Terms of (casino)
endearment
6 November 2007
By Mark Pilarski
Dear Mark: Often you, as well as other gaming
writers and newspaper articles related to casino
gambling, freely use gambling terms, and do so
without including a definition. Here are but a
few that I have seen of late that I would like
an explanation of as to what they mean: pay
cycle, handle, hold, and the payout percentage.
Alex G.
So, it's a bit of semantics you're after, and by
good fortune you've started with a true doozy,
the "pay cycle." For the electronic geeks who
tinker up the innards of the slot machine, the
pay cycle is the number of pulls it takes for
the machine to display every possible
combination of cards or graphics – an immense
number, and what good it is to them, I couldn't
say. Others would argue that the pay cycle is a
merry myth in that that there are no true pay
cycles because each and every spin is a random
event, so a machine can't hit all the possible
combinations through any one specific cycle.
The "handle" is the total value of all coins
played through a slot machine. The "hold" (also
called "win") is the amount the casino held as
profit. The "yield" is the casino's win
expressed as a percentage of the handle.
The" payout percentage", or some call it payback
percentage, is the percent of all dollars played
in a slot or video poker machine that the
machine is programmed to return to the players
Stated another way, it's 100% minus the "house
edge", which is the percentage of each bet made
that the house holds onto. This they do by
paying off winning bets at less than true odds.
And those house edges do stack up pretty high –
as you've noticed.
Dear Mark: This question comes under the heading
of "I can dream, can't I"? If I were to hit a
"large" amount of money at a casino and I don't
want to carry a lot of money with me, can I ask
the casino to place the money in a safe deposit
box? M. J. K.
Most casinos today not only offer in-room safes,
but also safe deposit boxes at either the front
desk or the cashier's cage where you can
conveniently place your winnings. I highly
recommend their use, not only for your champagne
wishes and caviar dreams hit, but any other
valuables that a person might feel apprehensive
to leave lying around their hotel room. But
here's one other reason why. When you lock up
your profits, neatly removing them from play,
you're not allowing the casino another crack at
them.
Also, if you win a big jackpot, you might want
to consider asking the casino to cut you a check
rather than give you cash. Well – sure, flashing
lots of loot might be a hoot, but it also makes
you an easy mark for the slick-eyed nefarious
types.
So what were the weirdest item(s) that I ever
took inventory of when I worked the cashier's
cage? It was a huge wad of cash (he kept $100),
a wedding ring, and, oh yeah, that person's
dentures. Don't ask, just imagine. I also dog
sat once. No, I didn't put Fido in one of the
larger safe deposit boxes, but my five-day
suspension for the unregistered kennel ran
simultaneously with the best powder skiing Lake
Tahoe had seen in 20 years. I loved that dog,
and for that matter the boss for putting me on
the street for a week.
Gambling Wisdom of the Week:
"Poker...a fascinating, wonderful, intricate
adventure on the high seas of human nature."
--David A. Daniel
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