I wonder which land based fobt arcades do this ?

[Ian Hislop]

Speaking to a boss of local bookie today about RTP and he told me his company (Coral) fobt are working on a nationwide RTP, not per cabinet. This means that your local cabinet could just empty everyones pockets for months on end, likewise, another cabinet could be paying idiotic money out (after RTP of course) for months on end. 

Today I looked into getting myself mass excluded from FOBT world. They are going to be the death of more people. Not me. 

[Stormy]

I suppose there could be some truth in this.

Clearly with UK FOBT's, the program for a slot is on the local physical FOBT computer. As slots are actually just random number generators, which display the resultant RNG pick with sound after a player presses the start button, whether the RNG is calculated locally or squirted over a network from a central computer, I have no idea. But would easy enough for the RTP to be calculated locally or centrally. I doubt it would make any difference in play as with the new lower RTP's (20p-86%, 50p-88%, £1-90%, £2-92%), it is mostly going to be a miserable gaming experience.

I have regularly noticed, new slots pay better whilst they are new, then tail off. This might be because they are not played much as players get bored with them. Or maybe because the RTP's are manipulated centrally once players are hooked in. Big Fishing Fortune in Betfred is a recent example. Great play in Mar/Apr when it had a new banner, with plenty of bonuses even with the daftness of only getting low value sticky big fish every time. In May it took a downturn and since Jun it is demoralising to play. The slot goes through long sequences of dropping one bonus symbol on reels 1/2or3, often acting as a blocker and seems to have been nerfed so the bonus symbol on reel five no longer is in play and almost never drops in.
 

[BlindHaze]

I’m not sure I follow. If the game is random, how can the RTP be spread across numerous terminals? And if the game’s 92% RTP, what difference does it make if it’s across 1 or 10000 terminals?

The RTP is calculated over thousands, if not millions, of spins on the game. I can’t see how this can be spread across terminals nationwide if the game’s random, but happy to be enlightened on this.

[Stormy]

Oh, I thought OP meant the RTP could be varied up/down centrally by software then affecting all terminals over many many months. So as long as the RTP is achieved (how often is it checked?), who knows how the RTP is playing day-to-day? I'm convinced new slots on FOBTS often over-pay for a while to hook players in. Is RTP a minimum % that must be achieved?

Agree it makes no difference where the RNG is based for RTP purposes. One might be lucky on terminal A and unlucky on terminal B, but just due to random luck.

 

 

[boropeab]

I have never heard such rubbish.

 

[Ian Hislop]

I didn't get that deep with him but he made it clear the RTP is shared throughout the entire country network of their FOBT not on a per cabinet basis. Obviously RTP dictates two things, what the player gets and what the profits are. RNG has to deal with that, somehow but honestly,  for the boss to state this, does that mean the cabinet has to also balance the RTP even if the whole network is sharing prices around ? I don't know. Otherwise the RTP on each cabinet is bs.