Is this true or an Urban Legand about Cruise Ship Slot Machines...?

Question

Do Cruise ships rig the machines to pay out more at the beginning of a voyage to "set the hook" for the rest of the time?

Answer 1

slot machines anywhere you play them (land or sea) are calibrated in the houses favor.   do you think the casinos / hotels are built on consumers profit ?   the statistics are ALWAYS with the house / consistently and in the long run the house always wins .  on a cruise ship , your biggest winners are the those in the buffet lines  LOL

Answer 2

nonsense! They don't have to... you play you lose. They set up the machine to pay out precentage accordingly to the input. At the end of the voyage, people will have less money to put in the machines. It will pay less. You have to guess which are machines carrying the load. Is it the one near the toilette or the one at the enterance?

Answer 3

I think its an urban myth, the machines are set to pay out less than comparable machines in casinos all the time, If you win at all, its because you play the right machine at the right time when its ready to pay out.

Extract from the Detroit News Casino Guide

Before setting sail, know that you are over your head in such waters, as your chances of winning on a cruise ship are less than in most casinos in all major U.S. gaming jurisdictions.

Because no gaming commission nor other governmental agency oversees gambling on cruise ships, there is no way of knowing how much cruise ship slot machines return. In speaking with some friends who were former casino executives on cruise ships, the inside scoop is that most machines return between 80-92 percent. Besides selling a sailing vacation experience, these flotillas of chance increase on-board revenue by maximising the amount of money taken in from the casino. The casinos are one of the biggest money makers for the cruise lines. The sinking feeling you may experience while on the briny deep will most likely come from the lower (than shore-based casino's) payout on slots.

A link to cruise ship casinos: http://www.cruise-casinos.com/

It seems that NCLhave machines that pay out more that  95% but you need to look for them:

NCL is the only cruise line to have their slot machines certified to pay out more than 95%. The number of certified machines varies on each ship. Strictly Slots Magazine and Casino Publishing Group independently audited machines for certification.

Answer 4

Nonsense.  They don't have to "set the hook".  They already did that getting you on the ship.  Now that you are onboard, they don't need to hook you anymore.  There is nowhere else to gamble so its that or nothing.

Answer 5

I would agree with that statement.  I always win the first night or two - then end up putting it all back in and going on breaking even or a few hundred behind.  

Never hit it big on a cruise ship.