Loose and tight

Customers (and many casinos) like to describe slot machines as either “loose” or “tight,” when what they’re really saying (without realizing it) is that a machine’s payback percentage is relatively high (”loose”) or relatively low (”tight”). A machine’s payback percentage will depend on the casino, where
casino has strict limits regulating how little a slot machine can pay out - but nearly every casino has their machines set to pay back more than the state minimum. For example, the minimum payback required by law in Nevada is 75 percent, but almost all machines in that state pay back at least 90 percent, and it’s easy to find 95 percent. In Atlantic City, the state requires the lowest payback to be 83 percent, but again, you’ll rarely find a machine that pays less than 90 percent.
So how do you find out how tight or loose the machines are at a particular casino? Well, it helps if you’re sleeping with the slot manager, but there are other ways. Many states, like Colorado, require casinos to report the slot percentages, some broken down by denomination. A visit to the state’s gaming control board (or the board’s Web site) can usually produce the info you seek. And magazines devoted to slots also regularly publish slot machine paybacks for areas around the country.