Reason #3 why the Wizard likes Bovada:

Excellent Odds

In my opinion many online casinos are too stingy when setting the odds on their games. They think they will make more money that way but I believe they are misguided, because when players lose too quickly it’s not fun, and those players might not come back.

Bovada is one of the few casinos that understands this. They offer generous odds to let you play longer and get you a better chance of winning. Among their generous offerings are Full-Pay Jacks or Better returning 99.54%, six other video poker games paying over 99%, single-zero roulette, and my favorite, Pick ’em Poker, returning 99.95%!

Kudos to Bovada for not being afraid to give their players a good gamble.

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Slot Machine Return Percentages for Henderson/Lake Mead casinos

Last Update: May 03, 2002

Henderson/Lake Mead Nickel Slot Return Percentages

The following table ranks the casinos of Henderson according to the looseness of their video display reeled nickel slot machines. Henderson spans a large area just south and east of Las Vegas. All the casinos listed are within Henderson except the Hacienda, which according to my map is in the Lake Mead Recreation Area. An explanation of the methodology of this survey can be found in Appendix 3A ranking the Las Vegas casinos.

Henderson/Lake Mead 5 cent machines
Rank	Casino	Average Return
1	Rainbow Club	92.97%
2	El Dorado	92.56%
3	Sunset Station	91.33%
4	Hyatt Regency - Lake Las Vegas	91.14%
5	Green Valley Ranch	91.11%
6	Railroad Pass	89.90%

Excluded Casinos

Voluntary exclusion: The Fiesta Henderson did not allow my associate to take notes while playing their slots. I can not include any casino that is not cooperative with the survey. I will honor any requests for exclusion.

Insufficient sample: The Hacienda only had one kind of machine that I test for, which I consider to be too small a sample. Based on the one game they did have the return was 93.50%.

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Par Sheet Pete (not his real name) for providing the par sheets, without which this project would not have been possible. I would also like to thank Rob Feldheim for his help collecting data.

Internal Links

Appendix 1 shows the details and analysis of almost 4000 actual spins on a Reno slot machine.
Appendix 2 shows an example of the virtual reels behind a hypothetical slot machine and how the average return is calculated.
Appendix 3A: 2003 Las Vegas slot machine rankings.
Appendix 3B: 2002 Jean/Primm slot machine rankings.
Appendix 3C: 2002 Tunica slot machine rankings.
Appendix 3D: 2002 Henderson/Lake Mead slot machine rankings.
Appendix 3E: 2002 Quarter and dollar returns for Las Vegas slots
Appendix 4 shows how the return is calculated for my Wizard's Fruit Slot Machine.
Appendix 5 analysis of the 21 Bell Slot Machine.
Appendix 6 Analysis of Red, White, & Blue Slot Machine.
Lock and Roll analysis of the skill-based slot machine found in North Carolina.
Deconstructing Megabucks.
Baltimore Sun article, in which I am quoted.