Definition
Coin Out is a casino metric that represents the total amount of money paid back to a player by a slot machine or electronic gaming device. This includes all winning spins, bonus payouts, and jackpots, whether they are credited back to the machine’s meter or paid via a hand-pay.
In context
A slot machine might record $10,000 in “Coin In” (total bets) over a 24-hour period. If the “Coin Out” meter for that same period shows $9,200, it means the machine has paid back 92% to the players and the house has kept $800 as profit.
Why it matters
Coin Out is the “return” side of the casino’s math. By comparing Coin Out to Coin In, operators can determine the actual Return to Player (RTP) and the “Hold” of a machine. It allows the casino to verify that a machine is operating correctly and according to its legal programming. If Coin Out is too high or too low, it triggers a maintenance check.
Related terms
In detail
To the average person, “Coin Out” sounds like the money falling into the tray (back when machines actually used coins). In the modern casino industry, however, Coin Out is a purely digital accounting term. It represents the total volume of “wealth” the machine returned to the player population.
The Relationship Between Coin In and Coin Out
Coin Out cannot be understood without its partner, Coin In.
- Coin In: Everything the player bet.
- Coin Out: Everything the machine gave back.
The difference between the two is the Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) for that machine. For example, if a machine has a $1,000,000 Coin In meter and a $950,000 Coin Out meter, the machine has a “Hold” of $50,000. In percentage terms, this is a 5% Hold, or a 95% RTP (Return to Player).
What Counts as “Coin Out”?
It is a common myth that Coin Out only counts what a player “cashes out” at the end of their session. This is incorrect. If you bet $1.00 and win $2.00, that $2.00 is immediately added to the Coin Out meter, even if you never touch it and decide to bet it on the very next spin.
Coin Out includes:
- Regular Wins: The small $0.50 or $5.00 wins that keep you playing.
- Bonus Rounds: All credits won during “Free Spins” or “Pick ‘Em” games.
- Jackpots: Large wins that stay on the machine’s meter.
- Hand Pays: Any win over the $1,200 IRS threshold (in the US) that requires a slot attendant to come out and pay you in cash. Even though the machine doesn’t “dispense” this money, it is recorded in the digital “Hand Pay” meter, which is a sub-category of Coin Out.
The Variance Factor
Coin Out is where the “volatility” of a machine lives.
- Low Volatility: A machine that has a very high Coin Out frequency. It pays out lots of small wins. The “Coin Out” meter grows steadily and stays very close to the “Coin In” meter.
- High Volatility: A machine that has a low Coin Out frequency but huge “spikes.” The Coin Out meter might stay flat for hours (as players lose) and then jump by $10,000 in a single second when someone hits a jackpot.
Over the lifetime of the machine (millions of spins), the Coin Out will always reach the programmed percentage. But on any given day, the Coin Out can actually be higher than the Coin In. If a machine takes in $1,000 in bets but pays out a $5,000 jackpot, its Coin Out is $5,000. For that day, the casino “lost” $4,000 on that specific machine.
Operational Auditing
As a casino manager, I look at Coin Out reports every morning. We look for “outliers.” If a machine’s Coin Out is significantly lower than its theoretical programming for a long time, it might be a “tight” machine, but it could also mean a sensor or software component is failing to record wins. Conversely, if the Coin Out is too high, it might indicate a “software glitch” or a “cheat” where someone has found a way to trigger illegitimate payouts.
Why Players Should Care
While you can’t see the Coin Out meter on the machine’s screen, understanding the concept helps you realize how “recycling” works. Most players think they “lost $100.” What actually happened is they put in $100, generated $800 in Coin In, and received $700 in Coin Out. They “saw” $700 worth of wins pass through the screen before the house edge finally finished off their $100 buy-in.
If you are a “comp hunter,” you want a machine where the Coin Out is high and frequent. This allows you to stay in the seat longer, which increases your Coin In, which in turn increases your loyalty points—even if your net loss at the end of the day is the same.
The Final Payout (TITO)
When you hit “Cash Out,” the machine prints a TITO (Ticket-In, Ticket-Out). This ticket value is not the Coin Out. The ticket is simply a representation of your current “Credit Balance.” The Coin Out meter already recorded those wins the moment they happened on the reels, long before you decided to stop playing.