Whether you are playing old school mechanical slot machines or new, digital ones there is one thing you need to remember: slot machines are just computers that are designed to pay out less money than goes in.
You have probably heard the term, ‘house edge’ with regards to casinos. Well, slots have the highest house edge in the casino. It’s tough to calculate exactly how much edge each machine or type of slot machine has because they can all be programmed slightly differently. But it isn’t unheard of for them to take as much as 15%. A massive edge when compared to other casino games.
Take Blackjack for example. If you know how to play and actually execute a solid basic strategy, the house edge is only around 0.5% at the Blackjack table. Poor players still only give up around a 2% edge to the house. Compare that to the say, 10% or even 15% of a slot machine and you wonder why people play slots at all.
The answer is because it is fun and easy. Especially for the old-school kind, you just pull the lever and watch the machine spin, if you want to entertain yourself with slots online, Bovada offers a variety of slot games to play with and get better doing it before going to Las Vegas. Sometimes you win, which eggs you on to keep at it. But the massive edge to the house is exactly why casino put the slots all around the perimeter of the casino and basically block the entrances with the machines. They want you to stop at those slots machines before you make it to a table where the odds of winning are reduced, like in Blackjack, Roulette, and Craps.
They make them loud and flashy and bright to grab your attention. Nowadays, they have turned the digital machines into all-out video games … I’ll admit that I find it enjoyable to sit at a modern machine with all the bells and whistles and play, but with so many different types of games and ways to win/ways to lose, I usually have very little idea of what’s going on and why I just won or why I just lost. I’m merely entertained by all the colors and numbers and shapes or animals, connecting with lines with no discernable logic – at least initially.
But usually what happens is I hit buttons and things happen that I don’t understand and the $50 bill I put in the machine rapidly goes away.
So, how do you increase you chance of winning at the machines? In the long run, you can’t win – though you may have a lucky day or night where hit a big payout.
Slow Down
The first and most important rule to increasing your enjoyment and stretching out your bankroll is simply to slow down. Stop hitting the spin button the second you win or lose on a spin. Take a moment to assess what happened on the last play and learn how the particular game you’re playing actually works.
Modern slots are specifically designed to move fast. They have an insanely high edge and want to capitalize on that by upping the pace so that you lose as many ‘hands’ as possible in the shortest amount of time. Sure, maybe you win then lose then win then lose, but before you know it you win, then lose, lose. Then win, then lose, lose, lose. The pace can go so fast that you can do upwards of 300 spins in just one hour … 5 spins per minute.
Slow down. Don’t let it auto roll for you and assess the situation after each play. It’s preprogrammed, so it’s hard to say if changing the pace will affect the outcome of the next spin in any way, but it will give you a chance to make better decisions on how much you risk and if you actually want to stay on the machine you are currently using. If you slow down your pace, your money will last a lot longer and you’ll get more enjoyment out of the games. You may actually find that you leave with more money as well, simply because you controlled your risk amounts better.
Just remember, it’s easy to get excited and click spin rapidly … but that is exactly what the casino wants. They want to push the pace so that you are making too many decisions too rapidly. Just slow down, and pause before each spin and you’ll play slots better and for longer!
