Oct 18, 2017 For these machines, the payback percentages usually range from 87 percent to 92 percent – rates I’d refer to as “tight.” While a casino operator can’t control each machine’s payback percentage, they can pick and choose how many of the loose and tight machines are offered on the floor. In the Chicago area, payback percentages on quarter machines cluster around 92 percent, while dollar machines hover around 94 percent in northwest Indiana and 95 percent in Illinois. House edges I list on table games are theoretical.
Introduction to Indiana Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2019
Indiana slot machine casino gambling consists of eleven commercial casinos, two pari-mutuel wagering racetracks, and one tribal casino.
Indiana does not offer payout limits but does provide annual and monthly return statistics for its non-tribal casinos.
This post continues my weekly State-By-State Slot Machine Casino Gambling Series, an online resource dedicated to guiding slot machine casino gambler to success. Now in its third year, each weekly post reviews slots gambling in a single U.S. state, territory, or federal district.
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Relevant Legal Statutes on Gambling in Indiana*
The minimum legal gambling age in Indiana does not depend upon the gambling activity:
- Land-Based Casinos: 21
- Poker Rooms: 21
- Bingo: 21
- Lottery: 18
- Pari-Mutuel Wagering: 18
Indiana’s 1851 constitution banned lotteries, historically interpreted by courts to mean all gambling. In 1988, Indiana approved a constitutional amendment removing this ban. Within months, cities with economic difficulties had casino proposals.
In 2007, Indiana allowed horse tracks to have as many as 2,000 electronic gaming machines. Further, the state legislature approved land-based casinos in 2015. Also, in 2015, the state legislature approved a measure allowing riverboat casinos to move into a land-based casino facility if located on their current property.
The state of Indiana has a federally-recognized American Indian tribe. In 2015, the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians successfully negotiated a tribal-state compact subsequently approved by the U.S. Department of Interior.
By the compact’s terms, the tribal casino could only have Class II bingo-style gaming machines. In early 2018, the tribe opened its first tribal casino.
*The purpose of this section is to inform the public of state gambling laws and how the laws might apply to various forms of gaming. It is not legal advice.
Slot Machine Private Ownership in Indiana
It is legal to own a slot machine privately in Indiana if it is 40 years old or older.
Gaming Control Board in Indiana
The Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) regulates gaming in Indiana. The IGC offers comprehensive annual reports on all aspects of legal gaming in Indiana. Indiana’s two other gaming commissions regulate the Hoosier Lottery and Indiana Horse Racing.
The Indiana Gaming Commission has a law enforcement arm called the Gaming Control Division. Its primary role is to investigate illegal gambling. Enforcement of illegal gambling at bars and taverns is by the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission.
Casinos in Indiana
There are eleven commercial casinos, two pari-mutuel racetracks with slot machines, and one American Indian tribal casino in Indiana.
The largest casino in Indiana is Horseshoe Casino Hammond with 2,123 gaming machines, 116 table games, and a 34-table poker room.
The second-largest casino is Indiana Grand Racing Casino with 2,020 gaming machines.
Commercial Casinos in Indiana
Indiana’s thirteen commercial casinos include its original ten riverboat casinos, an additional land-based casino, and two pari-mutuel wagering racetracks with slot machines. These non-tribal casinos are:
- Ameristar East Chicago located 11 miles northwest of Gary.
- Belterra Casino Resort in Florence located 116 miles southeast of Indianapolis on the Kentucky border.
- Blue Chip Casino Hotel Spa in Michigan City located 26 miles northeast of Gary.
- French Lick Resort located 100 miles south of Indianapolis.
- Hollywood Casino Lawrenceburg located 98 miles southeast of Indianapolis on the Ohio border.
- Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino in Anderson located 43 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
- Horseshoe Hammond located 20 miles northwest of Gary.
- Caesars Southern Indiana in Elizabeth located 123 miles south of Indianapolis across the river from Louisville, Kentucky.
- Indiana Grand Racing Casino in Shelbyville located 27 miles southeast of Indianapolis.
- Majestic Star Casinos I & II in Gary.
- Rising Star Casino Resort located 105 miles southeast of Indianapolis on the Kentucky border.
- Tropicana Evansville located 169 miles southwest of Indianapolis.
Tribal Casinos in Indiana
Indiana’s tribal casino is the Four Winds Casino South Bend located 150 miles north of Indianapolis directly east of Chicago on the border to Michigan. It offers 1,800 Class II competition-style gaming machines alongside live poker tables.
Poker has been interpreted in Indiana as a skill-based game and, therefore, just another Class II game. It is considered a competition-style game as players bet against each other and aren’t betting “against the house” or casino.
Other Gambling Establishments
As an alternative to enjoying Indiana slot machine casino gambling, consider exploring casino options in a nearby state. Bordering Indiana is:
- North: Michigan Slots
- East: Ohio Slots
- South: Kentucky Slots
- West: Illinois Slots
Each of the links above will take you to my blog for that neighboring U.S. state to Indiana.
Our Indiana Slots Facebook Group
Are you interested in sharing and learning with other slots enthusiasts in Indiana? If so, join our new Indiana slots community on Facebook. All you’ll need is a Facebook profile to join this closed Facebook Group freely.
There, you’ll be able to privately share your slots experiences as well as chat with players about slots gambling in Indiana. Join us!
Payout Returns in Indiana
Indiana has not set minimum or maximum theoretical payout return limits. Monthly and annual return statistics are available, although none are available from the tribal casino. The annual reports detail return statistics by slot machine denomination.
The IGC’s 2019 annual report has Electronic Gaming Device (EGD) COIN-IN on page 41. The next page has EGD Win. Divide WIN by COIN-IN, then subtract the result from 100% to calculate a player’s win percentage.
For your convenience, I have calculated the mid-2018 through mid-2019 player win percentages for each casino below. In addition to an annual report, the Indiana Gaming Commission also offers monthly revenue reports by the 11th of the following month.
Again, use COIN IN and WIN to calculate the player’s win percentage. Unlike the annual reports, these monthly reports do not contain return statistics by slot machine denomination.
These Annual and Monthly Player Win% are:
- Ameristar East Chicago: 89.91% (annual) and 90.05% (Nov. 2019)
- Belterra Casino Resort: 90.78% (annual) and 90.82% (Nov. 2019)
- Blue Chip Casino: 91.40% (annual) and 91.23% (Nov. 2019)
- French Lick Resort: 91.56% (annual) and 91.05% (Nov. 2019)
- Hollywood Lawrenceburg: 89.96% (annual) and 90.23% (Nov. 2019)
- Harrah’s Hoosier Park: 91.08% (annual) and 90.63% (Nov. 2019)
- Horseshoe Hammond: 90.07% (annual) and 90.04% (Nov. 2019)
- Caesars Southern Indiana: 89.99% (annual) and 90.67% (Nov. 2019)
- Indiana Grand Racing: 90.90% (annual) and 90.34% (Nov. 2019)
- Majestic Star Casino I: 90.26% (annual) and 90.21% (Nov. 2019)
- Majestic Star Casino II: 89.84% (annual) and 89.90% (Nov. 2019)
- Rising Star Casino Resort: 91.38% (annual) and 92.07% (Nov. 2019)
- Tropicana Evansville: 89.60% (annual) and 89.93% (Nov. 2019)
Further, the mid-2018 through mid-2019 statewide annual player’s win percentage is 90.52%. The monthly statewide player’s win% was slightly less at 90.45%.
The casino with the highest annual return was French Lick. The highest monthly return went to Rising Star. It’s worth mentioning that French Lick had the second-highest annual return and Rising Star the third-highest in the previous year.
The casino with the lowest annual return was, once again, this year, Tropicana Evansville. Its monthly return was the second-lowest while Majestic Star II had the lowest.
Summary of Indiana Slot Machine Casino Gambling in 2019
Indiana slot machine casino gambling consists of 10 riverboat casinos, one land-based casino, two pari-mutual racetracks with slot machines, and a tribal casino with Class II bingo-style gaming machines.
Indiana’s casinos don’t operate under theoretical payout limits. However, non-tribal casinos have annual return statistics by casino and slot machine denomination. Monthly return statistics are by the casino only.
Annual Progress in Indiana Slot Machine Casino Gambling
In the last year, Horseshoe Casino Hotel Southern Indiana became Caesars Southern Indiana. Hoosier Park has become Harrah’s Hoosier Park Racing & Casino.
Related Articles from Professor Slots
Other State-By-State Articles from Professor Slots
- Previous: Illinois Slot Machine Casino Gambling
- Next: Iowa Slot Machine Casino Gambling
Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC
Return to player (RTP) is very important in regard to the long-term chances of winning with slots. RTP (a.k.a. payback) refers to how much slot machines are programmed to pay out in the long run.
Higher payback means that a game gives you a stronger chance of winning. Therefore, you’ll do well to know the RTP behind any game that you play.
You’ll discover that it’s really easy to find payout percentages for online slot machine games. A simple Google search will produce the RTP for most internet games.
Unfortunately, you’ll have a much tougher time figuring out the RTP of land-based machines. In fact, this information is rarely available.
Is there still a way for you to determine payout percentages for slot machines in brick-and-mortar casinos? I’ll answer this question by covering more on the difficulties of finding RTP for land-based slots and if it’s ultimately possible.
Why Isn’t RTP Available for Land-Based Slots?
Unlike with many online slots, you can’t just find the RTP for land-based slot machines through Google. Your efforts will turn up little to no results.
The problem with slots in brick-and-mortar casinos is that they don’t have uniform payback across every casino. Instead, game developers allow casinos to select payout percentages based on a list of options.
Here’s an example on how this works:
- WMS is offering Monopoly Party Train slot to Vegas casinos.
- They feature the following RTP options: 92.5%, 93.5%, and 94.5%.
- Caesars Palace orders this game at 93.5% payback.
- The Venetian orders Monopoly Party Train at 92.5% RTP.
- Treasure Island orders this slot at 94.5% RTP.
You can see the obvious challenge in trying to provide payback numbers for such games. A website could list Monopoly Party Train at 93.5% RTP, which is middle ground.
Most online slot providers differ because they offer their games at a uniform RTP across every casino. For example, Rival Gaming will feature Spy Game with 95.1% payback at each online casino it serves.
Some exceptions do exist in the online gambling world. RealTime Gaming (RTG), for instance, allows its casino clients to choose 91.5%, 95%, or 97.5% RTP for a given game.
You can’t find payout percentages for RTG games either. Nevertheless, you can still learn the payback for the vast majority of internet slots.
Indiana Slot Machine Payout Percentages Percentage
How Can You Figure out the RTP?
You won’t be able to find the exact payout percentages for most land-based slot machines. But you can at least get a good idea on the matter through a few different methods. Here are some ways to learn the RTP for brick-and-mortar casino slots.
Make General Guesses Based on Coin Denominations
Casinos like to reward gamblers who are willing to risk more money per bet. Therefore, they order higher RTP for games with larger coin denominations.
Here’s an example on how this works:
- Penny slot machines = 88% to 90% RTP
- Nickel slot machines = 91% to 94% RTP
- Quarter slot machines = 93% to 95% RTP
- Dollar slot machines = 94% to 96% RTP
- $5 slot machines = 95% to 97% RTP
Penny slot machines are almost always the worst games with regard to payout percentages. Larger denominations ranging from a nickel to $5 are all closer in terms of payback.
Your theoretical losses will be higher on nickel games and up just because you’re betting more per spin. Nevertheless, you can still get more value per dollar wagered with the higher-denomination machines.
Read State Gaming Reports
Rather than making generalizations about coin sizes, you can always check out state gaming reports. These reports show the average payout percentages (or house edges) for each coin denomination within a given state’s casinos.
For example, you might look at a Nevada Gaming Commission (NGC) release and see that dollar slot machines are offering 94.79% RTP on average.
Interestingly enough, the NGC reports specific payout information for Megabucks. This IGT product is the most popular slot in all the popular Las Vegas casinos and warrants more detailed info.
You won’t find the exact payout percentage for an individual game, but you’ll at least have a better guideline with these reports.
Email a Casino and Ask
One more option involves emailing a casino directly and asking them about their RTP for a specific slot machine.
The problem here is that customer service will often state that they don’t have this information available. But in certain cases, you may actually receive a real answer.
You shouldn’t count on this method majority of the time. It’s at least worth trying, though, if you’re desperate to find out the RTP for certain slots.
What to Avoid When Searching for Land-Based Slots Payback
You can see that there are a few different options for determining the payback for land-based slot machines. But there are also measures that you want to avoid on your payback-finding quest, including the following.
Relying on Signs Inside of Casinos
Many casinos hang signs above a bank of slot machines that will read something like, “Pays up to 99%.”
These signs are very effective at drawing players to slot machines. After all, who wouldn’t want to play a slot that only has a 1% house edge?
Unfortunately, these signs are also very misleading. Only one of the machines within the section has to offer 99% RTP.
The rest could pay as low as 90% RTP and still make the sign valid. Therefore, you can’t rely on much information that the casino supplies you with.
Using One Good Session to Determine Quality Payback
Indiana Slot Machine Payout Percentages Jackpot
Slots are extremely volatile games that may pay a lot one session, then offer very few prizes for the next five sessions. Therefore, you can never use any single outing to judge how a game pays.
Many gamblers still make this very mistake. They’ll have one hot session with a game and believe that it offers a high payout percentage.
It would be great if finding RTP for land-based slot machines was really this simple. The reality, though, is that it’s anything but.
Blindly Believing Ads for the “Loosest Slots”
I’ve seen plenty of ads for loose slot machines when driving on the interstate. These billboards suggest that a given casino features slots with high RTP or frequent payouts.
However, “loose” is a broad term that doesn’t really mean anything. State gaming laws don’t put parameters on what constitutes a loose game.
Casinos can make this claim, regardless of whether it’s true or not. That said, you should take any such advertisement with a grain of salt.
Conclusion
You may think negatively about land-based casinos upon being unable to find RTP for their slots. After all, you don’t have to spend much time at all finding payback for online slots.
However, providers are the ones who choose whether to or not to release payout percentages. They can’t accurately do this with slot machines at brick and mortar casinos, because providers feature different RTP options.
One casino may order a slot at 93% payback, while the next orders it at 95% RTP. Developers are therefore unable to offer a uniform payout percentage for each slot.
The good news, though, is that you don’t have to give up hope. Instead, you have a few options for finding general RTP figures.
The easiest method is to make generalizations based on coin denominations. Simply put, the higher coin denominations usually offer better payback.
You can also read state gaming reports. These releases show the average amount that each coin denomination pays out within a given state’s gambling venues.
Finally, you can always email a casino directly and ask about a specific game. You won’t get the desired answer most of the time, but it’s worth trying.
In summary, finding the RTP for an individual land-based slot is impossible in most cases. But you’ll still have a general idea on how much these slots pay by following the previously covered tips.