Strictly Slots July 2022

READERS TALK BACK

The Magazine for Slot & Video Poker Players VOLUME 19 • NUMBER 5

P R E S I D E N T & C H I E F E X E C U T I V E O F F I C E R Derek James P U B L I S H E R & E D I T O R I A L D I R E C T O R Lisa Rober tson-Dziedzic

Downtown vs. The Strip I love Las Vegas but not the Strip—too much walking.So,I prefer downtown and the smaller hotels and casinos. I am a longtime subscriber and enjoy your magazines. —Patricia N. SanAntonio,TX We agree—smaller properties often offer a friendlier atmosphere that the mega-resorts lack. And thank you, Patricia! It’s always nice to hear from a reader who appreciates our efforts! Video Poker or Slot? Could you please settle a question my friends and I have:Is Spin Poker a true video poker ma chine or is it a slot machine? Some of us believe that since it has a pay table, it follows the rules of video poker that the cards are “dealt” from a 52-card deck, even on the re-deal. Others believe that since the cards are spinning, it’s just a random slot that doesn’t follow the rules of the pay table.Who is right?Thank you! —Michael D. Chicago, IL Spin Poker is a video poker game. The cards are randomly dealt from an initial, virtual 52-card deck. The “spinning” cards are just for show. You should use the same playing strategy for Spin Poker as you would for a traditional video poker game. Leftover Machine Credits We have received many thought-provoking tips from your publications;sensible advice that has enhanced our time at the casinos.While in the casino, we often see random cash tickets of a few cents or more set upon machines or in the area around the machines that previous play ers have left behind, rather than bothering to cash out such small amounts. Is it legal to pick those tickets up and use in a machine you choose to play? What about finding credit balances or promotional credits left in a machine? —Dave Via the Internet Quick response—no. If the ticket is just hang ing around on top of a machine or lying on the floor, it is the same as if it were a chip on the floor. It belongs to the casino. It is

considered the casino’s money.

Credits left in a machine are a hazy issue. The casinos think those credits belong to them, and they do, but casinos have rarely (or never) arrested anyone for playing them. We do not want to give you advice to do some thing illegal so you have to go your own way in these matters. Progressive Randomness We are conservative players and know to avoid the casino-linked jumbo progressives.Our ques tion is regarding the progressives that are within a single slot machine: Do the payouts from the progressive feature cause the overall payback of the machine to be lower?Are those types of additional progressive payouts (that is the Mini,Maxi,Major,Mega) pre-determined? —Debbie D. Via the Internet Any progressive slot machine will tend to pay back a smaller percentage than non-progres sive machines.Yes, even machines that are just singletons or the ones only banked in a given casino will not be returning as much as a regular stand-alone non-progressive. If what you mean by pre-determined is are the hits set in stone, the answer is no— they are based on the probability of hitting. You might have a one in 10,000 chance of hitting the progressive jackpot on average but it is not once every 10,000 hits; sometimes it could be once in a thousand and sometimes once in 15,000. In that sense it is random. Spinning Free My question is about free-spin bonus rounds on penny slots. Some start the bonus round automatically,while others require you to touch the screen to start or push a lit button. My question is:Does it matter when you touch the screen or push the button, or is the bonus round outcome already pre-determined? —Gabe North Royalton,OH The results of the free spins in the bonus round are determined in the exact manner that results are determined in the primary game.When you touch the screen or push the button—or at the beginning of each spin in an automatic round—the computer freezes numbers generated by the random number

S E N I O R E D I T O R S Sean Chaffin Karrie L. Zukowski

C O P Y E D I T O R Lon Rozelle

P R O D U C T I O N D I R E C T O R Diane Stevens-Gillan

C O N T R I B U T I N G W R I T E R S

Frank Scoblete Tim Wassberg Sharon Harris-Zlotnick

John Grochowski Steve Kieva Frank Legato Jerry “Stickman” Stich

N AT I O N A L S A L E S D I R E C T O R Karrie L. Zukowski

C I R C U L AT I O N MA R K E T I N G D I R E C T O R Maureen Rober tson

C I R C U L AT I O N D I R E C T O R Jessica Taylor

I T D I R E C T O R Rober t Walden S U B S C R I P T I O N & R E N E W A L C U S T O M E R S E R V I C E 1-800-969-0711 O F F I C E S ATLANTIC CITY: 333 E. Jimmie Leeds Rd., Suite 7 Galloway, NJ 08205-4123 (609) 484-8866 • Fax (609) 645-1661 LAS VEGAS: 1137 South Rancho Drive, Suite 110 Las Vegas, Nevada 89102-2259 (702) 736-8886 • Fax (702) 736-8889 Strictly Slots (ISSN 1527-5027). Strictly Slots is published 12 times a year by Casino Player Publishing, LLC POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Strictly Slots, 333 E. Jimmie Leeds Rd., Suite 7 Galloway, NJ 08205-4123 Periodicals Postage rate paid at Galloway, NJ and at additional mailing offices. © 2022 Casino Player Publishing, LLC. All Rights Reserved. No por tion of this publication can be reproduced without expressed written permission of the Publisher. Strictly Slots magazine is a publication of Casino Player, LLC, owned by Casino Player Media (CPM). Not responsible for typographical errors. READER’S ADVISORY: Readers are recommended to make appro priate inquiries and take appropriate advice before sending monies, incurring expense, entering into any binding commitment, or wa gering any sum in relation to an adver tisement, ar ticle, column or other feature published in Strictly Slots. Strictly Slots shall not be liable to any person for loss or damage incurred or suffered as a result of his/her accepting, offering to accept, or following an invi tation, advice, or other recommendation contained in any adver tisement, ar ticle, column, or feature published in Strictly Slots . The views and opinions expressed by the writers and columnists of this magazine are not necessarily representative of the views of its management and employees. 333 E. Jimmie Leeds Rd., Suite 7, Galloway, NJ 08205-4123 Basic Subscriptions: 12 issues $24; 24 issues $37; 36 issues $53.

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