Is that payback % adjustable.... I think so.

[spxChrome]

So I used to think that the payback % was based on the paytable of the machine but I always wondered.  Because lets say at casino A I have hit a royal 5 times this year out of 12 visits.  And casino B I have hit no Royals out of about 30 visits.  And its not just the Royals its special Aces, 2/3/4 all of the above.  I just seem to do much better at casino A but it is an extra 1 hour out of the way.  All in all I figured it to be just ups and downs of the game.
But the a couple of weeks ago one of the progressive machines started going bonkers, locking up, not printing tickets and so on.  So to make a long story short.  A tech finally came over and opened the machine up and got into the software.  As I was watching out of the corner of my eye, I actually saw him manually set the payback precentage.  It had a list of all the games and their payback %.  For example DDB was set at 97.3% he used the up and down arrow to set it anywhere from 100% down to about 95% just testing things out.  I didn't actually get to see what he left it on before he locked it back up but dam that explains alot.
Here I thouht it was all about the paytables but this would explain why some machines seem to pay more often than others and why I seem to come out better at casino A's bank of poker machines compared to casino B's.
This goes against all I have ever thought that all is based on they paytable.  With adjustable payback precentages at the casinos fingertips it seems a bit fishy.
 

[MikeA]

What kind of game was it?  Class II?  I mean was it one of the casinos that displays a Video Poker game but is actually tied to Bingo results?

[shadowman]

Even for Class III could still have been changing the paytable to achieve the payback percentage. You'd need to the see the game before and after the change.

[Eduardo]

Maybe it was showing you either the maximum ER for the machine on the given paytables he was cycling through, or even the expected return for a given paytable based on actual user results during casino play, which I'm sure is lower than perfect?

[pokeherguy]

Been there and done that. I've had the casino A and casino B deal. It still continues but on a bit smaller scale. I used to believe that playing vp was pretty much the same in all casinos and based my decision on where to play as to which casino suited me the best. You'll get no argument from me as to the possibility of your thoughts. I used to laugh at people when they complained because they would drop a couple hundred bucks playing $1 vp and grumble about the games. But I play on a much larger scale and have become one of the doubters.

[scorpio2]

i've often wondered if casinos could adjust payback of ones individual playing card,based on their comps.if i get 5 free rooms for a week,and free buffetts,could the casino take that out of your winning percentage,until you get the room paid for,say $169 per night?
that would suggest the people who live close to the casinos,and drive to would win more as they don't take free rooms.

[jm002546]

  Sounds like you think there is a setting that adjusts percent payout without adjusting the pay table. Not so.

[pokeherguy]

You know my truck came out of the factory with settings which controlled how it would perform. Now with a push of a button I can make my truck do all sorts of different things. I can make it run like I stole something all the way down to where it just chugs right along. While there are set perimiters it must abide by it gives me a pretty wide range of options. But its not possible to do this with vp machines and even if it were why would they.

[spxChrome]

I'm just saying what I saw.  This was on a bank of 8 $1 progessive machines.  And I'm not a once a year nickel player.  I had W2's of over 200K last year and a coinin/coinout over 750k and I have been playing for 12 years.  Is it so bizarre to think that a casino can legally create their own payback precentage without adjusting the paytables?
 
@scorpio - I feel your pain, after staying even for about 8 hours last Sat. night I won a drawing for $1,000 of free play and then went $3,400 before hitting another 4ofK.  Guy next to me won the next drawing for $1,000K and went $2,700 before hitting his next 4ofK.  Go figure.  There is a fine art to the entire thing... believe that.
 

[MikeA]

I wonder if what you saw was just part of some diagnostic program the technician was running?  There has to be some other explanation...or at least I certainly HOPE there is!