Slot Player Advice

Today's wide selection of slot machines is a far cry from the machines of a few decades ago. What began as a relatively simple and purely mechanical machine has been transformed over time into a highly sophisticated device. With the new technologies come new variations. With the dizzying array of new variations come decisions for the slot-playing gambler.

They range from single-line slots that take from one to three quarters up to $100 tokens to multi-line, multi-coin machines in penny to quarter denominations. Some machines are linked to others in the casino and offer a progressive jackpot that climbs until someone hits it. But the ultimate in a jumbo jackpot are slots that are linked to others throughout the area offering some lucky player a multi-million-dollar windfall should the right symbols appear.

Choices, choices, choices.

While playing the slot machine, it is important to pace yourself. Though you are not necessarily putting a lot of money into the slot for each spin, it is easy to accumulate a lot of spins -- and therefore money invested -- in a short period of time. Assume you are playing a 25¢ machine with three coins played per spin. By playing at a fairly leisurely pace of one spin every five seconds, you will run $9 through the machine every minute. This translates to $540 per hour. That is a lot of money for a 25¢ machine. Pacing your play will help your money last longer through the inevitable losing streaks.

In order to have a fun time playing the slots and increase your chances of hitting a jackpot, you want to be able to play for a decent length of time each session. This can be accomplished by playing a machine with a proper denomination.

If you only have a $200 session bankroll and would like to play for a couple of hours, you should probably play a quarter or smaller denomination machine. As shown in the calculations above, you can easily run over $500 through a 25¢ 3-coin machine in an hour. Playing a 3-coin dollar machine moves the figure to over $2,000 per hour. The chances of having a losing streak that will quickly wipe out your session bankroll are dramatically increased on the dollar machine. The jackpot amounts are higher, but the chances of a quick wipe-out are much greater. Play within your bankroll.

Finally, make sure you select the proper type of slot for your style of play and bankroll. If you really want to have fun by playing a couple of hours per session, you will want to avoid the "Mega" jackpot machines. The gigantic jackpots have to be paid for somehow. That somehow is a much lower payback on the non-jackpot spins. Your money will simply not last nearly as long on these machines as on lower jackpot machines.

Does that mean you should not play the Mega Jackpot machines? Not necessarily. Just keep in mind that your session stake will be eaten up much more quickly than on lesser jackpot machines. Also, remember to play maximum coin-in if you are going to play these machines. Nothing would be sadder than to hit the jackpot-winning combination of symbols and not have the required bet to win it.

If you are going to play a machine that adds winning combinations with more coins played, always play maximum coins. If you cannot afford to play maximum coins, either go to a lower denomination machine, or look for machines that pay the same ratio to coin-in regardless of the number of coins. For example the jackpot for 1 coin played is 2,500 credits, and for 2 coins played is 5,000 credits.

By having the proper bankroll, selecting the proper games and playing with some discipline, your slot-playing experience will be greatly enhanced. All it takes is a little effort.