Microgaming software

[Rambler]

CC.
Sent this to Ask casino meister earlier and I realized you are the resident expert on this, so I am sending this to to you. Understand, I love Microgaming software and the only one me and my wife play. The one question I ask is what parameters the licensee has to manipulate what they pay out. I have had wildly differnet results in the various on line casinos I have played and thus believe that each casino can alter payouts ( I spend on averge 4- 7k a month on this hobby). I just want to know if there are mimimum standards, so no on-line gambler gets screwed bya casino lowballing or setting software settings below a legitimate level, ie 50 percent payout, etc. Thanks.

Bryan, I have wondered for some time with microgaming software, why casinos advertise different pay out rates (some vary considerably). Since Price Waterhouse Coopers does the auditing for most on-line casinos, I am curious if a casino can set the pay out ratio or if it is preset by microgaming. For example, in Atlanitic City and Los Vegas land based casinos ,payouts vary by machine programming and casino policy and are subject to scrupelous government regulation. For example, if ABC On- Line casino buys a microgaming software license and wants to set the pay out ratio at 80 percent average for all casino games, is this possible through microgaming (In other words, can the casinos change payouts, if so by the month, day week or what? How much room does Microgaming vie a casino to do what they want?). Conversely, if XYZ casino wants a 95 percent pay out ratio to attract customers or retain clientele, is this possible or programable by microgaming software. (I suspect this as I win at certain casinos more than others consistently). I haven't been able to find any answers to this on the Microgaming site, the Wizard of )Odds, etc. It is important for us as players to know how much leeway a casino has in setting odds or manipulating pay out ratios through software flexibility as all of us have limited fun money . Since I am an avid gambler by hobby, I do play enough to know that some casinos pay out wins more than others. I must assume there is some mechanism for casinos to adjust how often a win comes up, i.e. Royal Flush, etc. Please reply as I am sure I am not the only one to wonder about this. I would love to see microgaming post an answer to this on this site as well as in full disclosure all of us should know how this works and no secrets!. You are the Man! Thanks.

__________________
valton

[bjohns]

Originally Posted by valton

CC.
Sent this to Ask casino meister earlier and I realized you are the resident expert on this, so I am sending this to to you. Understand, I love Microgaming software and the only one me and my wife play. The one question I ask is what parameters the licensee has to manipulate what they pay out. I have had wildly differnet results in the various on line casinos I have played and thus believe that each casino can alter payouts ( I spend on averge 4- 7k a month on this hobby). I just want to know if there are mimimum standards, so no on-line gambler gets screwed bya casino lowballing or setting software settings below a legitimate level, ie 50 percent payout, etc. Thanks.

Bryan, I have wondered for some time with microgaming software, why casinos advertise different pay out rates (some vary considerably). Since Price Waterhouse Coopers does the auditing for most on-line casinos, I am curious if a casino can set the pay out ratio or if it is preset by microgaming. For example, in Atlanitic City and Los Vegas land based casinos ,payouts vary by machine programming and casino policy and are subject to scrupelous government regulation. For example, if ABC On- Line casino buys a microgaming software license and wants to set the pay out ratio at 80 percent average for all casino games, is this possible through microgaming (In other words, can the casinos change payouts, if so by the month, day week or what? How much room does Microgaming vie a casino to do what they want?). Conversely, if XYZ casino wants a 95 percent pay out ratio to attract customers or retain clientele, is this possible or programable by microgaming software. (I suspect this as I win at certain casinos more than others consistently). I haven't been able to find any answers to this on the Microgaming site, the Wizard of )Odds, etc. It is important for us as players to know how much leeway a casino has in setting odds or manipulating pay out ratios through software flexibility as all of us have limited fun money . Since I am an avid gambler by hobby, I do play enough to know that some casinos pay out wins more than others. I must assume there is some mechanism for casinos to adjust how often a win comes up, i.e. Royal Flush, etc. Please reply as I am sure I am not the only one to wonder about this. I would love to see microgaming post an answer to this on this site as well as in full disclosure all of us should know how this works and no secrets!. You are the Man! Thanks.

__________________
valton

The Licensee can adjust the payout rates within reason. There is an acceptable low and a very generous high. Casinos use this as a money management and marketing tool. It definitely pays to play smart at online casinos, study your numbers and choose wisely.

[jpm]

If they are manipulating how often a Royal Flush comes up, then they are CHEATING. There is a big difference between adjusting the slot payout percentage and manipulating how often a win occurs on a game that is supposed to be random (e.g. anything other than slots).

On slots, they 'weight' the symbols that show on the reels to adjust the payout percentages to suit their pleasure. In a nutshell, if there are various symbols on each reel (blank, cherry, bar, wild/multiplier, 7, etc), they will give the ones that are worthless (blank) a higher 'weight' than the good ones. That means that you'll hit the worthless symbols more often than any others. Depending on how much 'weight' you apply to the symbols, the payout will vary accordingly.

This obviously cannot happen in a game that is supposed to be random (like roulette, craps, bj, videopoker, etc) since the odds on the winning combinations in those games are mathematically fixed (like getting dealt a pair in a 5 card hand from a 52 card deck is about one in every 4 hands). Any manipulation of the random outcome on these games would be cheating.

[drkasper]

Sorry if this isn't forum etiquette - i'm new here.

But I have to agree. The casino operator 'may' have the ability to change the % payout for slots - but its highly unlikely they are able to do this for any table game or random game (eg poker)

The reason why the Price Waterhouse audits show different results for different casinos is simply statistics - one month, large wins may affect the % margin - whilst in other months, large losses will allow it to swing the opposite way.

Any operator that has the ability to manipulate the % on table games should and will be found out quickly. In fact, its rare that operators can change the % for slots either - the software manufacturer tends to set these and will develop new games with different %'s as marketing tools

[sirius]

Casino software companies usually take royalties so they may be tempted to cheat payouts slightly in the card and table games, to increase profits. I doubt the casino itself would be able to cheat unless the software is known to be rigged by everyone.

[mary]

Casinos typically can adjust their payout rates in three categories of games:

*slot machines as slot machines
*video pokers
*table games

Both the video pokers and table games can be adjusted by changing the video poker paytables or the table game rules (number of decks in blackjack, surrender, stuff like that.) In software by the bigger companies, the video pokers and table games act like they do on land--with behavior true to the performance of cards.

Not all gambling software will do this. Gambling Federation aka iCrystal software specializes in video poker...and does not appear to yield Royal Flushes to players who are not webmasters. Casinobar's software is non-random with respect to blackack and roulette.

Microgaming casinos can change the rules for their blackack. However, the basic strategy in their Viper autoplay is a "one size fits all", so it is not optimal play for that casino's rule set. Players should compare the BS to the appropriate one at the Wizard's site and tweak it.

[jpm]

Exactly. The ONLY way they should be able to change the payout percentages on VP and table games is by changing the payout table. Not by limiting the royals or 'dealing seconds', which I think some places do. And I fully agree with the VP at Gambling Federation. There is something not right about it.