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HAND PAY – A casino attendant must execute a hand payment if you win a slot machine jackpot that exceeds the amount of cash in the hopper, or if your machine is malfunctioning and will not automatically pay out your cash for any reason.

HANDLE SLAMMERS – This type of slot machine scam artist is one that has thankfully become obsolete by changes in technology. Back in the days when all slots came equipped with arms (or “handles”), crooked types would “slam” the lever as roughly as possible during play in the hopes of disrupting the internal mechanisms of the machine and making it spit out some unwarranted cash. The advent of the push-button, as well as several lawsuits for defacing casino property all but put a stop to the practice of handle slamming. The proprietors of online slots casinos have obviously never had to put up with this nonsense, as internet punters are more that welcome to smash up their own mouse and computer in what will inevitably be a fruitless quest for extra cash.

HARD COUNT – The hard count is performed by hand by casino employees when the drop box or hopper of a slot machine needs to be emptied and the coins inside tallied. It’s not as simple as it sounds. Slot game intake is counted on a regular schedule, but also when the machines send an alert to the cash office warning that their drop boxes are getting too full. At that point, a security guard is dispatched to watch over the attendant as they unlock the cabinet and remove the money. The stash is then taken to a secure room within the case to count by hand, which can be a lengthy and dull task. Some casinos utilize special scales calibrated to tell how much money has been placed on them based on coin denomination and weight, but these can still be imprecise. Hence, the hard count.

HIGH ROLLER – High rollers have a lot of money, and aren’t afraid to spend it. You can usually identify a high roller because s/he’s throwing down the max wager on that slot machine that can easily suck up five hundred bucks a spin, with casino staff groveling at their well-shod feet and showering them with comps. The “roll” part in “high roller” first applied to table game players, especially those rolling the dice. Even online slots casinos treat their high rollers like royalty, thanks to VIP programs packed with appealing rewards. These folks may also be referred to as “whales.”

HIT RATE – The percentage also known as a “hit frequency” refers to how often a slot machine pays out. The term is synonymous with “payout percentage.” The hit rate of slot games is regulated by law, to keep the house edge reasonable. Slots are actually one of the better bets for gamblers, because they pay out the vast majority of their income back to players. The portion of pokey proceeds that the casino holds back for their profits is the hold percentage. Generally, the sum of the payout percentage/hit rate and the hold percentage is one hundred percent, although some special, skill-based titles are actually loss leaders for the casino, given that their payoffs can exceed one hundred percent!   

HOLD [I] – When playing a fruit machine or a slot game mimicking the gameplay of one, the “hold” button is used as a special perk to help you accumulate winning combos. You get so many holds per amount of spins, usually four. If you get a jackpot symbol on the winning payline, for example, you may choose to “hold” that reel in the hopes of the other two also coming up with the jackpot symbol. There’s no guarantee that this will work, of course… but slots fans tend to really like this option.

HOLD [II] – Also known as a “hold percentage,” this hold is the amount of slot machine income that is held back as profit by the casino or gaming operator. Believe it or not, this is usually not as princely a sum as you might estimate. State and national laws require that casinos set their machines to pay back a certain, high percentage of all monies that come in. Sometimes, it’s as high as ninety percent… and casinos can certainly choose to pay out higher. This means that, of all the money that comes in, ninety percent or more will go back to players. Gamblers tend to look for machines featuring the lowest hold and highest payout percentage possible, although keep in mind that the house always has the edge. Just because a machine pays back nine-tenths of what it takes it, YOU are still not very likely to win it. Every spin that you lose money on counts as a victory for the house, hence the house edge.

HOLD AND RE-SPIN – This term refers to a slot machine that is a bit less passive than the average game, and may be found in locales where gambling must have some sort of skill basis to be legal. “Hold and re-spin” slots permit the player to “hold,” or keep one or more of the reels in place while spinning the rest to try more than once for a win. Therefore, playing the slots becomes something of a skill-based pursuit, and slot operators are able to circumvent restrictive laws.

HOPPER – This is a basket within a slot machine that collects all the coins that are inserted into it as wagers. The hopper holds on to the coins and/or tokens until it needs to dispense any jackpots or other prizes, and therefore works as the game’s internal bank. If the hopper should happen to fill up and coins overflow they will be collected by the drop basket or drop box in the bottom of the machine. On the other hand, if the hopper should empty itself of its last coin (say, on a particularly fat jackpot), the TILT symbol will be displayed, signaling for an attendant to come and refill the hopper.

HOPPER FILL SLIP – A hopper fill slip must be filled out when an attendant is dispatched to put more coins in the hopper of an empty slot machine. Usually, this happens when a fat jackpot has just been paid out, depleting the stock of coins within the machine. A hopper fill slip is recorded with the date and time of the fill, the employee number and signature of the attendant performing the fill, and the amount of money that was put into the machine. This is all a matter of paperwork for the casino, the likes of which keeps things running smoothly and comfortably.

HOT SLOT – You’ll be hot to trot if you find a hot slot. Dr. Seussian rhymes aside, hot slots really are the sweethearts of the casino floor. They are also called “sizzling,” “loose,” or “liberal” slot games, and are those with great payouts. You can probably distinguish one of these beauties by the fact that there have been a steady line of punters parked in the seat in front of it all day with no interruption. Seek the hot slots, if you can find them – these truly are the best use of your gambling funds and bankroll.

HOUSE – The “house” is the casino, or whoever operates the slot machine you are playing. Gambling is all about the house versus the player. The house typically enjoys the “house edge,” which is the reality that the house is making a lot more money and winning more than you are.

HOUSE EDGE – It’s a fact of life and gambling that the house (casino) generally always holds a statistical advantage over the slot machine player… just think of how many bum slot rolls there are for every winning spin. There are very few instances in gambling where the player ever has an edge, and so the house edge is accepted as a fact of life. It actually refers to the “hold percentage,” or the percentage of money retained by the slot operator as income off the machines you and other punters are playing. The payout percentage is how much of the money taken in by the slot machine is paid back to players, and the sum of the two percentages is one hundred. Even a game with ninety-nine percent payout has a house edge, however, because the number of winning spins to losing ones (in which the house technically “wins’) is greatly skewed in the casino’s favor.

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