What are Class II or Class III Slot Machines, class 2 casino games.
Class 2 casino games
Online casino sites to play on real money
To sum it up, class II slot machines are played among some players simultaneously who battle for a single prize, while class III machines can be played by lots of different people at different times and they all seek for the payout from a single machine. Now that is the biggest difference between class II and class III slot machines. Let us discuss class II slots first, in this case you are playing against other players like you but the set of prizes are quite limited. This type of slots basically mimic the real game of bingo. The game starts by hitting the spin button and you automatically join in the process. Certain number of slot machines are linked to the central processing computer that controls the game and calls out numbers and winner accordingly. One major difference between real-life bingo and class II slot machines is that you do not have to pay attention to the caller and search for the numbers on your card. At the end of the play, casino takes part of the income from the play and gives out the rest as cash prize to the winners.
What are class II or class III slot machines?
Probably every single one of us has seen a slot machine at least once in our lives and besides the themes and colors they all look and sound the same, but are they? That is the question to ask!
Slot machines are usually divided into two groups, class II and class III machines. It is more than just easy to distinguish them when you known this simple trick; just check out the corners of the electronic display and if you find a little bingo card there then you can be sure that you are playing a class II slot machine. Now that you know how to guess what kind of slot you are playing on, let us move on to understanding what the difference between them actually is.
Who are you playing against?!
Now that is the biggest difference between class II and class III slot machines. Let us discuss class II slots first; in this case you are playing against other players like you but the set of prizes are quite limited. This type of slots basically mimic the real game of bingo. The game starts by hitting the spin button and you automatically join in the process. Certain number of slot machines are linked to the central processing computer that controls the game and calls out numbers and winner accordingly. One major difference between real-life bingo and class II slot machines is that you do not have to pay attention to the caller and search for the numbers on your card. At the end of the play, casino takes part of the income from the play and gives out the rest as cash prize to the winners.
You versus the casino
This is the main principle of the class III slot machines. You are simply playing against the casino. The slot machines are set up in a manner that it hold a certain part of the money played and redistributes the rest to the players. So, it is all about timing and luck. On the contrary to the class II slot machines, class III machines can make you a big winner.
To sum it up, class II slot machines are played among some players simultaneously who battle for a single prize, while class III machines can be played by lots of different people at different times and they all seek for the payout from a single machine.
Antoine foxx
33 year old male. Has visited las vegas several times as well as other great gambling places. Always having a good time. After having a little girl, he couldn’t travel as much so he started enjoying online gaming. Antoine is always looking for something different and interesting. Part time rock star but full time computer geek, he never seems to guarantee a balanced life. Enjoys cajun food a lot!
Tips on playing class II slot machines
How to beat electronic bingo machines
Players sometimes believe that winning on a class II slot machine is easier than winning on a class III machine. Class II machines are similar to class III machines, each machine has a pull handle or touch screens and are relatively the same size. Usually class II machines are for games such as bingo and other random number generated games of chance. A class II machine lets a central service determine if you win or lose each hand.
Winning strategies
Since class II machines are usually linked together with other machines to try and win the same pot of money, some people believe they will not win if someone has won recently. Therefore, a winning strategy is to play machines which have not recently paid out a jackpot. Another common strategy is to play more often, by playing the slot machine on a regular basis some players believe they will increase their odds of winning. Since keno and bingo are popular games for class II machines, some players choose to use the same numbers every time, which they believe will increase their odds of winning.
No strategy
Class II machines are the ultimate in games of chance, and a player who goes into their gambling session without a strategy is just as likely to win as someone else who has a full strategy. All players who are playing on the same set of class II machines are competing for the jackpot. Playing without a specific strategy is a tip many gamblers use; this allows them to enjoy their time at the casino without worrying about following a specific plan or program.
Graduated betting
The idea behind graduated betting is to bet more money when you are winning and to bet less money when you are losing. Betting on a quarter slot machine would start with one quarter. If the player won any money at all on that turn, the player would bet two quarters on the next turn. This process continues until the player loses. Once the player does not win on a turn, they return to betting just one quarter at a time. Graduated betting is done on class II slot machines as well as other gambling games.
Class II: is it fair?
THE REEL DEAL
by frank legato
Class II: is it fair?
Electronic bingo games are becoming more sophisticated and more like traditional slot games.
When the indian gaming regulatory act of 1988 (IGRA) established the various classes of gaming permissible by native american tribes on reservation lands, the law designated bingo and similar games under the heading of “class II.” the classification was established to allow tribes to hold bingo games on their reservations, but it stipulated that “electronic aids” could be used to simulate bingo.
That stipulation led to electronic versions of the game of bingo, which eventually took the form of class II-style slot machines, known as bingo games. The class II bingo games would essentially be a game of bingo, with prizes drawn from the overall money wagered. Those prizes, however, would be displayed as reel results on the slot machines.
In recent years, those class II bingo machines have become more and more like their traditional, or “class III,” slot cousins in las vegas. The seminole hard rock properties in florida represent the state of the art in class II sophistication. The central computer system, developed by a team headed by former IGT systems chief lyle bell (now the CIO for the seminole hard rocks), was created with a singular purpose—to provide a player’s-club experience to simulate the class III slot experience on a class II floor. Meanwhile, casino operations senior VP, charles lombardo—formerly slot operations VP at caesars palace—worked with the major slot manufacturers, who refined class II technology to provide games that look and play like the traditional games.
Though they are technically electronic bingo games, the hard rock’s slots mimic the traditional las vegas-style games in every way. Other than the LCD screen that shows the bingo patterns appearing with every spin, it is hard to tell the difference.
How do they make bingo games behave like slot machines? And how are the payback percentages determined? The answer to both can be summed up in one word: mathematics. The class II electronic bingo games at the hard rock are programmed with mathematical calculations to mimic class III games as closely as possible while remaining within the definition of class II bingo that is contained in IGRA.
Under IGRA, a class II game must have a draw of bingo balls, and must result in what is called a “game-ending pattern.” that is a pattern of numbers—two, three, four in a row; diagonal, vertical, four corners of the bingo card, etc.—that ends the game with a winning result.
According to lombardo, this occurs continuously. “we have a 20-millisecond window, and anyone (in the casino) pushing the play button during that window is put in the game for that common ball draw,” he explains. “it must be at least two players, but the maximum is unlimited. If it is a minimum of two, one of them gets a bingo—a winning pattern.” he says every ball draw results in at least one bingo.
How do the payback percentages work? One of two ways, says lombardo. In one style of game, the calculations relate to the stack of possible outcomes loaded into the central computer. In this style of game, there is always a 50-percent hit frequency—one of every two spins on average results in a bingo, with a prize determined from a finite pool of outcomes loaded into the computer. When the bingo game is over, the computer selects a prize from the top of an electronic “stack” and feeds it to one of the games with a winning outcome. To the player, it looks, for instance, like a mixed-bar win for $5. That just means a $5 prize has been awarded from the results of the bingo game.
The overall payback percentage in this case is governed by how many results equal to each prize amount are included in the finite stack of prizes. Just like the universe of numbers from which the random number generator in a regular slot selects reel outcomes, the payback percentage here is determined by the universe of prizes available for each winning result. The hit frequency is always 50 percent, but the payback percentage is determined by how many $2 prizes, how many 75-cent prizes, how many $1,000 prizes, and so on, are loaded into the program.
In a multiline video bingo game, this system results in a game virtually indistinguishable from that nine-line game in the vegas casino that has a 50-percent hit frequency. According to lombardo, though, this method is also used on some of the traditional single-line, three-reel slots. In this case, the 50-percent frequency still stands, but not every win is a traditional reel combination. Because traditional games like blazing 7s or red, white & blue generally have hit frequencies around 14 percent for the seven or eight possible winning combinations in the pay schedule, a 50-percent frequency would be impossible and still have the game make money for the casino.
To remedy this, lombardo explains, “we came up with a bonus feature.” fourteen-percent of results in the pool will be actual reel combinations, and the other 36 percent of the winners will yield a bonus symbol on the reels that will accumulate. When you accumulate 25 of those symbols, you win one bonus credit. Therefore, you still have the 50-percent frequency, but your frequency of reel wins is similar to what it is in the traditional class III versions of those games.
In the other style of game, the odds of each winning bingo pattern is matched to the odds of each paying combination in the slot game. “we figured out the odds of hitting certain patterns on the bingo card,” lombardo explains, “and we take those bingo patterns and plug them right into the payout scheme to replicate any class III game.” drawing from millions of possible patterns on a bingo card, programmers can match the odds of landing any given combination of symbols on a slot machine. In this way, each chosen bingo pattern can trigger a certain payout combination. Hit frequencies and percentages in this case will match a traditional slot exactly.
But what are those payback percentages, and how do we know they are fair? As you may know, the seminole tribe is a sovereign nation, and its casinos are not subject to state regulation or public reporting of payback percentages. How do we know we’re getting a fair shake?
We know we’re getting a fair shake because tribal casinos must compete with all other casino choices, says lombardo. “we are competitive with all class III markets,” he says. “we’re not doing anything differently (with percentages) than atlantic city, las vegas or mississippi. We are competitive with any casino in the country.” he adds that he takes average bets in lower denominations into account when determining the payback percentage he wants to offer. “if I am requiring players to cover the lines on a 20-line nickel game, that’s a dollar bet,” says lombardo. “I take that into consideration when I figure out the payback percentage I offer.”
Lombardo adds that tribal casinos have obligations to both the players and the slot manufacturers to keep the games fair. “over the long hall, any player is going to know if you screw with percentages; they’ll know the difference,” he says. “and, a manufacturer is not going to give us their title if we are going to misrepresent that title (with low payback). We don’t want to kill a title.”
It is that respect for the player—and obligation to represent a manufacturer’s title fairly—that should make you approach the slot experience at the hard rock or other large class II tribal casinos with expectations similar to those you have when playing slots in most major jurisdictions. In other words, you are likely to get a fair shake. They know that if you don’t, you will go elsewhere.
TIP OF THE MONTH
Class II video poker
We have noted before that video poker in a class II tribal casino does not work in the same manner as video poker in a traditional casino. While this is true, it does not mean that it is unfair, or that you can’t win.
The result of any class II video poker hand is predetermined by the result of the ball draw in the bingo game on the little screen. In some jurisdictions, you will be required to touch the screen to daub the bingo card and claim your prize.
Those results are determined by winning patterns on the bingo card. Using one of the two methods described above, a winning pattern will either trigger one of a stack of predetermined prizes or a corresponding video poker hand, according to the odds. The odds are calculated to be similar to the odds of a standard video poker game. You won’t find the player’s-advantage paytables in class II, but the return represented by the pay schedule you do see will be similar to the return of that game in a traditional casino.
The real difference lies in the importance of perfect strategy. A class II video poker game is actually better for the strategy novice, because the game will often correct your bonehead moves. If the bingo result determines you win the a certain prize, you will get that prize even if you make the wrong choice, through a special feature on the game.
For instance, on the IGT version of class II video poker, let’s say your winning bingo pattern translates to the prize for four-of-a-kind, and you are dealt 10-c J-c Q-c J-h J-s. Even if you screw up and decide to go for the royal, the game will not let you. A “genie” will appear on the screen and change your hand to four jacks—for the quad prize that corresponds to the bingo pattern you got.
It’s better for the novice because it shows you the optimal strategy by changing your choice to match the bingo win. Other than that, the hard rock’s lombardo says the games work like the standard versions of video poker—again, because the class II casino will not risk “killing a manufacturer’s title.” “A lot of players may not know the difference between class II and class III,” he says. “that’s why we replicate the video poker paytables as closely as possible. It would be a killer for us to do anything else.”
G aming G uru
Class II and class III slot machines
Please define the difference between class II and class III video poker machines.
There is a lot of confusion surrounding the differences between class II and class III video poker games.
Class III games are what you usually find in las vegas. With these machines you play against the casino with the results of each play randomly determined. This is accomplished using a program called a random number generator. The payoffs for various hands are weighed against the odds of hitting the hand.
Class II games are bingo style games. Each player actually plays against other players in the casino. These games are sometimes called video lottery terminals as the wins are determined by a central server (similar to a lottery server) to which all the games are attached. You can usually tell if a video poker game is a class II game because there is a small display of a bingo-style board that is used to show the results of the bingo game. Class III games do not have this as each draw is a separate random event.
Some of the major differences between each class of game are in the following areas:
house edge: you can determine the house edge of class III games. Since the game’s results are random, you just need to compare the odds of the hand being completed and its corresponding payoff. Sum up the results and subtract from 100 percent and you have the house edge.
This cannot be done for a class II game as the odds of completing hands are not random – they are determined by the central server.
Skill required: each draw of the cards in a class III game is random. The results can be determined based on the odds of completing the hands. Therefore, the class III video poker player needs to know the best way to save cards in order to obtain the best results. Saving properly will increase the amount returned by the game. Play improperly will reduce the amount returned.
No skill is required for class II games. The player will win whatever the central server determines. If the player saves a two pairs which pay 2-for-1 and the server determines the player should win 25-for-1, the game will “magically” transform the hand to a four of a kind. I have heard some players call this an “angel feature.” conversely, if you are dealt a royal flush (this only happens if the server determined you will win the amount of the royal flush), you can discard it and another royal flush will “magically” appear.
Some history: generally only indian casinos have class II games. This dates back to the start of indian casino gambling in 1979 when the seminole indians opened bingo gambling parlors in florida. Many lawsuits, regulations, laws, and more later, federally recognized tribes can operate casinos under federal rules as long as the states allow the type of gambling. Most states had allowed bingo type gambling sponsored by churches, so indian casinos could also do it.
Some other highlights of indian casino gambling:
• tribes receive $4 of every $10 that americans wager at casinos.
• indian casinos earn 44% of all U.S. Casino gaming revenue. Another $3.3 billion was earned in restaurants, hotels, and entertainment services.
• indian gaming operates in 28 states. 24 states allow vegas-style class III indian casinos, 4 allow class II-only casinos (bingo slots).
• indian gaming provides 628,000 jobs nationwide (both direct & indirect jobs).
Source: national indian gaming commission www.Nigc.Gov
Indian casinos have come a long way from the early days!
My advice to you? If you are serious about video poker play and you want to maximize your return, avoid class II games like the plague. You might as well play the slot machines.
May all your wins be swift and large and all your losses slow and tiny.
How do class II slot machines work?
Many gambling enthusiasts in the united states are at least vaguely familiar with the indian gaming regulatory act, US law pub.L. 100–497, 25 U.S.C. § 2701.
Passed in 1988, this federal law established how indian (native american) gaming would be managed and regulated. The act included definitions for 3 types or classes of gambling games. They are usually referred to as:
Congress passed the law to help native american tribes and nations improve their economic status after more than a century of oppression and exclusion in mainstream US society. Many native american groups wanted to build land-based casinos, which would not only attract tourists but create jobs.
There was considerable resistance to this movement in many states, most of which did not allow gambling of any kind. To help resolve the conflicts and provide some clarity between treaties, state law, and federal law, the US government established a framework that eliminated some barriers to native american investment in gambling industries. The law also provided some regulatory limits to respect state laws.
The indian gaming regulatory act introduced some confusion into the worldwide lexicon of gambling games because the distinctions are only observed within US jurisdictions. Other nations regulate gambling with different definitions.
But as the internet became a worldwide communications network in the 1990s and 2000s, most of the content published about gambling dealt with US law and casinos. Although non-US casinos have to observe their own laws and regulations, players who research gambling law on the internet must be careful to distinguish between USA gambling definitions and other gambling definitions.
What are the 3 classes of gambling games?
Class I gambling includes all traditional native american gambling games, most of which are only used for ceremonial purposes or in the contexts of cultural-specific celebrations and ceremonies. These games, which are only available at small stakes, are completely regulated by the native american tribes and nations.
Class II gambling includes all variations of bingo games, player-vs-player card games like poker (where the house does not play a hand in the game), tip jars, pull-tab games, punch card games, and anything similar. Some people mistakenly include lottery games in this category, but the law clearly excludes state-run lotteries and similar games from class II.
Class III gambling consists of everything that is not included under class I gambling or class II gambling. That means the lottery games you play are class III gambling games. Slot games, roulette, dice games, and card games like blackjack where the house is also a player all fall under the class III gambling games category.
So how can there be class II slot machine games?
If you’ve ever visited a native american casino–like the winstar casino in oklahoma, you’ve almost certainly played some class II slot machine games. They look much like traditional slot machine games. They have 3 to 5reels with symbols on them, they pay jackpots, and they do everything else you expect of a slot game.
And yet, they are not slot machine games.
A clever company in franklin, TN, known as video gaming technologies, or VGT, developed electronic bingo games for native american casinos that use the results of those bingo games to emulate slot game action.
In other words, the slot machine cabinets contain two screens, one that displays the results of the bingo game and one that displays the results of the simulated slot game. This dual visualization of the gambling game takes advantage of the fact that at the core of all gambling games is a simple principle:
You’re making a wager on an unknown outcome. What the class II slot games do is take the result of the bingo game to determine what happens in the slot game.
What’s cool about this approach is that VGT was able to add bonus games to the bingo games that work like slot machine bonus games. They’ve developed a huge selection of bingo games that play like slot games. VGT is so successful they were acquired by aristocrat leisure limited in 2014, although the former VGT still operates as an independent subsidiary company of aristocrat.
How do class III slot machine games work?
The key to the hybridization of bingo and slot machine games is the random number generator. Mathematicians have been developing algorithms to calculate unpredictable numbers for hundreds of years. For a detailed look at the concept, read “how do random number generators work?” on jackpots online. Although the RNG does not produce a truly random number, in typical circumstances the number is random enough. Even so, slot game designers use random numbers in multiple ways.
Before I continue, I should mention that US law requires slot game designers to work by different rules from other countries’ slot games. In the united kingdom, for example, the outcome of a slot game is determined by a single random number. In the united states, the outcome of the class III slot game is determined by several random numbers.
To begin with, an electronic slot machine or online slot game uses a software concept called an array to represent each reel. Computer arrays work like rows of boxes, where each box holds one piece of information. The arrays for slot reels may have anywhere from 22 to 256 slots. Each slot in the array holds a symbol marker that tells the slot machine game what to display on the screen.
Slot game designers use special algorithms to decide how often each type of symbol should appear in each slot array. The frequency of the symbol’s use in the array and the size of the array determine how likely or unlikely it is for any single spin of the slot game reels to create one or more winning combinations. The game’s software may award prizes for one or more winning combinations at a time, depending on how many pay lines the game offers.
The random number generator produces a new number every few milliseconds. The number is placed in a temporary memory location called a register. The slot game software grabs the latest random number from the register and uses that to determine what happens next. For example, a 5 reel slot game needs 5 random numbers to pick how many slot positions will be spun on each reel before the reels stop in new locations. If the slot game awards random prizes like progressive jackpots, these are determined by additional random numbers.
How class II slot machine games differ from class III slot machine games
What VGT did was create bingo game software that determines the actual prizes awarded to players.
But to make the bingo games look like slot games, they used the bingo game’s random results as if they are the random numbers that class III slot games use.
To ensure that the slot game winning combinations match the bingo game prize values the VGT games work more like slot games in the united kingdom. The game determines what prize was won and then creates a short video simulation of the slots landing on that winning combination.
Conclusion
How do class II slot machines work?
Either way, the slot games award prizes on a random basis. You could say that US gaming laws are paranoid in that class III slot game software is required to closely emulate the physical spinning of slot reels. In fact, physical slot reel games have been displaying results of these virtual, in-memory array games for more than 20 years. So even when you see physical reels spinning, their stop positions have already been determined within microseconds of your pressing SPIN.
The class II slot gaming experience is a fun gaming experience.
But the bingo game is displayed on a small screen, because VGT’s designers have found that players don’t enjoy looking at bingo patterns as much as they enjoy looking at 3 to 5 reels spinning and stopping on various symbols.
For the player, what matters is that they’re gambling for real money on an unpredictable outcome–and they can enjoy an entertaining evening with friends or loved ones.
Class II slot machines explained – does it matter?
Slots has been a thing for eons. Over the decades, it has simply evolved and changed in form. But at its core, the gambling basics have remained unchanged. In the past decade or two, the industry has experienced many ‘tech upgrades’ that have increased the number of punters in the world. Today, you don’t have to take a trip down to las vegas. All you need is a steady internet connection an online casino you trust and you are set.
Speaking of casinos, (land-based or online), there are two types of slot machines they feature; class III and class II. The two slots machines operate differently. The class II slot machines are common in slots parlors. They are attached to native american casinos or horse racing tracks. Owing to improved tech tools, class II slot machines have become more sophisticated. So much so that casual punters have a hard time telling them apart from class III slot machines.
But you are in luck. In this piece, we shall scrape off the confusion by explaining the basics and answering some common questions related to class II slot machines.
What exactly are class II slot machines?
It’s simple. The class II slot machines are designed to replicate class III slot machines while remaining within the confines of the regulatory guidelines. The class system is clearly stated and defined in the indian gaming regulatory act by the federal government. The act defines all class II games as bingo regardless of whether computer, electronic or any other tech gadgets are used with it and if it is played in the same room with bingo or any games similar to bingo.
The immediate consequence of this regulatory act was that the high stake bingo games were legalized. Yes, the bingo games held in halls were super popular at some point. But with time, as developers sought to upgrade their gaming experience, they leaned towards a casino-like environment and experience. Though they managed to incorporate class III casinos in some of their gaming options, they were met with a lot of resistance and legal issues.
It was during this time that class II slot machines were designed. Since their inception, key players in the industry have been working around the clock to replicate class III machine experience in class II jurisdictions. Engineers have been contracted to build in-house systems while slot manufacturers were brought on board to create games that would run on the designed systems
How do they work?
It’s true, aside from the LED bingo card which displays your card patterns for every spin; it’s really hard to differentiate the class II from the class III. The big part of the difference lies in how the game operates. So let’s peep under the hood and see how class II slots machines are designed to meet legal requirements of being a bingo game.
First, there is usually a 20-millisecond window. Any person that presses the ‘play’ button during this window enters into a common draw. For this draw to run there needs to be a minimum of two players (there is no maximum number). If there are only two players, one of them will get the winning pattern.
So here’s what happens when a video or slot poker is brought into the picture. Designers extrapolate odds of specific bingo games to video or slot games’ results that have similar odds. Usually, there are extra algorithmic processes that are in play which help to determine the outcomes but usually, the end results are similar – you pull the machine handle and the reels spin.
From the moment you pull the handle to the millisecond before they stop, you become one of the participants in a multiplayer bingo game. The results of the bingo game are ‘reported’ by the reels when they halt. If you are lucky, you’ll win some cash. So now if you think about it, you’ll have had a las vegas slot machine experience while in the background, the machine meets all the requirements which make it legal in class II slot machine jurisdictions – areas where bingo is legal but RNG machines are not.
Now, most casinos that run the class II slot machines claim that their odds are similar to those of class III machines. This is how they explain it – it’s more like a scratch-off lottery card. But instead of scratching you’ll be pulling a handle.
And though this analogy is close to the real thing, it’s not quite accurate.
What do class II slots look like?
While they look extremely similar to class III machines, the main way in determining if it is a class II machine is to look on the display for a bingo table. It will look quite obvious and will indicate that the machine is using bingo logic rather than the typical RNG of a class III machine.
Here’s an example below – notice that there is a bingo table located at the bottom right of the display.
Should you play class II slot games?
This is a really good question. And believe it or not, it’s pretty common. But despite this, its answer is not straight forward. But here’s something that will help you make that decision.
Gambling experts insist that class II games are similar to lottery scratch tickets than class II machines. You see, with lottery scratch tickets, the prize is determined before the printing of the tickets. Class II games may have shorter realization times but unfortunately, they aren’t random. The moment you pull the slot handle, the outcome of whether you have won or not and what prize you have won has already been made. The reels are only there to deliver the news.
Why do casinos prefer class II slot machines?
Why is it that modern casinos seem to have a mix of class II and class III slot machines and games? And why is it that even with the mix, they are skewed towards class II games?
Well, first, the IGRA granted casinos self-regulating powers when it came to class II games. However, with class III games, they must be officially undergo rigorous testing through third parties and approved goverment organizations. This is to ensure that the randomness and reliability of the machine is deemed fair.
Second, casinos don’t have to pay taxes on the revenues generated from the class II games. But on the class III games, they are obligated to pay taxes.
Thirdly, the odds on winning in a class II game are worse because you are put against a large pool of players to win instead of relying on RNG.
There you have it. Everything you need to make an informed decision. Hopefully, after reading this class II and class III slot machines don’t confuse you anymore. So with that go have a ‘happily ever after’ gambling experience.
Legal means: class II vs class III slot machines
Almost every country in the world regulates some form of slot machines. They are offered to the adult public within licensed land-based casinos, online casinos, taverns, clubs, airports and/or charitable gaming facilities. While they all tend to look the same, there may be some very distinct, almost imperceptible differences between them. It all depending on whether they are class II or class III slot machines.
The legal delineation between class ii vs class iii slot machines is a purposeful one. They gives regulators more control over what types of games – and exactly how much winnings – players have access to. The decision to place one type or another in various facilities is often determined by the type of license an operator possesses, and the laws of the jurisdiction.
In many cases, especially throughout canada, only full-scale casinos are permitted to host class iii slot machines. These are the kind found in major gambling destinations like las vegas, atlantic city and macau. Charitable gaming facilities, like the 30+ provincially regulated bingo halls across ontario, are restricted to class ii slot machines.
Class II vs class III slot machines
The easiest way to describe the difference between class ii and class iii slot machines is to compare the traditional class iii variety – those found in vegas – to a scratch off lottery ticket. When a lottery agency prints tickets, they know exactly which ones are winners, and exactly how much profit they’re going to make once they are all sold.
That’s how class ii slot machines work. They are programmed like instant win lottery tickets. Every spin is predetermined as a winner or loser, and every winning spin’s value is already programmed into the machine.
Class iii slot machines are built on the foundation of a random number generator (RNG). Patented in 1984 by norwegian mathematician inge telnaes, the RNG is capable of giving a slot machine complete and utter unpredictability, while giving manufacturers control over the probability of outcomes.
Before telnaes invented the first virtual reels with RNG technology, a slots’ payout percentage was based entirely on the number of reels, and the number of symbols on each reel. If a 3 reel game had 8 symbols per reel, there would be exactly (8x8x8) 512 possible combinations, meaning it would pay its jackpot, on average, 1 in every 512 spins.
Slot machine classes by the law books
Any educated gambler would prefer to play class iii slot machines. Their odds of hitting a large jackpot are always higher. The RNG ensures that a jackpot can pay out at any given moment, not when the machine decides it’s time. But in many jurisdictions, the availability of class ii and class iii slot machines is determined by local and/or federal law.
The classifications of slot machines was first introduced by the indian gaming regulatory act of 1988, which defines class ii vs class ii slot machines. Note that class I gaming refers to traditional indian gaming based on a tribe’s cultural ceremonies and/or celebrations, thus has no bearing on any type of slot machines.
IGRA definition of class II slot machines
(i) the game of chance commonly known as bingo…pull-tabs, lotto, punch boards, tip jars, instant bingo, and other games similar to bingo…
The definition explicitly excludes:
“…electronic or electromechanical facsimiles of any game of chance or slot machines of any kind”.
IGRA definition of class III slot machines
The term ‘‘class III gaming’’ means all forms of gaming that are not class I gaming or class II gaming.
Knowing the difference between classes
A I said before, class ii and class iii slot machines look exactly the same. They use the exact same style of reels and graphics, and present the same types of features. A mere glance at the game screen, and you’d never know one from the other.
The easiest way to tell the difference between class ii vs class iii slot machines is to look at the signage in the gaming facility. By law, only class iii slot machines can actually be called “slot machines”. All class ii games will be referred to by another name.
Common names for class ii slot machines include video lottery terminals (vlts) and bingo liners (machines programmed to pay out like a bingo card game). In ontario, they are called taptix machines (because it’s like tapping a button to play a scratch off ticket).
Whatever name they may go by, if the casino or gaming facility doesn’t call them “slot machines”, they are not real class iii slot machines.
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Class I, II and III slot machines
Regardless of whether you’re playing in atlantic city, las vegas or points in between, most slot machines work the same way. Each game has its own random number generator, and the numbers it generates determines what you see on the reels.
There are other ways to go about it, including class II games in some native american casinos. There, the game being played is really electronic bingo, with numbers being drawn for whole banks, or multiple banks, of games through a central processor. Bingo numbers are then translated into slot reel combinations or video poker hands. You can watch numbers being generated within a small bingo display on the machine, but the large full-screen display is devoted to spinning reels or video icons.
Manufacturers work hard to keep class II games as fresh, new and exciting as slots with rngs, known as class III games in native american casinos. Big strides have been made. In days past, class II games were noticeably slower than class iiis. Now, the image translation from bingo to slot symbols is much faster, making new class II slots as fast as their RNG counterparts.
Gamemakers that port game themes developed for class III onto class II slots need to do some adjustments in the math to account for the bingo element. Bally has done just that with games such as NASCAR, available in a class II version as well as its original RNG/class III format. Regardless of game classification, NASCAR features drivers dale earnhardt jr., jimmie johnson, jeff gordon, clint bowyer, and kevin harvick on bally’s pro series V22/32 cabinet with 22-inch and 32-inch video screens. The game’s three bonus events provide extra excitement, including guiding your driver around the track in a race for the biggest bonus prize.
Casinos that use both class II and class III games long have kept them separate, each in their own areas of the slot floor, or even in their own rooms. Advances in class II technology have made some operators more comfortably with intermingling their games, with both styles in the same floor areas. That’s led international game technology to develop a series of games especially for class II.
The thinking is that an operator that has wolf run on a class III game is unlikely to add the class II wolf run in close proximity. So IGT is kicking off a series with math models based on successful class III games, but with new class II-only themes. The first games in the series are empress of the amazon, bengal eyes and the horseman.
Cadillac jack, a leading provider of class II slot games, develops games especially for that format. One new innovation is the unscripted bonus event, a difficult thing to do on bingo format. On many class II games, experienced players can watch the patterns build on the bingo display during the initial reel spin and know not only that they’re going to a bonus event, but how big their bonus is going to be. Cadillac jack’s innovation adds bingo draws within the bonus events, which have varied enough outcomes that players never know what’s coming.
Cadillac jack also has added a new power X-stream series with very long string of stacked symbols in high-volatility games. That’s a model that has proved successful on class III penny games, and it figures to be a hit in class II, starting with legends of the white buffalo and firewolf.
Not all tribal casinos use class II games. Most slot machines in native american casinos are class III, which are the same as RNG games in commercial casinos. But tribal compacts in some states have limits on numbers of class III slots. A few casinos use only class II games, but more often, casinos use both classes on the same floor. Prime class II markets include california, washington, oklahoma, florida, alabama and louisiana.
Class II game payoffs are funded by other players – instead of betting against the house, you’re wagering for a share of the money other players are betting. On a class III slot machine, it’s possible for you to be the only player in the house. The casino banks the game, so that if you win, your payoff comes out of house funds. In class II, there must be at least two people playing. They don’t have to be playing the same game theme. The central processor draws the bingo numbers, and those can be applied to games of different themes.
Should any of that make a difference to you, it’s easy to tell when you’re playing a class II game by the bingo display in the top box or on the video screen. Either way, you’re getting a random game, but the route to randomness is different.
Thread: class II gaming (bingo slot machines)
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Class II gaming (bingo slot machines)
I found a few older threads about class II gaming but I'd like to get another more-technical discussion going. Class II games make up a huge chunk of all the oklahoma casinos I've been to (especially VGT and multimedia games) and I'd like to get a greater understanding of the inner workings.
There's a couple good articles out there on class II gaming devices, like this one. Based on this article and a few others, here's what I understand about these glorified bingo games:
You put money in and hit spin. In effect you are randomly generating a bingo card and entering a live-draw bingo game along with anyone else who recently hit the spin button (so you always need at least 2 people playing). In effect you are playing against others, but here's where things get murky (at least for me).
One thing I don't get: for the game you're participating in, does the central server determine what game-ending pattern it's going to award next and then the first person to get that wins that predetermined prize? Everyone in a game would have to be competing for the same game-ending pattern, no?
Which leads to my next question: what if the casino is dead and it's only you and a friend playing? Wouldn't either of you win all of the prizes? I think there may be a limit on ball draws to prevent this but it certainly seems that your luck would be highly dependent upon how busy the casino is (and in fact I seem to anecdotally do better on these machines when it's not crowded).
Anyone out there have a greater understanding of class II games?
Class II is to bingo what video poker is to poker. Just some of the mathematical odds and some of the mechanisms are the same. It was a ruse to get slots into indian casinos. They stayed after the class III compacts because of the tax benefits and their server based nature.
These are virtual games, where the "prize" may be one cherry. So the fact that you are playing against other people is largely without meaning.
I have intended for a long time to put my thoughts and experience into some semblance of order, but I just never get around to it.
I would recommend this thread started by apacheejack in the old forum:
Looking for a particular club? Try the club thread thread: http://slotfanatics.Com/showthread.P. -thread-thread
"there is a tide in the affairs of men. . . On such a full sea are we now afloat." - shakespeare, julius caesar
I used to think I knew about this stuff but not anymore. It's even more confusing the more you learn.
The only C-II games that are based on bingo games are the ones with bingo screens.
Others are pulling prizes from a pool, central determination system (CDS). Those look and act just like real slots, but they're not. They're just pulling prizes from a set amount of winners and losers and it's exactly the same way the bingo games select prize amounts for the winners but there isn't a bingo game. Just jerking a win amount or lose from a finite stack of prizes. Eliminates the need of having more than 1 player playing at a time. I'm sure some of the CDS systems are advanced enough to where each machine will have it's own stack of win amounts and losers to select from, not competing with other players, just pulls one off the top of the stack for every spin. It would still comply with C-II standards because it's selecting from a central server. I've been told that CDS systems can be programed as low as 55%, which wouldn't surprise me much since las vegas used to have 75% slots on the floors to play.
I know some time ago you could check the plate on the side of the machine with the serial number stamped on it, it would specify if it's a C-II or C-III game. I haven't checked one lately, so that may have changed.
I'd imagine if you don't have a bingo screen and you know it's a C-II game, just head on out the door because you'll never know the level of greed the tribe is employing.
There's one comment I completely disagree with in that article.
“and, a manufacturer is not going to give us their title if we are going to misrepresent that title (with low payback). We don’t want to kill a title.”
Bunk. If game manufacturers don't want the game misrepresented, they wouldn't have the option of an 85% paytable.
Last edited by brianzz; 01-14-2014 at 11:32 PM . Reason: clipping the hyperlinks :P
Thanks for the link, moneybags. I read through it and honestly found about half of what apachee was saying to be common sense and the other half to be wild speculation based on a few anecdotes. I doubt a casino would feel the need to micro-manage payout percentages down to the hour, for example. It's just not necessary since statistically the machines will do that by themselves. Besides these games do go through certification processes. Not to mention it's impossible to get a feel for a machine's payout without running it through millions of spins. Humans are just hard-wired to try and detect patterns, even when there's not one, so I can certainly see why someone would think they've found a hot/cold machine when in reality it's just short-term luck (or lack thereof).
Brianzz thanks that was another question. I see lots of machines that essentially look like class III in NA casinos but wondered if the bingo screen was necessary on a class II. Based on what you're saying it sounds like no. I'll pay more attention to the plates on my trip this weekend.
Speaking of bingo-based games, are the servers/bingo games limited to that one casino? Or are they ever linked between different casinos? There's 200 machines at the place I'm hitting up this weekend and when it's dead it will literally be like you and 3 or 4 other people in the entire place. This was when I seemed to do my best on the VGT bingo machines (and on a WMS awesome reels bingo-based machine). Coincidence? Not sure, but I will certainly continue to test it out.
It'd be hard to network C-II games across a distance because of the timing issue. It's possible but I suspect if the machine doesn't receive a "pay" within x amount of time it'll go into a tilt. Slot players don't really want to press the bet button and wait 30 seconds for the game to finish either.
Certification: the slot manager from choctaw says that his machines are certified minimum 75%. Who knows if the others are certified or if there is a minimum number.
Patterns: you can not detect patterns, because there is an RNG underneath it all. But I do think you can tell if a machine is hot or cold at the moment.
Looking for a particular club? Try the club thread thread: http://slotfanatics.Com/showthread.P. -thread-thread
"there is a tide in the affairs of men. . . On such a full sea are we now afloat." - shakespeare, julius caesar
You know it's funny too that I've never really had to wait on a VGT slot but on the WMS awesome reels class II machines I'd say one out of every 15 or 20 spins the reels would just be spinning for a good 5 to 10 second waiting on the numbers from the server. Perhaps they're only linked to a bingo game with other like machines?
But yeah I can see how any lag time would make it difficult to network games at different locations. Now I wonder within a casino how the game are linked. All class II's linked together or just games by a certain manufacturer (or even denom)?
I have tried to figure out the class II slots before and get more confused the more I read, if I go to one of the NA casinos early early in the morning i do know that I get a "waiting for players" quite a bit and usually end up putting a little in the machine next to mine so I can play. All I do know is I be liking me some red spins.
So, let's see, what we have: some people may not even be aware that slot machines get classes, or that are classified in any way. Here we teach you what are class 2 and 3 slot machines. At class 2 casino games
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