Two or three gambling games are probably the most familiar on the face of the earth. One of them I surely slots and there isn’t a single person that does not know about them, or that hasn’t seen one in action, live or over the TV.
Slots are one of the most famous gambling games, and one of the simplest ones in terms of operation. All you need to do is pick your favourite slot, insert some money in and either pull the lever, or press that START button to see those reels spin and wait for the result. Slots are really fun to play and they should be a sort of stress relief but most of us tend to await that big win and we tend to lose our nerve when we don’t.
This is mostly because very few of us understand the way that slot machines operate. Old day slot machines were entirely mechanical and cool. They were powered by levers, brakes, discs and sensors that would control the reels and pay-out different pay-outs. Today slot machines, online or on land, are a bit different. They are more state of the art and they are powered by microprocessors when it comes to land-based slots, and codes and programs stored by the software developers on servers far away when you are playing an online version of the game. Since we are on the topic of online slots, the place that ranks the best online casinos and the biggest bonuses is Spy-Casino so go check them out and increase your chances of winning.
Now that we have an intro into the world of slots, in some way, out of our way let’s try and talk about some mechanics and some sort of betting strategy. Strategy is important in everything, from basic and menial tasks around you to your career, and life in general. Gambling also needs a good strategy which is why we are going to address it here. Before that, let us talk a bit more about the mechanics and fairness of the system.
Somewhat general opinion until lately was that the online slots, or any other game that is being coded and stored on remote servers, can be tempered with and rigged to benefit the casino host or the developer of the game. Now, we already made a lot of articles talking about this and what we mentioned is the fact that this isn’t possible. The game developers make the game, they make the code and they create something called RNG or random number generator. Now RNG is what “decides” where the reels stop, or rather it randomly stops them in certain positions. The RNG part of the game has to be audited by the game maker, independently, and if it gets a pass it can make it to a certain casino. Special testing labs for all kinds of tests to these codes and games to make sure that the RNG is completely fair and unbiased toward either side.
RNG generates numbers all the time and it aims to stop the reels at random positions which is why the slot is random and can’t be tampered with. This RNG is so sophisticated and so fast that it has already calculated the outcome of the game as soon as you pull the lever or press the button. The reel animation is just for fun and to make things exciting while the outcome of your game is already set and waiting for the animation to be done. What all of this is telling you is that slots are still all down to luck and there still is a chance to win big jackpots, no matter how low the odds on that are. This is what draws us to slot games and this is what makes them so lovable and interesting.
When it comes to strategies on slot machines and whether you should bet low or high, we recommend that you first find a slot machine that has a fairly high RTP%. The RTP% or return to player percentage is a rate at which a particular slot machine is programmed to pay out over a theoretical number of rounds. RTP of 97% for instance, will mean that you can, again theoretically, expect to get $97 back for every $100 you put in the slot machine. Why did we mention it theoretically? Well since all outcomes are random in slots, you can never be guaranteed to be paid back that amount. You may spend $200 and never get anything back or you may insert $10 and walk out with a jackpot. This is the biggest charm of the slots.
When it comes to betting strategy you can go two ways. With lower bets covering as much of the reels as you can, or with bigger bets covering everything and increasing your odds at winning.
There are ups and down to both strategies. The first one with the lowest possible bets will leave you longer at the slot and allow you to play. This will increase the time you spend in a game and with that increase your chances to win something. With slots the longer you play the more you have a shot at winning because that RTP% works over time. If you are one of those that likes to play quickly then this style of betting will not be for you and you will probably be annoyed.
With bigger bets, you do cover a lot of the reels with a lot of lines which increases your odds to tie some sort of a win in, but it will also melt your bank like crazy. You will have to have some sort of crazy money set aside if you want to play maximum bets for more than an hour. It will increase your odds, but it will also increase the volatility of the game. The best odds to win something more serious are with high bets but you have to keep a close eye on your bank because it will evaporate.
Another thing we can advise is a combination of these two. Find a middle ground when it comes to betting. If there is a slot game you like and it goes from 0.10c to $10 then try to stay somewhere in the middle at around $3-$6. You will have pretty decent odds there and you will cover a lot of lines this way. If the machine has a decent RTP% it will return something if you stick to it for a while and you never know, maybe, just maybe, on that last spin, you hit a jackpot as well.