The machines, and why they sit apart from the tables
Electronic gaming machines occupy a different regulatory box from the live tables they stand next to. In a licensed British casino the number of machines a venue may operate, and the stakes and prizes those machines may offer, are set by category rules in gambling legislation rather than by the operator's preference. Grosvenor has also put non-standard machines on its floors: in October 2012 it installed thirty Pinball Roulette units developed by Austrian Gaming Industries across twenty-two clubs, a single-player roulette game in which the player triggers the ball themselves rather than waiting for a dealer. That is the level of detail that is on the public record. What is not on the record — and what we will not invent — is the payout percentage of any individual machine in any individual building.
Four things that are true of machines in a regulated venue
None of the following is specific to this brand; all of it applies to any Gambling Commission licensed casino, which is exactly why it is safe to state and worth knowing before you read brand-specific marketing.
Categories, not preferences
How much a machine can take per play and pay per win is fixed by its licensing category, not by the venue. Two machines that look identical can sit in different categories.
Return figures are long-run averages
Any published return-to-player figure describes an average over an enormous number of plays. It says nothing about a session, an hour, or a single spin, and anyone presenting it as a prediction is misreading it.
The ball still does not remember
Pinball Roulette hands the trigger to the player, which changes how the game feels but not how it resolves. Controlling when the ball is launched does not change the odds attached to any pocket.
What we have not checked
We have not been on any Grosvenor floor, counted machines, or seen a payout notice. If you need to know what is installed in a specific venue today, the operator is the only source that can answer that.
