Author: Jeremiah Booker

If you’ve read any of my blog posts about slot machines before this one, you already have an idea of how a slot machine game works.

A computer program called a random number generator (RNG) cycles through numbers constantly and stops when you hit the spin button on the machine. Since there’s no way to know which number it will land on, the results are random.

Each number on the RNG corresponds to a combination of reel symbols. And each combination of reel symbols has a payout attached to it.

Most of the money you put into a slot machine is returned in the form of a payout, but it’s on an X for Y basis. In the long run, the relatively small percentage of money that doesn’t get returned as a payout adds up into huge losses for the players and huge wins for the casino.

Let’s take an extremely generous slot machine that pays back 97% of the money put into it. How much money does that machine make?

Assume an average bet of $3 per spin, and an average play rate of 600 spins per hour. That means you’re putting $1800 per hour into action.

The machine pays back an average of 97% of that, or $1746, which means you’ve lost $54 that hour of play.

Of course, that’s a statistical average. Some hours, you’ll win some money, and others, you’ll lose more than that amount. But that’s how a slot machine works.

What Happens to a Slot Machine When You Add in Bonus Rounds?

The most important thing to a casino is to get people to spend a lot of time playing on a slot machine. They do this by making sure that the ratio of wins to losses is optimal to keep you motivated. They also want to make sure that the sights and sounds associated with the game are exciting enough to get you playing.

The game features a bonus round where you get to spin the wheel, just like you would if you were on the show. This bonus round is so popular that I’ve read stories about players who have won progressive jackpots who were disappointed they didn’t get to spin the wheel.

Other games with popular licensed bonus rounds rolled out soon afterward. Some were based on game shows, but others were based on board games like Monopoly.

The Illusion of a Bonus

On most slot machine games, the bonus round feature doesn’t really give you anything extra. It’s just the illusion of a bonus. Sure, it’s fun watching the wheel spin, but you pay for that bonus round in the form of a reduced payback percentage on the game itself (this is also true of progressive jackpots, but that’s a topic for another post).

Ask yourself this—where does the money paid out in the bonus round come from? It has to come from the base game or the slot machine as a whole couldn’t stay profitable.

I know I used 97% as an example payback percentage earlier, but a more realistic payback percentage might be 92%. That 92% includes payouts from the bonus rounds. This means that during the regular gameplay on the machine, you have less money for payouts.

If 20% of the payouts from the regular game are “diverted” to the bonus rounds, most of the time, you’ll be seeing lower payouts during the regular game.

Multiple Payline Games With Bonuses

If you’ve never played a slot machine game, you might think that you just put in the wager amount and hit spin. Then, you’d see if you got three winning symbols in a row across the middle of the machine.

That’s not exactly how modern slot machines work, though.

First of all, most modern slot machines allow you to choose how many coins you want to wager on each spin. You can wager up to 100 coins or more. These limits are determined by the slot machine game’s programming.

On top of that, there are more ways to form a winning combination than just a horizontal line across the middle. On most slot machines, you can see the row of symbols above and below the main payline.

The paylines are like patterns on a bingo card. The problem is, to activate these additional paylines, you must bet money on each of them. And some modern slot machines might have as many as 40 paylines.

And the same games that have multiple paylines are usually the ones with the bonus rounds.

The casinos and the slot machine manufacturers are being somewhat disingenuous by making you think you’re getting something for nothing with these bonus rounds.

At the end of the day, though, these little perks just wind up costing you more money.

Conclusion

Slot machines with bonus rounds are almost ubiquitous now, but that doesn’t mean they’re the best slot machine games in the casino to play.

Do you play bonus slots? What’s your experience with them been like? Let me know in the comments.

The first time I saw people use member cards for slot games, I didn’t know what they were. I asked the man sitting next to me and he explained a few details about the rewards club. But he wasn’t using a card himself.

When I asked him why, he said he once had a card but stopped winning when he played with the card. He thought the casino was monitoring his playing and adjusting the slot game results.

This rumor has circulated both online and offline for many years. It’s normal for people to hear something repeatedly and wonder if there is truth to it. But I’ve never found any proof that casinos can change the way slot games play by flipping a switch.

What makes it difficult to combat this idea and other rumors about slot machines is the many different markets where you find them. Slot machine games are regulated by each country. Complying with different regulations may mean that a slot maker must change how its games work.

The clearest example I can give is how slot games are decided in the United States. Class II slot games decide the outcome on the basis of one random number then configure the display to match that result. Class III games use several random numbers to control the reels.

How Modern Slot Machine Games Work

There aren’t many physical slot games left. They’re all electronic now, and the electronic machines use random number generator chips to decide results.

But there is more involved than just generating a random number. The “slots” in the slot games are spaces on reels. The computers now simulate these reels.

Former and current slot machine manufacturing employees answer questions about game design on several websites including Quora. This answer was posted in September 2014, and it explains how the simulated reels are managed by software.

The programs to simulate the reels and assign the random numbers are etched into ROMs, Read-Only Memory chips. These ROMs must be physically changed by a technician to change how the game payout percentages work.

Legitimate Online Casino Operators Lease Games From Service Providers

There are over 2,000 online casinos. It’s impossible to be sure about how they all manage their slot games. But what is known about the most popular casinos is that they don’t run their slot games from their own servers.

Instead the online casinos lease game services from secure data centers. These gaming platforms are run by companies like Blue Ocean and EveryMatrix. Some of the game design companies also run their own servers, leasing resources to online casinos.

Although it would be simple for online gaming companies to switch things up, they would risk losing independent certifications if they allowed the games to be rigged.

There’s no need for casinos to adjust the percentages. They can order the percentage breakouts for house edge and return to player that they want to offer. This way, they maintain competitiveness and support long-term profitability.

Many Games Publish the Theoretical Return to Player

Some slot games include the theoretical return to player in their help screens.

If the players see that RTP has been adjusted downward, they can play elsewhere. If players only suspect that the RTP has been adjusted without proper notification, they might still leave.

Casinos need players. The best strategy to grow their customer base is to keep game rewards high enough to make the risk worthwhile.

Some Governments Regulate Return to Player Percentages

Licensed gaming casinos must comply with local laws governing their businesses. Some countries provide more regulation than others.

In the United States, commercial land-based casinos are regulated by their states. However, Native American casinos are mostly regulated by the tribal governments that own them. Each jurisdiction has the authority to set minimal RTP percentages to ensure the casinos don’t make too much money.

The 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act creates the legal framework used by tribes to protect their traditional gaming activities from state regulatory laws. The act also defines the three classes of gaming and how they are to be regulated.

Class II games are regulated by the tribes but only in states that allow any kind of gaming. Only Class III games are subject solely to state regulation.

True slot machine games are Class III games. Native American casinos offer Class II bingo games that are made to look like slot games. The game cabinets must display the casino bingo games that are used to determine wins.

Class II slot machines may have reels and bonus games but they’re not really slot machine games as defined by federal law.

How Do You Determine the Odds That a Slot Game Pays?

Casinos may or may not be required to declare the return to player for their slot games. Some casinos place a plate or sticker on their slot games with a notice. Other casinos leave it to the game help screens (thus, the manufacturers) to inform players.

The games’ odds may be reported as a theoretical RTP percentage, but they could also be reported as a ratio, similar to the way lottery games declare chances of winning a prize. Either way, these games don’t have to tell you how often to expect to win a prize of any amount.

Some players merely judge the looseness of slot games by how much money they win or how often they win as they play the games.

Some players judge the looseness of slot games by how popular they appear to be. This observational strategy assumes that the crowd knows more than the individual.

One of my friends tells me he only plays slot games with low jackpots. His reasoning is that players need to lose less money for someone to win $10,000 than for someone to win $20,000.

Slot Machines May Have Programmed Payout Limits

In another post on Quora from 2016, someone claimed to have industry experience in the Caribbean.

In his post, he said that a machine won’t pay more than it has accumulated after the first month of operation. That first month establishes the limit based on the profit the machine made.

The system is designed to be random within a range of percentages. The software decides when and how much to pay but won’t go over the monthly limit.

It should be obvious that this limit could be reset.

The Games Are Designed to Be as Random as Possible

People who design and repair slot machine games express much trust in the random number generator chips these games use. The RNGs, as they are called, use the latest available algorithms at the time they are manufactured.

Math has not yet progressed to the point where truly random numbers can be generated. Mechanical devices require input from an outside source to be truly random.

The way slot game designers handle this limitation is they design the chips to generate thousands of random numbers every second. The random numbers each take a turn at being available for use by the game.

Because of the percentage payouts and internal limits they use, slot machine games don’t have to be reprogrammed to improve casino profits. Everything is designed to run with as little intervention as possible.

And that is better for the casino because the more they can intervene in a game’s function, the more likely they’ll face regulation over that intervention.

Casino game techs often say that replacing chips in slot machines must follow a special procedure (in the United States). They are closely monitored and every part must be accounted for. So, it’s less expensive for casinos if they don’t tweak the games.

Conclusion

An honest casino doesn’t need to control who wins at a slot game. They already control who can play a slot game. They can ask anyone to leave for any reason.

Naturally, casinos don’t do that. Instead. they purchase gaming systems that are designed to create an entertaining experience for patrons while legally retaining a profitable percentage of wagers.

No matter how much one’s frustration tempts a player into wondering about Big Brother Casino tweaking the game, it’s more profitable for the casino to let nature take its course.

I recently read an article where someone asked for advice on changing your bet size while playing slots. The idea was, when you get ahead, you raise your bets to try to hit a bigger win.

Over the years, I’ve also seen questions about betting more when you’re losing to try to make up for past losses when you hit a win.

These look like two different questions, but they’re actually the same question. And the answer should be the same to both questions.

In the article I just read, the answer was decent, but it didn’t cover the real reasons in enough depth. Anyone asking either of these questions doesn’t understand how slot machines work. They also don’t really understand how expected value and long term expectation works.

Slots and Expected Value

Every slot machine in existence, whether located in a casino or online, has a built in house edge. The house edge is how the casinos make money, and it’s impossible to legally overcome the house edge on a slot machine in total. What I mean by “in total” is that slot machines make money collectively.

A few players win more than they lose in the short term, and a few lucky players win a big enough progressive jackpot to come out ahead. But overall, the slot machine industry is wildly profitable.

Expected value is a term often used in gambling that is a way to express the value of a betting decision. It’s used most often in poker to determine the best way to play a hand in a certain situation. You can also use it in games like blackjack to determine the best way to play a hand.

In games like poker and blackjack, you can make strategy decisions based on expected value. Bets on slot machines also have an expected value, but they’re all negative. A negative expected value means that, on average, you’re going to lose money.

Here’s an example of expected value on a slot machine.

If a slot machine has a house edge of 5% and you bet $1 on every spin, the expected value is -.05 per spin. On an individual spin, you might lose your entire $1 or win something, but the expected value is the amount you expect to lose on average over thousands of spins.

Expanding this example, if you make 500 bets in an hour, you’re expected value is -$25. In other words, you can expect to lose $25 an hour playing this slot machine. Once again, this is an average, so in any single hour, you can lose more or win.

The house edge is the same whether you bet $1 or $100 per spin. It’s also the same if you lost the last three spins or won the last three spins. The house edge doesn’t change, so changing your bet sizes doesn’t help you win more often.

Slots Long Term Expectation

This is going to sound similar to what you learned in the last section because it’s closely related. The mistake many slots players make, like the ones asking the two questions in the opening section, is thinking past results in some way change future results.

But, if nothing you can do changes the house edge, how can you believe that you should raise your bets after a losing streak or after a winning streak?

The belief is that because the long term results must come very close to equaling the expected results that there must be a correction one way or another after a winning or losing streak. But the problem with this is that the house edge and expectation are based on a large number of outcomes.

Instead of it being based on 10 or 100 spins like many players act, it’s based on hundreds of thousands or millions of spins. Even if you win 10 spins in a row, it doesn’t change the odds of what’s going to happen on the next spin because the machines are based on such a large number of spins.

I’m trying to show you why without getting into complicated mathematical principles, but you can run the math on the effect of short streaks in large pools of results to prove what I’m saying is true.

The belief many players have about short term streaks is made worse when they guess correctly about the next result after a streak. This reinforces what they want to believe, even though the math shows it isn’t true.

If you win 10 spins in a row, what do you think is most likely to happen on the next spin? Some players say a loss, because the machine is due for a loss. Other players say a win, because the machine is hot. How can both opinions be true?

The fact is that neither opinion is true based on why they think they’re correct. The true chance of a win or loss is 100% based on how often the machine is programmed to produce a winning spin.

Is It Ever Correct to Alter Your Slots’ Bet Size?

When I play slots, I operate in what I call the “jackpot or bust” mode. I set aside a bankroll to chase a jackpot and keep playing until I either hit a jackpot or run out of money. Most of the time, I run out of money, but every once in a while, I get lucky and hit a small jackpot.

I know that, in the long run, I’m going to lose unless I hit a big slots jackpot. I’m okay with this, just like I’m okay with buying a lottery ticket chasing a big prize. The odds of winning are low, but I’m willing to risk a set amount for the chase.

I always bet the minimum amount on my chosen slot machine that allows me to qualify for a jackpot. I tend to look for machines that have a low bet threshold to unlock the jackpot, because I want to take as many spins as possible.

If you buy a lottery ticket, do you ever spend more money than the ticket costs? Do you give the store clerk $5 for a $3 ticket and not expect to get your $2 in change?

This is how I feel about betting more than I need to while playing slots. This is why I never bet more than the minimum to qualify for a jackpot while playing slots.

The question of changing your bet size while playing slots has two answers. The first answer is if you’re betting more than the minimum, then you should bet less. The second answer is that it doesn’t matter if you change the size of your bet for any other reason. As long as you understand that the more you bet the more you lose, you can do whatever you want. It’s your money, and you can play any way you like.

Conclusion

You’re welcome to change the size of your bet while playing slots any time you like. It doesn’t matter if you’re winning or losing, changing the size of your bet isn’t going to alter your chances to win. The only thing that matters is the house edge you’re working against and the average bet size of your wagers.

When you bet more after a win, you’re just going to lose more in the long run. When you bet more when you lose, you’re just going to lose more in the long run. The only way to lose less money playing slots in the long run is to bet less.

The best way to lose less playing slots is to stop playing. But that’s not much fun, and you’re never going to hit a jackpot if you don’t play. I don’t recommend that you stop playing. But use smart money management so your bankroll lasts as long as possible and you have the best chance to hit a jackpot before you run out of money.

The only way you can possibly come out ahead in the long run playing slots is to win a jackpot big enough to cover all of your previous losses. This doesn’t happen often. The best chance to do this is to make the minimum bet that unlocks the chance at the jackpot and hope for the best. Changing your bet size isn’t going to help in the long run.

Progressive slots (and video poker games) offer jackpots that increase every time someone makes a bet up until someone wins. At that point, the progressive jackpot resets to its starting value and starts accumulating again.

The amount that the jackpot rises is based on a tiny percentage of your action on the machine. Most progressive slot machines are now pooled with other machines so that the jackpot goes up fast, although some games are still standalone progressives.

The best way to think about progressive slots is that they’re the slot machine equivalent of a lottery game. The odds of winning are long, but the prizes are huge. In most lotteries, the size of the prize increases from drawing to drawing until someone wins the lottery.

You’ll know you’re playing a progressive jackpot game because it will feature a prominent jackpot meter showing the size of the jackpot. This is also sometimes called a “jackpot ticker,” because it ticks upward as players on the network lose bets into the machines on that network.

This post features 10 of the most interesting facts I could find about progressive slot machines.

1 – Megabucks Is the Biggest Slot Machine Jackpot

Megabucks is IGT’s most famous progressive slot machine. It’s a state-wide game run in Nevada, and it’s the main reason the state doesn’t have an actual lottery. Who needs a lottery when you can just play the Megabucks slot machine?

Megabucks isn’t new either, the games have been available now for a couple of decades. Several people have won millions of dollars over the history of the game.

To play Megabucks, you must wager $3. It’s a dollar machine with a three-coin maximum bet. If you don’t place the maximum bet, you’re not eligible for the jackpot.

In Nevada, at least 750 different slot machines in over 125 different casinos pool those tiny contributions to grow that $10 million jackpot faster than you’d think is possible.

The odds of winning Megabucks is similar to that of winning the lottery, 50 million to 1. And like the lottery, winners get paid in the form of an annuity that pays annual installments over the next 25 years.

If you go with the cash option, you can settle for 60% of the prize amount as just plain cash. It’s hard to deny that Megabucks is the most interesting progressive jackpot game in the United States.

2 – Megabucks Has a Curse Associated With It

Some gamblers believe that if you win Megabucks, you have a greater than usual probability of dying young.

This legend of the “Megabucks curse” stems from the death of Cynthia Jay-Brennan, a cocktail waitress who won $35 million Megabucks only to be paralyzed in a car wreck. Jay-Brennan’s sister died in the wreck, which was caused by a drunk driver.

Most of the other tales of woe related to Megabucks are nothing more than urban legends, though.

It’s the opinion of this blogger that the wreck was just “one of those things,” and Cynthia Jay-Brennan has my sympathy.

3 – Progressive Jackpots Can Put the Odds in the Players’ Favor

Any game with a progressive jackpot can offer a player a positive expectation bet if the jackpot is large enough.

The trouble with slot machines is that no one knows exactly what the payback percentage for the game is, so it’s impossible to determine what the size of the jackpot would have to be.

But in other games with progressive jackpots, like video poker, you can compute the break-even point for the game and only play after the jackpot has exceeded that point.

The optimal strategy for playing such a game changes based on the size of that jackpot, too.

4 – Some Progressive Games Get Attached by Advantage Player Teams

An advantage player is a gambler who only gambles when he has an edge over the casino. The classic example of an advantage gambler is a card counter in blackjack.

But we already discussed how a gambler could have an advantage at a progressive slot machine game.

They play as a team until someone on the team wins the progressive jackpot, and the team then splits the profits. Some casinos don’t mind this type of advantage play much, because even though the players have an edge, the jackpot comes mostly from players’ contributions to the game over time.

Other casinos have policies forbidding team play and will back off or bar such players.

5 – Slot Machines With Progressive Jackpots Have Worse Odds

You measure the casino’s advantage with a slot machine by looking at the payback percentage, or return to player percentage, for the game. This is the flip side of the house edge.

The payback percentage estimates an average amount that will be returned to the player in winnings over the long run based on the odds of winning and the prize amounts. The house edge estimates how much the player will lose on each bet.

The higher the payback percentage is, the better the game is for the player. For example, a slot machine game with a 98% payback percentage is better than a slot machine game with an 88% payback percentage.

Generally, there are two factors that ensure the progressive jackpot games have a lower payback percentage.

• The first is simple to understand. A percentage of each bet is diverted toward increasing the size of the jackpot. That amount comes directly from the payback percentage of the game.
• The second is only slightly harder to understand. A large percentage of the game’s payback percentage is based on the payout from the jackpot. If a game has a 95% payback percentage, 5% of that might be made up of the jackpot.

But with a game where you only have a 1 in 50 million or even 1 in 10 million chance of seeing that jackpot, the payback percentage before that jackpot gets hit will necessarily be lower than that 95%.

The more economical choice for slot players is always the flat-top slot machine, not the progressive slot machine.

6 – Mega Moolah Is Probably the Best Progressive Jackpot Online

Mega Moolah is an online-only progressive slot machine game with five reels and 25 paylines. The game’s symbols and sound effects have an African theme, with elephants and zebras.

In the decade since Microgaming launched Mega Moolah, no other online slot machine game has produced as many millionaires.

The prizes for Mega Moolah have ranged from $5 million to $13 million. That $13 million was the biggest online jackpot win in history, too.

7 – You Usually Can’t Win the Progressive Jackpot Unless You Play Max Coins

Most slot machines have a denomination and a maximum number of coins you can wager. Most of the time, you can bet less than the minimum without any kind of adverse effects.

But progressive slots, like video poker games, are an exception.

If you don’t bet the maximum number of coins, you’re usually ineligible to win the progressive jackpot.

This doesn’t make much of a practical difference, since the probability of winning a progressive jackpot is practically zero anyway. Once the probability of an event gets small enough, it might as well be zero.

8 – Some Online Casinos ONLY Offer Progressive Jackpots

One online casino, Slotland, offers a minimal number of games, but they all share the same progressive jackpot. You can’t play there from the United States, but it’s probably just as well. The casino has some misleading practices, especially in terms of how their video poker and blackjack games work.

When a casino offers a video blackjack or video poker game, they’re implying that those games follow the same probabilities you’d see if they were using a deck of playing cards.

If you’re okay with that, it might be okay to play there, but the most interesting thing about that casino is that all the games tie into the one big jackpot.

9 – A Standalone Progressive Offers Better Odds

You’ll find three different kinds of progressive slot machines:

1. Standalone progressives
2. Local area progressives
3. Wide area progressives

A standalone progressive slot machine is one where the jackpot can only be won on that machine. But playing on that machine counts toward raising the jackpot. The size of the jackpot on a standalone game is almost always smaller than the jackpot on other kinds of machines.

A local area progressive network is a network of machines in the same casino, usually all within a short distance of each other. These jackpots are bigger than what you’d see on a standalone progressive, but not as big as you’ll see with a wide area progressive jackpot.

A wide area progressive jackpot is similar to what you see with Megabucks. Multiple machines in multiple locations feed the jackpot. This game has the biggest prizes.

The best odds for the player can be found at the standalone progressive slots, because the jackpot is smaller. In fact, the lower the jackpot, the better the odds are in general with a slot machine game.

10 – You Can Win the Progressive Even With Your Slots Club Card Inserted

There’s a popular myth/urban legend that you can’t win the top jackpot on a slot machine if you’re playing with the slots club card inserted. This isn’t true.

The random number generator running these machines isn’t aware of whether you’re playing with your slots club card inserted or not. It’s impossible for it to have such an effect on your gaming experience.

Conclusion

Progressive slot machines can be a lot of fun as long as you know what you’re getting yourself into. Generally, I recommend avoiding them for games with lower jackpots, but certain players prefer to play for big, life-changing prizes.

If that’s your cup of tea, be my guest. What kinds of facts about progressive slots do you know that I haven’t covered here? Leave a comment and let me know.

Slot machines don’t involve much strategy. Instead, you’re mainly relying on luck to win. However, slots do feature some small measure of strategy. One of the most important concepts in this regard is hit frequency (a.k.a. win frequency).

If you’re puzzled on hit frequency, then you’ll definitely want to learn more about it. After all, it’s a critical factor in terms of helping you sustain your slots bankroll.

What Is Hit Frequency?

Hit frequency refers to how often you can expect to win a prize on each spin. If a certain game offers you a payout on one out of every five spins, then it has a 15% win frequency.

However, this is just a simple explanation of the concept. You also want to factor paylines into the equation.

Therefore, you want to consider the number of paylines involved when it comes to hit frequency. After all, you might be paying more to earn the same quantity of wins as with another slot that has fewer lines.

What Do Slots Players Value the Most?

Most slots players don’t think about hit frequency or even know what it means. Instead, they only consider return to player (RTP).

RTP refers to how much money a slot machine pays back on average. For example, a game with 95% RTP will offer $0.95 back for every dollar wagered.

RTP is definitely important, because it determines the house edge for a given game. In the example above, you’re facing a 5% house advantage, which is about average for an online slot.

Why Is Hit Frequency More Important than RTP?

Win frequency doesn’t have a bearing on the house edge. Meanwhile, RTP more directly relates to your long-term chances of winning.

Therefore, payback seems like the more important concept here. However, you should definitely consider hit frequency if you’re concerned about your short-term chances of winning.

Win frequency relates more to the present. The more times you can win per round, the more money you’ll have coming back to your bankroll in the short run.

Again, hit frequency doesn’t determine the house edge or your long-term odds. Instead, it only covers how often you can expect to win right now.

But you should also realize that payback is based on hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of spins. The chances of you producing results anywhere near the stated RTP for a given session, or even ten sessions, are extremely low.

Hit frequency will be felt much sooner than payback. That said, you definitely want to think about this concept before playing an online slot machine.

Different Ways to Judge Hit Frequency

I’ve established that win frequency is definitely important. The problem, though, is that most slot machines don’t offer a concrete indication on their hit frequency.

Going into the matter blind, you won’t know if you’re playing a game with high or low win frequency until you’re spinning the reels thousands of times. That said, you should definitely consider the following factors to help determine how often you can expect to win.

Jackpot Size

A big jackpot indicates a game that has low hit frequency. The developers have to seed a large jackpot with lots of money, which means they program a game to pay less often to make up for this.

You should pay attention to how much a jackpot is seeded with, not the current value, to determine hit frequency. After all, this is the money the developers need to get back through lowered payout frequency.

See the example below.

• You’re playing a game with a $1.5 million progressive jackpot.
• You read the “help” screen.
• The info section notes that the top prize is seeded at $250k.
• $250k is quite high for an initial jackpot.

Generally speaking, a slot with a jackpot seeded at $100,000 or more will offer fewer payouts on average. Of course, you may play these games while dreaming of getting rich. But you can’t expect to earn many short-term winnings with such slots.

Number of Large Payouts vs. Small Payouts

The jackpot isn’t the only payout that has an impact on hit frequency. You also need to consider how the other prizes look in relation to the average game.

Are you dealing with a slot that offers multiple non-jackpot payouts worth between 1,000 coins and 10,000 coins? If so, then the slot machine likely has low win frequency.

On the other hand, a game with a top non-jackpot payout of 1,000 coins or less will probably have a high hit frequency. You may not get rich with this slot, but you can at least expect more payouts.

Number of Bonuses

Bonuses may seem like harmless features that ramp up the entertainment value of a slot machine. But they also play a role in how often a game pays.

For example, a slot with free spins, a pick’em round, second-screen bonus, and scatter payouts could very well have low win frequency. This is especially true if one or more of these bonuses has the potential to award big payouts.

Meanwhile, a slot that only has free spins and a smaller jackpot will probably pay quite often. After all, you don’t have many extra options to hit large prizes in such a game.

Volatility Rating

Under the best circumstances, you’ll be playing a slot that actually provides a volatility rating. This is essentially interchangeable with hit frequency, because it refers to the volatility of payouts.

A really volatile game will reward bigger prizes, but also pay less frequently. Meanwhile, a game with little volatility has smaller payouts and fewer bonuses, but also awards prizes more often.

Most developers don’t offer these ratings. However, Pragmatic Play is one slots provider I know of that does this.

Always Keep Bankroll Management in Mind

Understanding hit frequency is only one piece of the puzzle when managing your slots bankroll. You also want to keep simple concepts in mind that’ll help you stick to a budget when spinning the reels.

First of all, you need to understand that slot machines are among the most volatile forms of gambling in any space. You may lose anywhere from 200-300 bets per hour on average.

You can also make up these losses at any point by hitting a large prize. However, you want to go into every session with the mindset that you’ll continue losing just to be safe.

Here’s an example on setting up your bankroll under this manner:

• You have a $1,000 bankroll and bet $0.25 per spin.
• 1,000 / 0.25 = 4,000 betting units
• 250 lost bets per hour.
• 4,000 / 250 = 16
• Your bankroll should theoretically last for 16 hours.

You can come up with your own method for slots bankroll management. But the key is that you put some thought into the matter.

With a good bankroll management plan, you’ll be less likely to risk money you can’t afford to lose. Furthermore, you’ll have a good idea on how long you reasonably last when playing slot machines.

You may also want to set a stop-loss limit. These limits refer to a predefined point where you’ll quit playing after racking up a certain amount of losses.

For instance, you could set a stop loss of $300. Assuming you have a bankroll worth $1,200, then you’d be able to stretch your funds for at least four sessions.

Conclusion

Win frequency is one of the most overlooked topics in the slots world. Instead, RTP takes center stage, because it relates more directly to long-term odds of winning.

But hit frequency is just as, if not more, important than RTP. It determines how often you can expect to win in the short run.

You’re probably dealing with a slot that has low hit frequency if you just can’t seem to win anything. Meanwhile, you can look forward to all sorts of prizes on a game with high win frequency.

The main aspects to consider when judging hit frequency include:

• Jackpot size
• Number of small payouts
• Number of large payouts
• Bonus features
• Volatility rating

The latter is perfect, because it provides a clear indication of a game’s win frequency. Unfortunately, most slot machines don’t feature a volatility rating.

Therefore, you need to consider the other aspects to make this determination. As a general rule of thumb, any slot that can deliver huge prizes won’t pay very often.

You may still like the idea of playing such slot machines. After all, you can hit a big prize through the jackpot or bonus.

But if you’re looking to win as much as possible, then slot machines with high hit frequency are the answer!

Coin goes in. Arm goes down. Coin goes in. Lights go off. Clink, clink, clang. Coins go in the cup. Coin goes in. Arm goes down… Such is the life of a slot zombie. Walk into a casino and you’ll see them everywhere, gamblers who are oblivious to everything other than the hungry machine into which they’re feeding their precious change.

On the face of things, there’s nothing wrong with being a slot zombie if that’s your thing. Slot machines are zombifying for a reason. They’re fun, easy, and are getting more and more diverse every year. On the other hand, even the most complex machine with tons of options and images can lull one into a trance.

If that’s you, and you want to be in a trance no longer, the good news is that there is hope. There are tactics you can employ to shake the slot zombie syndrome, revive yourself, and find new ways to gamble on slot games excitedly again.

Get Up and Move Around

Moving about is invaluable advice when you want to avoid the dreaded slot zombie syndrome. The problem with being a slot zombie is that you’re just doing the same thing over and over again until your brain drifts. Getting up and moving around is a great way to make the brain come back to its senses and start cogitating.

This is important for two reasons. First, as much fun as slot machines are, no one really wants to be oblivious to the world. There’s a lot to see and hear and do at a casino. Sitting there mindlessly means paying money to do nothing and miss out on the excitement.

Secondly, a lot of slot machines have an element of user interaction that almost borders on you, the slot player, affecting the outcome of game. While this isn’t true of older machines, the new slot machines are more like video games and present a lot of choices.

Get up and move around just so your brain has something to do. Even better, change machines and force your brain to play new games like zombie slots! We hear that’s fun. Stimulation will keep your brain working and keep you out of the slot-zombie zone.

Video Poker

Video poker may sound like a bit of a cop out, but it’s every bit of fun as a slot machine, it’s far more interactive, and you have a decent chance of cashing out some money if you play it smart. Plus, we’re assuming that if you like slot machines enough to enter into the zombie state, then there’s something about gambling through a computer interface that you like.

Again, that’s not a problem. We want to make suggestions based on what you enjoy so you get the most out of your gambling experience. If you’ve not played video poker before, or not done so in a casino, the good news is that video poker machines are everywhere.

This includes the casino bar which would not want you, the humble gambler, to miss out on the chance to lose money while sipping overpriced cocktails.

If you go the video poker route, you’re already avoiding slot zombie syndrome, because poker is a far more intensive game to play than slots. You have a lot of decisions to make about which cards to keep, which cards to toss, whether to stay or whether to fold. Really, playing video poker can be as thrilling as playing a real hand of poker except that you can do it in the privacy of your own area of the bar.

With video poker, you don’t have to worry about tells or tendencies, reading your opponents, or whether the person that just sat down next to you is a card shark waiting to take your cash. Instead, you just have to press the buttons and play until you decide to take your winnings home.

After a while, the thrill of video poker can subside. When that happens, it’s perfectly fine.

Do be careful when you play video poker, though. There are a lot of machines in a casino that look like they’re video poker machines without actually giving you the chance to play poker. These machines are basically just slots with a prettier skin on them. There’s nothing wrong with them, like any good slot machine, but if you’re trying to avoid being a slot zombie, it’s hard to do that while you still continue to play slots.

Trying Another Game Entirely

We danced around the issue of playing a game completely different than slots, but if you’re trying to avoid slot zombie syndrome, we had to at least suggest that you give a different game a try. A casino is a cornucopia of different ways to wager and win money that are so much more than just the slot machines.

Again, we’re assuming that because slot machines are your thing, you’re going to be less drawn to something like a poker room. With the game of poker, you’re forced to play against others and the ways to lose money are numerous and dynamic. That’s perfectly fine, because the casino has other games it can offer to you.

For instance, consider betting on races.

The bets don’t have to be large, so you can place a good number of them on a few different races and see if the thrill of watching your racer cross the finish line doesn’t make you feel just a little bit giddy.

Plus, with a little bit of research, you will have far more control over your money-making opportunities than you ever did playing slot machines. As an added bonus, the sports betting area of a casino is usually home to a few people who are willing to chat with you. Social interaction is a fine way to ensure you don’t become a TV zombie instead of a slot zombie.

If sports betting is not your preferred way to gamble, you can also try other casino games like craps and roulette. Both of these games offer you, the player, as much interaction as you want, from placing bets on a number to actually slinging some dice at the craps table.

Also, both of these games can be social, and that interaction with other people is more than enough to make even the most hardened slot zombie back into a wide awake, fully functional gambling human. Then, you can go back to slot machines if that’s still your thing!

Conclusion

We cannot stress enough that we believe there is nothing wrong with playing slot machines and enjoying them. The mere thrill of hitting that button and watching a cup full of coins drop out of the machine is enough to get our hearts racing.

Where playing slots becomes a problem is when someone becomes a slot zombie, good for little else than dropping in coins and doing the same thing over and over again. That is what we want to avoid.

To that end, we recommend three tactics to revive a slot zombie from their state. The first is getting up and changing the scenery. Make the brain work to move the body, or learn a new game. This is usually enough to shake of the zombie effects of too many slots.

After that, we recommend trying a game similar to slots (video poker) but different enough to provide a wholly different mental challenge to the would-be slot zombie. Finally, when that fails, we recommend trying a whole new game all together. The casino is full of all kinds of experiences, any of which should be good enough to prevent another case of slot zombie syndrome.

Some people can play the same slot game for 12 hours, but I can’t. After a while, my mind numbs out, and I need a challenge.

That’s usually when I go back to the tables to look for some blackjack.

At least I have to think about the cards.

Gambling is supposed to be fun, and there are times that it’s a lot of fun. Especially, when I’m winning.

Although I wouldn’t consider myself a slot game fanatic, I’ve tried a lot of different games. I’ve played cartoon themes, East Asian themes, Middle Eastern themes, space themes, etc. There is usually something for everyone.

I sometimes wonder what playing slot games were like before they had bonus games. I don’t mean the reels go wild and spin around. I mean real changes in the game experience.

The most fun I’ve had in a bonus game was shooting monsters. If only we could trigger the bonus game whenever we wanted to play it.

A few years back, I visited Vegas with a couple of friends for the weekend. We were in a talkative mood, so we started playing slots together. One of my friends suggested we make a prop bet on who would get to the bonus game first.

That was a crazy weekend. We drank more beer than I remember. At one point I think we were propping on which casino server would come by next.

The way we gamified the slot games that weekend always fascinated me. I’ve tried it again a few times since then, and it’s been a lot of fun.

Here are several ways my friends and I have figured out how to make playing slots more interesting.

1 – Bet 1 Credit per Machine for an Hour

I don’t know what inspired my friend to suggest this. We played a lot of machines. It’s an old idea.

Someone once told me he used to go from machine to machine. He’d put a coin in and play it until the machine stopped paying. That was his idea of a serious gambling tip.

My buddy suggested we see how many machines we could play in an hour. The three of us each bet 1 credit. If the game paid anything, we kept playing.

It didn’t take long for us to get separated. We met back up about 90 minutes later. I played around 30 machines. My other friend played about 40 or 50.

My buddy came in with the fewest machines. He hit a couple of bonus games. If there is a science to this method of gambling, we didn’t figure it out. But it was fun, nonetheless.

2 – Set a Time Limit

This is a bit like a prisoner thumbing his nose at the prison. My wife and I were playing slots one night, and I mentioned I was bored. She wanted to keep playing.

“Just one more hour,” she implored.

So I set a timer for an hour. I couldn’t help but tease her. Every 15 minutes, I came by and told her how much time she had left.

You’d be amazed at how intense those last 15 minutes felt. At one point she completely tuned out everything. It was all about playing the next game.

When we left the casino, she said she wasn’t trying to get a fix. To her, it felt more like trying to race to the finish line. We’ve tried the time limit thing a few times.

The more control you have over your own actions, the better.

3 – Make a Prop Bet With a Friend

That wild Vegas weekend happened long ago, but my friends and I still make prop bets if we play slots together. It adds a little more excitement to the game.

Here is how we do it, but there are a million possible variations.

1. Two players sit side-by-side on identical games
2. Both players start with the same budget like $50
3. Both players bet another $50 on the prop

The first time we did this the, prop was on who would get a bonus game first. But over time we’ve changed it up.

The variation I like best is when the prop goes to whoever loses their bankroll first. This way even if you lose you win. The guy whose money lasts longest doesn’t always lose it.

The worst prop bet we made was on two old-style games. We made a bet on who would get three red 7s first. After an hour we gave up.

4 – Hold an Impromptu Tournament With Friends

My wife and I played in a slot tournament once. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision. After we signed up, we started to have second thoughts.

It was an interesting experience. Ten identical games were roped off and reset to pay ungodly sums of prizes.

The players were given 1000 credits. When the game host said “go” we started beating on the buttons furiously, playing as many games as possible. Whoever won the most credits won the tournament.

Although my wife and I didn’t win that tournament, it did give us an idea for hosting a “slots party” one year. We took about a dozen people to a nearby casino and sat six people at a row of machines.

Everyone put some money into the prize pool. We had a grand prize for whoever won the most money in a 15-minute time period. We had a second prize for whoever had the second-highest balance.

If anyone lost their bankroll in the 15 minutes, the rest of the group bought their dinner.

One of the guys called out the action. We attracted some interested onlookers from the other players in the casino. I don’t think the casino staff had any complaints, but a few of them looked our way.

This was a smaller casino, so I guess they were happy to have such a large group playing slot games.

5 – Switch After Every Bonus Game

When you’re playing by yourself, those bonus games liven things up. One night I had a run of really bad luck. After losing $100 on a game, I put another $50 in.

And then I hit a bonus game.

After the game finished, I had about $125 on the machine. I was still down, but it wasn’t that bad. I stared at the screen for about a minute and got up.

For the rest of the night, I played each machine until I hit a bonus game. After the bonus, I withdrew my money and found another machine. This kept me moving and helped shake that numb feeling of bad luck.

I’ve used this strategy many times since then. I do it to break up the monotony of the evening.

Why not just hit the tables? I guess I’m not a hard-core card player.

6 – Earn the Game You Want to Play

One weekend we drove to a casino in Oklahoma. On the way there, my wife and I talked about which games we wanted to play. We both had our favorites for this casino.

When we got there, the place was packed. It was a holiday weekend, so getting to our favorite games was a challenge.

I must have waited three hours to get on the game I wanted to play. By that time, I had tried several other games. None of them were as satisfying as the one I wanted to play.

I remember having that feeling in some other casinos. Somewhere out west, there was a game called Double Dragons. The bonus game asks you to choose your dragon.

Everyone played that game. Working my way toward it was half the fun of finally getting to play it.

Those two experiences led me to set a goal. I have to earn my way to a specific game.

7 – Go on a Treasure Hunting Adventure

The last variation on the earned game strategy is to turn it into a treasure hunt. Instead of having a specific game in mind, I want a minimum win.

I refined the activity by limiting it to games of a certain type. I called it “treasure hunting” one night because I was only playing fantasy-themed games. It’s a good way to give yourself a goal each time you hit the floor.

Conclusion

An uncle of mine once said something to the effect of, “The only thing you can predict about slots is they will take your money.” I only ever saw him play poker games at the casino.

The first time I played slots I had no luck at the tables. I had a few dollars left and went to the quarter machines. I burned a few hours “rolling it up” over in the corner.

After a few years of using slots to break up the monotony of gaming at tables, I realized I was using slots to break up the monotony of gaming on slots.

What’s important is to have fun. But sometimes you can become so familiar with your favorite games that they stop being fun. By adding an element of risk or adventure to your usual slots, you can put the fun and excitement back into the game.

Slot machines have been entirely based on luck for decades. Unlike blackjack or poker, they don’t offer any control over the results.

However, a new breed of skill-based slots has begun to enter casinos. These games do provide the chance to control results to a degree.

Casinos aren’t necessarily offering skill-based slot machines willingly. Instead, they see a new trend on the horizon that could leave them obsolete if slots aren’t modified.

I’m going to discuss this new trend along why it’s forcing casinos to offer new types of slot machines. But first, I’ll cover more on how skill-based and traditional slots differ.

What Do Skill-Based Slot Machines Offer that Regular Slots Don’t?

A regular slot machine works as follows:

• You make a bet
• You spin the reels
• The random number generator (RNG) comes up with a combination
• Your results are displayed on the reels

You can see that the RNG decides the spin’s fate.

Some gamblers appreciate the complete randomness of slots. They don’t like overthinking every decision and would rather take a pure gamble.

Skill-based slot machines offer something different than this traditional setup. They feature bonus rounds that involve a high degree of skill.

Scientific Game’s Space Invaders is a perfect example of these games. This slot is based on a 1978 arcade machine that was later adapted to the Atari system.

Here’s how this slot machine’s bonus round works:

• You trigger the bonus with three or more scatter symbols
• You can choose between free spins and a skill-based round
• The latter brings up a second screen that’s filled with alien invaders
• You control a small spacecraft at the bottom and shoot at the advancing aliens

The base game still plays like any normal slot. You spin the reels and await a random result.

However, the key difference is in how the bonus works. You improve your chances of winning money by becoming more skilled at the bonus round.

Millennials Aren’t Playing Regular Slot Machines

The main reason why casinos are trialing skill-based slots is that millennials aren’t playing the traditional machines.

This generation, which was born between 1981 and 1996, visits casino resorts for the bars, nightclubs, and amenities. They’ve even shown some affinity for table games like blackjack and mini-baccarat.

However, millennials just don’t play slot machines like previous generations. They’re not impressed by the fancy graphics and features of the average modern slot.

This group has grown up during a technology boom that’s seen online gaming and smartphone use spread like wildfire. Millennials can simply pull out their phone and play a wide variety of games ⁠— gambling or otherwise.

In contrast to Baby Boomers and Generation X, they didn’t grow up visiting casinos just to gamble. Therefore, millennials don’t experience the same nostalgia that older gamblers do on slot machines.

The average millennial sees slots in land-based casinos as more relics than anything. But casinos are hoping to change this trend by injecting skill into the equation.

Gambling venues in both Las Vegas and Atlantic City have rolled out this new class of slots. They hope that the combination of skill-based bonuses, cool features, and good graphics is enough to attract young players.

Getting Skill-Based Casino Games Right Is Difficult

Skill-based gaming is still in its early stages. But so far, the results have been marginal at best.

The gaming world has been offering these slots since 2015. Neither millennials nor older gamblers are flocking to these machines.

One problem is a lack of awareness. Most players don’t realize that certain slots in Vegas and AC casinos feature skill.

Another potential problem is that developers just haven’t found the right combination to draw more gamblers.

Bonuses only account for around 3-5% of total return to player (RTP). This might not be a large enough degree of control for millennials, who are used to playing skill-based video and mobile games.

One more challenge for developers is figuring out the right type of bonuses. They’re going with old arcade games for now, which is a step in the right direction.

The idea is to use simple skill-based games that don’t turn off casual gamblers. After all, a 70-year-old grandma doesn’t want to play a slot where the bonus is patterned after Call of Duty.

But herein lies another dilemma: if the goal is to attract millennials, then why focus on arcade games from the 70s and 80s?

Uncertain Future with Skill-Based Slots

Aside from all the challenges I just highlighted above, casinos and developers must also deal with a high degree of uncertainty.

In the end, they could just be wasting their time by testing out skill-based slot machines. Nothing guarantees that these games will draw young adults.

Skill-based gaming sounds like a great idea in theory. Giving players the ability to decide their own fortunes is appealing.

Tournament.com, for example, found out the hard way that there are problems associated with such gaming.

They introduced an online betting platform for Half Life and Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) in 2007. Players could gamble on their team’s success on Tournament.com.

This idea sounds amazing in theory. Competitive gamers could win money by playing the games they love.

However, successful gamers would purposely play badly to lower their rating. They could then compete against lower-rated players and guarantee themselves more winnings.

Casinos don’t face the exact same set of trials as a video game betting site. But they too must worry about if the gambling world is ready for a new concept.

What Will the Future of Slot Machines Look Like?

The same skill-based slots that we see today may or may not ultimately win players over. In this case, what will the future of slot machines be?

Obviously, I can only speculate on the matter. But future slots will likely be closer to both social gaming and console/computer games.

Social games like Angry Birds, Candy Crush, and Plants vs. Zombies have become highly popular over the years. These games walk the fine line between being both entertaining and easy enough for the average person.

Many millennials would appreciate a more-hardcore gaming experience in casinos. After all, a good CS:GO player won’t get much stimulation from shooting Atari aliens that move at a snail’s pace.

Therefore, complex video games could make their way onto casino floors. Players would gamble on their abilities in games similar to CS:GO, Call of Duty, and Halo.

GameCo is already experimenting in this category with Danger Arena. This first-person shooter involves betting on your ability to blast armored soldiers.

Conclusion

The slots world is always evolving. Once three-reel games played on mechanical drums, these machines have transformed to reflect modern gaming better.

Nevertheless, they still aren’t catching on with younger gamblers. Millennials would rather visit a casino nightclub or spa than sit on a slot machine.

The good news is that these same visitors are still spending money. The bad news is that they’re not playing the casinos’ cash cows.

The industry fully realizes that they’ll be in trouble if they don’t find something that appeals to millennials. Skill-based slot machines are the first step in figuring out what young adults want.

The jury is out on whether these games are a success. They’ve only been available in casinos for a few years and haven’t been major hits thus far.

Developers may need to tweak the subject matter for the bonuses. Their early efforts include arcade adaptations that mainly appeal to older gamblers.

Both social and complex video gaming would very likely be popular among millennials. The fact is that gambling on games like Candy Crush and Halo hits closer to home with young players.

Again, these efforts are still in the early stages. But it’ll be interesting to see the end product of what finally does attract millennial gamblers.