Definition
A paytable is the visual chart or screen in a casino game that displays the potential payouts for every winning combination or hand. It serves as the primary reference for players to see how much they can win based on their bet size.
In context
When playing a slot machine, you might click the ‘i’ or ‘Help’ button to open the paytable. It will show you that three ‘Cherries’ pays 10 credits, while three ‘7s’ pays 100 credits. In Blackjack, the paytable is often summarized by a single line on the table: ‘Blackjack pays 3 to 2.‘
Why it matters
The paytable is the most important piece of information for any player. It defines the ‘Return to Player’ (RTP). A savvy player never places a bet without checking the paytable first, as it reveals whether a game is ‘fair’ or ‘tight’ compared to other options on the floor.
Related terms
In detail
If the ‘Payout Schedule’ is the math, the ‘Paytable’ is the user interface. It is the primary way the casino communicates the ‘value proposition’ of a game to the player. But don’t be fooled—the paytable is as much a marketing tool as it is a financial one.
In modern multi-line slot machines, paytables can be incredibly complex. They might span several pages, detailing ‘Wild’ symbols, ‘Scatter’ symbols, and bonus round triggers. The key thing to understand about a slot paytable is that it only tells you half the story. It tells you how much you win, but it doesn’t tell you how likely you are to hit that combination. A combination that pays $10,000 might be programmed to appear only once every 10 million spins.
In Video Poker, the paytable is everything. Video Poker is one of the few games in the casino where you can calculate the exact house edge just by looking at the paytable. Because the game is based on a standard 52-card deck, the probability of any hand (like a Flush or a Full House) is known. By looking at what the paytable offers for those hands, you can determine if the machine is a ‘99% machine’ or a ‘95% machine.’ Professional gamblers will walk through a casino for an hour, checking every paytable until they find the one that gives them the best mathematical advantage.
One of the biggest traps in paytables is the ‘Max Bet’ requirement. Many paytables offer a ‘bonus’ payout for the top prize (like a Royal Flush) only if you play the maximum number of coins. If you bet 1-4 coins, a Royal Flush might pay 250-for-1. But if you bet 5 coins, it jumps to 800-for-1. This is a deliberate design to force players into higher ‘coin-in,’ which increases the casino’s total profit even if the percentage of that profit is slightly lower.
From an operational perspective, the paytable is how we manage the ‘Hold’ of the casino. If the quarterly profits are down, a slot director might decide to ‘tighten’ the floor. They don’t do this by ‘rigging’ the machines to stop hitting; they do it by swapping out the ‘software chips’ for ones with a slightly less generous paytable. The symbols stay the same, the sounds stay the same, but the payouts for ‘Three Bars’ might drop from 20 credits to 18 credits.
As a player, the paytable is your ‘Consumer Reports.’
- In Blackjack: If the paytable (printed on the felt) says ‘Blackjack pays 6:5,’ you are giving the casino an extra 1.4% of your money compared to a ‘3:2’ table.
- In Roulette: A paytable with a ‘Single Zero’ is twice as good as one with ‘Double Zero.’
- In Slots: Look for paytables that offer ‘multipliers’ or ‘re-triggers’ in the bonus rounds, as these often indicate a higher volatility but more potential for ‘Outlier’ wins.
The golden rule of the casino floor is this: The more complicated the paytable, the more the casino is trying to hide the house edge. Simple games with simple paytables (like Baccarat or Craps) usually have the lowest house edge. Games with 50-page paytables and elaborate ‘Second Screen’ bonuses usually have the highest. The ‘bells and whistles’ on the paytable are there to distract you from the fact that the math is slowly grinding you down.