Slots machines, as games of chance (rather than skill), are generally more about having fun than they are about making money.

The following table ranks the Las Vegas casinos according to the looseness of their video display reeled nickel slot machines. The returns are based on a sampling of five different types of machines. The data collected goes back as far as October 2001 so the information is a bit dated. Among the games in a casino, video slots (in general) have a high house edge. Besides finding gaming machines with high jackpots and a low house edge, no skill or strategy is required to play slots. That means you can’t expect to increase your odds of winning in most situations.

However, there are things you can do to maximize your wins and minimize your losses. For example, by calculating a slot machine’s payout percentage, you can obtain a larger picture idea of how much money you stand to win back. Other tactics include using effective bankroll management techniques, joining a slots club to benefit from its rewards programs, and more.

What Are the Odds of Winning on a Slot Machine?

Slot machine odds used to be easy to calculate. When you’re dealing with three reels, ten symbols on each reel, and a limited pay table, then it’s just a simple math problem. But the rise of electromechanical slot machines and (later) video slots added some complexity to the situation.

How Probability Works

Probability has two meanings. One is the likelihood of whether or not something will happen. The other is the branch of mathematics that calculates that likelihood. To understand the odds as they relate to slot machines (or any other gambling game), you have to understand the basic math behind probability.

Don’t worry though. The math isn’t hard. Probability involves addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, all of which you learned in middle school.

The first principle of probability is that every event has a probability of between 0 and 1. If something has no chance of ever happening, then its probability is 0. If something will always happen, no matter what, then its probability is 1.

Probability is, therefore, always a fraction. It can be expressed in multiple ways, as a decimal, as a fraction, as a percentage, and as odds.

A simple example is a coin flip. The probability of getting heads when you flip a coin is 50%. That’s common sense, but how is it determined mathematically?

You simply take the total number of possible outcomes, and divide the outcome you’re trying to determine the probability of it by that number. There are two possibilities when flipping a coin, heads or tails, but only one of them is heads. That’s 1 divided by 2, which can be expressed as ½, 50%, 0.5, or 1 to 1 odds.

Odds are expressed as the number of ways something won’t happen versus the number of ways that something will happen. For example, if you’re rolling a single six-sided die, and you want to know the odds of rolling a six, you’re looking at 5 to 1 odds. There are five ways to roll something other than a six, and only one way of rolling a six.

When you want to determine the probability of multiple things happening, you use addition or multiplication, depending on whether you want to determine whether one OR the other event will occur, or whether you want to determine whether one event AND the other event will occur.

If you’re looking at an “OR” question, you add the probabilities together. If you’re looking at an “AND” question, you multiply the probabilities by each other.

So if you want to know what the probability of rolling two dice and having one or the other come up with a six, you add the probabilities together. 1/6 + 1/6 = 2/6, which is rounded down to 1/3.

If you want to know the probability of rolling two dice and having BOTH of them come up six, you multiply the probabilities. 1/6 X 1/6 = 1/36.

How Slot Machine Odds USED to Work

Early slot machines were mechanical devices. They had three metal reels that had ten possible stops each.

To calculate the odds of a single symbol appearing on a reel, you just divide the one symbol by the total number of potential outcomes. So if you had one cherry on a reel, your odds of hitting that cherry were 1/10, or 10%.

To calculate the odds of getting three cherries, you multiple 1/10 X 1/10 X 1/10 and get 1/1000, or 0.1%.

If the odds of hitting that symbol are the same as all the others, then you have 10 possible jackpots you can win, which means that your chances of winning SOMETHING are 10/1000, which is 1%.

Most people wouldn’t play a slot machine that lost 99 times out of 100, though, so slot machine designers added additional, smaller prizes for getting two symbols out of three for certain symbols. And as long as they paid out less in prizes than the odds of hitting those jackpots, then those slots are guaranteed to make a profit in the long run.

For example, if a prize for hitting three cherries was $1000, you’d be playing a break-even game, but if the prize were $750, it’s easy to see how the casino would be guaranteed a profit. The difference between the odds of winning and the payout odds is where the casino makes its money.

How Slot Machines Work Now

Modern slot machines use a computer program called a random number generator to determine the outcomes of the various spins of the reels. This creates an imaginary reel with a number of symbols limited only by the program in question.

A mechanical slot machine with 256 symbols per reel would be huge, too large to play, much less to build. But a computer can create an imaginary reel with 256 symbols per reel and take up no more space than an iPod Shuffle.

To make things even more interesting and entertaining, slot machine designers can program different probabilities for each symbol to come up. Most symbols might come up once every 256 spins, but others might come up twice as often, while still others might only come up half as often.

This enables slot machine designers and casinos to offer slot machine games with far larger jackpots than they were able to when they were limited by mechanical reels. And they’re able to offer these large jackpots and still generate a healthy profit.

How Does This Relate to Payback Percentages?

The payback percentage is the amount of money that the slot machine is designed to pay out over an enormous number of spins. This number is almost always less than 100%. The difference between 100% and the payback percentage is the house edge, and that’s where the casino makes its profits.

A simple example can help illustrate how this works. Suppose you have a slot machine with three reels with ten symbols on each, and it only pays out when three cherries hit. The odds of winning that jackpot, as we determined earlier, is 1/1000.

If we set the jackpot as $900, and charge $1 per bet, the payout percentage for that game will be 90%, or $900/$1000. Of course, no one would play a slots game which only paid out once in every 1000 spins, which is why there are various smaller payouts programmed in.

There’s no way to tell what the payback percentage on a particular game is unless you have access to the par sheet for that machine. Casino management has that information, but players never have access to that info.

The best slot machine odds are almost always found in real casinos. If you see slot machines in an airport or a bar, be aware that the payback percentages on those games is much lower than you’ll see in a real casino.

How to Win at Slot Machines

Everyone would like to know how to win at slots, but the truth is that winning at slot machines isn’t any harder than losing at slot machines. You put your money in the machine, spin the reels, and hope for the best. Slot machines are meant to be fun; they’re not intended to provide the player with an income.

In fact, the reality is just the opposite. Slots are there to provide the casino owners with an income. How that works is one of the subjects of this page.

On the other hand, you can minimize your losses and increase your enjoyment of slots games by understanding how they work. You can also learn which slots pay back the most money. In the long run, the house will still have an edge over you, but understanding how much you can expect to lose in a given venue can help you make better bankroll management decisions.

In fact, it might be a good idea to modify you definition of “winning at slots”. Instead of considering yourself a winner if you bring home a big profit, consider yourself a winner any time you played and had a lot of fun.

How Slots Work

All slot machines in modern casinos use a random number generator (an “RNG) to determine the results of each spin. An RNG is a tiny computer that does nothing but constantly generate numbers. When you push the spin button, that microcomputer selects a number which determines the outcome. In fact, this happens before the reels have even stopped spinning.

On modern slot machines, the reels are just there for show. From a practical standpoint, you could put a quarter in a machine, push a button, and have the screen flash: “You lose!” or “You win $10”. The mechanism that determined the outcome would be the same, but who would want to play a game like that, especially if you know that the house has a mathematical edge over the player.

The spinning reels, the sound effects, and the bonus games are all there to make the game more interesting to play. If you don’t like the artwork, the music, or any other aspect of a slots game, don’t bother playing it, because those are the real rewards of playing. The chance of getting lucky and winning a jackpot is a real reward, too, but don’t ignore the other aspects of the game.

The random number generator is programmed to pay back a certain percentage of the money paid into it over a period of time. This period of time is known in gambling math as “the long run”, and it’s a lot longer than most people think. We’re talking about tens of thousands of spins, not dozens or hundreds.

This percentage that’s programmed into these machines is always less than 100%. If a slots game were programmed to pay back more than 100% of the money put into it, it would lose money for the casino.

Casinos aren’t in business to lose money.

The trick is to find slot machines that have the highest payout percentages.

Which Slots Pay Back the Most Money

Best Odds On Casino Slot Machines Jackpot

If every slot machine game in the world had a payback percentage posted on the machine somewhere, it would be easy to determine which slots pay back the most money. You could limit your play to machines with a payback percentage of over 95% for example.

It’s too bad casinos don’t provide that information on specific games, though.

You can find information about specific locations and their payback percentages, though. Some gambling guides and magazines publish this information. For example, The American Casino Guide provides certified information about the payout percentages in various states. Not all states reveal this information, but it’s not a huge leap of logic to expect better payback percentages in states that do reveal this information.

Best Odds On Casino Slot Machines Machine

For example, the overall payback percentage for slots in Black Hawk, Colorado is 92.8%. In Central City, Colorado, it’s 92.93%, and in Cripple Creek, it’s 93.66%. Alabama doesn’t release the numbers on their payback percentages.

Which casinos do you think offer the better game?

A couple of guidelines hold true no matter where you play, though. One of those is that payouts are better in large cities with lots of gambling. For example, the payouts in Vegas are higher overall than the payouts in Colorado. And the payouts improve when you play for higher stakes. For example, penny slots in Vegas average around 88% to 91%, but dollars slots average between 93% and 96%. Finally, slot machines at airports usually offer the lowest payouts.

What does that mean for the player? It means that over the long run, if you wager $x on a particular game, you’ll win back $x times the payback percentage for that machine. If you’re playing a dollar slot machine on the Strip in Las Vegas, for example, and the payout percentage is around 93%, then if you place $10,000 in wagers, you’ll win back $9300. You lost $700.

That’s only a long term mathematical expectation, though. In the short run, anything can happen, and that’s what keeps people playing.

How to Maximize Your Winnings and Minimize Your Losses

There are three ways to maximize your winnings and minimize your losses. The first is to always join the slots club, and always use your member card while you play. Slots club members get a percentage of their play returned to them in the form of casino rewards and cash back. This is normally a tiny percentage (think 0.1% or 0.2%), but it adds up, especially if you play a lot.

Don’t buy into the myth that playing with your slots club card lowers your expected return on the game, either. That’s not true. The random number generator in these games has no way of knowing whether or not you’re using your slots club card or not.

The second way to increase your winnings and minimize your losses is to use effective bankroll management techniques. This means limiting the amount of time that you play, limiting the amount of money that you’re willing to lose in any session and in any given gambling trip, and finding other fun things to do with your time besides just playing the slots.

Finally, try to play the machines with the highest payout percentage. Over the long run, if you keep playing, you’ll probably eventually wind up a loser at the slots (unless you hit a huge progressive jackpot), but you’ll lose your money more slowly and get more entertainment value for the money you gambled.

Introduction to Michigan Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020

Michigan slot machine casino gambling consists of three commercial casinos in Detroit and 23 tribal casinos throughout the state. Caesars Windsor is also nearby, just across the border from Detroit in the Canadian Province of Ontario.

Detroit’s commercial casinos have a minimum theoretical payout, while tribal casinos have none. Neither type of Michigan casino has return statistics publicly available.

This post continues my weekly State-By-State Slot Machine Casino Gambling Series, an online resource dedicated to guiding slot machine casino gambler to success. Now in its third year, each weekly post reviews slots gambling in a single U.S. state, territory, or federal district.

Keep Reading … or Watch Instead!

Or … Listen Instead!

Subscribe to my Professor Slots podcast at Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music Amazon Audible Gaana Stitcher Pandora iHeart Radio Tune-In SoundCloud RadioPublic Deezer RSS and everywhere else you find your podcasts!

Relevant Legal Statutes on Gambling in Michigan*

The minimum legal gambling age in Michigan depends upon the gambling activity:

• Land-Based Casinos: 18/21
• Poker Rooms: 18
• Bingo: 18
• Lottery: 18
• Pari-Mutuel Wagering: 18

The minimum legal age for gambling is 21 if the casino serves alcohol. Further, the minimum legal age for gambling at Caesars Windsor is 19 years old. Be aware that, at Caesars Windsor in Canada, all bets and winnings are in Canadian currency.

In 1996, Michigan voters approved three licensed casinos for Detroit via the Michigan Gaming Control & Revenue Act.

*The purpose of this section is to inform the public of state gambling laws and how the laws might apply to various forms of gaming. It is not legal advice.

Slot Machine Private Ownership in Michigan

It is legal to own a slot machine privately in Michigan if it is 25 years old or older.

Gaming Control Board in Michigan

The Michigan Gaming Control Board (MGCB) within the Michigan Department of Treasury regulates commercial casinos in Detroit. Further, the MGCB provides compliance oversight authority for tribal-state compacts with Michigan’s federally-recognized tribes.

Federally-recognized American Indian tribes are sovereign nations. As such, the State of Michigan does not have general regulatory authority over tribal casinos, although the state has oversight authority of compliance with state-tribal compact provisions.

Instead, through the federal IGRA of 1988, Michigan’s tribes have tribal-gaming compacts in place to allow Class III games-of-chance slot machines. Therefore, the National Indian Gaming Commission and each tribal government regulate Michigan’s tribal casinos.

Otherwise, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO), a crown agency of Canada, and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) regulates gaming at Caesars Windsor in Canada.

Casinos in Michigan

There are three commercial casinos and 23 tribal casinos in Michigan.

The largest casino in Michigan is MGM Grand Detroit with 3,500 gaming machines.

The second-largest casino is Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort with 3,330 gaming machines.

Commercial Casinos in Michigan

Detroit’s commercial casinos, including the popular Caesars Windsor in Canada, include:

1. Caesars Windsor Hotel & Casino across the Canadian border from Detroit in Windsor, Ontario.

Tribal Casinos in Michigan

Michigan has tribal-state compacts with 12 American Indian tribes, which have produced 23 tribal casinos. At the end of 2017, these tribal casinos had a total of 21,976 Class III, Vegas-style gaming machines.

Tribal casinos in Michigan are a thriving business, and many major expansion projects are underway throughout the state. This is especially true for casinos in northern Michigan.

Michigan 23 tribal casinos are:

1. Bay Mills Resort & Casinos in Brimley located in the upper peninsula 53 miles north of Mackinaw City
2. FireKeepers Casino Hotel in Battle Creek located 113 miles west of Detroit
3. Four Winds Casinos Dowagiac located 21 miles north of South Bend, Indiana near the Indiana border
4. Four Winds Casinos Hartford located 50 miles north of South Bend, Indiana
5. Four Winds Casinos New Buffalo located 34 miles northwest of South Bend, Indiana near the Indiana border and Lake Michigan
6. Gun Lake Casino in Wayland located 172 miles west of Mackinaw City
7. Island Resort Casino in Harris located in the upper peninsula 160 miles west of Mackinaw City
8. Kewadin Casinos Christmas in Munising located in the upper peninsula 129 miles northwest of Mackinaw City on Lake Superior
9. Kewadin Casinos Hessel located in the upper peninsula 41 miles northeast of Mackinaw City
10. Kewadin Casinos Manistique located in the upper peninsula 89 miles west of Mackinaw City
11. Kewadin Casinos Sault Ste. Marie located in the upper peninsula 59 miles north of Mackinaw City on the Canadian border
12. Kewadin Casinos St. Ignace located in the upper peninsula 12 miles north of Mackinaw City
13. Kings Club Casino in Brimley located in the upper peninsula 56 miles north of Mackinaw City
14. Leelanau Sands Casino & Lodge in Peshawbestown located in the lower peninsula 20 miles north of Traverse City
15. Little River Casino Resort in Manistee located in the lower peninsula 58 miles southwest of Traverse City
16. Northern Waters Casino Resort in Watersmeet located in the upper peninsula 268 miles west of Mackinaw City near the Wisconsin border
17. Odawa Casino Resort in Petoskey located in the lower peninsula 38 miles south-southwest of Mackinaw City
18. Odawa Casino Mackinaw located in Mackinaw City
19. Ojibwa Casino Marquette located in the upper peninsula 158 miles northwest of Mackinaw City on Lake Superior
20. Ojibwa Casino Baraga located in the upper peninsula 239 miles northwest of Mackinaw City on Lake Superior
21. Saganing Eagles Landing Casino & Hotel in Standish located in the lower peninsula 158 miles south-southeast of Mackinaw City on Lake Huron
22. Soaring Eagle Casino & Resort in Mount Pleasant located in the lower peninsula 157 miles northwest of Detroit
23. Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel in Williamsburg located in the lower peninsula 11 miles east of Traverse City

Other Gambling Establishments

As an alternative to enjoying Michigan slot machine casino gambling, consider exploring casino options in a nearby state. Bordering Michigan is:

• North and East: The Canadian Province of Ontario
• South: Indiana Slots and Ohio Slots
• West: Minnesota Slots and, across Lake Michigan, Illinois Slots

Each of the links above will take you to my blog for that neighboring U.S. state to Michigan.

Our Michigan Slots Facebook Group

Are you interested in sharing and learning with other slots enthusiasts in Michigan? If so, join our new Michigan slots community on Facebook. All you’ll need is a Facebook profile to join this closed Facebook Group freely.

There, you’ll be able to privately share your slots experiences as well as chat with players about slots gambling in Michigan. Join us!

Payout Returns in Michigan

Detroit’s commercial casinos have a minimum theoretical payout of 80%. In addition, they have a maximum theoretical payout of 100% unless otherwise approved by the Michigan Gaming Control Board.

Further, Class II skill-based electronic gaming machines at non-tribal casinos also have these payout limits when played perfectly. Return statistics from Detroit’s casinos are not publicly available.

Best Odds On Casino Slot Machines Jackpots

Otherwise, there are no payout limits for Class III Vegas-style, games-of-chance slot machines at Michigan’s tribal casinos nor are return statistics made publicly available.

Finally, Canadian casinos in Ontario such as Caesars Windsor have a minimum theoretical payout of 85% and a maximum theoretical payout of 99.1% for Class III Vegas-style games-of-chance. However, Class II competition-style games-of-skill machines such as video poker have a minimum theoretical payout of 88%.

According to their OLG gaming control board from their Slots Brochure, Canadian casinos in the Province of Ontario have a single return statistic: Their average return is 91.8%.

Summary of Michigan Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020

Michigan slot machine casino gambling consists of three casinos in Detroit and 23 tribal casinos throughout the state. Otherwise, Caesars Windsor in Canada, across the border from Detroit, is a popular casino destination.

Casinos in Detroit have a theoretical payout between 80% and 100%. Michigan’s tribal casinos do not have any theoretical payout limits for Class III slots. No return statistics are publicly available from Michigan’s casinos.

Annual Progress in Michigan Slot Machine Casino Gambling

Over the last year, there has been little change to the slots gaming industry in Michigan.

Related Articles from Professor Slots

Other State-By-State Articles from Professor Slots

• Previous: Massachusetts Slot Machine Casino Gambling
• Next: Minnesota Slot Machine Casino Gambling

Best Odds On Casino Slot Machines Real Money

Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC