Game volatility - could someone explain what is this?

**SlotMonster** · 23rd June 2010, 05:19 PM

I saw this term many times, and wondering what does it mean

Please comeone explain. Thanks!

**blacklabrador** · 23rd June 2010, 06:51 PM

The Volatility Index doesn't tell a casino how much money it will earn from a machine. The long-term payback does that. The Volatility Index, instead, measures how bumpy a ride it will be to that long-term payback percentage. The casino doesn't really care about volatility because it has sufficient bankroll to see it through cold streaks (i.e., player hot streaks). It will take volatility into account, however, when ordering games because some players like volatile games and some don't. The casino will have a mix of low and high volatility machines on its slot floor or in this case in the software online.

Many multi-line machines can be configured to have, for example, 5, 9, 15 or 20 paylines. Someone who wants to play nine lines and can play them on a 20-line machine, but someone who wants to play 20 lines can't play that many on a nine-line machine.

Decreasing the number of paylines does decrease the hit frequency, but it also decreases the risk, assuming the max bet per line stays the same. That would tend to make your bankroll last longer, not less time.

Most importantly, No matter how volatile the machine, your chances of hitting something haven't changed just because the machine has been cold.