Slots Hero

The more and more online slots games I see being released, the more I see with an increased number of paylines.

When I first started writing about slots many of the new online slots only had twenty paylines.

Then within the last year or so I have seen the number increase to twenty five. And really that is not too big of an increase. If you are wagering $0.01 per payline, it makes a spin cost $0.25 instead of $0.20. So you get four spins per dollar instead of five.

But with the release of some of the new online slots games in July I noticed that several had forty paylines and there have been a couple with one hundred paylines so far this year. Again, at $0.01 per payline, that makes a spin cost $0.40 and $1 respectively.

This is where you online slots strategy comes in to play.

The point of strategy in the case of online slots is to keep you from losing money too quickly. Key points in online strategy are to do a little research and find the online slots game with the highest payout percentage. Also, stop spinning the reels as fast as you—this is not a race! Unless you are racing to lose your money.

So, online slots strategy for paylines. Obviously the more paylines a game has the more it costs per spin. Oh sure, you could choose not to play all of the paylines but that defeats the purpose of having all those paylines.

The best that you can do in terms of slots strategy and paylines is stick to the online slots games with twenty or twenty five paylines.

Such games still offer the features players like to see in online slots games (bonus games, free spins, wilds and scatters), but the number of paylines will not eat into your bankroll too quickly. And that is the point of online slots strategy—to save your bankroll so that you can keep on enjoying the game and maybe hit it big.

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Not everything is how it appears when it comes to slot machines. Initially they might seem like they are easy to read. All you really need to know is what the payouts are right?

Appearances can be on the deceiving side actually. And that is one of the downfalls in a player’s slots strategy. How can slot machines be one of those cases of ‘more than meets the eye?’

For one thing you do not want to base your decision to play a slot machine purely on its payout table. Work this into your slots strategy.

Let’s take a look at two example slot machines. And keep that above adage for your slots strategy in mind. Both machines have the same payout percentage of 95%.

For our first slot machine we are going to call it Little Winner. It is a $1 slot machine with payouts of $1, $10, $100 and $1,000.

The other slot machine we are going to call Big Winner. This is a $2 slot machine with these four payouts: $2, $20, $200 and $2,000.

The player with the almost non-existent slots strategy would think “Hey, I can wager $2 and win $2,000, which is a $1,000 more than if I were to play the $1 slot machine.”

In the above slots strategy the player makes his playing choice based on the payout table, believing that he should go with the slot machine that will give him the higher payout.

But here is what he does not know about slot machines: The probabilities on these two machines have been set differently. The probabilities of a slot machine are the chances of each winning combination being landed. The probabilities can be set differently and the payout percentage will not be affected.

Little Winner’s probabilities are set with 0.05% for $1,000, 0.24% for $100, 1.22% for $10 and 9.75% for $1 with losses at 88.74%. Big Winner looks like this: 0.02% for $2,000, 0.12% for $200, 0.61% for $20 and 4.62% for $2 with losses at 94.62%.

In summary, adding up the math, Little Winner has a hit rate of 11.26% while Big Winner has a hit rate of 5.38%. When comparing the corresponding payouts you will notice that the payouts on Big Winner are about twice as hard to land.

While a slots player is not able to know what the probability is on a slot machine, the whole point is to not immediately assume that the machine that has the highest payout is the machine to play. As we can see in the example, the player that assumed that would have lost more than the player who spins the reels on Little Winner.

Assuming is one of the things you do not want to base your slots strategy on.

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Over that last year or so those who play slot machines have been saying that there are fewer and fewer jackpots being paid out to players. In turn some players believe that casinos have changed the payout percentage of their slot machines.

It is not true.

Here is the deal. When a slot machine is put together in the factory the chip that is programmed with that machine’s payout percentage is installed. This chip is in place to control the payouts of that slot machine. Once it is installed the payout percentage is a done deal.

The only way a casino could change the payout percentage of one of their slot machines is to first submit a sheaf of paperwork to the Casino Control Commission requesting to change the payout percentage of a slot machine. This sheaf of paperwork would have to be submitted for each machine the casino wished to change.

If the request is approved the casino then has to purchase a new payout percentage chip and then pay for the old chip to be removed and the new chip to be installed in the slot machine. None of which is cheap.

What does all of this mean to you, slot machine player? It means that the casino does not just flip a switch to change the payout of a slot machine. It is a very detailed and time consuming process.

So why do there seem to be fewer jackpots?

It does not have anything to do with the casinos actually. But it does have to do with the economy.

People are making fewer trips to casinos. Some because of a lack of funds and others because they are choosing to play online casino games. With fewer people in the casinos and fewer people playing on slot machines, there are now fewer jackpots being paid out.

It simply comes down to that. Less people playing slot machines means less opportunities for a jackpot on a slot machine to be triggered, which means less actual jackpots being won from slot machines.

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Is there such a thing as too many paylines?

This is a question that has been spinning around in my mind since the recent releases of some of the new online slots games. Some of Microgaming’s new online slots games feature forty paylines. There was another new online slots game that had one hundred paylines.

The thing that I wonder about when it comes to the number of paylines is when is it too many?

Initially you might think that the more paylines you have the better because it means that you have more opportunities to land a combination and receive a payout. But to be a smart slots player you need to stop and ask yourself this before you start spinning the reels of a payline heavy online slots game:

Is the payout worth it?

If you were to land a large payout, then yes, the cost of the spin is definitely worth it. But unfortunately large payouts do not happen as often as we would like.

Let’s say that you are playing an online slots game with twenty five paylines and you a playing at $0.01 per payline. That is $0.25 per spin. If you land a combination that pays you $0.10 or $0.12, which is about average, you are still losing money.

Now think of that example and imagine you are playing an online slots game with one hundred paylines. You would be paying $1 per spin. And if you are only winning between $.10 and $0.25, you are still losing money despite the extra paylines that are supposed to help increase your chances of winning.

And while having more paylines does have the potential to increase you winnings in an online slots game, if you are only winning amounts that are less than the cost of a spin, you are still losing. And you had better be hoping for some free spins or a bonus game.

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So earlier I discussed what the payout percentage of an online slots game actually means. In short, it is just the amount of the total wagers made by all of players of that particular online slots game that is paid back to the players.

Note that I said ‘players’ and not ‘player.’ Just because you put money in does not mean that you will get money out. An online slots game’s payout percentage applies to all the players who are playing; it is not how much you are going to receive back.

So what does this mean for you and how does payout percentage factor into slots strategy?

Wait! There is no slots strategy!

True, there is no actual strategy for an online slots game. Strategy is something used to affect the outcome of the game, and there is nothing that can do that for an online slots game. However, you can take an online slots game’s payout percentage and be a smarter player.

While payout percentage does not in any way dictate the amount of money you could win or lose to a slots game, it can help reduce your chances somewhat of losing money.

Here is the situation: you have the choice of playing one of two online slots games; one has a payout percentage of 92% and the other has a payout percentage of 96%. Which one do you play?

You would play the one with the 96% payout percentage. It does not mean that you are going to receive 96% of that game’s payouts. However, it does return 4% more of the total amount of wagers made on it.

Game One, for example, would only return $92,000 of $100,000 while Game Two would return $96,000 of $100,000. That means that Game Two is paying back $4,000 more than Game One. And that $4,000 has to be received by someone. It might go to one player in a jackpot or it might be paid out in little payouts here and there.

The point is that it is paying back more than the other game. So the smart online slots player would play the online slots game that is paying back the most on the grounds that he might be paid more money. The key word there is ‘might.’

A higher payout percentage does not guarantee that an online slots player will receive more, only that there is more money being paid back. And it just makes more sense to play the game that is paying back more.

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I have discussed payout percentages and slots games in a handful of times in my blog. Really how payout percentages and slots games work seems easy enough to understand. However, it would seem that to some online slots game players the concept is still not clear.

I say ‘concept’ because payout percentage is not an exact thing. Let’s say that an online slots game has a payout percentage of 97%. Here is what it means to an online slots player:

First, it means that this online slots game has been set to payout 97% of the total wagers that it takes in. So, to make the math easily understood, if a particular online slots game takes in $100,000 in total wagers from all of the players who spin the reels, it means that $97,000 of those wagers will be paid back.

That is all the payout percentage means.

It does not mean that you will be the recipient of that $97,000. The $100,000 taken in comes from all of the wagers made by all of the players. So that $97,000 in total is randomly paid out to players. It does not mean that one online slots player is going to receive a $97,000 payout. There is no way to determine how the $97,000 is going to be paid out, only that it will so that the online slots game in question is operating within its programmed operations.

So what good is payout percentage?

It gives you an idea of what your expected loss per dollar is. In the above example it means that you can expect to lose $0.97 for every $1 wagered. It does not mean that you will lose $0.97 per $1—you might lose more or you might even win more.

The point of payout percentage is so that online slots players know that the slots game must have a targeted performance value. If an online slots game is said to have a 97% payout percentage and it does not meet that percentage, the online casino or the software developer must answer for it.

Keep a look out for a post later today on how you can use payout percentage.

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Playing slot online offers a fair amount of advantages over playing slot machines in brick and mortar casinos.

For one thing online casinos have higher payout percentages than brick and mortar casinos. For the online slots player this means an increased chance in either winning larger payouts or more frequent payouts. It is an increased chance, mind you, not a guarantee. But I will take the increased chance any day.

Software developers are constantly creating and releasing new online slots games. Microgaming, for example, releases new online slots games every couple of months. Vegas Technology does not release quite as often as Microgaming, but they do have new online slots games every few months.

The point is that there are new online slots games being added the online casinos’ lineups. This means that an online slots player is going to find a variety of entertainment rather than the same old games. New slot machines are released, at most, twice a year, only because it takes longer to create them, manufacture them and disrupt them.

While you might earn comps for playing slot machines at a brick and mortar casino, online casinos reward you with bonus bucks to play with and with a percentage of your loses returned to you in payback. Ask yourself which would you rather have: a free trip to the buffet or some of the money you lost returned?

Overall playing slots online offers more convenience and more rewards. At least I find it so. Not to mention how online casinos give out some pretty generous Welcome Bonuses to players who sign up at their online casinos. The last time I checked I was not being given a couple thousand dollars or more just for deciding which brick and mortar casino to play at.

Oh, and did I mention you can play online slots at home in your pajamas if you want? No? Well, you can. Playing slots online allows you to the convenience of playing from your own home so that you do not have to worry about travel or accommodations.

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Why are more and more slots players switching from slot machines to online slots?

A lot of the reason has to do with convenience. Really. Which of these two scenarios would you prefer?

You have a hankering to spin the reels. However, in order to do so you need to drive three hours to the nearest brick and mortar casino. By the time you get there and play it is going to be late, so you will have to arrange for a hotel room and find some food. If you play long enough, you might be able to comp your room or your food. When you are done playing you have to wait around to cash out. Then you will have to turn around and drive home the next day.

Or when the want to play some slot gets a hold of you, you can head over to your computer, sit down and log into an online casino to spin the reels. If you get hungry you can take a break and fix a snack or order some pizza for delivery. And when you are all done playing, you log off and go do something else. If you want to withdraw some of your winnings, you just issue the withdraw order.

You can see why a growing number of slots players are switching to online slots games for their slots fun. Not to mention the bonuses.

Online casinos offer players Welcome Bonuses which can net a slots player $888 up to $20,000 in matched deposit bonuses in various percentages. These bonuses tend to out shine a buffet comp.

And then there is the ability to play for free if you want to play but do not want to put any money on the line. There is no brick and mortar casino that allows slots players to play for free.

What about odds? Online casinos offer better payout percentages on their online slots games. The reason for this is that online casinos do not have nearly the overhead and expenses that brick and mortar casinos do. So players have a better chance of winning more often or winning a little more when playing online slots games.

Between the convenience, bonuses, free play and better payout percentages it is no wonder that the number of online slots players is growing.

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When it comes to slot machines and their payout percentages, some players are concerned that they are not getting what the signs say.

Casinos will post signs above a single slot machine or over a bank of slot machines advertising what the payout percentage is. Bear in mind that the payout percentage signs above a bank of slot machines do not necessarily mean all of them have that payout percentage—only one needs to in order for that sign to go up.

With the economy being down visitors to brick and mortar casinos is down. Yet they still need to pay their employees, pay their utilities and pay rent. Those who play slot machines wonder how they make it work with visitors, read: revenue, down.

In short, they are worrying that the slot machines are not in fact paying out like the payout percentage signs say, that the casinos have perhaps changed the slot machines payout percentages to spin in a little extra money.

I am happy to say that this is not the case. The payout percentage, also known as a machine’s payback, is not affected by the casino’s expenses. In fact they do not have anything to do with each other.

A slot machine’s payout percentage is the calculation of how much that slot machine is paying out from the total amount of wagers made on it.

Basically the percentage of payout only has to do with that slot machine because it only takes into consideration how much was wagered on it and how much of those wagers were paid back to players. Because the payout percentage is solely based on the wagers of players it has nothing to do with the casino’s expenses.

So players of slot machines can rest assured that the payout percentages on their favorite slot machines have not been altered because of the casino’s expenses.

And besides it would take too much time and too much paperwork, not to mention a good-sized chunk of money, to change the payout percentage of a slot machine. They cannot be changed on a whim and without that state’s gaming commission knowing about it.

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I have a new online casino on my recommended list. This recently addition has some very nice bonus offers, some which are just for slots players. Which we always like.

Rome Casino was established in 2008, and has been climbing steadily up the online casino industry ladder ever since to become a new favorite with a payout percentage of 96.5%. It is a Top Game powered online casino that is licensed and regulated out of Costa Rica. And the entire site is themed for Rome.

Slots players have two Welcome Bonuses to choose from here.

The first is the Romulus. This bonus gives players the potential to earn up to $6,000 over the first four deposits. The first deposit bonus is a 400% match worth up to $3,000. The second through fourth deposits have 200% match bonuses on them worth up to $1,000 each.

That bonus is open to any player who joins Rome. But online slots players have another one that is offered only to them:

This would be the Remus bonus. It is a 400% deposit match worth up to $3,000. This is a slots only promotion. Tough luck, table gamers.

For online slots players who play on the weekends there is the Weekend Warrior bonus. This bonus gives slots players the chance to earn up to $10,000 every weekend. This is spread out over ten (10) deposits with a 150% match bonus worth up to $1,000 each.

If you like to play you slots during the week, say after work for example, there is a bonus for you too: the Weekday Labour. Online slots players receive unlimited deposit bonuses during the week.

All of that is available only to online slots players. Not a bad way to welcome and pamper those of us who like to watch the reels spin. But Rome does not stop with bonuses such as those. They also offer a 15% referral program if you bring your friends along to play.

And there is also a chance to win a trip to Rome. For every $200 wagered in real money, one (1) ticket is entered into the drawing. On June 1st of this year one (1) winner will be chosen, and will be sent with a friend on a five (5) nights stay in Rome with five star accommodations and guided tours.

While they might be extremely exuberant in their love of Rome and in how Rome their online casino is themed, Rome Casino knows how to treat their players—particularly the online slots players.

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