Winning Slots Tips and Strategies: Dos and Don’ts

Slots are one the casino games that everyone enjoys playing. They are easy, engaging, fast, and fun. You can spend hours playing slots and not even notice how much time goes by. In many ways, though, slots are too easy, too fast, and too fun. That can be hard on your wallet, unless you keep in mind a number of good winning slots strategies and tips.

In slots the odds against the player are often far greater than in other casino games. Therefore, giving yourself the best chance of walking away with slots winnings in your pocket demands a greater amount of discipline and preparation than other casino games. We’ve distilled this discipline down to a few easy-to-remember “winning slots dos and don’ts” when slinging the slots at the world’s best online casinos.

Slot Tip #1 - DO: Manage Your Bankroll

• Always start with a betting plan.
• Set a maximum limit for your bankroll when playing slots in casinos.
• Divide your bankroll by the number of bets you wish to make. Use that amount as your maximum bet. Stick to it.

Slot Tip #2 – DON’T: Bet Your Winnings (ONLY Bet Your Bankroll)

• All the pros pocket their winnings.
• If you bet your bankroll and your winnings, you will eventually walk away with nothing every single time you play slots.

Slot Tip #3 - DO: Choose the Highest Payout Machines

• Most online slots casinos post payout percentages for their slots.
• Study the slots payout percentages closely and pick the machines with the best payouts.
• If this information is not available, there are several basic rules of thumb you can follow.
o Progressive jackpots have the highest house edge – upwards of 17%. Unless you’re moonstruck by big jackpots, stick to the stand-alone machines.
o Higher denomination machines have the lowest house edge to encourage you to spend more per bet, but there’s a higher risk they will burn up your bankroll.
o When choosing a denomination, a good guide is to divide your bankroll by 250, which is slightly less than one hour of play.
 Use that amount as your maximum bet.
 Play the highest denomination you can with that maximum bet.
• Fortunately, online slots casinos offer some of the highest payouts in the slots business.
o Most boast house edges of 3% or less and few exceed 5%.
o The lowest we’ve found is 0.01%, which is as close as you can get to a straight payout. They don’t come with free drinks or free rooms, but it’s nice to win!

Slot Tip #4 - DON’T: Look for “Loose” or “Hot” Machines

• They don’t exist.
• You may have heard the following – these are TOTAL MYTHS
o A machine on a long losing streak is ready to turn the corner and start spitting out money
o A winning machine will stay a winning machine
o The machines at the end of a row are designed to pay out more money to entice gamblers to play
• Every result, win or lose, on a slot machine is a totally independent and random event. The only information about a machine that matters is the payout average.

Slot Tip #5 - DO: Take Breaks During Game Play

• There is one indisputable principle in slots: the “average” is your enemy.
• On a slot machine with a 10% house edge, the “average” is to win $90 for every $100 inserted into the machine.
• The more slot games you play, the closer you get to the average. For this reason, slots are designed to entice you to play quickly.
• When you play fast, any winning streak gets wiped out.
• The pros always advise slots players to take a few minutes off every 10 minutes or so to slow down their game play.

Slot Tip #6 - DON’T: Speed Up Your Game Play

• The typical slots player increases the speed of their game play every ten minutes until they hit a maximum of between 600 and 800 plays per hour.
• Game play at that rate guarantees an average – that is, losing – result.
• Pick a SLOW pace of game play and stick to it.

Slot Tip #7 - DO: Walk Away from Winning Streaks

Few things are more exhilarating – or dangerous – than a winning streak at the slots. Because slots results are random, it is entirely possible to have a run of extraordinarily good luck. However, players get into trouble when they believe there is some subjective reason for this luck, such as a “loose machine” or a “lucky day.”

Those players then keep chasing that luck, but that only leads them to end up playing into the house’s edge and arriving at average, the enemy of every casino player. The key is to walk away during a winning streak. That might seem counterintuitive, but the fact that every slot play is random means that there is no such thing as a ‘winning streak.’ If you have been winning, the best move is to gather your money and walk away.

Slot Tip # 8 - DO NOT: Try to Win Back Lost Money

Looking at the other side, losing streaks are equally as treacherous. Similar to how players believe that their winning streak will keep going – or restart on ‘the next play’ – players believe that if they play long enough they will recover their losses. The only effective way to limit losses is to bet only your bankroll using the maximum bet you’ve calculated. Stop after your bankroll is gone.

That being said, if you’re losing at an above-average rate, there is nothing wrong with quitting the slots with money still in your bankroll. Do yourself a favor and cut your losses. Buy a nice meal and a couple drinks, and come back to the slots at the world’s best online casinos tomorrow.