Slot Tips

About 80 percent of first-time visitors to casinos head for the slots. It’s easy — just drop coins into the slot and push the button or pull the handle. Newcomers can find the personal interaction with dealers or other players at the tables intimidating — slot players avoid that. And besides, the biggest, most lifestyle-changing jackpots in the casino are offered on the slots.

Read the Pay Tables
Looking at the pay table of the machine can help you judge the frequency that the machine returns a winner. If you see that there are a lot of combinations that return smaller wins, then this machine will usually have a larger hit frequency than one that has fewer winning combinations that pay back larger wins. Some players like a lot of smaller wins more often.

Etiquette

Many slot players pump money into two or more adjacent machines at a time, but if the casino is crowded and others are having difficulty finding places to play, limit yourself to one machine. As a practical matter, even in a light crowd, it’s wise not to play more machines than you can watch over easily. Play too many and you could find yourself in the situation faced by the woman who was working up and down a row of six slots. She was dropping coins into machine number six while number one, on the aisle, was paying a jackpot. There was nothing she could do as a passerby scooped a handful of coins out of the first tray.

Sometimes players taking a break for the rest room will tip a chair against the machine, leave a coat on the chair, or leave some other sign that they’ll be back. Take heed of these signs. A nasty confrontation could follow if you play a machine that has already been thus staked out.

Play Full Coin in Progressive Machines.
Progressive machines offer large jackpots. The big progressive jackpot is made by taking a percentage of all the money played into the machine. You can only win the progressive jackpot if you have are playing the maximum number of coins. Don’t play these machines if you don’t plan to do this.

The progressive. You also have no reason to play less than maximum coins on a progressive machine. A player who eventually lines up the jackpot symbols gets a percentage of each coin played. The first progressive machines were self-contained–the jackpot was determined by how much that particular machine had been played since the last big hit. Today most progressives are linked electronically to other machines, with all coins played in the linked machines adding to a common jackpot.

These jackpots can be enormous — the record is $39,710,826.26, a $1 progressive at a Las Vegas casino. The tradeoff is that frequency and size of other payouts are usually smaller. And you can’t win the big jackpot without playing maximum coins.

If you must play fewer than maximum coins, look for a multiplier in which the final-coin jump in the top jackpot is fairly small. Better yet, choose a machine that allows you to stay within your budget while playing maximum coins. If your budget won’t allow you to play maximum coins on a $1 machine, move to a quarter machine. If you’re not comfortable playing three quarters at a time, move to a two-quarter machine. If you can’t play two quarters at a time, play a nickel machine.

With so many paylines and the possibility of betting multiple coins per line, video slots are different. Some penny slots with 20 paylines take up to 25 coins per line. That’s a $5 maximum bet — a pretty penny indeed! Most players bet less than the max on video slots but are sure to cover all the paylines, even if betting only one coin per line. You want to be sure to be eligible for the bonus rounds that give video slots most of their fun. Some progressive jackpots require max coins bets, and some don’t. If a max-coins bet is required to be eligible for the jackpot and you’re not prepared to roll that high, find a different machine.

Slot Candles
The lights on the top of the machines are called candles. The bottom light is colored and that color can tell you the denomination of the machine. In most cases, the candles on dollar machines are blue, Quarters are yellow, and nickel machines are red.

The multiplier. On a multiplier, payoffs are proportionate for each coin played–except, usually, for the top jackpot. If the machine accepts up to three coins at a time, and if you play one coin, three bars pay back ten. Three bars will pay back 20 for two coins and 30 for three coins. However, three sevens might pay 500 for one coin and 1,000 for two, but jump to 10,000 when all three coins are played. Read the glass to find out if that’s the case before playing less than the maximum coins on this type of machine.

The buy-a-pay. Never play less than the maximum on a buy-a-pay, on which each coin “buys” a set of symbols or a payout line. The first coin in might allow the player to win only on cherry combination, while the second coin activates the bar payouts, and the third coin activates the sevens. Woe is the player who hits three jackpot symbols on a buy-a-pay with only one coin played–the player gets nothing back. A variation is the machine with multiple payout lines, each activated by a separate coin. All symbols are active with each coin, but if a winning combination lines up on the third-coin payout line with only one or two coins played, the payoff is zero.

Lock Up a Profit
If you hit a jackpot, make sure that you “lock up” a profit. Take your initial playing stakes and a little profit and set it aside. Then play with a small percentage of you winnings. There is nothing worse than the feeling of being a winner and then giving back all your winnings to the casino. I recommend taking a little break after a hitting a jackpot. Savor the win and enjoy that winning feeling.

Keep a Log
If you hit a jackpot over $1,200 you will be given a W2-G and your winnings will be reported to the IRS. If you keep an accurate gaming log, you can use your losses to offset your winnings come tax time.

Slow Down
Slow down when you are playing slot machines. There are no prizes for the player hitting the spin button the fastest. Don’t play more than one machine at a time. Playing more than one machine just exposes you more to the house edge. In the long run you will just lose your money faster.

Manage your Money
Never bring money to the casino that you need for other expenses. If you can’t afford to lose it then you shouldn’t be playing it in the casino. Break you casino bankroll down into several playing sessions. Don’t risk it all in one playing session.

Cashing Out.
When you are done playing, make sure that you take all your coins from the tray or your voucher ticket from the machine. Do this right away before you collect your personal belongings. Go directly to the cage. Don’t walk around with a bucket of coins. They can be spilled or lost if you set them down. If you are playing a coinless machine that pays you with a paper voucher make sure you cash it in. Some of these have an expiration date making them worthless after a certain period of time.

Don’t Purchase Slot Systems.
Slot systems that claim they can show you which machine is ready to hit are a scam. The Random Number Generator (RNG)determines the winning combinations of the machine. There is no way to determine if a machine is “due” to hit.

Have Fun
Slot machines have a larger house edge than other casino games. While winning is nice, in the long run it will cost you money to play. Look at this cost as your price for entertainment. Pick a machine that you have fun playing and enjoy yourself.