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Introduction to Foxwoods Casino Connecticut

I recently met fellow slots enthusiasts and gambling podcasters at Foxwoods Casino, a tribal casino located in southern Connecticut, in part to create this Easily Win a Little at Slots at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut article. Other goals included promoting my Professor Slots brand and, last but not least, figure out how to win at slots there.

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Vito from Cousin Vito’s Casino Podcast organized this “Gamblepalooza” meetup. He did a great job with what we all hope will become a regular annual event. Also, a special thanks to the staff at Foxwoods casino, especially to our Casino Sales Executive, John, for his professionalism, dedication, and attention to details. Thanks, Vito and John!

In this Easily Win a Little at Slots at Foxwoods Casino article, I’ll primarily go over what I learned about how to win at slots there. As I’ve come to understand, and hope you have too, my winning strategies for slot machines isn’t about how to be luckier.

Instead, it’s about understanding, or at least using, how casinos have deliberately set up their slot machines for slots enthusiasts to take advantage of as an opportunity to win.

What I found at Foxwoods Casino was such a winning opportunity. As I’ll explain, a few slot machines have been set up in such a way as to be taken advantage of quickly. That’s good news. The bad news (spoiler alert!) is that all such winnings are rather small.

However, easily winning a little at slots is probably very useful to far more people, when most slots enthusiasts are low rollers.

This article has the following sections:

• Introduction
• My Online Assessment of Foxwoods Casino Connecticut
• My On-Site Physical Assessment of Foxwoods Casino Connecticut
• Assessing Foxwoods Casino by Talking with Slots Players
• Assessing Foxwoods Casino by Questioning Casino Staff
• How to Win at Slots at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut
• Optimizing How to Win at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut
• Summary

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My Online Assessment of Foxwoods Casino Connecticut

My first evaluation of Foxwoods Casino Connecticut was done online when preparing to publish my article Connecticut Slot Machine Casino Gambling back in July of last year.

I learned that Foxwoods Casino Connecticut had grown, partly due to competition with nearby Mohegan Sun Casino, to become one of the largest casinos anywhere. Depending on how casino “largeness” is measured, it is currently reported to be the third or fourth largest casino in the world, although it has ranked as high as second largest in the past.

Other items of interest I learned then was that Foxwoods Casino Connecticut is an American Indian tribal casino owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe. Since Foxwoods is a tribal casino, it is not subject to state gaming regulations but rather regulated through a negotiated state-tribal gaming compact approved by the U.S. Department of Interior.

For those interested, this state-tribal compact is available at Connecticut State’s Department of Consumer Protection on their Tribal-State Compacts and Agreements webpage along with the state-tribal compact for the Mohegan Tribe for Connecticut’s Mohegan Sun casino.

The final item of interest to slots enthusiasts regarding gaming regulations is monthly actual payout return statistics available on the State of Connecticut’s Gaming Revenue and Statistics webpage.

For the most recent month, March 2018, the actual payout return percentage was reported to be 91.56%, the lowest payout return since Foxwoods fiscal year begins on July 1.

As it happens, these statistics show that consistently highest payout returns were at the beginning of Foxwoods fiscal year. From July through October of 2017, the average payout return was 92.05%, with the highest monthly payout return being 92.16% in October 2017.

At the time of this writing, Fiscal Year 2017/2018 is incomplete. Now, however, the average annual payout returns for the last five years going back Fiscal Year 2011/2012 has shown a remarkably steady increase. For Fiscal Year 2011/2012, the yearly payout return was 91.59%, followed by a steady rise to 92.19% for the most recently completed Fiscal Year of 2016/2017.

Finally, it is well worth noting there has been a steady and significant drop, currently nearly halved, in the total number of slot machines available at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut from Fiscal Year 2008/2009 to present.

In Fiscal Year 2008/2009, coinciding with the last year of the relatively recent 17-month-long Great Recession, Foxwoods Casino Connecticut had 8,108 slot machines. This number of slots has dropped each year steadily since, with the total number of slot machines currently being 4,106.

So, what does all this mean in terms of winning at slots at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut? Well, it’s hard to say. Initial assessments are fact-finding missions, with little in the way of conclusions as much as it might be helpful to do so. Nevertheless, it sure is interesting seeing such data-supported trends.

In all seriousness, it is indeed hard to say what is going on at Foxwoods. However, something dramatic and dynamic is happening. Staying focused on winning at slots and setting aside all other considerations, I wonder how we might use this rather interesting information to win more at slots at Foxwoods.

But, before drawing any more conclusions just yet, let’s continue this article with whatever information can gleaned from visiting Foxwoods Casino Connecticut.

My On-Site Physical Assessment of Foxwoods Casino Connecticut

Frankly, Foxwoods Casino is huge. Upon checking in at 2 p.m. on a Thursday, I went for a walk for a few hours. I didn’t have or want a map. While walking, I counted six separate sub-casinos within the overall casino. I could talk about my feet getting sore for walking for the next 5 hours, despite wearing comfortable shoes. Instead, let’s talk about what I saw.

By far, the most important thing I noticed was what I didn’t see. I wandered everywhere without doing any gambling. I was looking around, letting my feet go wherever they wanted while I soaked in whatever there was to do so.

I went to every sub-casino and visited every high limit area in every sub-casino. And do you know what I didn’t see, not once during that 5-hour walk? I didn’t see a single hand pay being given out by a slot attendant.

Everywhere I went, there were no hand pays. No one was winning jackpots. Now, again, I tried not to draw any discernible conclusions just yet. Why? Because it was only late afternoon on a Thursday. I didn’t want to bias my observations by drawing the conclusion begging to be made without looking for hand pays when the casino was a little busier.

So, to avoid jumping to a conclusion too soon, I decided to look for slot machine hand pays deliberately until Friday evening. But, tentatively, I held in my mind this possible conclusion: Foxwoods Casino Connecticut gives out a relatively low number of hand-pays to slots players. If confirmed, only small non-taxable jackpots would be potentially possible.

While my personal slots play is high limits, this was personally quite upsetting. However, for the sake of my lower roller readers and listeners, I realized this might be just what they most would like. They might most like to spend a little bit of money to win a slightly larger bit of money.

Of course, this would depend on finding a way to win jackpots less than the taxable limit of $1,200 to generate the hand pays I wasn’t seeing. I decided that, if a few hand pays were confirmed, then I needed to focus on looking for ways to make small wins with small bankrolls. So, I did. And I did.

Assessing Foxwoods Casino Connecticut by Talking with Slots Players

Big Slot Machine Wins At Foxwoods

After my wandering around on Thursday, I met up with Vito and other early arrivals to Vito’s “Gamblepalooza” event. I also had an opportunity to talk and question John, the Foxwoods’ Casino Sales Executive effectively acting as our event host.

And, what was the first thing Vito said to me? That his wife Amanda was over on a Buffalo slot machine after having won a bunch of free spins. I asked where, and he pointed to where she was. Maybe 20 minutes later, Amanda joined our group – at which point I asked her specifically which machine she was playing.

She told me where there was a row of identical-looking slot machines near the walkway between the casino lobby and the hotel elevators. I asked which slot machine in this row had she played, and she said the slot machine on the far left.

When everyone split up to go gamble, I headed over to those Buffalo slot machines. They were penny machines. They were also all were being used, which can sometimes be a good sign. So, I sat and watched for a little while. Again, there were no hand pays. But, there were small wins.

There were not a lot of small wins, but some. I had to consider if there would be enough to make any level of profit, somehow, with the right playing technique. When a machine opened up, I sat down and played to try and get a feel for its odds of winning.

My conclusion was that each slot machine was providing a taste in the first few bets placed, and then no wins other than usual entirely luck-based wins. This result was based on a slight but noticeable pattern I seemed to be detecting with my pattern recognition abilities.

My conclusion, and again it was based on a slight but noticeable pattern I seemed to be getting from my pattern recognition abilities, was that each slot machine was providing a taste in the first few bets placed, and then no wins other than usual entirely luck-based wins.

It was slight, but there. Combined with the location of these slot machines near a busy walkway, I had a working theory to try out. The next step was to create experiments or make further observations which would either prove or disprove the hypothesis. So, I did just that.

Assessing Foxwoods Casino Connecticut by Questioning Casino Staff

Assessing a casino isn’t entirely a linear process. I look for clues everywhere, mostly focused on looking for winning patterns I’ve seen elsewhere while also keeping an eye out for any new trends. Because, once I find an economic model put in place by the casino, then all I need to do is figure out how to take advantage of it.

So, between wandering around and then playing those Buffalo machines, I talked with our Casino Sales Executive. And, I asked him questions which would help me continue to look for a clue to winning patterns that I’d seen elsewhere. And, he gave me such a hint.

Upon questioned about Foxwoods Casino Connecticut having six sub-casinos, John told me which of these sub-casinos was newest and how new it was. He told me that the Great Cedar Casino was six months old.

That was important to know because it would have the latest and greatest in server-based operating software. And, I knew several ways to test those operating systems for winning patterns.

Being years newer than the other sub-casinos, the Great Cedar Casino would have the latest casinos operating software choices for casinos to “tinker” with the winning odds of their slot machines.

Youtube Slot Machine Wins At Foxwoods

This bit of information resolved my most significant concern about visiting one of the largest casinos in the world. Some of the sub-casinos would be old, with few winning strategies due to likely having a central computer.

Other sub-casinos would be a bit more modern, and a few sub-casinos would be the newest. But, this was my first time at Foxwoods. How would I know which sub-casino was oldest, old, modern, and cutting-edge modern to apply the appropriate winning strategy?

Well, John told me which one was the newest casino. This was my next good hint for figuring out how to win at slots at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut. Now, let’s bring together everything learned, so far.

How to Win at Slots at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut

For those keeping track, here’s what we have learned so far:

1. Slot machine hand pays are relatively few, possibly even non-existent
2. Slot machines near a busy walkway provided an initial win, a taste
3. The newest sub-casino was the Great Cedar Casino

These three things are what I learned about winning at slots in Foxwoods Casino Connecticut after being there for about 6 hours. I’d have preferred it would only have taken half that time but, well, it was one of the largest casinos in the world.

The next morning, on my way back from breakfast, I kept an eye on slot machines facing the main walkway, the most extensive walkway I’d yet seen, for the Great Cedar Casino. And do you know what I saw? I saw a winning slot machine at 8 a.m.

It was a penny machine automatically playing off free spins. The current jackpot was about $500, and continuing to close with only 20 or so free spins out of 85 completed.

Francis, the slots player on that machine, was happy to tell those gathered that he’d only put a $20 bill into the penny slot machine. On his first bet, the first push of the button, he won those 85 free spins.

And, he hadn’t played maximum credits. Maximum credits was 600, and his bet was for 150 credits. So, for a single $1.50 bet, he was already up to $500 and continuing to climb.

About 10 minutes later, we all congratulated him when the rising jackpot went over the taxable limit of $1,200. Another 5 minutes later, the last free spin was over, and his taxable jackpot on this penny machine stood at $1,474.27.

This slot machine matched all the winning criteria I had observed, plus one more that I’d already known was possible from a casino Ohio. This fourth criterion was simply this: Most likely, with it being a weekday morning, that slot machine hadn’t been played for a while before this jackpot.

Again, all of this is simply a working theory of a specific casino slot machine setup built step-by-step with careful observation and unbiased deductive reasoning and critical thinking. The point is, I had a working hypothesis to test. So, I did.

Over the next few mornings, I won small jackpots on the slot machines facing that walkway, trying only to play slot machines not played for a while.

Within a few bets, I won $315.45 on Saturday at 4:30 a.m. and, at more normal times, $89.25, $87.60, $135.60, and $105.60. On several other attempts, I won about as much as I had bet. Three times, I didn’t win anything.

Since each bet was between $1.50 and $6.00 on these penny machines. According to my gambling records, I spent about $40 in bets and won a total of $745.50. My profit was just over $700 when using this winning strategy only, not including what I spent learning to win.

Optimizing How to Win at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut

Optimizing this strategy centers around the fourth winning criterion, Specifically, it centered around the hypothesis that slot machines not played for a while tended to give our higher jackpots.

With the weekend approaching at one of the largest casinos in the world, the slot machines I wanted to play were getting a lot of use, probably played at least once every hour for 24 a day.

But, optimizing this strategy during a busy weekend at the casino is entirely possible. I suggest picking your candidate slot machine as soon as whoever is using it finishes playing, then proceed to read a book for a while.

How long should you read the book? I have no idea. I’d suggest waiting between 20 minutes and two hours before playing the slot machine. Wouldn’t this be boring, you ask? Well, that would entirely depend on the book, now wouldn’t it.

I do have to wonder what the casino’s reaction would be to someone reading a book at an idle slot machine? Would a random casino employee know that it has been set up to provide a taste? As taste that would cause observers to run and play on another slot machine, thereby recouping the cost to the casino?

Or, other slots players may complain that, if you don’t want to play it, they will. So, as usual, there is always more to learn. If you try reading at a slot machine, and you get a reaction from the casino, I’d be very interested in knowing. Thanks.

I did share this winning strategy with other gamblers attending the Gamblepalooza event, with a bit more details offered to a few in thanks. They all came back later saying how much I had helped them win at slots.

One even showed me a voucher for a little over $1,100, shown below, which I reasonably assumed was from winning several non-taxable jackpots via the winning strategy I have also described here.

They seemed quite happy with it, which made me happy. But, again, for me as a high roller…. Well, let’s just say it was missing a few zeros. But, that’s how it is for me.

Summary of Easily Win a Little at Slots at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut

From Thursday, April 19, through Sunday, April 22, in 2018, I visited Foxwoods Casino in southern New England to generate this blog article for you.

My goals for this casino trip were to provide another casino trip report, and also to meet members of my audience as well as other visiting gambling podcasters.

My third goal was to figure out if there was any way to systematically win at slots at this tribal casino, one of the largest casinos in the world and indeed the most significant tribal casino. I successfully accomplished all three goals.

Through using my pattern recognition abilities, deductive reasoning, and critical thinking, I developed the following working theory of how to win at slots at Foxwoods from making the following observations:

1. Slot machine hand pays are relatively few, possibly even non-existent.
2. Slot machines near a busy walkway provided an initial win, a taste.
3. The newest sub-casino was the Great Cedar Casino.
4. Initial wins, or tastes, were larger on idle slot machines.

I then used this working theory myself, as well as shared it with several of my fans and fellow gambling podcasters, to win small jackpots on slot machines at Foxwoods Casino Connecticut.

Related Articles from Professor Slots

Other Articles from Professor Slots

• Previous: Slots Winning Strategy 3: Earning Complimentary Gifts
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Have fun, be safe, and make good choices!
By Jon H. Friedl, Jr. Ph.D., President
Jon Friedl, LLC

How do Connecticut’s casinos stack up against casinos in other states?

Those of us who try our luck on the slots at Foxwoods or Mohegan Sun hope the next pull of the lever will be life changing. But what are the odds you’ll really walk away with cash?

Connecticut’s two tribal casinos rank in the middle of the pack in terms of slot payouts when compared with other states around the country.

Slot Machine Wins At Foxwoods

According to the Connecticut Gaming Commission, Foxwoods' slot payout average is 91.85 percent. Mohegan Sun pays back at a rate of 91.71 percent. That means Connecticut has the eighth-highest payout rate of the 20 states requiring casinos to report.

The best payout percentage by state is in neighboring New York. The Empire State, with its nine reporting casinos, pays back 93.75 percent. Resorts World in Queens, New York, pays the highest returns, at 95.05 percent.

The second state by average is Nevada, at 93.54 percent. West Virginia is at the bottom of the list, with an average of 89.12 percent payback.

1. NEW YORK – 93.75 percent
2. NEVADA – 93.54 percent
3. COLORADO – 92.85 percent
4. MISSISSIPPI – 92.77 percent
5. FLORIDA – 92.46 percent
6. DELAWARE – 92.36 percent
7. **KENTUCKY– 92.06 percent
8. *CONNECTICUT – 91.77 percent
9. NEW JERSEY – 91.41 percent
10. SOUTH DAKOTA – 91.36 percent
11. ILLINOIS – 91.00 percent
12. RHODE ISLAND – 90.88 percent
13. LOUISIANA – 90.74 percent
14. INDIANA – 90.71 percent
15. IOWA – 90.69 percent
16. MAINE – 90.68 percent
17. MISSOURI – 90.64 percent
18. OHIO – 90.34 percent
19. PENNSYLVANIA – 90.16 percent
20. WEST VIRGINIA – 89.72 percent

Percentages for include slots, blackjack, keno and video poker unless otherwise noted.
*Only slot machines
**Historical Horse Wagering

It’s not an exact science. Most states include video poker, Keno and video blackjack in their percentages, which tend to give better odds. Connecticut is the only state to include only slots. States like Nevada and Louisiana report area averages, not individual casinos. Other states, like New York and Florida, exempt tribes from reporting.

The NBC Connecticut Troubleshooters sorted through slot revenue reports submitted to gaming, lottery and racing commissions for all reporting states. The Troubleshooters found that the areas with more competition tend to pay out higher averages.

Also, the lower the denomination, the lower the payback. Penny slots at both Connecticut casinos pay lower than 90 percent and receive almost half the total money wagered. The highest payouts at Foxwoods are the multi-denomination machines. They pay out 95.77 percent. Mohegan Sun’s $10 machines return 96.96 percent.

Foxwoods: July 2014 - May 2015

• $0.01: 89.34 percent
• $0.02: 90.83 percent
• $0.05: 90.40 percent
• $0.25: 92.06 percent
• $0.50: 91.47 percent
• $1.00: 93.50 percent
• $2.00: 93.34 percent
• $5.00: 93.96 percent
• $10.00: 94.70 percent
• $25.00: 94.25 percent
• $100.00: 95.56 percent
• Multi-Denomination: 95.77 percent
• Total: 91.85 percent

Slot Machine Wins At Foxwoods Casino

Mohegan Sun: July 2014 - May 2015

• $0.0025: 85.84 percent
• $0.005: 85.45 percent
• $0.01: 88.93 percent
• $0.02: 89.21 percent
• $0.05: 88.39 percent
• $0.25: 91.64 percent
• $0.50: 91.94 percent
• $1.00: 93.04 percent
• $2.00: 96.62 percent
• $5.00: 93.82 percent
• $10.00: 96.96 percent
• $25.00: 95.38 percent
• $100.00: 93.85 percent
• Multi-Denomination: 95.19 percent
• Total: 91.71 percent

Mohegan Sun president Bobby Soper argues his casino is as competitive as any around the country. He points out the economy and amount of free play credits they give to entice bettors plays a big part in keeping them from being even higher on the list.

'There are certainly a higher percentage of penny machines and nickel machines than previous,' said Soper. 'That across the board, across the industry is going to drive hold percentage.'

This investigation comes at a time when Connecticut is exploring the option of allowing Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun to jointly operate a third state casino, off tribal land, north of Hartford.

Locations being considered include the Enfield Square Mall, the Bradley Off-Track Betting property in Windsor Locks and the former Showcase Cinemas property in East Windsor.

Foxwoods Slot Machine Wins

The legislature approved the right for tribes to consider proposals from towns willing to host a satellite casino. Soper expects its cost could save thousands of jobs in the state and cost close to $300 million. It will include slots, table games and a poker room.

Soper hopes to see it as close to the Connecticut border as possible. Just 5 miles from the border, MGM is building a $1 billion resort casino in Springfield. A spokesman for MGM estimates its slot payouts will be in the mid-90 percent.

Youtube Foxwoods Slot Machine Wins

State Sen. John Kissel believes casino expansion is bad policy. He argues a casino in his area of North Central Connecticut will not stop people, especially high-end gamblers, from traveling to Springfield.

'They’re aware of payouts and they’re going to travel,' said Kissel, a Republican from Enfield. 'If Massachusetts is better than Connecticut, all the high-end gamblers are going to Massachusetts and the people that are struggling to just make ends meet are going to end up in North Central Connecticut.'

In Connecticut, the tribes are required to pay 25 percent of all slot revenue to the state. They don’t need to pay anything on table games. The state has received nearly $7 billion total since Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods opened in the 1990s.