Maine Casino Slot Payback, 2018-2021 Calendar Years

As we continue our look at various casino payback data throughout the country, it’s time to take a look at Maine.

Like a number of other states reviewed so far like Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, the reporting is rolled up to an entire casino on a monthly basis, and is not broken out by denomination like in Connecticut.

However, at least we’ve got that much to work with. We have the data for both casinos in Maine, which are Hollywood Casino in Bangor and Oxford Casino.

Maine regulations require all machines pay back at least 89 percent.

Here’s the last four years of data; in Maine they do reporting by calendar year, so this covers the years 2018-2021. The data below is the amount slots paid back, so the remaining part of the 100 percent is the hold, which is what the casinos kept as winnings:

Here’s what we can gather from this data:

• Around March of April of 2019, a change in strategy appears to have taken place at Oxford Casino, as the payback data significantly shifted at that time and has been a higher number ever since. Players love to presume and declare that casinos are constantly tightening things up, but this was an example of the opposite happening. Massachusetts casinos were opening up in 2018 and 2019, so this could have been a competitive response to keep local players from straying.
• Hollywood Casino grew much more slowly, and over a longer period of time. If you’re a slots player, it does seem like the odds are more with you at Oxford Casino than Hollywood Casino.
• The fact that every machine must pay at least 89 percent, including penny denomination slot machines, makes the lower denomination games more favorable than penny slots in markets like the Vegas Strip and Atlantic City. Sometimes playing closer to home can have some value, as the case appears to be here.

Do you play at either of the Maine Casinos? Which is your preferred casino? Share below in the comments!