While slot machines have terrible odds compared to traditional table games, they also have the highest payouts; which probably explains their popularity. Experienced gamblers are familiar with two terms relative to slot machines: “Loose”, and “Tight.” A loose machine is a machine that is set to have frequent, smaller payouts. This means that a player will win often- typically every three or four spins, but that the payout will be relatively small- sometimes not even equivalent to the amount the player has just deposited. A tight machine is one that has infrequent payouts, but large prizes when it does payout. A machine being loose or tight has no bearing on the return rate overall- this is a constant that is set and regulated by gambling regulation authorities, the manufacturer, and casinos. Casinos cannot, nor would they be in the practice of, loosening or tightening their slots. And while there is no real way to tell whether a slot is loose or tight, has a high or low return, frequency, or payout, you can make some basic determinations based on the payout table (if a particular machine has one). If you see a lot of small payouts, then the machine is probably set “loose.” Infrequent, larger payouts possibly mean the machine is “tight”. Play accordingly.
Off all the money that is played by the gambler its usually 80-90% that is payed back out. Dependant on your jurisdiction establishes what percentage you would get. An example of this would be in NJ you would get a 78% payout but Nevada has a minimum of 75%. To be sure the casino retains a certain percentage of the money played they carefully select the winning patterns, the amounts for winning and the frequency they payout. This means that slot machines still to this day remain profitable. A typical example would be that if it simply cost $1 per spin and there was one million spins then the machine would return $950,000 to the players and $50,000 would be kept by the casino. This example shows a slot machine payout percentage of 95%.
As the slot machine leaves the production line its payout percentage is wrote into the software. This percentage can be changed once in the casino. This is done by changing the software over. In some jurisdictions the software has a tamper evident seal and only within the shadow of a Gaming Control Board official may it be removed. Nevada for example though actually audit their slot machines to ensure they contain approved software. The Nevada Gaming Commission began working with casinos in Las Vegas in 2006. They worked on a method that allowed the casino's manager to change the slots machines game, odds and even the payout percentage remotely. The rules of the method stated that the machine must be idle for 4 minutes before the change could take place. Once the change had happened a further 4 minutes must pass by before new players could play. The display on the slot machine must also tell potential players that a change is taking place.