, the game will return 10 percent of all wagers it accepts to the casino that owns it. For an individual player, his or her limited interaction with the game will result in a 'price' that looks a lot different.įor example, consider a game with a 10 percent house advantage – which is fairly typical. Basically, it's the long-term edge that is built into the game. Which means the law of supply and demand breaks down.Ĭasino operators usually think of price in terms of what is known as the average or expected house advantage on each bet placed by players. Slots may be even worse than the doctor's office, in that most of us will never know the true price of our wagers. That is, other than visits to the doctor's office and possibly the auto mechanic, we know the price of most products and services before we decide to pay for them.

The price of a slotĪn important economic theory holds that when the price of something goes up, demand for it tends to fall.īut that depends on price transparency, which exists for most of the day-to-day purchases we make. What about slot machines makes them such reliable money makers? In part, it has something to do with casinos' ability to hide their true price from even the savviest of gamblers. Spinning-reel slots in particular are profit juggernauts for most casinos, outperforming table games like blackjack, video poker machines and other forms of gambling. At casinos in Iowa and South Dakota, for example, such devices have contributed up to 89 percent of annual gaming revenue. What people may not realize is that slot machines, video poker machines and other electronic gaming devices make up the bulk of all that economic activity.

Slot machine wins this week 2018