Similarities Between Video Poker Games and Slot Machine Games
Both video poker games and slot machine games are coin-operated gambling machines, where a player sits and pushes a button or pulls a lever to operate.
Both machines have a hopper that pays out players’ winnings in coins.
Today all new slot machines and video poker machines operate using a random number generator (RNG). RNG is a computer chip that is continually generating a series of random numbers, even when the machine is idle.
Differences Between Video Poker and Slots
- The chief difference between video poker and slots lies within the RNG. On a slot machine, the RNG is programmed to pay out a percentage of the money that’s run through it at a percentage anywhere from 83% to 97% over time. That amount is called the payback percentage, and it’s entirely decided by the settings on the RNG.
- On a video poker machine, the random number generator duplicates a deck of 52 (or in some games 53) playing cards. The odds of getting any card are the same as playing actual cards. Here the payouts are decided by what is received by a player. Thus a person can quite easily calculate the payback percentage of a video poker machine, by mathematically determining the odds of getting each hand.
- This difference in how the RNG produces outcomes for the player results in all of the other differences between video poker and slot machines -
Player’s skill plays a part in video poker, while slot machine is a game of chance and not of skill. - A casino that wants to modify its payout percentage on a slot machine has to reprogram the RNG. Changing the payout schedule can change the payout percentage on video poker.
- Slot machine paybacks range on the high end over 91% and up. Video poker paybacks generally start around 97% and move up from there.
A positive expectation is possible on a video poker machine. Slot machines always have negative expectations.