Laughlin Gaming Statistics - August 2015

[XDCX]

On my most recent trip to Laughlin I picked up a free copy of the Arizona Gambling Guide at a gas station and noticed they had a chart reporting Laughlin's Gambling Statistics. (I'm guessing the information must be public record because of the taxes collected on gambling.)

Here's the "Hold Percentage" for the various slot machines:

• $5.............................3.32%
• $1.............................4.95%
• Multi-Denomination .....5.74%
• 25 Cent......................5.98%
• $25............................7.39%
• 5 Cent........................8.74%
• 1 Cent.......................10.88%

Overall the "Hold Percentage" was higher than I would have guessed but maybe that's because I've read all of those billboards over the years by casino's hyping that their slots have a 98 or 99% payback.

[XDCX]

Here's the "Hold Percentage" for the various table games:

• Craps............................15.21%
• Pai Gow Poker................18.66%
• Blackjack/21...................19.14%
• Roulette.........................20.46%
• Let it Ride.......................30.15%
• Three Card Poker.............32.79%

I was really surprised at the "Hold Percentages" for table games - they were much higher than what I would have guessed.

[mryan55]

I'm a little surprised that the house is winning so much on the table games well. Let it Ride and Three Card Poker make some sense because there are quite a few opportunities where folding happens... surprised the house keeps that much on Blackjack though, for sure!

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by mryan55

I'm a little surprised that the house is winning so much on the table games well. Let it Ride and Three Card Poker make some sense because there are quite a few opportunities where folding happens... surprised the house keeps that much on Blackjack though, for sure!

I agree - I'm not sure how the "Hold Percentage" is calculated for table games.

With a slot machine it's pretty easy to measure "money in/money out" and calculate a hold percentage. With table games it must be a measure of "chips bought/chips returned" or some similar measure.

I don't doubt that people lose 19.14% of their money playing Blackjack, I just think it takes a fair amount of time to do that.

On a side note, I'll admit I had to look up how a casino makes money on Blackjack since it appeared to me that both the casino and the players were on a level field. I learned that the fact the casino gets to pull their cards last is the ONLY advantage they have and that's worth about 8%.