98.98% payback

[binoy]

Saw this on a bank of poker machines, not sure what the meant by 98.98% payback. Anybody can explain?

[billryan]

If it was in a casino, it means one of the games on the machine has a pay table with that schedule. Long term, over a million hands or so, the machine will pay back just under 99%. Short term, anything can happen.
If there are multiple games on the platform, it doesn't mean all of them pay that.