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Playing slots doesn't require too much brain power but because different
machines have different requirements. So, it's important to follow a
few general checkpoints.
1. Before you play your first coin or credit, make sure you know what
denomination you are playing.
2. Read the payback schedule to see if the jackpot is available only
for maximum coins played. For instance, three jackpot symbols might pay
100 coins for one, 200 coins for two, but 1000 coins for three. (This
kind of machine is termed a bonus multiplier. If all payoffs are proportionate--100
for 1, 200 for 2 and 300 for three--it's simply a multiplier.)
3. On bonus multiplier machines, always play the maximum number of credits.
On simple multiplier, you can choose to play any number of coins remembering
that the more you play, the bigger the payoff when you hit something.
4. Some machines will payout on certain symbols only. Referred to as
Buy A Pay machines, these pay on certain symbols only for specific number
of coins or credits played. You might get two-for-one when you get a
cherry but nothing when you hit three bars because for that combination,
you need two coins.
5. If you're playing a machine that has a progressive jackpot, to save
your sanity, always play the maximum number of coins required to win
it. There's no gambling letdown as devastating as lining up all the jackpot
symbols and getting only a tiny amount of money when, had you played
those extra coins, you would have experienced a windfall.
6. If you choose multi-line machines, double check to see whether you
have to play the maximum number of coins to win the jackpot.
7. Take your time. Playing slots isn't a matter of speed. In fact, the
faster you play, the faster you will lose if you don't hit something.
Play at a reasonable speed and enjoy yourself.
8. Don't chase. If you begin to think you'll never get even or win,
stop. Choose another machine or quit for the day. If you lose have your
bankroll, move down to a lower denomination. You can always move up after
you've recovered your losses.
9. Don't play more than you can afford to lose in one sitting. If you
have $25 as a bankroll, you'd be wise to play the lowest denomination
machine that requires the fewest coins per pull. This will allow your
bankroll to stretch out over a longer period of time. If, however, you
choose to play that $25 in quarters or higher, you're likely to lose
it very quickly.
10. Understand the psychology. A casino attracts a multitude of players.
Overall, those players will leave some of their money behind. A few will
take money out. The amount taken out by the winners is far and away offset
by the amount left behind by winners. Players hit jackpots all the time
and these jackpots come from the losses of others.
11. Cash out. Slot machines are a big gamble. When you get ahead, take
the money.
Remember most of all to play responsibly, have fun, and take your good
luck winnings to the bank.
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In a modern slot machine,
the odds of hitting a particular symbol or combination of symbols
depends on how the virtual reel is set up. As we saw in the last
section, each stop on the actual reel may correspond to more than one
stop on the virtual reel. Simply put, the odds of hitting a particular
image on the actual reel depend on how many virtual stops correspond to
the actual stop.
In a typical weighted slot machine, the top jackpot stop (the one with
the highest-paying jackpot image) for each reel corresponds to only one
virtual stop. This means that the chance of hitting the jackpot image on
one reel is 1 in 64. If all of the reels are set up the same way, the
chances of hitting the jackpot image on all three reels is 1 in 643, or
262,144. For machines with a bigger jackpot, the virtual reel may have
many more stops. This decreases the odds of winning that jackpot
considerably.
The losing blank stops above
and below the jackpot image may correspond to more virtual stops than
other images. Consequently, a player is most likely to hit the blank
stops right next to the winning stop. This creates the impression that
they "just missed" the jackpot, which encourages them to keep gambling,
even though the proximity of the actual stops is inconsequential.
A machine's program is
carefully designed and tested to achieve a certain payback percentage.
The payback percentage is the percentage of the money that is put in
that is eventually paid out to the player. 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 most gambling
jurisdictions, the law requires that payback percentages be above a
certain level (usually somewhere around 75 percent). The payback
percentage in most casino machines is much higher than the minimum --
often in the 90- to 97-percent range. Casinos don't want their machines
to be a lot tighter than their competitors' machines or the players will
take their business elsewhere.
The odds for a particular
slot machine are built into the program on the machine's computer chip.
In most cases, the casino cannot change the odds on a machine without
replacing this chip. Despite popular opinion, there is no way for the
casino to instantly "tighten up" a machine.
Machines don't loosen up on
their own either. That is, they aren't more likely to pay the longer you
play. Since the computer always pulls up new random numbers, you have
exactly the same chance of hitting the jackpot every single time you
pull the handle. The idea that a machine can be "ready to pay" is all in
the player's head, at least in the standard system.
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