Page 14 - December 2002 • Southern California Gaming Guide

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
Nickel High Rollers Tby Bill Burton
here was a time many years ago when nickel slot players were treated like the “Rodney Danger elds” of the casino: They got no respect! The old three-coin nickel machines in Vegas and Atlantic City were set to have the lowest payback in the casino and comps for
nickel players were just about impossible to obtain. It took forever to accumulate comp points at 15 cents per spin. Most of the nickel machines were tucked away in one area of
the casino. I remember walking by the nickel area in a casino and hearing two
players jokingly refer to the nickel crowd as the “High Rollers.”
still getting something back on more spins and these small wins can be replayed through the machine.
Unless you are playing a machine that is a progressive or has a special bonus for maximum coins, the payback percentage will be the same whether you are playing one coin per line or the maximum. Because the newer machines accept more coins, the payback percentage is
higher than the old three coin nickel machines, making it a better play.
Slot makers are introducing more nickel machines that are fun to play. The Addams FamilyTM, Popeye®, Little Green Men® and many more are on casino oors and are very popular with slot players. Most of the
newer games also have bonus screens that
are entertaining and add to the excitement of playing these machines.
Slot makers continue to develop new games with more lines that can accept even more coins on each line. With the new machines accepting so many coins, it is no wonder that the nickel player may be the
new “high roller” in the casino.
Until next time, remember: “Luck comes and goes...Knowledge stays forever.”
Bill Burton is the Casino Gambling Guide and columnist for the popular Internet portal About.com. He also writes for several national gaming publications. See his articles at http://casinogambling.about.com. He is the author of Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em available for $15 postage- paid. Send checks to Bill Burton, P.O. Box 310299, Newington, CT 06131-0299.
Column: Bill Burton About Gambling
Page 14
December 2002
Fast-forward to the year 2002, and the joke about nickelhighrollershasturnedintoaprophecyofsorts. With new multi-line, multi-coin machines, nickel
playershavetakenonanewimage.And,manyofthe new nickel machines are anything but cheap to play.
Aristocrat from Australia was one of the rst companies to introduce these multi-line and multi- coin machines to American casinos, and they quickly became a favorite of many players. The machines had ve reels and nine paylines that could accept ve coins per line. The player could choose the number of lines to play and the number of coins played on each line.
Other slot makers quickly started offering multi- line multi-coin machines. Since the number of coins needed for maximum bets increased, it was only logical that the denomination would have to be lowered if the casinos expected to get much play out of them from the average player. Playing a machine with nine pay lines that accepted ve coins
per line would cost the quarter
player $11.25 per spin. A 45
coin bet on a nickel machine
would cost a player $2.25 per
spin. Lowering the denomination
to nickels makes the machine more attractive to that average player.
Frequency and Payback
Hit-frequency is the percentage of spins that result in a win. One thing that makes the new nickel machines so popular is the excitement of the high hit-frequency. Because there are more lines on which symbols can appear, there are more chances of hitting a winning combination. The hit-frequency is higher, although sometimes it will be less than the coins you played for that spin. You might play one coin for each of the ve lines and have a winning combination that pays back two coins. But you are