Las Vegas Slot Machine Simulator

There are sometimes slot machines in the casinos that have max progressives; a typical situation is one in which there is a major progressive and a minor progressive and these types of machines must pay out once they reach the maximum levels.

So the question that an advantage gambler might ask is, "At what point are these long term profitable plays?". What one would need to do is to create a simulation and have an idea of what the hold is set to on the machines. and the attached spreadsheet is a rudimentary form of such a simulator. It factors in what you might expect the hold to be which is critical information. Typically in Las Vegas the penny slots might have something around a 10-12% hold but this simulator, however, doesn't factor the progressive payouts into the hold so you should probably aim a couple of percentage points higher to be safe. A simulator that accounted for this would be a bit more involved but this can give you a general idea of where you need to be. It also simply simulates a worst case scenario - it spins until the major progressive jackpot reaches the maximum level and must be paid. The jackpots are random so there is a fairly good chance that you would not need to reach the maximum level to hit the jackpot. However, it's probably better to err on the side of caution.

You will also need to know how much money (coin in) is needed to move the jackpots. You can simply gather this information by watching someone play for a while.

The spreadsheet includes more than a few factors that attempt to calculate your profit/loss.

Hold - the house hold per spin
Major - the current major progressive jackpot
Minor - the current minor progressive jackpot
Major Start - the starting major progressive jackpot (not really used)
Minor Start - the starting minor progressive jackpot
Major Max - the maximum major progressive that when reached will pay the major progressive jackpot
Minor Max - the maximum minor progressive that when reached will pay the minor progressive jackpot
Major Uptick - the amount of coin in that is required to increase the major progressive jackpot by the major increment
Minor Uptick - the amount of coin in that is required to increase the minor progressive jackpot by the minor increment
Major Increment - the amount that is added to the major progressive jackpot by surpassing the major uptick
Minor Increment - the amount that is added to the minor progressive jackpot by surpassing the minor uptick
Max Bet - the amount bet per spin (it doesn't need to be the max but you get there quicker that way)




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