How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma

THE REEL DEAL
by Frank Legato

1. How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma City
2. How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma State
3. How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma Results
4. How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma Today

To learn how to beat slot machines, you need to first know how they work. Slots are amongst the most popular casino games throughout the world, both in land-based and online casinos. And the high win frequency can help you extend your playing time longer than on some slot machines by replenishing your bankroll. Of course this machine eats away atyour bankroll like all slots games and unless you're lucky you'll lose it all in the end on most playing sessions. Oklahoma slot machine casino gambling consists of 131 American Indian tribal casinos, casino resorts, travel centers, and 'gasinos' along with two pari-mutuel racetracks with slot machines. No theoretical payout limits have been set for tribal casinos in Oklahoma. Oklahoma Gambler Claims Casino Is Refusing to Pay $8.5m Slots Game Win. Maribel Sanchez landed her big win with a $1.25 bet on the Liberty 7s slot at the Newcastle Casino; The casino establishment refused to pay out the winnings, declaring it a game malfunction; Sanchez said the machine shut down and the screen went black as soon as the win. Depending on the machine, the lights on top of the machine may come on and start flashing, music may play or bells ring. A slot attendant arrives promptly to see what you have won. On jackpots smaller than $5,000, an attendant verifies that you hit the jackpot and then assists you in claiming your money at the cashier's cage.

Class II: Is It Fair?

Electronic bingo games are becoming more sophisticated and more like traditional slot games.

When the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (IGRA) established the various classes of gaming permissible by Native American tribes on reservation lands, the law designated bingo and similar games under the heading of 'Class II.' The classification was established to allow tribes to hold bingo games on their reservations, but it stipulated that 'electronic aids' could be used to simulate bingo.

5 frogs slot machine. That stipulation led to electronic versions of the game of bingo, which eventually took the form of Class II-style slot machines, known as Bingo Games. The Class II Bingo Games would essentially be a game of bingo, with prizes drawn from the overall money wagered. Those prizes, however, would be displayed as reel results on the slot machines.

In recent years, those Class II bingo machines have become more and more like their traditional, or 'Class III,' slot cousins in Las Vegas. The Seminole Hard Rock properties in Florida represent the state of the art in Class II sophistication. The central computer system, developed by a team headed by former IGT systems chief Lyle Bell (now the CIO for the Seminole Hard Rocks), was created with a singular purpose—to provide a player's-club experience to simulate the Class III slot experience on a Class II floor. Meanwhile, Casino Operations Senior VP, Charles Lombardo—formerly slot operations VP at Caesars Palace—worked with the major slot manufacturers, who refined Class II technology to provide games that look and play like the traditional games.

Though they are technically electronic bingo games, the Hard Rock's slots mimic the traditional Las Vegas-style games in every way. Other than the LCD screen that shows the bingo patterns appearing with every spin, it is hard to tell the difference.

How do they make bingo games behave like slot machines? And how are the payback percentages determined? The answer to both can be summed up in one word: mathematics. The Class II electronic bingo games at the Hard Rock are programmed with mathematical calculations to mimic Class III games as closely as possible while remaining within the definition of Class II bingo that is contained in IGRA.

Under IGRA, a Class II game must have a draw of bingo balls, and must result in what is called a 'game-ending pattern.' That is a pattern of numbers—two, three, four in a row; diagonal, vertical, four corners of the bingo card, etc.—that ends the game with a winning result.

According to Lombardo, this occurs continuously. 'We have a 20-millisecond window, and anyone (in the casino) pushing the Play button during that window is put in the game for that common ball draw,' he explains. Play free online wheel of fortune games. 'It must be at least two players, but the maximum is unlimited. If it is a minimum of two, one of them gets a bingo—a winning pattern.' He says every ball draw results in at least one bingo.

How do the payback percentages work? One of two ways, says Lombardo. In one style of game, the calculations relate to the stack of possible outcomes loaded into the central computer. In this style of game, there is always a 50-percent hit frequency—one of every two spins on average results in a bingo, with a prize determined from a finite pool of outcomes loaded into the computer. When the bingo game is over, the computer selects a prize from the top of an electronic 'stack' and feeds it to one of the games with a winning outcome. To the player, it looks, for instance, like a mixed-bar win for $5. That just means a $5 prize has been awarded from the results of the bingo game.

The overall payback percentage in this case is governed by how many results equal to each prize amount are included in the finite stack of prizes. Just like the universe of numbers from which the random number generator in a regular slot selects reel outcomes, the payback percentage here is determined by the universe of prizes available for each winning result. The hit frequency is always 50 percent, but the payback percentage is determined by how many $2 prizes, how many 75-cent prizes, how many $1,000 prizes, and so on, are loaded into the program.

In a multiline video bingo game, this system results in a game virtually indistinguishable from that nine-line game in the Vegas casino that has a 50-percent hit frequency. According to Lombardo, though, this method is also used on some of the traditional single-line, three-reel slots. In this case, the 50-percent frequency still stands, but not every win is a traditional reel combination. Because traditional games like Blazing 7s or Red, White & Blue generally have hit frequencies around 14 percent for the seven or eight possible winning combinations in the pay schedule, a 50-percent frequency would be impossible and still have the game make money for the casino.

To remedy this, Lombardo explains, 'we came up with a bonus feature.' Fourteen-percent of results in the pool will be actual reel combinations, and the other 36 percent of the winners will yield a bonus symbol on the reels that will accumulate. When you accumulate 25 of those symbols, you win one bonus credit. Therefore, you still have the 50-percent frequency, but your frequency of reel wins is similar to what it is in the traditional Class III versions of those games.

In the other style of game, the odds of each winning bingo pattern is matched to the odds of each paying combination in the slot game. 'We figured out the odds of hitting certain patterns on the bingo card,' Lombardo explains, 'and we take those bingo patterns and plug them right into the payout scheme to replicate any Class III game.' Drawing from millions of possible patterns on a bingo card, programmers can match the odds of landing any given combination of symbols on a slot machine. In this way, each chosen bingo pattern can trigger a certain payout combination. Hit frequencies and percentages in this case will match a traditional slot exactly.

But what are those payback percentages, and how do we know they are fair? Casino gorilla spam. As you may know, the Seminole tribe is a sovereign nation, and its casinos are not subject to state regulation or public reporting of payback percentages. How do we know we're getting a fair shake?

We know we're getting a fair shake because tribal casinos must compete with all other casino choices, says Lombardo. 'We are competitive with all Class III markets,' he says. 'We're not doing anything differently (with percentages) than Atlantic City, Las Vegas or Mississippi. We are competitive with any casino in the country.' He adds that he takes average bets in lower denominations into account when determining the payback percentage he wants to offer. 'If I am requiring players to cover the lines on a 20-line nickel game, that's a dollar bet,' says Lombardo. 'I take that into consideration when I figure out the payback percentage I offer.'

Lombardo adds that tribal casinos have obligations to both the players and the slot manufacturers to keep the games fair. 'Over the long hall, any player is going to know if you screw with percentages; they'll know the difference,' he says. 'And, a manufacturer is not going to give us their title if we are going to misrepresent that title (with low payback). We don't want to kill a title.'

It is that respect for the player—and obligation to represent a manufacturer's title fairly—that should make you approach the slot experience at the Hard Rock or other large Class II tribal casinos with expectations similar to those you have when playing slots in most major jurisdictions. In other words, you are likely to get a fair shake. They know that if you don't, you will go elsewhere.

TIP OF THE MONTH

Class II Video Poker

We have noted before that video poker in a Class II tribal casino does not work in the same manner as video poker in a traditional casino. While this is true, it does not mean that it is unfair, or that you can't win.

The result of any Class II video poker hand is predetermined by the result of the ball draw in the bingo game on the little screen. In some jurisdictions, you will be required to touch the screen to daub the bingo card and claim your prize.

Those results are determined by winning patterns on the bingo card. Using one of the two methods described above, a winning pattern will either trigger one of a stack of predetermined prizes or a corresponding video poker hand, according to the odds. The odds are calculated to be similar to the odds of a standard video poker game. You won't find the player's-advantage paytables in Class II, but the return represented by the pay schedule you do see will be similar to the return of that game in a traditional casino.

The real difference lies in the importance of perfect strategy. A Class II video poker game is actually better for the strategy novice, because the game will often correct your bonehead moves. If the bingo result determines you win the a certain prize, you will get that prize even if you make the wrong choice, through a special feature on the game.

For instance, on the IGT version of Class II video poker, let's say your winning bingo pattern translates to the prize for four-of-a-kind, and you are dealt 10-c J-c Q-c J-h J-s. Even if you screw up and decide to go for the royal, the game will not let you. A 'Genie' will appear on the screen and change your hand to four Jacks—for the quad prize that corresponds to the bingo pattern you got.

It's better for the novice because it shows you the optimal strategy by changing your choice to match the bingo win. Other than that, the Hard Rock's Lombardo says the games work like the standard versions of video poker—again, because the Class II casino will not risk 'killing a manufacturer's title.' 'A lot of players may not know the difference between Class II and Class III,' he says. 'That's why we replicate the video poker paytables as closely as possible. It would be a killer for us to do anything else.'

Recently, I read a blog post that suggested I write my posts to an imaginary avatar—an individual who needs my help and advice, and I should write to that person as if we were just shooting the breeze around a campfire.

I have an avatar in mind now. He visits the Winstar Casino in Oklahoma every Friday, and he usually takes one of his 2 girlfriends there.

He plays the slots, and he's lost almost $7000 this year already. He's obsessed with climbing the VIP club ladder, too.

Here's my advice to this Oklahoma slot machine player:

1- Start Playing Poker Instead of Slot Machines, You Nitwit

The payback percentage on the slot machines in Oklahoma is awful.

We're talking about games in a jurisdiction where the casinos aren't even required to report their payback percentages.

In many jurisdictions, the payback percentages for slot machines must be above a certain number, and they must report their actual paybacks over time.

Neither of these rules apply to the casinos in Oklahoma, so you don't have any way of knowing what the payback percentage on these games is.

My guess is that they're only slightly better than the payback percentage you'd see playing scratch and win lottery tickets.

What does this translate to in terms of hourly expected losses?

I know that you play for at least $3 per spin, and you probably make an average number of spins per hour—600. You're putting $1800 per hour into action.

At that 80% figure, you're getting back just $1440 in winnings, which means you're losing $360 per hour on average. It might be even more than that.

That's expensive entertainment, man.

Seriously, how many movie tickets can you buy for $720—the predicted cost for 2 hours play on those machines?

But I know you want to keep gambling, so here's my advice:

Switch to poker.

You like playing poker, and you enjoy socializing with the other players at the table. The only downside to poker for you is the slow action.

You're probably never going to be a winning poker player, but you at least have a chance in poker.

And no way do you play so badly that you're operating at a 20% disadvantage.

2- Stop Trying to Climb Higher on the VIP List for the Slots Club

I know you're excited about the perks of being a high roller on the VIP list in the players club there. You only mention it every time we talk about the casino.

But don't you realize that the amount of money it's costing you to climb that VIP ladder far exceeds the amount of monetary value you're getting in return?

The program has 3 tiers, and you're already in the 2nd tier, trying to move up to the 3rd tier.

And what kind of perks do you get for that 3rd tier?

A 20% discount at the spa?

Really?

I don't know what's in the VIP gift packages, but whatever they include, I guarantee you could buy it cheaper if you stopped losing money playing the slots there.

Yeah, the free stuff is cool, and you feel like a VIP, but you can feel like a VIP just by spending money and come out ahead.

3- Host Your Own Poker Game Instead of Going to the Casino Every Weekend

I love playing in an actual cardroom in a casino, and you'll find plenty of action at whatever stakes you prefer at the cardroom in the Winstar.

But even that's not free.

The Winstar, like every other casino in the United States, charges a rake in exchange for hosting the poker game. This takes the form of 5% of each raked pot.

Even if you're just as good as the other players at the table, you can't break even when the casino is taking 5% out of every pot.

On the other hand, you know lots of poker players here in town. And I know you own a poker table and clay chips.

The only trick is finding poker players who want to play for the same stakes you do.

I know you enjoy cooking and playing the host, too. You can go to bed after everyone leaves without driving for 45 minutes to get home, too.

Most importantly, you stand a better chance of winning money in your home poker game because you're not having to pay the 5% rake to the casino out of every pot.

4- Find Some Women to Hang Out with Who Don't Like to Gamble

I know that part of the reason you visit the casino so often is because these 2 women you date both love to gamble.

I also know that they love gambling with your money, not theirs. After all, we're talking about one woman who cleans the rooms at a nursing home for a living, and the other woman is a waitress.

Neither of them can afford to gamble at the levels you like to gamble.

I know how much money you've lost at the casino this year, but I wonder if that amount accounts for the money you've given these 2 girlfriends?

You have a few rational choices here:

You could try finding other activities to engage in with these women. They might like these activities, or they might not.

I doubt either of them would break up with you just because you stop taking them to the casino.

You could try getting these 2 women to learn how to play poker. I've met both of them, though, and I'm convinced that neither of them are going to be great at the game.

Even so, they're not idiots. If they're willing, they can learn to play Texas holdem well enough to do better at that game than they do at the slot machines.

Finally, you could just dump both these gals and find new ladies to spend time with doing other stuff.

We live near Dallas. You can find plenty of educational and culturally things to do that don't involve pouring money into gambling machines on the behalf of these women.

I know you struggle with dealing with life without using beer and marijuana as crutches.
But your lifestyle as a degenerate gambler all ties together.

No one—not even you—makes good decisions under the influence.

They especially make bad decision when it comes to gambling.

Losing as much money each year playing slot machines as you do is objectively a bad decision.

You have so many more fulfilling things you could be doing with your money than drinking, smoking, and gambling with it.

If you enjoy the risk involved with gambling, you could try gambling at something that involves higher risks but potentially much higher rewards.

And you'll have far more influence over your destiny gambling on an investment in your own business than you ever will playing slot machines at the Winstar Casino.

Any of these opportunities at least affords you the opportunity to succeed and win money. It's also easier to write off your losses as a business owner than it is to write off your losses as a gambler.

In fact, the only way you get to write off your losses as a gambler is if you come home a winner.

Otherwise, your losses are just an entertainment expense, which is not generally a tax deductible expenditure.

You could even combine your love of gambling with a new business. I don't recommend starting your own underground cardroom, as tempting as that is in this area.

It's a felony to run a gambling hall in Texas, after all.

But you could open a store in the mall selling poker equipment and do quite well with it.

Poker tables, poker chips, and playing cards are all available wholesale and you can make big profits re-selling such items.

You could even expand your inventory to include things like dart boards, pool tables, and jukeboxes.

You could even sell gambling books and DVDs.

7- Travel to Vegas a Couple Times a Year Instead of Going to Oklahoma Every Weekend

Sure, traveling to Las Vegas a couple times a year might cost a little more than visiting Oklahoma every weekend, but I think you can still come out way ahead—even with the travel costs.

Let's look at the numbers again. We already figured out that you lose an average of $360 per hour playing slots in Oklahoma.

And you go every weekend, so let's be generous and say you only spend an hour playing each weekend.

That's 52 hours at $360 per hour, or over $18,000 per year in gambling losses.

I know, you've only lost $6000 or $7000 this year, but if you keep playing, the Law of Large Numbers will ensure that your actual results will eventually start to look like the expected results.

Now let's say you decide to go to Vegas twice a year instead. We'll assume you're going to spend $2000 on flights, and another $1000 on your rooms.

Let's call it another $1000 for meals and entertainment.

That's $4000 for the travel expenses to Vegas, including entertainment and food. Your total might be different depending on when you go and where you cut corners.

I know you can fly out there for a lot less than that, but I'm assuming you're flying first class or something.

Now let's assume you're going to spend 3 days in Vegas on each trip, and you're going to spend 2 hours per day gambling. That's 12 hours total.

The slot machines in Vegas have a payback percentage of closer to 92%, so the house edge is about 8%–give or take.

If you spend 12 hours putting $1800 into action, you'll put a total of $21,600 into action.

Your expected loss on that kind of action is $1728. Best strategy for playing craps.

So you're looking at $6000 or so in total expenses traveling to Vegas to gamble twice a year, compared to $18,000 if you travel to the Winstar every weekend.

You'll enjoy the Vegas trips more, too, I promise you.

8- Go Ahead and Open that Online Sportsbook Account You Keep Talking About

I know you watch football every weekend, and I know you participate in the betting pools at work. I also know you've been thinking about signing up for an online sportsbook like 5Dimes.

You should go for it.

Otherwise, your losses are just an entertainment expense, which is not generally a tax deductible expenditure.

You could even combine your love of gambling with a new business. I don't recommend starting your own underground cardroom, as tempting as that is in this area.

It's a felony to run a gambling hall in Texas, after all.

But you could open a store in the mall selling poker equipment and do quite well with it.

Poker tables, poker chips, and playing cards are all available wholesale and you can make big profits re-selling such items.

You could even expand your inventory to include things like dart boards, pool tables, and jukeboxes.

You could even sell gambling books and DVDs.

7- Travel to Vegas a Couple Times a Year Instead of Going to Oklahoma Every Weekend

Sure, traveling to Las Vegas a couple times a year might cost a little more than visiting Oklahoma every weekend, but I think you can still come out way ahead—even with the travel costs.

Let's look at the numbers again. We already figured out that you lose an average of $360 per hour playing slots in Oklahoma.

And you go every weekend, so let's be generous and say you only spend an hour playing each weekend.

That's 52 hours at $360 per hour, or over $18,000 per year in gambling losses.

I know, you've only lost $6000 or $7000 this year, but if you keep playing, the Law of Large Numbers will ensure that your actual results will eventually start to look like the expected results.

Now let's say you decide to go to Vegas twice a year instead. We'll assume you're going to spend $2000 on flights, and another $1000 on your rooms.

Let's call it another $1000 for meals and entertainment.

That's $4000 for the travel expenses to Vegas, including entertainment and food. Your total might be different depending on when you go and where you cut corners.

I know you can fly out there for a lot less than that, but I'm assuming you're flying first class or something.

Now let's assume you're going to spend 3 days in Vegas on each trip, and you're going to spend 2 hours per day gambling. That's 12 hours total.

The slot machines in Vegas have a payback percentage of closer to 92%, so the house edge is about 8%–give or take.

If you spend 12 hours putting $1800 into action, you'll put a total of $21,600 into action.

Your expected loss on that kind of action is $1728. Best strategy for playing craps.

So you're looking at $6000 or so in total expenses traveling to Vegas to gamble twice a year, compared to $18,000 if you travel to the Winstar every weekend.

You'll enjoy the Vegas trips more, too, I promise you.

8- Go Ahead and Open that Online Sportsbook Account You Keep Talking About

I know you watch football every weekend, and I know you participate in the betting pools at work. I also know you've been thinking about signing up for an online sportsbook like 5Dimes.

You should go for it.

You don't have to limit yourself to 5Dimes, but they're rated 4 stars on our site, and they're happy to accept action from United States bettors.

Other options include bet365, Bookmaker.eu, and Bovada. Each of them has its pros and cons.

You could get some money into action every weekend during football season, and maybe that would satisfy your gambling urges as well as or better than playing slot machines in Oklahoma.

I'd much rather see you risking your money this way than playing slots or even the lottery.

9- Don't Worry about Using Up the Rest of Your Player Points this Year

That's how they get you, man.

If you don't visit the casino, you can't lose money on their slot machines.

And the only way you can redeem those player points for something of any value is to visit the casino.

By buying into this incentivized gambling scheme that the casino has going, you're just keeping that monkey on your back.

If you do decide that you've earned so much incentives that you just can't forgo using them, at least limit yourself to the poker games when you visit.

If you're not sure you have the self-discipline or self-control to do that, skip it.

Or call someone who's willing to hold you accountable before, during, and after you visit to the Winstar.

Even better, take someone with you and explain to them what you're trying to do on your way there.

Those incentives are worth FAR less than the amount of money you're losing on the slot machines there.

10- Read Some Good Books about How Gambling Actually Works

For most gamblers who want to become better educated about how gambling actually works, I suggest reading Winning Ways: The American MENSA Guide to Casino Gambling by Andrew Brisman.

It's a great book, and you should definitely find a used copy of it and read it.

But I have another book you should start with:

Addiction by Design: Machine Gambling in Las Vegas

This is one of the most eye-opening books you'll ever read about how slot machine gambling works in any casino, even though it specifies Las Vegas in the title.

Natasha Dow Schüll wrote this one.

How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma City

Some people consider me a gambling expert, and I know a lot about slot machines and how they work.

But Addiction by Design STILL made my jaw drop with surprise at how nefarious the design and implementation of slot machines works.

Once you've read those 2 books, in either order, you should move on to some more general gambling thinking books like Getting the Best of It by David Sklansky.

You should also read books about winning at poker, like The Theory of Poker (also by Sklansky).

And if you decide to follow up on my sports betting suggestions, pick up Sharp Sports Betting by Stanford Wong.

You can find a lot of great information about gambling on the internet for free, but you have to wade through a lot of junk to find informative and educational pages like the ones I write on the internet.

When you're reading gambling books—especially the ones I recommended above—you can be confident that you're getting accurate information that might actually help you win some money over the course of your gambling career.

I might sound really negative about Oklahoma slot machines, but I don't mean to.

I've written this post with a specific audience in mind—the guy who spends too much money gambling on the slots in Oklahoma.

If you're like me, and you only visit Oklahoma casinos 3 or 4 times a year, much of this advice doesn't apply.

You're a recreational gambler paying reasonable amounts for your entertainment.

How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma State

How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma Results

What advice would you give someone who's playing too many slot machines in Oklahoma?

How To Win On Slot Machines In Oklahoma Today