Pay Out On Slot Machines

Introduction to Pennsylvania Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020

Pennsylvania slot machine casino gambling consists of twelve casinos of which six are pari-mutuel racetracks with slot machines, four are standalone casinos, and two are casino resorts.

Pennsylvania has both minimum and maximum theoretical payout limits. Return statistics are publicly available online.

This post continues my weekly State-By-State Slot Machine Casino Gambling Series, an online resource dedicated to guiding slot machine casino gambler to success. Now in its third year, each weekly post reviews slots gambling in a single U.S. state, territory, or federal district.

  • Best Payout Slot Machines Online Every casino site we recommend offers the best payout slot machines for you to enjoy. These are the types of machines that have high payback percentages and even bigger jackpots. Choosing the best slot machine to play goes beyond the theme and features of the game.
  • When people call slot machines 'loose' and 'tight' they're referring to the payout percentage. A looser machine pays out more often and at a higher percentage while a tighter machine has a lower RTP and pays out less frequently. The looser the slots, the better it is for the player.

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There are two main categories for progressive slots machines: “top payout” and “progressive.' With top payout machines, you can win a fixed maximum amount for that particular machine. Progressive machines are linked together, and the maximum jackpot is determined by how much they're being used.

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Relevant Legal Statutes on Gambling in Pennsylvania*

The minimum legal gambling age in Pennsylvania depends upon the gambling activity:

  • Land-Based Casinos: 21
  • Poker Rooms: 21
  • Bingo: 18
  • Lottery: 18
  • Pari-Mutuel Wagering: 18

In 2004, the Pennsylvania Race Horse Development and Gaming Act passed. This Act legalized slot machines at fourteen locations. Of these locations, gaming licenses have yet to be issued for a standalone casino and a pari-mutuel racetrack with slot machines.

Since July 2010, table games are in Pennsylvania casinos.

In October 2017, the state legislature legalized casino gambling at truck stops, airports, and online. This bill also authorized ten new satellite casinos with location restrictions.

  • Satellite casinos of existing casino operators must be within 25 miles of their existing Pennsylvania casino. Further, local municipalities may prohibit such a casino. These satellite casino licenses allow up to 750 slot machines and 50 table games.
  • Racetracks and standalone casinos can have up to 5,000 slot machines and 250 table games, while casino resorts can have up to 600 slot machines and 50 table games. Truck stops approved by their county may have up to 5 slot machines.

Casino operators may operate a gambling parlor at any of Pennsylvania’s international and regional airports, assuming successful agreements with the airport authority. None have yet opened, but expected in 2020.

To gamble within a casino resort, players must be a guest there. Put another way, the gaming floors within the casino resorts are not open to the public.

*The purpose of this section is to inform the public of state gambling laws and how the laws might apply to various forms of gaming. It is not legal advice.

Slot Machine Private Ownership in Pennsylvania

It is legal to own a slot machine privately in the state of Pennsylvania if it is 25 years old or older.

Gaming Control Board in Pennsylvania

The state gaming commission is the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board (PGCB). The PGCB is responsible for overseeing slot machines and casino gambling in the state.

Two different state gaming commissions are each responsible for the state lottery and charitable gaming.

Casinos in Pennsylvania

There are two casino resorts, four standalone casinos, and six racetracks with slot machines in Pennsylvania.

The largest casino in Pennsylvania is Parx Casino with 3,238 gaming machines during the last week of January 2020.

The second-largest casino is Wind Creek Bethlehem with 3,046 gaming machines during the last week of January 2020.

Commercial Casinos in Pennsylvania

The two casino resorts in Pennsylvania are:

  1. Nemacolin Woodlands Resort in Farmington, 69 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.
  2. Valley Forge Casino Resort in King of Prussia, 21 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

The four standalone casinos in Pennsylvania are:

  1. Mount Airy Casino Resort Spa in Mount Pocono, 31 miles southeast of Scranton.
  2. Rivers Casino Philadelphia, 3 miles northeast of the downtown area.
  3. Rivers Casino Pittsburgh in the downtown cultural center.
  4. Wind Creek Bethlehem, 58 miles north of Philadelphia.

The six pari-mutuel racetracks with slot machines in Pennsylvania are:

  1. Harrah’s Philadelphia in Chester, 18 miles southwest of Philadelphia.
  2. Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course in Grantville, 17 miles northeast of the capital of Harrisburg.
  3. Mohegan Sun Pocono in Wilkes-Barre, 15 miles southwest of Scranton.
  4. Parx Casino in Bensalem, 19 miles northeast of Philadelphia.
  5. Presque Isle Downs & Casino in Erie, 126 miles north of Pittsburgh.
  6. The Meadows Casino Racetrack Hotel in Washington, 26 miles south-southwest of Pittsburgh.

Tribal Casinos in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania has no federally-recognized American Indian tribes. Therefore, Pennsylvania has no tribal casinos as allowed by the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1989.

However, Pennsylvania is one of the few U.S. states with commercial casinos owned and operated by an American Indian tribe:

  1. Mohegan Sun Pocono is owned and operated by the Mohegan Indian Tribe of Connecticut through their Mohegan Gaming and Entertainment corporation.
  2. Wind Creek Bethlehem is owned and operated by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians through their Wind Creek Hospitality corporation.

Other Gambling Establishments

As an alternative to enjoying Pennsylvania slot machine casino gambling, consider exploring casino options in a nearby state. Bordering Pennsylvania is:

  • North: New York Slots and Lake Erie
  • East: New Jersey Slots
  • South: Delaware Slots, Maryland Slots, and West Virginia Slots
  • West: Ohio Slots

Each of the links above will take you to my blog for that neighboring U.S. state to Pennsylvania.

Our Pennsylvania Slots Facebook Group

Are you interested in sharing and learning with other slots enthusiasts in Pennsylvania? If so, join our new Pennsylvania slots community on Facebook. All you’ll need is a Facebook profile to join this closed Facebook Group freely.

There, you’ll be able to privately share your slots experiences as well as chat with players about slots gambling in Pennsylvania. Join us!

Payout Returns in Pennsylvania

The theoretical payout minimum for slot machines in Pennsylvania is 85%. Further, the maximum theoretical payout limit may not equal or exceed 100%. Both limits apply to each single play.

The PGCB makes monthly return statistics publicly available for Fiscal Year 2019/2020 for each gaming facility. To calculate player win%, divide payouts by wagers provided in each report.

For February 2020, the player win% at slots for each casino and statewide were:

  • Harrah’s: 89.47%
  • Hollywood: 89.38%
  • Mohegan Sun: 89.63%
  • Mount Airy: 90.35%
  • Nemacolin: 89.18%
  • Parx: 90.43%
  • Presque Isle: 89.43%
  • Rivers Philadelphia: 90.49%
  • Rivers Pittsburgh: 89.68%
  • The Meadows: 90.11%
  • Valley Forge: 90.25%
  • Wind Creek: 89.98%
  • Statewide: 89.97%

For February 2020, the highest player win% went to Rivers Philadelphia at 90.49%, followed closely by Parx and Mount Airy. The lowest player win% went to Nemacolin at 89.18% followed closely by Hollywood Penn National and Presque Isle.

Summary of Pennsylvania Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2020

Pennsylvania slot machine casino gambling consists of two casino resorts, four standalone casinos, and six racetracks with slot machines. Other locations should still open in 2020.

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The theoretical payout limits are a minimum of 85% and a maximum of up to 100%. Monthly return statistics by casino are available online from the state gaming control board.

Annual Progress in Pennsylvania Slot Machine Casino Gambling

In the last year, the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem became Wind Creek Bethlehem, acquired by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians through their Wind Creek Hospitality corporation for $1.3 billion.

Otherwise, there have been numerous casino name changes including:

  • Lady Luck Nemacolin became Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.
  • Valley Forge Convention Center Casino became Valley Forge Casino Resort.
  • Mount Airy Resort & Casino became Mount Airy Casino Resort Spa.
  • Sugar House Casino became Rivers Casino Philadelphia.

Related Articles from Professor Slots

  • ABC27 Harrisburg Evening News: A closer look at casino slot payouts

Other State-By-State Articles from Professor Slots

  • Previous: Oregon Slot Machine Casino Gambling
  • Next: Puerto Rico Slot Machine Casino Gambling

Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC

The thrill of slots lies in the potential for a big payout. Whether you’re looking for the big jackpot or trying to grind out a steady profit, it’s what the machine gives you back that’s the most important. But are all slot machine payouts equal? Is there any truth to the myth that some games are more generous than others? If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, then you’ve come to the right place.

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On this page, we’ll go over the best payout slots in the UK today, plus tell you exactly how you can check the slots payout ratio of any game you come across. Remember, the UK gambling scene is completely licensed and regulated. Consequently, casinos must be transparent about how much money they are making and paying back out in jackpots and winnings. The information is not always sitting right in front of your nose, but it is there to find if you know where to look.

Slot Machine Payouts – In a Nutshell

So how exactly does a slot payout ratio work? The amount that a slot machine pays out can, and is, calculated by both casinos and regulators. Modern online slots call this value RTP – or return-to-player. The figure is given as a percentage and is used to provide customers with an accurate prediction of how much of the money staked on a game is paid out in prizes. There are a couple of things you need to understand about RTPs, however, before you wander off in search of the highest rate.

RTPs are theoretical. We cannot stress this enough. If you find a game with a reported theoretical RTP of 98%, it does not mean you are guaranteed to have 98% of your stake returned in a single gaming session. Sometimes, you can find data for actual RTP rates. Actual RTPs are more accurate than theoretical ones, but it’s important to realise that they represent the rate of payouts in the past, and do not necessarily reflect what that machine will pay out in the future.

Let’s look at an example to better explain how RTP is calculated in the online casino industry. Say, for example, that you are playing a slot that had one payline, and the chance of winning on that payline is equal for every spin you take. If, after staking a single coin on 10 spins, you have received a total of 9 coins in return, your actual RTP would be 90%. Sounds simple, right? Now consider that some modern slot games have more than 200, unequally likely ways to win. Calculating an RTP by yourself is impossible over 10 spins, never mind the millions of spins that are used to produce the data that is available to players today.

Types of Slots and Their Payout Ratios

Technological advancements in digital gaming and the switch to software-based slot machines somewhat diversified the market. As a result, it’s easier to categorise our favourite slot games into four main groups to differentiate between the what is a typical RTP and how to spot a bad one.

Progressive Jackpot Slots

There’s no doubting that progressive jackpot slots are the headline acts of this market. Progressive jackpots are the result of thousands of players working together to build big prizes at ridiculous speeds. Slots that have a progressive jackpot are linked together across several games, casinos and even countries. As a result, the RTP of these games tends to be on the low side.

A game like Mega Moolah, for example, has an RTP of around 88%. However, this is countered by the fact that when it pays, it pays big.

Classic Slots

Classic slots that stick to the traditional fruit machine formula tend to have what we call ‘fixed jackpots’. This means that the largest prize does not change regardless of how many people around the world are losing money on it. As a result, the base payout ratios of these games tend to be a little higher than a progressive jackpot slot.

A classic slot such as Jackpot 600, for example, has an RTP between 95.1% and 98.9%. These slots payouts won’t make you an overnight millionaire but are perfect for longer playing sessions.

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Video Slots

Video slots are modern incarnations of classic slots. They vary in style, formats and payout ratios, but in general when we refer to video slots, we mean the computer-generated, video-gaming-looking games such as Gonzo’s Quest. There’s really no general rule for RTPs with these games, given the openness of the way they are designed.

A video slot can have one payline or 243, and the slots payout ratios vary in much the same way. The best thing to do is check the RTP of the game – by searching through the help sections – before you begin to spin.

Franchise Slots

Today’s online slots market is filled with popular franchise slot machine from your favourite TV shows and Hollywood movies. The franchise model really came to life with the rise and fall of the Marvel slots. Despite Disney pulling the plug of the superhero games that proved such a big hit, the Marvel games proved that franchise slots had a place in this market.

Today, games such as Universal Studios’ Psycho and Game of Thrones reign supreme. These games tend to have a lower payout ratio than non-licensed slots due to the higher costs to software providers or using the official characters and branding.

How to Find the Best Payout Slots

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Depending on whether you play slots offline or online, these casino games of chance can have lower or higher payout ratios. In terms of differences between software provides, there tends to be very little. Choosing a software provider is a matter of game preference and experience, rather than favourable RTPs. The same goes for mobile games. The payout ratio of a mobile slot is the same as it is when you play it on desktop. Slots payout ratios are particularly important if you are planning on playing slots for high-stakes, as you’ll want to find the best RTP possible to protect your significant risk.

If you want to check the slot payouts of online casinos for yourself, search the online casino site for possible reports from independent auditing firms. You can check the slot payouts at each casino by looking for reports from Technical Systems Testing (TST), a Gaming Laboratories International third-party auditing company. The company tests electronic gaming equipment and makes sure it produces random results. Regarding slots, it conducts rigorous tests on their RNG and ensures it creates fair outcomes. You can also look for reports from eCOGRA, an independent and internationally recognised testing company established in 2003 and based in the United Kingdom. The agency specialises in the certification of online gaming software and systems and some of its activities focus on fair gaming by evaluating the RNG and RTP of games, providing secure and safe gaming environment and preventing underaged and vulnerable players from gambling. Online casinos usually offer reports from TST or eCOGRA on their websites and display seals of approval on their homepages.

Discover Top Online Casino Slot Payouts

The competition in the online slots market is so intense that software developers and casinos are scrambling to create games that offer the best payout ratios possible, whilst still generating profit for the operators. Modern online casino fans are savvy, and gambling companies know this. RTP is becoming more and more of a common term amongst even casual fans, and we predict it will be a more prominent unique selling point for new games in the future.

A common question we get asked when talking to slots players on this subject is: Do some online casinos have better payout slots compared to others? The short answer is no. The payout rates are determined by the software provider. These RTPs are audited by third party companies and companies can get into big trouble for messing around with the random number generator or the game’s inner workings after it has been certified as fair and safe. One thing that can change from casino to casino, though, is the maximum bet and/or coin limits. These do not directly affect the percentage payout rate, though. It’s also worth remembering that even games that can be found both online and offline will not have the same payouts.

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Where Are the Best Land-Based Casino Slot Payouts?

Bricks and mortar casinos work differently from online casinos in terms of operation, functionality and many other factors. When it comes to their payout ratios, at land-based casinos they are roughly between 84% 86% and they are calculated based on restrictions such as costs of development and manufacturing as well as costs of the massive overhead. These costs leave a big cut for bricks-and-mortar casinos and therefore, they have to offer lower payout ratios than those of Internet casinos to stay afloat.

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For online casinos, the payout ratios of slots are much different. They are much higher or approximately between 90% and 97%. The biggest reason behind this is that the costs associated with running an online casino site are lower than the costs of running a land-based casino. Expenses connected with massive overheads or manufacturing are irrelevant for online casinos so no wonder why the payout ratios of games are higher. You can find land-based casino slots at any major high-street casino. Today, you’ll even find popular online games at your local branch. However, do be aware that despite the gameplay being the same, the payout ratio will be lower than it is online.

Curious Payout-Related Behaviour at Land-Based Casinos

There are some curious behaviour patterns that we’ve observed when playing land-based slots. There’s no telling how well these tricks and ‘hacks’ work – while some are simply quirky and potentially good for thwarting off boredom at a brick and mortar gambling joint, some verge on misleading superstitions. We’ve summarised our favourites below.

  • Timing the machine: Some punters monitor a slot for when it pays-out, and dive in after a certain amount of time has passed
  • Popularity contest: If others are staying away, the logic goes that it is for good reason
  • Identifying patterns: Loitering around a slot, watching others play, and noting down the payout frequency
  • Rotation: Avoiding sticking at the same machine because it surely must payout soon!
  • High-limits: Punters pick slots that require higher wagers, but have higher payouts

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It Is All Really Worth the Effort?

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The important thing to take away from this guide to payout ratios is that nothing is permanent in this fast-moving market. The only way to really stay on top of the game is to take an interest in the industry as a whole. The best way to find the absolute highest RTP possible is to check out plenty of slots games and casino reviews. The other option, of course, is to forget about RTPs, payout ratios and all that technical stuff, and to just play the games and have fun. Remember, even the best payout slots ratio imaginable is still going to favour the house. With that in mind, it might be better to just enjoy the ride, have fun, and forget about trying to maximise your winnings. At the end of the day, whether you win or lose comes down to luck, just as it always has, and always will.