- Machines do not take credit cards. You put a $1,5,20,100 bill in it to charge the credits. When you cash out, it prints a ticket. You can put the ticket into another machine or turn it in for cash. Almost all slots are this way now. If you go downtown, there are still some of the older coin in / coin out machines.
- With a payback percentage of 90, for example, the casino would take about 10 percent of all money put into the slot machine and give away the other 90 percent. With any payback percentage under a 100 (and they're all under 100), the casino wins over time.
- In a nutshell, fixed slot machines have a jackpot amount that does not change, while progressive jackpot slots require more playtime and coin from other players. In other words, the jackpot of a progressive slot machine will fluctuate, i.e. Increase or decrease, depending on how many people play that particular slot.
Antique 5 Cent Slot Machine
Remember the movie National Lampoon's Vegas Vacation, when gambling fever consumes Chevy Chase's character, Clark W. Griswold? He goes on a losing streak to beat all losing streaks while his son, Rusty, wins four cars by playing the slot machines. Maybe Clark would have done better if he had read Probability For Dummies! In this article, you discover the basic ideas behind slot machines and how they work, so that you can get past the myths and develop a strategy based on sound probability.
Gambling authorities are there to ensure that the gaming industry is operating correctly. Nothing has been done to the machine that would have made it stop working, and all appears to be normal. The 'tilt' light is not on, but neither is the 'insert coin' light. The only odd thing is that there is a '12' in the win meter. There is a 0 in both the 'last game coins played' and 'coins played' readouts.
Understanding average payout
When casinos advertise that their slot machines pay out an average of 90 percent, the fine print they don't want you to read says that you lose 10 cents from each dollar you put into the machines in the long term. (In probability terms, this advertisement means that your expected winnings are minus 10 cents on every dollar you spend every time the money goes through the machines.)
Suppose you start with $100 and bet a dollar at a time, for example. After inserting all $100 into the slot, 100 pulls later you'll end up on average with $90, because you lose 10 percent of your money. If you run the $90 back through the machine, you'll end up with 90 percent of it back, which is 0.90 x 90 = $81. If you run that amount through in 81 pulls, you'll have $72.90 afterward (0.90 x 81 = 72.90). If you keep going for 44 rounds, on average, the money will be gone, unless you have the luck of Rusty Griswold!
How many pulls on the machine does your $100 give you at this rate? Each time you have less money to run through the machine, so you have fewer pulls left. If you insert $1 at a time, you can expect 972 total pulls in the long term with these average payouts (that's the total pulls in 44 rounds). But keep in mind that casinos are designing slot machines to go faster and faster between spins. Some are even doing away with the handles and tokens by using digital readouts on gaming cards that you put into the machines. The faster machines can play up to 25 spins per hour, and 972 spins divided by 25 spins per minute is 38.88 minutes. You don't have a very long time to enjoy your $100 before it's gone!
The worst part? Casinos often advertise that their 'average payouts' are even as high as 95 percent. But beware: That number applies only to certain machines, and the casinos don't rush to tell you which ones. You really need to read or ask about the fine print before playing. You can also try to check the information on the machine to see if it lists its payouts. (Don't expect this information to be front and center.)
Implementing a simple strategy for slots
Advice varies regarding whether you should play nickel, quarter, or dollar slot machines and whether you should max out the number of coins you bet or not (you usually get to choose between one and five coins to bet on a standard slot machine). In this section, you'll find a few tips for getting the most bang for your buck (or nickel) when playing slot machines.
Basically, when it comes to slot machines, strategy boils down to this: Know the rules, your probability of winning, and the expected payouts; dispel any myths; and quit while you're ahead. If you win $100, cash out $50 and play with the rest, for example. After you lose a certain amount (determined by you in advance), don't hesitate to quit. Go to the all-you-can-eat buffet and try your luck with the casino food; odds are it's pretty good!
Choosing among nickel, quarter, and dollar machines
The machines that have the higher denominations usually give the best payouts. So, between the nickel and quarter slots, for example, the quarter slots generally give better payouts. However, you run the risk of getting in way over your head in a hurry, so don't bet more than you can afford to lose. The bottom line: Always choose a level that you have fun playing at and that allows you to play for your full set time limit.
Deciding how many coins to play at a time
When deciding on the number of coins you should play per spin, keep in mind that more is sometimes better. If the slot machine gives you more than two times the payout when you put in two times the number of coins, for example, you should max it out instead of playing single coins because you increase your chances of winning a bigger pot, and the expected value is higher. If the machine just gives you k times the payout for k coins, it doesn't matter if you use the maximum number of coins. You may as well play one at a time until you can make some money and leave so your money lasts a little longer.
For example, say a quarter machine pays 10 credits for the outcome 777 when you play only a single quarter, but if you play two quarters, it gives you 25 credits for the same outcome. And if you play the maximum number of quarters (say, four), a 777 results in 1,000 credits. You can see that playing four quarters at a time gives you a better chance of winning a bigger pot in the long run (if you win, that is) compared to playing a single quarter at a time for four consecutive tries.
The latest slot machine sweeping the nation is the so-called 'penny slot machine.' Although it professes to require only a penny for a spin, you get this rate only if you want to bet one penny at a time. The machines entice you to bet way more than one penny at a time; in fact, on some machines, you can bet more than 1,000 coins (called lines) on each spin — $10 a shot here, folks. Because these machines take any denomination of paper bill, as well as credit cards, your money can go faster on penny machines than on dollar machines because you can quickly lose track of your spendings. Pinching pennies may not be worth it after all!
Most people will be familiar with slot machines in their most basic form, but like everything else, the machine with three reels and a lever on the side has developed considerably over the years. Although there is still very much a place in Colorado gaming for the old-school mechanical machines with their three reels and single win line across the middle, there are a number of other slots today for you to enjoy. Here we take a look at what's out there to help you decide which ones are for you.
Classic Slots
There's more to classic slots today than just the most basic three-reel machines mentioned above. Now there are five-reel variants and it's also possible to increase your potential winnings by playing more than one coin at a time, effectively increasing your stake. Three-reel classic slots will often have a single win line across the middle, but some now also offer three and even five win lines. Three line machines will pay out on the three horizontal lines, while five-line machines add the two diagonals. Playing more than one coin brings additional win lines into play.
Video Slots
The overwhelming majority of slots these days are video slots. Although they follow the same format as classic slots by having spinning reels, video slots employ a screen instead of mechanical reels, which allows for all manner of different games, features and ways of winning. Most video slots usually have five or seven reels, although there are ones now that can have as many as nine reels. This creates the opportuning for as many as 25 or even 50 win lines that zig-zag all across the reels to offer many more opportunities to win.
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Keep in mind that you pay for each win line you operate. If you are playing 25 lines on a 25-cent machine for example, it will cost you $6.25 for each spin to have all win lines in action and twice as much if you're playing a 50-line machine.
The versatility of video slots means they come in all kinds of well-known brands and themes, from comic-book superheroes to blockbuster movies and TV shows.
Progressive Slots
Although a progressive slot will also be a video slot, these are not stand-alone machines, and that means they offer the chance to win big, really big! Progressive slots are found in both online and land-based casinos, and they can be linked to other machines in the same bank, the same casino, or even in other casinos. Every time one of these linked machines is played, a small proportion of the stake is added to a progressive jackpot that can be won on any of the machines in the group.
Bonus Slots
A bonus slot is one that has an extra game that is activated when the player gets a correctly positioned line of a special symbol. These bonus games give players an opportunity to win extra money without having to place extra bets. Bonus slots are another type of video slot and they can also be part of a progressive jackpot pool of machines.
