Money management at slots

16 December 2014

By Frank Scoblete

Gambling writers like me (meaning writers who gamble and who also write about gambling) tend to give their money management advice as if it were manna from heaven. It isn’t. It’s merely an opinion usually derived over the years — years when you learn what can and can’t be done when playing games where the casino has an edge.

There are plenty of experienced slot players who also have money management techniques — some good, some bad, some just awful.

Before we learn their “secrets,” let me just lay out what money management isn’t. Simply, in games where the house has the edge, no amount of money management can turn that edge in your favor. Essentially a good money management principle is to save yourself from losing so much money that you crawl into bed strongly desiring to suck your thumb.

CARLTON: I give myself $500 per day to play with. My goal is to win $500. If I get up that amount I put the $500 amount I originally gave myself in an envelope or in the safe in my room and then use $200 to play with. No matter what, for that day I have won $300. Should I turn that $200 into another $200 win, I take the first $200 and put that away. I play quarter machines only. I play for maybe six hours a day divided into three or four sessions. I find this money management works for me.

DANIELLE: I try to play all day long from when the bus drops me off until the bus picks me up, with a break for lunch and to go to the bathroom. I play on $200 only at quarter machines. I play one coin at a time and my money lasts a long time. I usually lose most of the $200 because I can’t resist playing. I go to the casinos one day a month. I figure this is fun money.

CONNIE: I have a separate bank account for my gambling money and I put about $200 a month in it. I did this for a year without going to the casinos to give me a large enough amount not to have to worry about losing. I still put the $200 a month in the account and any wins that I might get when I am playing. I find this is a way to ease the fear of losing money because the gambling money I have is geared strictly for gambling, nothing else.

RICHARD: I play dollar machines, full coin. I play for as long as I feel like and I have played marathon days. I once played for 24 straight hours! I don’t like to go to the movies or plays or even out to dinner. The only thing that really turns me on is playing slot machines. I’m divorced and I have no kids and I don’t intend to leave any money to anyone when I pass on. I’ll use my money to play with.

MARLA: I am a very slow and deliberate slot player in Atlantic City. I drive down once a month with my husband. He plays craps and I play the slots. I also take long relaxing walks on the Boardwalk and right on the beach.

We use separate money from our own accounts because he is crazy when he plays and he usually makes terrible bets at the craps tables. I play what are called “standalone” machines and I look for the ones that pay an equal amount across the jackpot line like, you know, $400, $800, $1,200 where you get no reward playing full coin. I therefore only play one coin. By playing one coin I play two-thirds less money in a day. I usually go home with at least some of my initial money in my pocketbook. My husband goes home with empty pockets.

BARRY: Don’t get me started. I have lost a lot of money because I used to play like a wild man. I would go on binges thinking I would win all the money I lost with one giant jackpot. I’ve hit jackpots but I have never made enough to get back to even. Now, I give myself maybe $400 a session and I play four sessions for an hour each. That’s it. Whatever I have after four sessions, win or lose, I am done for the day. I am no longer a wild man. I know how to pace myself now.

JANE: My friend Mary and I play as a team. We spread out our play. We sit right next to each other. I play my three credits. She waits. Then she will play her three credits. We take our time, talk to each other and anyone around us who wants to talk. We look at our play as gambling and socializing. We go maybe two days a month and we have a great time.

FRANCES: I go to the casinos about two days in a row every month but I play very cautiously. I like to go to the shows and I enjoy just people-watching. I might play maybe two hours a day. If I am ahead I might try maybe $100 in a $5 machine. But I am conservative and I never allow myself to go nuts. There are too many great things to do in the casinos. I enjoy getting massages and using the other spa facilities. I try to take advantage of everything a casino offers.