- How Do Casinos Pay Out Large Sums Of Money
- How Do Casinos Payout Jackpots
- How Do Casinos Pay Jackpots
- Youtube Casino Jackpots Videos
Introduction to Taxable Jackpots
Are Casinos Lowering Their Slot Machine Payback Percentages? Over the last year, I have heard many players complain that they are not having as many jackpots on the slot machines as they used to have. I first heard this from a few of my friends who said they believed that the casinos were tightening the machines because the bad economy was forcing people to make fewer trips to. Best Payout Slot Machines. In addition to reading slot reviews, there are several other ways players can find slot games with the best payouts.Always check a slot's pay table before inserting money. This will tell you the maximum payout you can win on the symbols, as well as any caps a casino may place on a jackpot. Some online casinos do make an exception – they’ll pay you out in full if you hit a progressive jackpot. Lucky Red is one example I know of. Other casinos, like Bet365 or 888, have large enough cash out limits to where you can withdraw several million in the span of a few months. Choose your online casino wisely. A group of handsome men dressed on tuxedos will escort you to a back room where George Clooney will be waiting. George will pour you a beer while chatting about how wonderful it is to finally meet someone as incredibly gorgeous as you and what an honor it is to present your jackpot.
One of the most popular slot machine questions on Google searches is: How do slot machines pay out taxable jackpots? I’ve assumed this question is about the mechanics of the payout process. A different upcoming post deals with explaining when slot machines pay out.
Slot machines are special-purpose computers, like a lot of equipment found in our lives. Specifically, standard tools are televisions, electronic watches, gas station pumps, cash registers, bank ATMs, automobiles, baby monitors, and the list goes on and on.
Each of these devices has one or more computer microprocessors, visual display, audio speaker, and some may also have a way to accept and/or dispense money either physically or virtually online.
Beyond controlling the multiple interfaces to and from the player, the computer within a slot machine also manages the odds of a player winning.
At its core, a pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) is a calculation. This PRNG is an element of the computer programming algorithm used by slot machines.
PRNGs (or more commonly RNGs) determine the outcome of a player’s bet based on the pre-determined odds of winning as set by the casino operator within the limited options provided by the slot machine manufacturer.
As previously mentioned elsewhere, winning a jackpot involves using the PRNG twice:
- To determine if a jackpot is won
- To determine how much was won
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The Slot Machine Gambling Process
Once a player selects a specific slot machine, that machine operates to accept or reject the inserted cash, ticket voucher, and reward card.
Next, it accepts the player’s selection for denomination amount and amount of credits to be bet, although it will merely reject one or both settings if insufficient funds are available to make such a bet.
When the bet is placed, the machine immediately selects the latest random number generated by its RNG to determine the outcome of the bet and well as updating the players club card with the points earned for placing the bet.
At the end of this process, the machine turns the reels to show the outcome of the bet. See below for this player-machine sequence of events.
During slot machine gambling, a sequence of actions and reactions take place between the player and machine. The player:
- selects a specific machine, inserts money in the form of cash or ticket voucher
- chooses from the denominations available
- chooses the number of credits to bet
- places a bet
- observes the results of the bet including any bonus round
- receives winnings from the bet (if any)
- then, either:
- leaves the machine empty handed
- cashes out any remaining funds and leaves with a ticket voucher
- continues playing the machine.
The player may choose to insert a player card at any time before or during play, then later remove it before leaving the machine.
Jackpot!
Between determining the outcome of the bet and turning the reels, the machine executes programming code that sets the reels.
The reels turn in a way the machine’s game designers consider most entertaining to the player – such as stopping on reel symbols for non-wins which are next to the symbols for sizable jackpots.
As mentioned, the bet’s outcome is determined when the bet is placed, not when the reels stop moving, despite the entertainment value derived by the player when observing the “action” of the slot machine.
In the event of a win, the machine executes further programming to activate sequences of lights and sounds while updating the information display for the player, which is referred to as a roll-up.
Now What? – The Jackpot Pay Out Process
If a jackpot less than the taxable limit is won, slot players can simply proceed with continuing to play or cash out from that slot machine. The current taxable jackpot limit is $1,200 in the United States.
Meaning, if you have a win of $1,200.00 or more at a slot machine, there is an immediate tax bill resulting in an IRS Form W-2G. If you have a win of $1,199.99 or less, there is no immediate tax bill.
Jackpots that require immediate payment of taxes results in the slot machine locking up.
Many, many slot players have been surprised by their slot machine locking up when a taxable jackpot is won. It can only be unlocked by a casino employee, a slot attendant.
Whether a casino is old or new, a slot attendant will arrive shortly to administer a hand payout. During a hand payout, a slot attendant
- collects personal identification sufficient to both complete a tax form as well as any other state-required documentation
- performs the hand payout (if they have adequate cash on hand)
- unlocks the machine to allow the player to continue.
How Do Casinos Pay Out Large Sums Of Money
If the attendant is not carrying enough cash with them, or if the player wishes to have a cashier’s check instead of a cash payout, the slot attendant leaves the player with a receipt and returns a short while later with the check or cash.
If the attendant leaves, they typically unlock the slot machine beforehand to allow the player to continue betting while waiting for the slot attendant to return.
Summary of Taxable Jackpots
The most important thing to remember about winning a jackpot is to make sure you’ve brought your government-issued I.D. If you don’t have it, then you cannot receive a taxable jackpot.
And, no, your friend sitting next to you cannot claim the jackpot for you – the eye in the sky knows it’s your winnings and not someone else.
The second thing to be aware of is what is or is not a taxable jackpot, a single win of $1,200 or higher. Many people have never won a taxable jackpot, so it can be challenging to get useful information on this unless you’ve done it more than a few times. But I have.
If the machine locks up, it’s either had an error or you’ve won a taxable jackpot. Being out of paper is a machine error, for example. Either way, a slot attendant will show up shortly to help. For goodness sake, don’t walk away until you know which!
How Do Casinos Payout Jackpots
As a final note, as of this writing, a decade ago, casinos moved away from using coins. Nowadays, they use cash, checks, and vouchers redeemable at cash machines and cages.
Related Articles from Professor Slots
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Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC
Have you ever hit a casino jackpot? It’s one of the coolest feelings you’ll get playing in a casino.
I’ve hit a few jackpots myself. Not big ones. The biggest jackpot I won was $130 from a Wizard of Oz slot machine in a casino in Las Vegas. I’ve won several smaller $10, $20, $50 jackpots, too.
Size doesn’t matter, though. Don’t let anyone tell you different. ALL jackpots are fun to win. Because it’s really the surprise and feeling of winning anything that makes jackpots so much fun.
I imagine progressive jackpots are the same …only much, MUCH bigger. I wouldn’t know, of course. I’ve never won one.
That’s because progressive jackpots tend to payout tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. Millions even. Often life altering sums of money that are much harder to hit than your run-of-the-mill $20 jackpot.
How Do Casinos Pay Jackpots
Those are the types of jackpots we’ll be talking about today. We’ll talk more about what they are, what types of progressive games you can play (they’re not all slot machines), how much you can win, your odds of winning, and a whole lot more.
We’re also going to show you the best online casinos for progressive casino games. One thing that makes these games so great is that they’re on networks. We’ll explain more about these later. All you need to know for now is that you’re not limited on where you can play.
The rest of this page focuses on what progressive jackpots are, how they work, odds and more. Then we wrap things up with a rapid-fire FAQ section.
Youtube Casino Jackpots Videos
Let’s get started.