When I get home from a casino, I ALWAYS remember the biggest losing machines and I ask myself “WHY did I keep playing?”.

Sure, you’re only up $20 – but if you keep playing you risk losing that $20 and the rest of your ticket! BUT, remembering my blog last week – if a slot machine is designed to payout 89% and you’re up 110% - RUN!!! Take those winnings because you have already beaten the system. Why? They were manufactured back when payout percentages were higher (a rumor I’ve heard from an actual slot manufacturer).

I’ve often heard that the exact same game that is 10 years older will payout more. Under the same category, older machines will often have bigger payout percentages. Those large fountains and chandeliers don’t just pay for themselves! Old Vegas has slightly higher odds than the strip, and outside of there on the Boulder Strip, it’s even higher. Older Casinos have to compete with newer prettier ones, so they may up their payout percentages to attract players. Knowing how close it actually is and how much those amounts go up per spin may actually give you the best odds of winning if you can figure it out mathematically in your favor! Don’t be fooled though, if it must be paid by $500 and it’s at $490 – it could still take another $5,000 in bets for it to actually go off (based on it going up 1 cent for every $5 bet which is not uncommon). Some Slot Machines have progressives that must be paid by a certain amount. And if it’s a wide area progressive jackpot (like Wheel of Fortune or Mega Bucks with jackpots in the millions), then your odds of winning and your payout percentage drops a further 5%. When a machine has a large progressive machine with a Grand of $10,000 or more, a large portion of each bet goes to pay out that one person.

Notice I use the word ‘could’, because of course there will be that guy who bets 88cents and wins $10,000 – but probability is against him. In last weeks blog, What are Payout Percentages, we discovered that the higher denomination a machine, the higher the payout percentage! So if you’re going to bet $5/spin you may as well play that on a 10c denomination machine or $1 machine rather than a penny machine. But there are steps to take in order to get the best bang for your buck! Otherwise I would never leave the casino and just keep winning. First off, there is no sure way of winning every time.

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