We’re feeling a little duped at the moment. Thanks a lot, Lion’s Share.
The Lion’s Share 20-year old three-reel slot machine that hadn’t relinquished a jackpot in 15 years. In that time, the progressive jackpot grew to $2.4 million and attracted a cult-like following. Lion’s Share is a Microgaming fruit machine game with an 8000 coin jackpot. This game has 3 reels and 1 payline and is a very simple game for beginners and players unfamiliar with slot machine games. They play the game in the form of coins with values from 0.25 and 5.00.
The Lion's Share Progressive Slot Machine
Anyone familiar with the lore surrounding the famed Lion’s Share slot machine, formerly at MGM Grand, is aware of these “facts”:
1) The Lion’s Share slot machine was a hold-over from an earlier time in Las Vegas, and there was just one Lion’s Share left on the casino floor for years. 2) The machine’s biggest jackpot had never hit during its decades of operation. 3) The winner of the progressive jackpot would get to keep the machine. 4) Gaming regulations mandated that the machine not be removed from the casino floor until the progressive jackpot hit.
The Lion’s Share is a progressive slot machine, and due to gaming regulations, the MGM Grand can’t remove it from the casino until it pays the big jackpot, currently clocking in at $2,334,838.64, give or take.
All pay-outs on the Lion’s Share slot were done by hand, providing even more allure.
Those things made the Lion’s Share machine legendary, at least to Las Vegas enthusiasts, and irresistible. Surprisingly, though, not all those things are true.
Come to find out, the bit about the Lion’s Share machine having to pay off before the machine could be taken off the casino floor was, as they say in the casino industry, unmitigated hooey. Bunk. Hogwash. Malarkey. And several other words people actually still use.
If you delve into the gaming regulations (and trust us, it’s lively reading), you discover a jackpot on a slot machine can be transferred by the casino to another machine at any time. Sad trombone.
This pretty much crushes one of the aspects of Lion’s Share that made it such a draw, and the subject of worldwide news when the jackpot finally hit for $2.4 million on Aug. 22, 2014.
We Photoshopped this photo. See, the truth doesn’t hurt as much if you know about it up front.
Yep, the specific gaming regulations involved here are in the Operation of Gaming Establishments, section 5.110, “In-House Progressive Payoff Schedules.”
The regulations talk about the logistics of how a progressive jackpot can be transferred to a different machine. No, it doesn’t have to be the same kind.
There are some requirements, of course, including that the jackpot has to go to another machine where the new machine “does not require that more money be played on a single play to win the payoff schedule than the game or slot machine from which the incremental amount is distributed.” Which is a fancy way of saying you can’t move a jackpot from a $1 coin machine with a two coin max bet to a $5 machine with a three coin max bet, because players would have to spend more to get the jackpot than they would have on the original machine.
The bottom line is that a key part of the mythology around the Lion’s Share slot machine was just that, myth. Endless news stories were written before and after the jackpot hit, and as far as we can tell, nobody thought to ask if the jackpot had to hit on that specific machine. It just made a better story if we thought it did. (This Las Vegas blog fell for it, hook, line and ATM withdrawal.)
This was the jackpot the last time we played. Missed it by THAT much.
As the popularity of the Lion’s Share machine spread, MGM Grand did nothing to dispel the myth because the machine made a metric ass-ton more money because of the mystique surrounding it. MGM Grand isn’t in the myth-dispelling business, it’s in the money business. And business at the Lion’s Share machine was good, for a very long time.
The mistaken belief the Lion’s Share jackpot had to hit on that machine created a sense of urgency (it’s known as the “gambler’s fallacy”), and a windfall for MGM Grand. An MGM casino executive estimated the Lion’s Share machine was played five times more than the average slot machine on MGM Grand’s casino floor.
As with so many things in Las Vegas, not everything is as it seems at first glance. Remember, “caveat aleator,” or let the gambler beware.
- Appendices
- Slots Analysis
- Miscellaneous
Introduction
Lion's Share was a three-reel progressive slot machine found at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Given how old the machine is, and the high rate of turnover in the gaming business, nobody seems to know for sure the history of the game. However, I think it can be said it is the oldest slot machine in the MGM and the jackpot has not been hit in many years. By today's standards, it is very out of date, with mechanical reels, blurry graphics, and any cash-out requiring a hand pay.
After the original publication of this article, the jackpot was hit on Aug. 24, 2014 for $2.4 million. The rest of this article is unchanged from it's original publication, before the jackpot was hit.
Here are some of the rumors about Lion's Share.
- It has been on the floor since the casino opening in 1993. — I'm not sure if it was there on day one, but based on the look of it, if it wasn't, it dates back to near the beginning.
- Whoever hits the jackpot will get to keep the machine. — I've never seen anything official that says this, but I don't doubt it. The machine is clunky and old and I think the MGM won't want it any more after it hits. The value of an old slot machine like Lion's Share is about $500 at best, so I don't see why the MGM would want to keep it.
- The MGM can't get rid of it until the progressive hits. — There is a lot of truth to this. Some player must win the accumulated money in the progressive, as it is considered player money. The Nevada Gaming Control Board wouldn't let the MGM just keep it. However, they would be allowed to let them move the money to another game, if their proposal of how to do it is accepted by Gaming.
- The jackpot has never been hit — I've heard both this and it was hit twice in the early years but never hit again. I don't know which is true. A change in the EPROM chip could make it more difficult to hit.
- The jackpot started at one million dollars — I can't confirm this either, but assume it to be true below.
Sometimes it is rumored in player circles the game may have a player advantage since the progressive has been growing for 20 years. That is where I come in. This page details my analysis of the game to determine how good of a bet it is.
Rules
The game is a $1 3-coin game. The following is the pay table.
Lion's Share Pay Table
| Win | 1 Coins | 2 Coins | 3 Coins |
| Three Lions — On Payline | $25,000 | $50,000 | Jackpot |
| Three Lions — Off Payline | $500 | $1,000 | $10,000 |
| Three sevens | $100 | $200 | $300 |
| Three 3-bar | $50 | $100 | $150 |
| Three 2-bar | $20 | $40 | $60 |
| Three 1-bar | $10 | $20 | $30 |
| Any three bar | $5 | $10 | $15 |
| Any two lions | $5 | $10 | $15 |
| Any one lion | $2 | $4 | $6 |
The lion is wild in any position on the reel. Three positions are visible.
As of May 28, 2014, the jackpot was at $2,378,882.
Analysis
Wizard Data Only
I started playing this game on Jan 14, 2014. Between my own play and 153 spins seen on YouTube videos I have recorded how often each reel lands on each symbol. The following table shows my results.
Lion's Share Reel Survey
| Symbol | Reel 1 | Reel 2 | Reel 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lion -- on payline | 15 | 10 | 10 |
| Lion -- off payline | 38 | 36 | 21 |
| Seven | 91 | 70 | 81 |
| 3-bar | 202 | 295 | 81 |
| 2-bar | 469 | 716 | 102 |
| 1-bar | 914 | 265 | 860 |
| Blank | 777 | 1,114 | 1,351 |
| Total | 2,506 | 2,506 | 2,506 |
Based on the pay table and observed results, the following table show the probability and return of each event. The return column is the product of the win, probability, and (1/3). The reason for dividing by 3 is the bet amount of $3. In other words, the return column is relative to a $3 bet.
Lion's Share Return Table — Wizard Data Only
| Win | Pays | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three Lions -- On Payline | $2,378,882 | 0.0000000953 | 0.075579 |
| Three Lions -- Off Payline | $10,000 | 0.0000047070 | 0.015690 |
| Three sevens | $300 | 0.0001140740 | 0.011407 |
| Three 3-bar | $150 | 0.0006140249 | 0.030701 |
| Three 2-bar | $60 | 0.0033567039 | 0.067134 |
| Three 1-bar | $30 | 0.0170215402 | 0.170215 |
| Any three bar | $15 | 0.1267797886 | 0.633899 |
| Any two lions | $15 | 0.0003959927 | 0.001980 |
| Any one lion | $6 | 0.0367851279 | 0.073570 |
| Total | 0.1850720544 | 1.080176 | |
So, based on this small sample size, the game returns 108.1% of money bet. With one or two coins bet, the return drops to 99.4%. Based on the small sample size, I would consider these results rough.
Wizard, AxiomOfChoice and SmokaLott Data Combined
On March 2, 2012, somebody named SmokaLott posted at Vegas Message Board that he played Lion's Share 10,000 times and got a lion on the center payline 33 times on reel 1, 42 on reel 2, and 34 on reel 3.
In early February, 2014, forum member AxiomOfChoice sent me his data on payline lions. In 1,896 spins he got the lion on the center payline 5 times on reel 1, 4 on reel 2, and 6 on reel 3. Looking at center payline lions only, here is the combined data.
Center Payline Lions
| Player | Reel 1 | Reel 2 | Reel 3 | Spins | Lions per 100 Spins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wiz | 15 | 10 | 10 | 2,506 | 1.40 |
| AxiomOfChoice | 5 | 4 | 6 | 1,896 | 0.79 |
| Smokalot | 33 | 42 | 34 | 10,000 | 1.09 |
| Total | 53 | 56 | 50 | 14,402 | 1.10 |
Combining this data, here is the center payline lion probability on each reel.
- Reel 1: 0.0036800
- Reel 2: 0.0038883
- Reel 3: 0.0034717
Lion Slots Free Play
Assuming these probabilities, and otherwise using the data from my spins for the other symbols, the return table looks as follows.Lion's Share Return Table — Combined Data
| Win | Pays | Probability | Return |
|---|---|---|---|
| Three Lions -- On Payline | $2,378,882 | 0.0000000525 | 0.041647 |
| Three Lions -- Off Payline | $10,000 | 0.0000041103 | 0.013701 |
| Three sevens | $300 | 0.0001090687 | 0.010907 |
| Three 3-bar | $150 | 0.0005989446 | 0.029947 |
| Three 2-bar | $60 | 0.0033113213 | 0.066226 |
| Three 1-bar | $30 | 0.0168744217 | 0.168744 |
| Any three bar | $15 | 0.1266965675 | 0.633483 |
| Any two lions | $15 | 0.0003578085 | 0.001789 |
| Any one lion | $6 | 0.0349819170 | 0.069964 |
| Total | 0.1829342121 | 1.036408 | |
The lower right cell shows a total return of 103.6%, based on three coins bet. With one or two coins bet the return drops to 98.4%.
Based on this combined data, the probability of hitting the jackpot is about 1 in 19.0 million. It is my understanding the jackpot started at one million dollars. If that is the case, and assuming everybody bets $3 at a time, the game would have been played about 60 million times. In this many spins, the expected number of jackpots is 2.9. The probability of never hitting a jackpot in 60 million spins is about 5.4%. I should remind my readers that each spin is independent, so the odds of hitting the jackpot are the same as it was for every other spin.
50 Lions Slot Machine Videos
AxiomOfChoice is a good member on my forum, so I have no compunction about using his data.
As a scientific kind of guy, I hate to use data from somebody I've never heard of from a two-year-old forum post as the basis of my analysis of a game. However, The SmokaLot data looks reasonable to me, and his results are similar to the combined results of AxiomOfChoice and I.
I would like to return to gather more data, or hire somebody else to do it, but since a recent wave of publicity in the media it has been getting difficult getting on the machine. I would also hate to hog it for hours with a line waiting. For this reason, I am also publishing my results both ways, with my data only as well as the combined results of me, AxiomOfChoice, and SmokaLott.
Miscellaneous pieces of information about Lion's Share.
- Based on the 'combined data,' the probability shown of the jackpot equates to a probability of 1 in 19,040,226.
- The meter goes up by 0.75% of money bet.
- Based on an Internet post, the jackpot was at $2,229,097 on March 19, 2011. This suggests a rate of increase of $167 per day.
- For the lowest-level player, slot play earns free play and comps both at a rate of 0.33% of money bet.
More Photos
African Lion Slot Machine
External Links
- Lion's Share official web site.
- Discussion of Lion's Share at my forum Wizard of Vegas.
- The legend and cult of the $2.345 million Lion's Share slot machine at MGM Grand — Article in the Las Vegas Sun