Jamie Wiebe's presentation on "Making Sense of Slot Information". Presented at the New Horizons in Responsible Gambling conference. January 28-30, 2013 in Vancouver, BC.

1. Jamie Wiebe, Ph.D., Kahlil Philander, Ph.D., Cynthia Lucar, MPPA
RGC Centre for the Advancement of Best Practices
January 29, 2013
BCLC New Horizons in RG Conference, Vancouver

2. RG Subcommittee

3. What are my
How do I chances of
win? winning the
jackpot?
How much
does this
How does cost?
this work?

4.  Cost of Play
 Return to player
 Return to house
 Odds of winning
 Chance of winning a prize

7. To develop a concise, meaningful message
that conveys cost of play and odds of winning

8. Research Focus Gamblers
Review Groups Survey
(n=5) (n=756)
•Male frequent •59% male
respondents
•Female
frequent •79% are aged
Scan of gaming Xchange •Male
45+ 54% are 55+
information Panel occasional •74% have some
(eg. brochures, pamphlets) secondary
•Female education
occasional
•51% from Lower
•Chinese Mainland
frequent,
occasional, •49% rest of BC
male, female

9. These return to 92% of all money
machines players wagered on
them
On average, Pay out to 92 Of all total This amount can vary
players cents money wagered greatly during the
of each on them short term.
dollar
Over the long Pay back to $1.84 Of the sum of This amount can vary
run, players of min. money wagered greatly on any one
bet on them play or number of
plays
Can be Of each wager This amount is based
expected to on them on the life of the
return/payo machine, not on a
ut/ payback single play or playing
session.

10. These take 8% of all money
machines wagered on
them
On average, Costs the 8 cents of Of all total This amount can
player each dollar money wagered vary greatly during
that is on them the short term.
wagered on
them
Over the Can be 16 cents of Of the sum of This amount can
long run, expected each min. money wagered vary greatly on any
to $2 bet on them one play or number
take/cost of plays
Of each wager This amount is
on them based on the life of
the machine, not on
a single play or
playing session.

11. 25% Of Players win
On average, .25 Of Plays Can be expected to
win
Over the long run, 1 in 4 Of Spins
Of Wagers

12.  No interest in Casino’s advantage
◦ Showing the casino share and the player share simultaneously is also confusing
 Payout was confused with Cashout
◦ “Isn’t payout the amount paid to the last person who used the machine?”
◦ The term payout is not recommended
 Confusion with Mark-up cost
◦ “Isn’t that the amount they need to run the place?”
 Confusion with Cost of play
◦ “Cost of play is how much you are betting”

13.  Cost of play – many thought it meant total out of pocket spending
 Gamblers see the “long-run” in different ways
◦ “On average” is much more consistently interpreted than “over the long run”
 Whatever the terms that are used, a deeper explanation of their
meaning should be made available
◦ Very difficult concept to understand
 Once educated they saw the value in it, but its going to require
customer education

14.  The BIG Test

15.  Section A – Phrase preferences
 Directly compare sentence features (small parts of phrases)
 Section B – Player education
 Inform players how machines work – Long-run nature of payout averages
 Section C – Sentence preferences
 Ranking full sentences in order of preference
 Half get A, B, C, half get C, B, A

16. Total money lost Machine house Likelihood of 25% of plays win 1 in 4 of plays win
advantage winning the largest
jackpot
Machine house Machine return to Likelihood of 25% of wagers win 1 in 4 of wagers
advantage play winning free games win
Machine pay back Machine pay back Likelihood of 25% of spins win 1 in 4 of spins win
winning every
different type of
prize
Machine return to Machine house Likelihood of
player edge winning any prize
Machine house
edge

17.  Phrases in the conjoint analysis are broken down by their
components:
◦ E.g. “On average, these machines pay back 90% of all money
wagered on them”
 Red describes whether the sentence includes “on average” or not
 Blue describes whether the sentence uses “pay back” or “return to player”
 Green describes whether the sentence uses percentages or odds ratios

18. Now, please rank the following from being the easiest to understand to the most
difficult to understand in terms of communicating what the cost of play is for a slot
machine.
 25% of plays win  1 in 4 plays win
 25% of wagers win  1 in 4 wagers win
 25% of spins win  1 in 4 spins win
 On average, 25% of plays win  On average, 1 in 4 plays win
 On average, 25% of wagers win  On average, 1 in 4 wagers win
 On average, 25% of spins win  On average, 1 in 4 spins win
 The chance of winning is 25%  The chance of winning is 1 in 4
 The odds of winning is 25%  The odds of winning are 1 in 4
 The probability of winning is 25%  The probability of winning is 1 in 4

20. OR

21. Feature % Example:
Spins 43 1 in 4 spins win
No difference 32 1 in 4 plays/wagers/spins win
Plays 17 1 in 4 plays win
Wagers 7 1 in 4 wagers win

22.  The most preferred is odds of any prize
 The second is tied, largest jackpot and
bonus feature
 Last is all prizes

23. On average
This amount can vary significantly during
the short-term
 Return to player and Odds of winning

24. Ratios
Percentages
 Conditioned to see information presented
this way.
◦ i.e. 9 out of 10 lottery winners gain weight

25. IN OUT
 Cost to player  Cost to Casino (i.e. House
 Any prize Advantage)
 Spins  All other prizes (i.e. jackpot)
 On average  Plays, wagers
 Ratio  Over the long run
 Return to player or  Percentages
payback  Payout or take
 Odds or chance  Probability

26. Return to Player
 “On average, these machines
payback 90% of all money wagered
on them”
Odds of Winning
 “On average, 1 in 4 spins win any
prize”
 “The odds of winning any prize are
1 in 4”

27.  More aware of information that players want and how to
communicate it
 Phrasing must consider constraints of the machines
(e.g. limited space for text)
 More to come………….. Demographics, level of
gambling involvement, etc.