Taking What You Can Get Playing Slots at Online Casinos

A recent gambling expedition by me truly showed that you can practice what you preach and win some money. It may also say something about the state of casinos in the era of online casino competition. So begins my test of small betting on the slots for profit.

The target was Silver Oak Casino which is a highly trusted U.S.A. friendly site. Not the gambling mecca of the world, agreed, but Silver Oak has been around for a while and has managed to survive. That says something about it. It gets very good reviews and very bad reviews of late, so I decided to find out if anything has changed since my last run about two years ago. Things really have changed.

One of the most obvious changes is the number of one cent slot machines available. A lot more. Yet many of them had players in front of them, especially the new bank of Monopoly machines. Another change was that the casino has finally learned that players hate video poker machines that do not have variations of Double Bonus poker. It’s not multi-play but it is a step in the right direction. Fortunately, there remains some of the oldie but goodies, such as Goldbeard and Loose Caboose. Both have the random jackpot feature that hardly ever triggers, but it is always there taunting the player to try longer.

With the invasion of the $0.25 bet, my approach was put to the test. Next time I may explore Silver Oak’s high rollers area, but not this time. I want to prove that taking a number of small winnings and moving around the slots will put a player in a better position to at least break even, if not possibly come out ahead. For the record, I did veer a little off course by betting $5 a spin, but netted zilch after just 6 of them. Also noteworthy is that only twice did I drop more than $30 into any one machine. Neither of those times did I come out ahead with anything worth mentioning but a few cents once.

The Outcome:

I brought $500 with me and signed off with $580. Not enough to retire on, but it took about 3 hours to “earn” 16 percent interest. At least that is the way I look at it. My strategy proved to work, and I realize that it will not work 100 percent of the time. Part of it is knowing when to stop. Part of it is knowing when to stop worrying about losing. And part of it is knowing when to stop before you walk out with nothing left. This last part is one reason why many players complain about a casino – they get greedy.

The larger point to this story is that when casinos change, the player needs to find a system that will give them the best chance of walking out ahead, even if it is a little. Increased competition over the internet is almost guaranteed to force changes in struggling sites. Here is an important point to consider before you make your next deposit:

When it comes to slot machines, increasing the number of lower coin machines benefits the casino. If you win 1300 coins on a penny slot machine, the dollar payout is $13.00. The same 1300 coins on a one dollar slot pays out $1300. It is obvious the casino prefers to pay out the $13, but for a different reason other than simply money.

Let’s say that there are 10 players who play the penny slot machines and the dollar slots. Each player drops $10 in and the 10th player wins the 1300 coins. The math is:

$10 for each of the 10 players = $100 to the house.

For the penny slot, the $13 payout leaves the casino with a profit of $87.

For the dollar slot, the casino has a net loss of $1200.

Which do you think the casino prefers?

And there is even more. Players gravitate to hot machines regardless of the type of machine or in many cases, how big the payouts are. That is why there are all the bells and computerized sounds, including voices, on the newest machines. It’s a mating call between machine and players who want to win. That is why you look at the math and not the perceived experiences, which can be great win or lose.

The case has been made that gambling is all about risk versus reward – the higher you bet the greater the payout, but with slots that is not always the case. It is true they would turn a bigger profit if those high coin-per-play machines would win less often. That is why state regulations require a guaranteed minimum payout. So the question for the casino is how do they attract players to the higher coin-per-play machines to recoup the loss of someone hitting the jackpot? The answer is they don’t have to. Simply by making more per $100 dropped into the machines, the casino will almost always come out ahead on any given day. Installing lower playing but entertaining slot machines can keep the money coming in.

A final reality in all of this is that most people who gambling at a casino online cannot afford to potentially lose hundreds of dollars a week or month. Sure, some can but we are not all rich or highrollers. Penny slots are the cheapest way to have fun spinning the reels. All casinos know this. The math proves it.

There is no reason to criticize them for trying to make more money. That is what they are in business for. Players need to do their part to know the landscape of how these things work. Playing smart and knowing when to quit, win or lose, can help you make a few percentage points in interest more than what the banks in the U.S. are currently offering, with a small chance of hitting it big, or losing it all.