So who pays for those Volcanic eruptions? Pirate Battles? Carnival Parades? and Glittering Showrooms? Slot Machines. 60-65% of casino revenue is generated by those bell-ringing one armed bandits that seem to multiply on casino floors like rabbits. So how does the average player gain an advantage and possibly win? Well... aside from cheating (which we really don't suggest you get involved in) the only way to gain some sort of advantage is to choose your slots with utmost care and discrimination.
Suggesting you have all the information available, calculating your chances of winning at slots is simple: multiply the probability of each outcome with what those outcomes pay, and then sum the results. It's always under 100% (otherwise casinos would make no profit) and often near 90% (casinos make a lot of money from slots). Generally slots odds are expressed in the form of a payback percentage. The closer to 100%, the better for players. Some machines even pay back at percentages greater than 100%, giving the lucky players who find them a positive expectation for winning. These 'loose slots' are frequently mixed into the sea of machines on a casino gaming floor.
Slot machines in Las Vegas are required by law to payout 75% of the money that goes into them, actual payout in Las Vegas is approximately 95%. Will you be the one that takes the money instead of gives it? That is up to luck, but with a little investigation one can easily learn to identify which machines are more favorable to the player than others. Slot machines are all about the payout... Red White and Blue, Double Diamond, Dick Fucking Clark, Cherry whatever. At the end of the day what every slot player needs to do is look at the pay schedule on the machine they want to play. Very often the same machine one row over will pay 5,000 credits on 3rd credit jackpot while you're playing on a 2,000 3rd credit machine. Plain and simple you're cheating yourself.
Slots are almost entirely down to chance, meaning there is very little strategy involved, and every player has the same odds of winning. You simply spin the reels and hope to match symbols along. The odds are subject to change and are correct at the time of publishing: Wednesday, March 3, 2021 13:19 GMT.
Slot Spotlights
A few notable slot machines we here at VT have found more playable, or more interesting, than the other nonsense out there like Leprachaun's Gold or Tabasco Slots or whatever.
We like machines that have the best payouts on the lowest winning spins. These will keep you going longer between larger wins and not enact the ATM-In-Reverse principle seen at many of the larger joints (Venetian being the worst we've experienced).
100 or Nothing
Red, White and Blue
Slot Machine Jackpots Photo Gallery
Wheel of Fortune
Wild Cherry
Slot Machine Payback Percentages
Below are the slot payback percentages for Nevada's fiscal year beginning July 1, 2002 and ending June 30, 2003:
5¢ Slot Machines
The Strip - 90.32%
Downtown - 91.50%
Boulder Strip - 93.03%
N. Las Vegas - 92.97%
25¢ Slot Machines
The Strip - 92.59%
Downtown - 94.83%
Boulder Strip - 96.47%
N. Las Vegas - 96.63%
$1 Slot Machines
The Strip - 94.67%
Downtown - 95.35%
Boulder Strip - 96.48%
N. Las Vegas - 97.21%
$1 Megabucks Machines
The Strip - 89.12%
Downtown - 88.55%
Boulder Strip - 87.76%
N. Las Vegas - 89.41%
$5 Slot Machines
The Strip - 95.33%
Downtown - 95.61%
Boulder Strip - 96.53%
N. Las Vegas - 96.50%
All Slot Machines
The Strip - 93.85%
Downtown - 94.32%
Boulder Strip - 95.34%
N. Las Vegas - 95.32%
The Math of Casino Slot Machines
For every dollar you wager in a slot machine, you will lose 100% - Payback% of that dollar. For example, you're at Bellagio playing the $1 Double Diamond slot, wagering Two Credits ($2) per spin. According to the table, for every $2 spin you will lose 5.33% of that bet... just shy of 11¢. Granted these 11 cents don't get extracted instantly... this is computed over time. So if your bank roll limit is $10 it will take you, on average 52 spins before your bankroll is toast (under $1) and you are out of credits.
How was this number derived:
STAKE x (Payback Percentages) = STAKE x (Payback Percentages) = STAKE x (Payback Percentages) = ...
Repeat calculation until the number gets below the minimum bet - if you play long enough, you're gonna go broke. THAT is a FACT. Slot machines are entertaining, relaxing, require little thought beyond pressing a button. IF you want to truly GAMBLE, you might want to look into Video Poker, and eventually Blackjack as other options.
Granted, sometime in there you just might hit that $500 win on the Wheel of Fortune, or The Elvis progressive might shake rattle and roll $1000 your way... but the math inside the machine determines that you will in fact lose a certain percentage of your wager on each spin, and the more you spin... the more you will lose despite short runs of successful jackpots. If you find you are UP... leave. Every spin of a slot machine generates a random number that has NOTHING to do with previous numbers. SLOT MACHINES do NOT run in streaks (even if you might wish to think they do). Don't expect to get any of the money you put into a machine out of it unless you learn to press the CASH OUT button.
Gamblers Library
VT fully recommends the following books to help you decrease the house advantage on casino card games.
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Slot machines have an extensive history at having success stories, with everybody that visits Las Vegas trying their luck on at least one slot machine. However, is it as easy as just finding a slot machine that is centrally located and staying there for the whole day? Or, are there certain slot machines that have better odds that all visitors must look to play?
Slot Machines On The Strip
When you visit Las Vegas, you instantly feel drawn to spending your time on the strip. After all, that’s the main reason for visiting the city, as you want to be in and amongst the brightest lights and the biggest casinos. There have been a number of huge wins that have been well documented at some of the biggest casinos in Las Vegas.
California Hotel and Casino
Best Slot Odds In Vegas
Slot machine: The ‘Mega Jackpot’ machine at California Hotel and Casino.
Vegas Slot Machine Odds
Everybody loves a success story, and there haven’t been many more exciting than Jessica Agbunag’s first trip to Sin City. The story had everything. Agbunag was visiting Vegas in honour of her grandmother, who was a constant visitor to the city and loved unwinding by playing slots. In honour of her grandmother, she decided to embrace the world of slots during her trip, and it reaped immediate returns. She won a number of small returns playing Wheel of Fortune before she struck gold at the California Hotel and Casino. Here, she was playing a mega-jackpot machine and managed to win $2.4 million.
Excalibur
Slot machine: Anonymous by request.
A 25-year-old changed his life forever when visiting Las Vegas to support his basketball team. He arrived at the strip with a couple of hours to kill before having to make his way to the game. So, in true Vegas fashion, he decided to settle down and play on a couple of slots games. The Los Angeles-born player spent over $100 in Excalibur before the most incredible thing happened- jackpot signs. The win remains one of the biggest in Vegas history, as he took home $39,713,982. He decided against going public with his win, and also asked for the casino to transfer him $1.5 million every year instead of receiving the full payout in one go.
Palace Station
Slot machine: Megabucks slot machine
What’s better than winning a life-changing amount of money once? Well, winning it twice of course. That was the case for a 60-year-old woman who played on the Wheel of Fortune machine at Palace Station. She won $680,000 on her first win, before returning to play the slots titles in the same casino again and again. It was reported that she spent her fortune into playing casino games, but she reaped the rewards once again later in life when she won more than $27 million playing on the Megabucks slot in the same casino.
Should You Play Off The Strip?
The majority of people that live in Nevada typically gamble away from the strip. This isn’t saying that there is an increased chance of success away from the bright lights, but there certainly could be method in the madness. One user on Quora, who is a local, claimed that the best advice for those looking for a win is to bet away from the strip.
She claimed that he has won over $20,000 throughout her gambling career, and her tips for success include betting away from the strip. As well as that, she claimed that you should always bet the maximum bet that is allowed and should opt to play the newer machines rather than the older ones. She also claimed that casinos on Boulder Highway are where she has gained most of her returns on slots titles.
Online Vegas Slots
Of course, not all of us will be able to fly over to Las Vegas to play some of the lucrative casino slot games that are available. However, the advancements in technology means that you will be able to play on some of the most popular slots on Vegas sites such as Caesars and MGM. Caesars is one of the most popular online casinos for those looking to feel as though they are in Vegas, and there are a wide range of classic and progressive slot games available.
Among the most popular and potentially lucrative titles that you will be able to play are Megaways, 88Fortunes and Smokin’ Hot Gems. MGM also offers a number of the most exciting slots, and there are a varied mixture of titles available. Some of the most popular that you will be able to play on this site include Ozzy Osbourne Video Slots, Divine Fortune and Melon Madness Deluxe.
The evolution of online slots means that you are now able to get the Vegas experience that you dream of but online in the comfort of your own home. However, it’s fair to say that nothing will come close to being in Las Vegas in person.