Before reading further
Casino games are games of chance with a built-in house edge. No strategy, system, pattern or timing changes the odds in the player’s favor over time, and most players lose money over time. Nobody should gamble money they cannot afford to lose. Anyone who is struggling with gambling can contact a local support service.
Speed is a hidden cost factor
The house edge is usually stated per bet, as a percentage of the amount wagered. What a player actually pays, though, depends on how many bets are made. Speed is the number of rounds per hour, and it multiplies the cost.
The expected loss per hour is simple to write down:
expected loss per hour = average bet x rounds per hour x house edge
The same formula appears in the article on working out hourly expected loss at a roulette table. It does not predict the result of any session, since actual results vary around the average, but it describes what the game costs in the long run.
A hypothetical example
All numbers here are made up for illustration. Suppose a game has a 5% house edge and the average bet is $2.
- At 300 rounds per hour, the amount wagered is $2 x 300 = $600. The expected loss is 5% of $600, which is $30 per hour.
- At 600 rounds per hour, the amount wagered is $2 x 600 = $1,200. The expected loss is 5% of $1,200, which is $60 per hour.
Doubling the speed doubles the expected hourly cost, even though the edge and the bet size did not change. This is also why the same stake at a slow-paced game and a fast-paced one are not equal in cost. Real outcomes in a given hour will differ, possibly by a large margin in either direction, as the articles on statistical variance explain.
Note that the money you carry in and out is not the amount wagered. A player who keeps reinvesting winnings can wager much more than they started with, which is why total wagered is the number to watch.
What affects speed
The format of the game. Automated games with no waiting can run many rounds a minute. Games with a human dealer or live presenter are slower because each round needs time to deal, spin and settle.
Features in the software. Quick-spin modes, skipped animations and autoplay shorten each round. Autoplay in particular lets rounds continue without any action by the player. Some regulated markets restrict or ban such features.
Table size. At a table with fewer players, each hand comes around more often. A card game with one player and a dealer moves faster than a full table.
Bonus features. A bonus round can run on its own for a while, which changes the pace and the count of bets differently from the base game.
Speed and experience
Faster rounds have effects beyond cost. They give less time to think about each decision, they leave less room for noticing losses, and they can make it harder to track how much has been spent. Faster play is also associated with more continuous stimulation, which ties into the topic of time distortion. How strongly speed influences a particular person’s behavior is uncertain, and there are no numbers here to quote.
For some players, a slower pace is part of the appeal. A game that takes time per round stretches an entertainment budget over more hours at the same hourly cost.
Seeing the cost in a different way
A useful reframing is to look at cost per hour of entertainment instead of cost per bet. If the expected loss at a fast game is $60 per hour and at a slower game is $30, the slower game offers longer entertainment for the same budget, assuming the bets and edges are otherwise equal. The same logic applies to the cost per spin when bet sizes change.
Practical points
- Use the formula above with the real numbers for your game to understand the hourly cost.
- Turn off autoplay and quick-spin to keep decisions deliberate.
- Take breaks, since rounds do not stop on their own.
- Set a time limit as well as a money limit, because speed turns time into money.