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Important Tips for Slot Players (1)
The tips below are to help you be a more lucky slot player, try using them in free slots casinos where you can practice your skills before playong for real money.
Be sure to always insert your slot club card. In some casinos, using your card can effectively increase the payback of the machine you are playing by as much as one percent. You haven’t joined the slot club? If you’ve read the section on slot clubs, you will know that there is no down side.
Play only what your bankroll can handle. When you arrive at a gam¬bling resort, you should first ascertain what denomination of machine you should be playing. To help you determine this, the following table shows how much bankroll is needed for a two-, three-, or five-coin bet in each denomina¬tion, assuming eight spins per minute and a 90 percent payout rate:
Hourly Cost of Playing a Slot Machine
2 COINS 3 COINS 5 COINS
Nickel machine $5 per hour $7 per hour $12 per hour
Quarter machine $24 per hour $36 per hour $60 per hour
Dollar machine $96 per hour $144 per hour $240 per hour
Next, decide how many hours you would like to play over the course of your stay. For example, assume you start with a bankroll of $600 and would like to play an average of five hours a day for three days. That is a total of fifteen playing hours. Dividing fifteen hours into $600 gives a rate of $40 per hour. Thus, you should not play anything more costly than a three-coin quarter machine. Of course, in actuality, you may win more or lose more than the 90 percent payback would indicate, but at least you have a reasonable starting point.
When you insert coins, be sure you get what you pay for. Like any equipment with mechanical components, slot machines are subject to con¬siderable wear and tear. This is especially true of the coin mechanism. After handling hundreds of thousands of coins, the mechanism will malfunction sooner or later. Your best protection is to observe the glass and the paylines as you insert each coin to be sure the correct sections light up, showing that they are properly activated. If you hit a winning combination that doesn’t pay because only two of your three coins registered, you are out of luck. If one of your coins doesn’t register, be sure to wave down an attendant or press the CHANGE button and wait for someone to arrive. Don’t spin the reels before the situation is rectified.
Play one machine at a time. Slot managers know that some people like to play two slots simultaneously, so they usually flank a loose machine with tight ones on both sides. At best, you will win from a loose machine only to lose your winnings to a tight one; at worst, you will lose to two tight machines. Two loose machines are never knowingly placed alongside each other.
