Slots is one of the most engaging and interactive casino experiences, both at land-based casinos and at online casinos. Casino aficionados choose slots because they’re easy to play, each slot machine’s theme is unique and there are always new and exciting gaming features to explore.
One of the most alluring elements of the slot experience involves the cash prizes. Every game features many different kinds of payouts including base game payouts, bonus spin payouts, free spins payouts and, if you’ve chosen a progressive slot machine, the progressive prize jackpot.
However, if you don’t fully understand how to play the slot machine to its full advantage, it’s easy to miss out on these different payouts. Read on to find out how to win at slots and how to win progressive slots.
Slot Machines
The earliest slot machines were introduced at the end of the 19th century. Early machines involved pulling a lever which the gamer would pull to see which symbols s/he could line up on the machine’s three reels. Each symbol had a different value so your payout was dependent on which three (or more) symbols you lined up.
The early machines featured fruit symbols so many people called the slot machines “fruit machines” (and in the UK, many still do). People would enter candy stores or salons to play the slot machines and often, the payouts were in the form of a drink or some candy.
Slots were featured in the early Las Vegas hotels of the ‘40s but they weren’t viewed as a way to make money but rather as a distraction to keep players amused in between the “real” games of poker, blackjack, roulette and craps.
Over the years things changed and today, slots gaming is considered a major element of the casino experience. Casinos feature dozens of different kinds of slot machines including three-reel slots, five-reel slots, both payline and no-payline Ways to Win slot machines, bonus slots, progressive jackpot slots, 3D slots and more.
Regardless of the type of slot machine that you’re playing, you can look forward to a relatively simple gaming event. You match symbols up across a payline and if you create the match, you collect the win.
Payouts are based on the symbols that you match so your payout will depend on whether you succeeded in matching low-paying symbols or symbols that triggered a higher win.
Playing slots isn’t always a huge money-maker like poker-playing is for poker pros who play tournaments and at other professional venues. But if you learn strategies and tips for playing slots, you can increase your wins and experience a more rewarding slot adventure.
Strategies
What do you need to know to win at slots?
1. You should understand your machine. There are dozens – even hundreds – of different types of slot machines at the casino. You should look for a machine that offers free spin rounds which involves the ability to spin the reels for free and collect real money payouts on the wins.
Machines that feature multipliers are also good payout machines because such multipliers can double, triple or quadruple your prize money. There are other types of elements that give you extra chances to achieve payouts (scatters, wilds, respins, etc).
Finally, the progressive jackpots not only add excitement to your game but they give you the chance to win hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of additional dollars for a small additional progressive jackpot deposit.
2. Check the machine’s RTP and if the numbers don’t match up, move on to a different machine. RTP stands for “Return to Player” and it refers to the percentage of wins that a slot machine delivers over the course of time. If the slot machine advertises a 97% RTP, it will return $97 for every $100 that is bet on it.
Understanding the RTP allows you to anticipate what kind of winnings the machine will deliver. An average slot machine will deliver a 97% RTP so if the machine displays a 96% RTP, you should understand that it is delivering a lower-than-average return.
So unless you specifically want to play THAT machine, you might be better off passing it off for another one.
3. Almost all games have some kind of bonus round and all casinos advertise bonuses. The question is, which machines offer the best bonus rounds and which casinos present the highest bonuses.
It’s even better if you get a machine that features respins because that means that your free spins can retrigger, giving you even more opportunities to spin the reels for free and collect the winning payouts on those wins.
You should also be aware that the bonuses are cumulative so, by organizing your game correctly, you’ll enjoy a gaming session with both multiple casino bonuses COMBINED WITH multiple game bonuses.
4. Progressive jackpot games are actually regular slots with an additional jackpot opportunity. So you actually don’t miss out on all the other opportunities when you play a progressive game – you simply give yourself the additional opportunity to add an additional jackpot prize to your regular game wins.
Playing the progressive jackpot side game involves only a small side bet so the chance that you could collect massive prizes is worth the additional small risk.
