jamie wiebe - making sense of slot information

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

RG Subcommittee

How much does this

cost?

How do I win?

What are my chances of winning the

jackpot?

How does this work?

Cost of Play Return to player

Return to house

Odds of winning Chance of winning a prize

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

Scan of gaming information

(eg. brochures, pamphlets)

Research Review

Xchange Panel

Gamblers Survey (n=756)

•59% male

respondents

•79% are aged 45+ 54% are 55+

•74% have some secondary education

•51% from Lower Mainland

•49% rest of BC

Focus Groups

(n=5)

•Male frequent

•Female frequent

•Male occasional

•Female occasional

•Chinese frequent,

occasional, male, female

These machines

return to players

92% of all money wagered on

them

On average, Pay out to players

92 cents of each dollar

Of all total money wagered on them

This amount can vary greatly during the short term.

Over the long run,

Pay back to players

$1.84 of min. bet

Of the sum of money wagered on them

This amount can vary greatly on any one play or number of plays

Can be expected to return/payout/ payback

Of each wager on them

This amount is based on the life of the machine, not on a single play or playing session.

These machines

take 8% of all money wagered on

them

On average, Costs the player

8 cents of each dollar that is wagered on them

Of all total money wagered on them

This amount can vary greatly during the short term.

Over the long run,

Can be expected to take/cost

16 cents of each min. $2 bet

Of the sum of money wagered on them

This amount can vary greatly on any one play or number of plays

Of each wager on them

This amount is based on the life of the machine, not on a single play or playing session.

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

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”

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

The BIG Test

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

Total money lost Machine house advantage

Likelihood of winning the largest jackpot

25% of plays win 1 in 4 of plays win

Machine house advantage

Machine return to play

Likelihood of winning free games

25% of wagers win 1 in 4 of wagers win

Machine pay back Machine pay back Likelihood of winning every different type of prize

25% of spins win 1 in 4 of spins win

Machine return to player

Machine house edge

Likelihood of winning any prize

Machine house edge

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

25% of plays win

25% of wagers win

25% of spins win

On average, 25% of plays win

On average, 25% of wagers win

On average, 25% of spins win

The chance of winning is 25%

The odds of winning is 25%

The probability of winning is 25%

1 in 4 plays win

1 in 4 wagers win

1 in 4 spins win

On average, 1 in 4 plays win

On average, 1 in 4 wagers win

On average, 1 in 4 spins win

The chance of winning is 1 in 4

The odds of winning are 1 in 4

The probability of winning is 1 in 4

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.

OR

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

The most preferred is odds of any prize

The second is tied, largest jackpot and bonus feature

Last is all prizes

On average

This amount can vary significantly during

the short-term

Return to player and Odds of winning

Ratios

Percentages

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

IN OUT

Cost to player

Any prize

Spins

On average

Ratio

Return to player or payback

Odds or chance

Cost to Casino (i.e. House

Advantage)

All other prizes (i.e. jackpot)

Plays, wagers Over the long run Percentages Payout or take Probability

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”

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.