Free Play =/= Real Play

[Pokey86]

Hi, i'm sorry if this is a rehash of a common thread that is most likely the type to be blocked, i did do a quick search beforehand but came up with nothing.

Also, as this does half-relate to a bonus i'm not sure if this will come under the "premium" content policy on this site.

Nevertheless. I'm sure the mods will decide, i will give as little details for the bonus that people need to know, besides it's too late to make use of the full offer anyway.

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There is a small promotion on over at Ladbrokes in which you wager around £245 on a specific Slot (Road to Riches) throughout the week, with this you get £45-£50 of bonus spins on various other slots, all 1 X WR, along with a bonus £100 of withdrawable cash at the end of the promo.

Seemed a pretty good deal to me, as if i make half back in small wins i'll about break even. but i wanted to double check, so i logged on the free play & did £250 worth of spins (£1 per spin) I did this 3 times & at the end of each i ended on £146.xx, £189.xx & £210.xx. None of these included the £45-£50 of bonus spins. So it looked to me like the bonus had a very succesful chance of paying well, or at least compensating me

However on the roll out of the bonus, i've now done 6 Days of it, out of £150-£160 of spins i have achieved (Including £35 of Bonus spins) 1 £31 win, 3 Bonus rounds, all of which paid X 2 my overall stake & of course too many wins between £0.20 - £1.50 to count. I'm at a loss of just about £100, which of course means, at this stage, the bonus at the end is unlikely to compensate me. (With around £90 of spins to go)

so my question, i have had a look online to see anything on the matter & was unable to find anything... But does free-play represent the games standard payout rate? I know you have to take account of variance & i've always been a firm believer that, particularly large sites, do not need to invest in "fixing" games to pay out less than the displayed standard.

Cheers if you read this & any response is appreciated. Sorry if i sound like a whiny p***k

[jon2322]

Pokey, what stakes are you using in the real play? The key to these offers is to reduce variance by using the smallest stake available. I am using 20p spins atm and I am slightly up.

[Pokey86]

I've been using £1 stakes. I never thought about using minimal stakes. I'll continue in that light.

I've heard about reducing variance, however i didn 't think there were be to much of a severe change doing £1 spins instead of 20p spins as i tested the outcome multiple times in free play.

Perhaps ignorance on my part.

[Mirage]

Free play does not have to run off same algorithm as real play, there is no legal obligation. What this usually means is free-play will be set to more generous payouts than real money play.

[Pokey86]

Ah, i see. I'm guessing ebcasue free play isn't really gambling it's not subject to the same rules. Strong enough argument to me. I'll have to be more weary in future.

[Mirage]

Yeah, its a bit underhand really. I think most people would expect it to reflect how a real money game might pan out.
The same applies for roullettes, blackjacks.... etc etc. Free money mode is fair game for rigging, and any operator worth their salt would be daft not to take advantage of this fact.