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.
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