What is Coin-In?

Coin-in is the slot-floor name for total amount staked: every spin's bet added together, whether it won, lost or was funded by a previous win. It is the slots version of a sportsbook's handle, and it is the figure a loyalty scheme counts, a bonus wagering requirement measures and an operator reports volume with. It is much larger than the money a player brought. A hundred units played through a game returning 96% is staked, returned and staked again many times before it is finally gone, so a hundred units of deposit routinely produces well over a thousand units of coin-in. That is not a trick; it is what a return-to-player figure above zero necessarily implies. The practical consequences are two. First, comp points and loyalty tiers accrue on coin-in rather than on losses, which is why a careful low-stakes player can climb a tier ladder without losing much. Second, the house edge applies to coin-in, so the honest way to estimate the cost of a session is stake per spin times spins, times the edge — not the size of the deposit, which is only where the money started.