How To Record Casino Slot Machines

Posted on 13-05-2021 by admin

Sep 10, 2019 It’s not illegal to do so, however it’s almost always against casino policy. With the rise of smartphones, instagramming, and non-gaming visitors to places like Las Vegas, the formerly-strict rules against photography and video recording on the ca.

We have already put emphasis on the importance of understanding the basics of slot machines and have acquainted you with the most popular myths about them. In the previous articles, we have also provided hints that might be useful during your game session. Now, it is time to discuss another serious topic and help you determine how much time to spend playing a single slot machine and how to determine if it is a “loose” one.

As mentioned earlier, your bankroll is broken down into stakes. Here is an example. Presumably, your bankroll is equal to €200, while your stake amounts to €20. So, before you get started, you have to take out the stake first.

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As soon as you finish reading, you will be quite familiar with the best slot machine strategies that ensure your utmost gaming experience and most of all, the profitability of your gaming session.

Loose Slot Test Technique

Have you ever heard of the so-called Loose Slot Test technique? If not, you better read the lines below carefully to avoid overspending at a slot machine that will probably not grant you a decent payout.

First of all, you have to think about the number of credits you want to play. This can be estimated by multiplying the number of activated paylines by the multiplier (the number of coins bet per spin on each active line). It is important to note that this is not a random number. On the contrary – the type of slot machine you have chosen plays a great role in determining the number of credits.

The next thing is to select the number of spins you would like to make. In most cases, players choose to play ten spins but this does not mean you cannot opt for another number. However, you have to stick to your chosen number.

The next step you have to take before you start spinning the reels is to set an amount you want to invest in playing your preferred slot game. The best way to determine the right amount is to multiply the number of credits by the number of spins.

Let's see what would happen in the following situation. You have an overall bankroll of 2,000 credits, want to bet 56 credits per round and intend to play 10 spins during a session. You, therefore, would wager 560 credits in total.

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When the ten spins are over, you should have a total of 2,000 credits minus the 560 credits you wagered during the session. In other words, your credits should amount to 1,440 plus those you have won during the ten spins.

In order to determine your profits, you are supposed to calculate the difference between the aforementioned 1,440 credits and those that are in the machine, provided that you have generated some winnings during the ten spins, of course.

The number is divided by 56 and you get the number of spins you can perform.

Stay or Change the Machine?

Then, you have to set the number of spins and repeat the above-mentioned steps. If your credits reach the critical 1,440 or go down, you better cash out and finish your game session at this slot machine.

However, if you win a prize during the second “set” of spins, that means you can continue playing and this time, you are enabled to choose more than 10 rounds per betting session. It all depends on the credits you have earned. Repeat the steps above and cash out whenever the number of your credits reaches the critical level.

Let's give another example. If you have 2,450 credits after the second “set” of spins and you take out 1,440, you are enabled to wager the other 1,010, which makes 18 more spins. If you continue winning, then you must have found a loose slot machine. In this case, applying the Box technique is recommended, so whenever you decide to stop playing, you will be able to take home some winnings.

There is an easier way to determine whether a particular slot machine is worthy of playing, though. You can just play with a small amount of money and you have two options: you will either lose your money or you will start winning. Yet, the first technique is considered more effective by experienced players as it requires them to think of the winning strategy and decide when it is time to stop playing.

Thus, there is a chance to have only a few pennies left and to trigger a bonus game on the last spin. There is something like an unwritten law – always make your final spin with the total amount you have been playing.

Another thing worthy of emphasizing is that the amount you have to set aside to determine which slot machine is loose, depends greatly on the bankroll and most of all, on your stakes. Anyway, the amount of stakes is variable but the technique for playing with a fixed number of spins stays the same.

The easiest thing is to keep investing money into a slot machine that gives back insignificant wins on occasion but this is not going to be too profitable for you. That is why it is critically important to change the machines you are playing until you find a loose one.

It does not matter which one of the aforementioned strategies you use, you do have to move from one slot machine to another until you find the one that meets your requirements.

FAQs

It would be great, of course, to be able to predict if not a whooping jackpot, then a bigger payout or, at worst, arriving of a bonus feature. Perhaps absolutely possible in some dreamlike universe, in our real world is nothing more than just an unfulfilled desire.

Once and again, state-of-the-art RNG (Random Number Generator) is King and the only one to determine the outcome of every single spin.

Well, it is not an easy question, all the more so, a lot depends on your gambling style, preferences, and titles you want to put on test. Slots have higher volatility than the majority of card games or, even, video poker. Plus, gripping one-armed bandits are no stranger to pretty long losing streaks.

Taking into consideration all said above, maybe the best measure for a fruitful evening could be, let’s say, a bankroll that can cover at least your 200 bets. Again, there is no guarantee, you will get expected results.

Often called Play and Run, this special approach is quite popular among the punters. The main idea is to limit the length of sessions played at a certain slot machine. Time frames vary greatly, from a couple of minutes to whatever you can set as a limit to spend on the same seat.

The result? A lot of fuss and bother over nothing much. Plus, a pretty dubious fun.

While all existing betting systems can be roughly divided into two categories: positive and negative progression, none of them is 100% reliable. What’s more, when it comes to modern slots, such techniques is too hard to apply at all.

Generally speaking, the main difference between the positive and negative progression strategies lies in the moment of increasing stakes: after each win in the first case, and after each losing round using the second option respectively.

If we talk about money, negative series calls for a way past hefty bankroll, while a positive sequence requires less funds.

Quite on the contrary, it is one of the easiest methods to implement – all you need to do is double your bet after every losing spin, and stake one pre-decided base unit after every winning strike.

But here comes one downside: as a negative progression, this strategy insists on solid capital – even if you start spinning the reels with just $1, after seven unsuccessful hits you will have to wager $128, while your bankroll is already „lighter“ for $127.

Similarly, if you begin, let’s say, with $10, then after just five fruitless hits you will have to place a pretty impressive bet of $320. You do not have to be a math genius to figure out an obvious failure of this method.

The powers of casino stuff are seriously overestimated by too many punters used to tip slot personnel in order to get secret “instructions”.

Think twice before spending more money than you otherwise would just because you believe that casino staff knows that this particular machine is “due” to hit. If they knew, they would get rich and wouldn’t work there anymore, right?

Broadly speaking, classic titles usually have higher winning potential than their video counterparts.

Theoretically, one has better chances at a decent payout on classic 3-steppers than on video slots, since the latter have more frequent small hits intended to extend the gameplay. Again, in the long run, which means it is not necessary to be right for you.

It is a widespread belief, which is just one more myth in the gambling world, that floor managers place so-called loose slots in such a way these machines can be seen from many directions, by the biggest possible number of players.

No, it is not how casinos try to attract new visitors and keep loyal customers. Quality service, rewarding programs, various bonuses, and fair play – that’s how they do business.

Players that run between the rows struggling with coins and trying to keep track of eventual wins are seen pretty often throughout casino floors. Usually, they cause broad smiles on the faces of other visitors accompanied by a couple of sloppy comments.

If a strategy at all, it is far from being a worthy piece of advice to follow. After all, it is too far from the main idea of playing slots – to have fun!

Introduction to Keeping Gambling Records

Keeping gambling records for tax preparation as well as tracking gambling performance is essential to good money management of gambling bankrolls. Knowing how much you’ve won at gambling is a requirement of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

But, further, knowing how much you’ve lost is to your advantage. The multiple advantages include any potential gambling deductions for income taxes plus being a record-keeping tool for tracking and understanding your own gambling performance.

This article will show an increasing sophistication to recordkeeping, from the minimum information necessary for tax purposes to the most that can be relatively easily recorded.

These so-called data spreadsheets avoid being an excessive burden to the player while still providing value for income tax and gambling performance analysis purposes. Sample table layouts will be provided for insertion into most any spreadsheet software.

Keep in mind that software is not actually necessary to keep good gambling records. A single notebook or stack of papers is all that’s needed for income tax purposes.

If you happen to already know how to use data spreadsheet software, however, that’s all for the better in terms of performing most any financial analysis of gambling wins and losses.

In an attempt to help, I explain and provide spreadsheet examples having columns that identify what gambling information needs to be tracked, either at a minimum for tax purposes or in more detail for statistical analysis by interested players.

These spreadsheet examples can be used by all gamblers, but have been designed to be most helpful for slot machine casino gamblers.

One final point I’d like to make about keeping gambling records for tax preparation and more is this: I sincerely believe that your gambling performance at playing slots will financially improve when using some or all of my techniques.

But, this has a real-world consequence: Increased income taxes.

I feel I can’t just explain to you how to win at playing slots. I also need to explain how to handle winning at slots. Paying income taxes is the inherent responsibility for all citizens of a country.

Besides paying my own income taxes, I also feel I have a responsibility to point out potential financial pitfalls as well as any available potential savings. And, there are definitely a bit of both.

This article has the following sub-sections:

Introduction
Question: How’s Your Gambling Going?
Gambling Records for Income Tax Preparation Purposes
Gambling Records for Understanding Financial Performance
All Complimentary Gifts are Taxable
WARNING: A Surprising City/Local Income Tax Burden
Summary

Before moving forward, I also need to acknowledge that I am not a professional tax preparation expert. If applying any of these suggestions, please be sure to consult your income tax professional.

Keep Reading … or Listen Instead!

Question: How’s Your Gambling Going?

When talking with low and high roller casino gamblers at the casino events I’ve been invited to attend, I’ve often taken the opportunity to ask how their gambling is going. Naturally, I ask this question from a financial point of view.

When I ask, I’m not blunt about doing so. Instead, I try to politely work it into an ongoing conversation. Almost always, I get one of two responses to, “So, how’s your gambling going?”:

They say, somewhat unconvincingly, “I’m breaking even!”; or
They give the definite impression of knowing exactly how well they are doing but, just as clearly, are never going to tell me.

Sufficiently good money management skills is the difference between these two groups: those who have some level of uncontrolled spending and those who have the necessary information to make intelligent choices in their approaches to gambling.

It is my belief that players providing the first response don’t know if they are actually breaking even or not. Why not? Well, in general, there are two possible reasons. First, they don’t care to know anything more than keeping track of any W-2G tax documents they or their tax professional will need later for annual income tax returns.

Second, they don’t know how to keep track of anything more. For example, perhaps they’ve never before won a taxable jackpot of $1,200 or more. This might even be due to never having gambled before. Or, suddenly they’ve learned how to win more than ever before.

Whichever the case may be, discovering far too late the essential nature of keeping gambling records for tax preparation will eventually prove to be quite frustrating. While not much can be done for last year’s casino visits, perhaps, let’s try to avoid it happening again for next year’s tax preparation, shall we?

Gambling Records for Income Tax Preparation Purposes

For tax purposes and to understand gambling performance, keeping track of spending in a consistent yet convenient manner should be done in ways that make sense to a slots player given how individual circumstances can be very different.

For minimum tax purposes, at least five entries are required. These include:

Date: The day on which the gambling session occurred;
Location: Unique name of the gaming property where the gambling occurred;
Bankroll: Amount spent gambling;
Take-Home: Amount remaining after gambling; and,
Comps and Comps $: Complimentary gift along with their fair market value.

Players who receive comps need to keep in mind the fair market value of every one of these complimentary gifts needs to be included as taxable income. This can be done either immediately or after if you need to research its value. I’ll have more on this in a following sub-section.

Once again, consult with a tax professional to be certain of the entries each individual player in a household needs to record for tax purposes. The following tables are only suggestions from someone who is definitely not such a tax professional.

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Beyond the bare necessities for managing taxes, there is other additionally useful information a slots player might record to help themselves or their tax professional accurately complete their annual tax returns, such as recording any taxable jackpots won.

Doing so results in a sort of checklist for the total number of W-2G tax documents which might be received over the course of the calendar year. For high limit slots players, the so-called high rollers, this can be a substantial and extensive list.

Along with the bare necessities mentioned, we now add another 5 entries:

Gross Jackpot: Amount won prior to taxes paid;
Net Jackpot: Amount given to player after income taxes are automatically paid;
Federal Taxes: Amount of federal income taxes automatically paid, if any;
State Taxes: Amount of state income taxes automatically paid, if any;
Local/City Taxes: Amount of local income taxes automatically paid, if any.

There are several comments to be made about the practical use of the above list. First, not every visit to a casino will result in one taxable jackpot. Jackpots won may well be less or, more specifically, zero as well as potentially more than one taxable jackpot.

I’ve gotten as many as 7 taxable jackpots in a single day as well as more than one taxable jackpots during a single slots playing session upon multiple occasions. If no taxable jackpot is won, then simply leave that entry blank.

However, when winning more than one taxable jackpot, I use a merge command in my spreadsheet software so that I have separate entries for each taxable jackpot but only one entry per casino visit for Date, Location, Bankroll, Take-Home, and Comps.

Also, I will often combine state and city/local income taxes into a single entry because that’s what the casinos I happen to visit typically provide.

While each taxable jackpot can instead be separate entries in your gambling records, there may be a bit of a delay for completing all entries. Be aware some casinos issue jackpot receipts immediately, but the W-2G are sent via snail mail to the winner’s home address of record – and only the W-2G may note the relative tax rates for state and city/local.

Finally, note that the income tax rates being applied may very well not by your tax rates. If you are gambling in another state, for example, you may have to complete a state income tax form for those taxable jackpots in addition to your own home state. The same can be said for city/local taxes. Any city/local income tax rate is for the city or local the casino is located in, which are not necessarily your own.

Gambling Records for Understanding Financial Performance

Beyond these bare necessities and convenient entries for tax preparation purposes is the need of some slots players to have additional entries to allow for their gambling performance financial analyses.

These additions will eventually be dependent on how each player prefers their financial analysis be performed, so modifications will likely be needed. I’ve tried to make sure those modifications will be easy to accommodate.

However, to help a player get started using the analyses provided, there are three additional entries that will be necessary. These additions include:

Time Stamp: The relatively precise time when the jackpot was won;
Slot Machine: A unique identifier of the winning slot machine; and
Comments: This long entry is for careful noting any winning patterns suspected or seen.

The final entry I’d highly recommend for every gambling event such as a visiting a casino is to keep notes. These notes for each visit have served me very, very well as a catch-all for occurrences that don’t quite fit into an entry into my record.

Then, later, they helped identify a winning pattern I would eventually experiment with and, as it happens, write a book about as well as explain to you in articles and podcast episodes.

For instance, sometimes I’m playing a slot machine very, very good for cycling bankrolls. My record doesn’t have a good way to record a time range within my visit where a slot machine is performing in this manner, because it is otherwise set up to list jackpot times.

Hence, make a note about this behavior to return to at a later time. In general, I’ve found notes from each visit as a truly great way to record the details of the performance of a slot machine in terms of non-taxable jackpots.

I’m still working on the best way to capture this small bits of information. Anything I develop would have a primary purpose which supports taking advantage of this type of winning opportunity. So far, for example, I have rejected developing a smart-device App due to legal restrictions on using electronic gaming tools at casinos.

On one final note for this sub-section, don’t forget to record the time of a jackpot win correctly. With many jackpots, it can become difficult to know whether the entry was 11:30 a.m. or 11:30 pm. if only numbers are used.

If a player is comfortable doing so, they should consider using the 24-hour military format for keeping track of the precise time of a jackpot win. For that previous example, those two different times of 11:30 a.m. and 11:30 pm. become highly distinguishable as 1130 and 2330.

All Complimentary Gifts are Taxable

Finally, I’ve found it convenient to use entirely separate spreadsheet tables for keeping a record of complimentary gifts. While the cell merge software function would again be possible, sometimes the long description of a comp deserves its own format.

For example, imagine the many comps that might be included in an annual cruise or trip to Las Vegas. Logistically, I’ve found it easier to simply start a second table for this complication of many complimentary gifts. Such a table or spreadsheet would have the following entries only:

Date: The day on which the gambling session occurred;
Location: Unique name of the gaming property where the gambling occurred;
Comp: A description of the complimentary gift earned and received; and
Comp $: The fair market value to the complimentary gift received.

WARNING: A Surprising City/Local Income Tax Burden

My best advice isn’t about how to change a particular style of gambling from one highly individualized approach to another requiring a higher bankroll. My best advice is about the perhaps unexpected pitfalls of making significant changes to your gambling style.

For instance, are you ready to going up to the next income tax bracket? Or, going up to the next tax bracket after that? What is the highest income bracket, anyway??

How do you go about determining the fair market value for an influx in comps received from the casino, so as to not get in trouble with the IRS when submitting those comps as taxable income?

Players may be surprised to know that understanding city taxes is especially important to continued financial health when switching gambling styles, especially when switching over to a gambling styles that significantly increases the amount of taxable jackpots won.

I know I was shocked, when I found out. Here’s two questions you need to know the answers to, no matter the gambling style being used. Note that later articles will describe many different individual gambling styles, and why they matter to winning at slots.

First, and most importantly, a player needs to know if they pay local or city income taxes. I mean this in both possible ways. First, is the casino they are playing at located within city limits, so any taxable jackpots paid include a city/local income tax.

Second, and most importantly, do YOU pay city/local income taxes based on where your home is? If so, the relative difference between the local income tax rate and the local/city income tax for any casino where taxable jackpots have been won is of significant importance. Here’s why.

If a player doesn’t have local or city taxes based on where their home is, then there is no cause for alarm other than the adult pain of understanding that any local/city taxes paid at a casino due to having won one or more taxable jackpots within a tax year will not be refunded or otherwise returned.

There is little reason for alarm because state and federal taxes allow gambling deductions if sufficiently good records are kept, so consultation with your accountant or income tax professional along with good financial record keeping can result in either an annual tax refund, or no significant tax payment, from both state and federal income tax returns.

This is what some gamblers refer to as “a wash” due to no significant annual tax payment to be made or tax refund to be had.

If a player does have local or city taxes due to where they live, then they may find themselves effectively blocked from gambling at a relatively high level (that is to say, when winning many taxable jackpots) due to the excessive tax burden imposed.

And, if not aware of this potential difficulty, slots players could get in serious financial difficulty if they proceed to gamble and win heavily anyway.

Why? Because it is more than likely that, if required to submit an annual tax revenue form to the local/city government, that income tax office will not accept any income tax deductions, including the often relatively large gambling deductions routinely accepted with state and federal income tax returns.

If this potential local tax issue is not clearly understood, an example may help explain the possible excessive tax burden which may occur. Let’s say local taxes are at a flat rate of 2%, and total income revenue from gambling for a tax year was $10,000.

If all those winnings were spent gambling, i.e., if profit was zero but gambling deductions was for the full $10,000, than the federal and state income tax returns will effectively result in zero taxable income from gambling. Again, profit was zero so the tax burden is also zero.

However, because local/city taxes don’t usually allow for gambling deductions (consult your local tax professional to confirm!), this slots player would be required to pay 2% of that $10,000 annual revenue. This would result in having to pay $200 in local/city income taxes when filing an annual tax return.

Note that, if your casino has local taxes, this tax burden can be reduced or eliminated up to the amount of local taxes paid at the time of receiving taxable jackpots. If your casino has a higher rate for local taxes than you do, even if you have none, you won’t get those taxes back as a refund.

Such a $200 local income tax burden can be a surprise. I can respect that it might be difficult to pay. Now imagine that revenue was much higher. Consider if $10,000 in taxable jackpots were won, and every dollar of it spent, every 6 weeks for a full year. Now the local/city tax burden has jumped to over $1,700.

So, for clarity in understanding the local tax situation for gamblers, let’s consider a realistic total income revenue from gambling.

A typical situation for a high roller slots player that has chosen to gamble away every dollar won, and lives in a region with a flat local tax of 2%, could easily have the following amounts of winnings and local taxes:

$150,000 in total taxable jackpots evenly split between two casinos;
$15,000 local taxes paid at first casino at a rate of 2%;
$0 local taxes paid at the second casino due to no local taxes required there;
$10,000 in documented taxable goods and services, i.e., comps; and
Resulting in having the following Local taxes due:
- $15,000 (first casino) minus $15,000 (paid at first casino);
- plus $15,000 (second casino) minus $0 (paid at second casino);
- plus $200 (comps) equals; and
- a total local/city tax burden of $15,200.

Summary of Keeping Gambling Records for Tax Preparation and More

In summary, keeping gambling records for tax preparation as well as tracking gambling performance is essential. Knowing how much you’ve won at gambling is an IRS requirement, managed by the casino providing a W-2G tax form upon winning a jackpot of $1,200 or more.

Further, knowing how much you’ve lost is to your advantage, leading to being able to use gambling deductions up to the amount of your documented winnings, potentially resulting in a significant income tax refund. From personal experience, it feels just like you’ve won all over again.

I’ve provided a list of the minimum information necessary for keeping gambling records for tax preparation which can be relatively easily recorded. I’ve also suggested additional entries which would be convenient to have for simple financial analyzes of your gambling expenses.

Keep in mind that software is not actually necessary to keep good gambling records. A single notebook or stack of papers is all that’s needed. However, if you happen to already use data spreadsheet software, that may significantly shorten how much time is spent keeping and organizing this records.

I sincerely believe your gambling performance at playing slots will financially improve when using some or all of my winning slots techniques, so keeping gambling records for tax preparation will, therefore, become a necessity.

I also acknowledge that I am not a professional tax preparation expert. If applying any of these suggestions, please be sure to consult your income tax professional.

Thoughtsnin