Class 3 Slot Machines

Before we explain Class II slot machines, it's helpful to understand what the Federal government defines as ‘Class II Gaming‘.According to The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act it is 'the game commonly known. ARISTOCRAT CLASS III. Simply put, Class III games are played against the house, with a random number generator determining outcomes. They include: slot machines, blackjack, craps, roulette and ‘house-banked' card games i.e. Games that are neither Class I or Class II. Our tenacious technical team keeps us one step ahead of the competition and our passion for play keeps us motivated to take product improvements to the next level. The Inner Workings Of Class II Slot Machines. Today, class II and class III slot machines look virtually identical. The giveaway that you're playing on a class II slot machine is the presence of an LED bingo card in the corner of the screen that shows results with each spin. Class III Gaming: Originally the Las Vegas style of gambling. Such as table games, like roulette, craps and blackjack and slot machines. Basically anything that does not fall into Class II falls into the category of Class III. These Classes were formed in order to restrict Class III gaming.

• Class 3 Slot Machines In Oklahoma
• Class 2 Vs Class 3 Slot Machines

Slot machines seems to work on a fairly simple concept. Anyone who's ever played one is probably quite sure that they know exactly how they work, at least on a basic level. You pull the lever or push the button and the reels spin. When the reels stop, if they land in one of a number of predetermined positions, you win something. Simple, right?

What if I told you, though, that not all slot machines work that way? Many gamblers don't know that in the U.S. there are two different type of slot machines. They are known as class II and class III slots.

The divide between the two came about because of the U.S. federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. This act establishes different classes for different types of gambling, with class II being defined as, 'the game commonly known as bingo (whether or not electronic, computer, or other technological aids are used in connection therewith) and, if played in the same location as the bingo, pull tabs, punch board, tip jars, instant bingo, and other games similar to bingo.' Class III gaming is defined as any gaming not already labeled class I or class II.'

The basic result of this law is that in most jurisdictions where gambling is legal and regulated, you'll find class III slots and games. In Indian casinos, however, they can only offer games based on bingo. So whether you realize it or not, if you're playing slot machines in an Indian casino, you're actually playing bingo.

Of course this split doesn't refer to USA online money slots.

The Birth Of Class II Slot Machines

Originally, Indian casinos did just what the law stated. They offered bingo in large warehouse-type halls. These bingo games were generally high stakes, offering much bigger risks and rewards than typical bingo games held all over the country. Still, it was only bingo. The games just didn't provide the excitement that many gamblers were looking for. Eventually, the Indian casinos decided that if they were going to survive and thrive they needed to find a way to recreate the real Las Vegas experience.

The Hard Rock properties operated on Seminole land in Florida worked especially hard to devise a way to bring the slot machine experience into casinos where slot machines were technically illegal. They enlisted the help of engineers who had previously worked with some of the biggest class III slot machine production companies to design a backend system that would keep them within regulations. At the same time, they needed to work with slot manufacturers to design machines that would work with their new system.

The Inner Workings Of Class II Slot Machines

Today, class II and class III slot machines look virtually identical. The giveaway that you're playing on a class II slot machine is the presence of an LED bingo card in the corner of the screen that shows results with each spin.

The reason that little bingo card is there is because that's what is really determining whether you win or not. You're not actually playing a slot by yourself the way you would in a Vegas casino. You're playing along with a pool of players, in a game of bingo.

The Vice President of Operations at the Seminole Hard Rock Casino explains how it works like this, '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. 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.'

So, in reality, it is the bingo draw that determines if you win, not the reels. The symbols that land on the reels are really just reporting the bingo results in a way that replicates the class III slots. They are not based on an individual random number generator unique to that machine like their class III counterparts. Now, cleverly and perfectly disguised, we have a class II game that replicates the results and experience of class III gaming.

Class II Slots Vs. Class III Slots

Some people feel that class III slots are somehow 'more fair' to the player because they are standalone machines that deliver results based on their own random number generator. In reality, however, the payout percentages on both types of machines are basically identical.

The class II systems can be programmed to replicate the payout combinations and rates of any class III machine. Just like there are certain odds of any one winning combination hitting on a class III slot machine, there are certain odds of any winning combination occuring in a bingo game. The programmers can match the different bingo results with the hit rate and payout scheme of any class III slot to replicate results exactly.

Class 3 Slot Machines In Oklahoma

The bottom line is that neither type of slot is 'more fair' than the other. Players will get the same odds and payouts on both type of machines. The only difference is in how the results are determined. Think of it as two roads that both go to the same destination.

To find out more about slot machines and how they work, check our Slots Guide page. Meanwhile, here are the best online casinos to play slots. Btw, online, all slots can be considered Class 3 slot machines.

Best Online Casinos to Play Slot Machines

Understanding the differences between these two types of games

By Henry Tamburin

Most recent mac. I've received a lot of questions about video poker machines in casinos on Native American reservations. To get the answers on how these machines work, I interviewed Jim Coleman, Senior Product Manager at IGT (a company that manufactures the majority of video poker machines for Class III casinos).

Before I begin, let me give you a brief history lesson on how Class I, II, and III gaming came about. The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act established the three classes in 1988, which defined what Indian tribes in a given jurisdiction can and can't offer in their casinos. 'Class I gaming' is defined as 'traditional Indian gaming and social gaming for minimal prizes.' Since Class I doesn't involve commercial gambling, I'll ignore it for this article. 'Class II gaming' means the game of chance commonly known as bingo, whether or not electronic, computer, or other technologic aids are used in connection therewith, including, if played in the same location, pull-tabs, lotto, punch boards, tip jars and other games similar to bingo, as well as various non-house-banked card games (but for this article, we'll ignore these other types).

'Class III gaming' is full-scale gambling (e.g., Las Vegas or Atlantic City), including table games (blackjack, craps, etc.), slots, and video poker. Tribes must negotiate compacts with the states to conduct Class III gaming; otherwise, they are limited to Class II gaming, providing bingo is offered in other forms or venues in that state.

The following table summarizes the major differences between a Class II and Class III video poker machine. I'll explain the information in each row in more detail so you can fully understand the differences.

Class 2 Vs Class 3 Slot Machines

How the Outcome is Determined

A Class III video poker machine has a Random Number Generator (RNG) software program that randomly selects cards from a virtual 52-card deck (assuming no wild cards). When you press the deal button, the RNG selects five cards at random, which is the initial five cards that you see on your screen. The RNG continues to shuffle the remaining 47-card deck until you decide which cards you want to hold. When you hit the draw button, the shuffling stops and the replacement cards are selected from the top of the shuffled 47 cards. By law, each card has to have the same probability of being selected on the deal and draw; therefore, the probability of selecting any card is the same as it would be if you randomly drew cards from a freshly shuffled deck of cards. The probability of getting a winning hand by this random selection process is well known (e.g., the probability of getting a royal flush is roughly once in 40,000 hands).

A video poker hand in a Class II video poker machine is not the result of an RNG outcome at the terminal level. Instead, the machine is connected to a central computer server whose function is to draw bingo balls (randomly as with an RNG.) The result of the bingo game is a 'game-ending pattern.' This is a pattern of numbers on a bingo card, such as five-in-row, four corners, round robin, etc., that ends the bingo game with a winning result and a prize. There is a specific timeframe (e.g., 20 milliseconds) in which a player who hits the start button on a bingo machine with a poker entertaining display (i.e., the deal button on his video poker machine) is entered into an electronic bingo game for that common ball draw. Each player has their own bingo card, which they can see on the interface of their player terminal (see photo of display below). The player that has the winning bingo pattern will win a monetary prize.

In addition, other patterns may award interim prizes for the corresponding bingo patterns. For example, the game of Jacks or Better has nine winning patterns (corresponding to the nine winning hands in Jacks or Better). If the winning bingo pattern results in a prize for the bingo game of, say 10 credits, then the player will end up with a poker hand that is presented as two pair on the entertaining display (which is the payout for two pair with max credits wagered).

A key point: Class II player terminals using a video poker entertaining display must involve player participation in an electronic bingo game. Therefore, you must be playing bingo against one (or more) players. You could be playing against other players playing on a video poker entertaining display or even other terminals with varying entertaining displays such as spinning reels (i.e., slot machine).

It really doesn't matter what the player interface terminal is that will display the results of a bingo game (for video poker, it's cards on a screen; for other entertaining displays, such as a slot machine, it's spinning reels). If you happen to be the only player in a location, you can't play (if you try, a message will appear on your screen, stating 'waiting for more players'). However, in some gaming jurisdictions, Class II machines in one location could be linked to another Class II bingo server in another location, so it's possible you could be playing a game of bingo against a player in a different location using a common ball draw.

Odds

In a Class II terminal using a video poker player interface, the odds of getting a winning hand are determined by the odds of the bingo pattern. Mathematicians at IGT can calculate the odds for millions of different bingo patterns on a bingo card. Therefore, theoretically, they can choose a bingo pattern that mimics the odds of getting any winning hand from a RNG in a Class III machine.

For a Class III video poker machine, the odds of selecting the winning hands from a 52-card deck can be accurately calculated. If you multiply the odds times the payout for each winning hand and sum the results, you can compute the Expected Return (ER) for the game. The ER for different video poker games and pay tables is readily available.

Playing Strategy

If you are playing a video poker machine where the cards are randomly selected by the RNG (e.g., Class III), the skill of the player can influence the outcome.

In a Class II terminal using a video poker interface, playing skill is futile because the result of your hand is already predetermined by the pattern of the winning bingo game. Therefore, deciding what cards to hold prior to hitting the draw button does nothing to improve your chances of winning. For the game of bingo, the result of the bingo game is a certain prize (i.e., payout), and you must get that prize in your video poker entertaining display outcome even if you make a 'bonehead play.' For example, suppose you are dealt the following hand:

Let's say the result of the bingo pattern is a prize of 4000 credits, which translates to a typical royal flush in video poker. However, on the draw, if you decide (knowingly or unknowingly) to hold all the cards instead of going for the royal flush, fear not. A genie will appear on the IGT entertaining display and change the 9 of spades to a 10 of clubs, giving you a royal flush hand and corresponding 4000-coin payout. (The latter payout was determined as the winning outcome of the bingo game.)

Some folks might think the 'Genie' feature on Class II video poker machines is good for novice players because it will correct a playing mistake and show them the optimum strategy (i.e., the winning hand created by the 'Genie'). Personally, I think this is an expensive way to learn the playing strategy for a video poker game. (It's better to learn the playing strategy at home on your computer using video poker training software, and then bring a strategy card with you when you play a Class III version.)

Expected Return

Players can look at the Pay Table for any Class III video poker game and know what the ER is for the game (there is plenty of information available that lists the ER for different video poker games). However, on a Class II machine, you have no idea what the ER is for the game (that's because the results are predetermined based on the game of bingo).

Slot cash casino no deposit bonus. In addition, keep this point in mind. In many states, traditional casinos must report their return percentages to state gaming agencies and this information is often reported to the public. Since Native American tribes are a sovereign nation, their casinos are not subject to state regulation or public reporting of the return percentages on their machines.

Is it a Class II or III Machine?

Eenie meenie lyrics. You'll know if the video poker machine you are about to play is a Class II machine if you see a display of a bingo card (such as the one below) on your video poker machine.

The Bottom Line

Class II video poker machines are bingo games that give players an entertaining display of video poker that they can relate to. There is no skill involved in playing them and the return on the game is unknown to players. Play these machines for entertainment. Class III video poker machines are a skill-based casino game where the skill of the player can influence the outcome. With a Class III video poker machine, it's relatively easy to determine the ER of the game.

Is it a Class II or III Machine?

Eenie meenie lyrics. You'll know if the video poker machine you are about to play is a Class II machine if you see a display of a bingo card (such as the one below) on your video poker machine.

The Bottom Line

Class II video poker machines are bingo games that give players an entertaining display of video poker that they can relate to. There is no skill involved in playing them and the return on the game is unknown to players. Play these machines for entertainment. Class III video poker machines are a skill-based casino game where the skill of the player can influence the outcome. With a Class III video poker machine, it's relatively easy to determine the ER of the game.

Free video gambling games. Acknowledgement: I want to thank Jim Coleman from IGT for the time he spent on several phone conferences with me, and the face-to-face discussion we had at the Global Gaming Expo in Las Vegas, explaining how Class II video poker machines work.

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Henry Tamburin is a blackjack and video poker expert. He is the host of the smartgaming.com website and the editor of the Blackjack Insider newsletter (for a free three-month subscription, visit www.bjinsider.com/free). For a free copy of his Casino Gambling Catalog, which contains books, strategy cards, and software for video poker players, call toll free 1-888-353-3234, or visit the web store at smartgaming.com.