In the U.S., most casinos don’t release the data from their slot machines. That doesn’t mean that there’s no data available, though. In fact, slot machines tend to have a lot of information available about their payouts, simply because video slot games are so easily tracked online. There’s a wealth of information available about slot games and their estimated payout rates, but this information isn’t always one hundred percent accurate, especially as games will have different payouts depending on how much you bet.
Selecting the right game for you can be a little confusing if you’re focusing on payout rates, especially if you’re on a budget. But for a lot of players, this is really important to take into consideration. So, we’ve put together a few tips here for you if you want to maximize your chances of winning, but don’t want to break the bank doing so.
Step One: Figure Out How Much You’re Willing to Spend
This is an easy one. Never bet with money you can’t afford to lose. If you need that money for something, don’t bet with it. Figure out how much you are willing to lose happily, and that’s your bankroll. That’s it!
Step Two: Pick a Machine
There’s a lot of advice out there about picking a machine, and most of it is unhelpful. However, there are some machines that are better than others. But, what you choose is completely dependent on what you’re willing to spend. For example, the general knowledge is that your bankroll for the day should be large enough that one spin accounts for no more than 2 percent of your bankroll. If you have $100, you should never risk more than $2 per spin. If you’re not risking much, it will automatically eliminate a lot of the machines that you can choose from. Sometime free online slots will help you get the right game to play. You just have to work through the games one at a time.
Next, figure out what kind of game you’re looking to play. Progressive jackpots have huge win potential, but they will not return as many of the small wins. Low probability games tend to have smaller but more consistent returns. Look at the number you came up with in Step One, and make a decision based on that information.
Step Three: Figure Out a Bet
My personal favorite strategy to bet with is the standard deviation approach. After picking a machine, I start out with the minimum bet and start to count how many spins I take, noting how often I am winning. After about 100 rolls, my data begins to take on some order. I know that for every 10 spins, I am likely to see a winner twice, or so. If I’m happy with the number I’ve found, then I will stick with the machine. Then, I increase my bets to the number I had settled on for the day. Generally speaking, your odds of winning go up slightly when you increase your bet sizes, so I know that I will probably do a little better than what I started out with.
This isn’t a perfect strategy, but it’s a simple and effective method of estimating how much I will win or lose on a machine.
Now, there’s no guarantee that the data you find online will be exactly the same as the machines that are found in a brick and mortar casino. But the odds are that it will be pretty close. Casinos do have the right to make small changes to the games that they are using, but it doesn’t happen often. So, if you know that the Sopranos game has a payout rate of 90 percent when you max out your bet online, you can guess that the rate will only differ slightly when you’re playing in a physical setting with the same bet present. Throughout the U.S., places with brick and mortar casinos all have minimum rates that they must payout. In Nevada, that rate is 75 percent. No matter what, you can be assured that you will be getting a decent rate. Online casinos don’t necessarily need to stick to these rules depending on where they’re located, so doing some research on your own will help you improve your odds of winning.
