West Virginia: RNG--80%-90% Payback, per Deputy Director Arnold--Allow 5
devices in non-casinos, except fraternal organizations, where 10 are
allowed.
"Dick Kalagher" wrote:
I was just in West Virginia yesterday and the hotel I stayed in had 2 slot
machines in the bar. Each machine had about 6-8 games on it including
"Little Green Men, and several Keno type games. There was a letter posted
on the machines from the WV authority that gave the payback for the games in
the machines. All of the machines had a maximum and minimum. They were
equal except for the Keno games. The paybacks for most machine were 92%
plus or minus a fractional amount. The Keno games could go down to about
85%. This agrees with what I have read in the past for West Virginia
Racinos. Most machines pay back 92%. I was in Charles Town this morning
and they had new Video poker. I just ran the payback schedule and it came
to just over 92%.
Linda Boyd wrote:
In 1999 Steve Bourie--author of "The American Casino Guide"-- wrote an article called Are Slot Machines Honest? Here is an excerpt from that article:(The actual article is very long and includes interviews with Nevada Officials as well as a visit to the Toms River GLI facility.)
On May 15, 1997 I went to 1601 Atlantic Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey to meet with Richard Williamson, Supervisor of the Technical Services Bureau at the state's Division of Gaming Enforcement. We were joined by Keith Furlong, Public Information Officer for the Division and we spoke in Williamson's office located in a state building just a few blocks west of the boardwalk's casinos.
(Small portion of the interview)
So you don't make any difference in your laws between skill and non-skill machines?(Steve)
Only to the fact that we require the payout percentage to be 2% higher on a game that is affected by skill. (Atlantic City Official)
You require it to be 2% higher? That's the first I've heard of that. I haven't completely read your laws, but... (Steve)
It won't say that in the law. It was a policy adopted by the Commission about the time that video pokers were approved because of a field test. They went out and they watched people play and it was determined that someone who was very unskilled at playing poker could lower the payout percentage of the game below the minimum standard just by continually making poor selections. So they thought they should raise it 2% so that even a poor player would have a better chance with the added 2% payout. (Official)
The minimum return on slots is 83% so the video poker machines would have to return a minimum of 85%?(Steve)
Yes.(Official)
From this conversation I'm extrapolating the possibility that 2% may be added to both the maximum and minimum requirements insome jurisdictions, if it's a game of skill . I will tell you I had this conversation recently with Deputy Director Arnold and made notes on what was said. I will send you the phone number and you may want to ask him why there is a difference. Linda
I am surprised that Deputy Director would quote 80-90% unless he was just
rounding things off.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
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On 5/17/06, Linda Boyd <maggie2194@comcast.net> wrote: