Page 25 - February 2013 • Southern California Gaming Guide

Bill Burton: About Gambling
TWhe Slot Dilemma: How Much to Bet?
hen I rst started visiting casinos, playing a slot machine involved a fairly simple decision.
Slots were reel-type machines, and you had the choice of playing quarters or dollars. When you sat down at a machine, you could choose to play one to three coins per spin. It was easy to calculate which denomination to play and how many coins to play per spin based on the
more chances of hitting a winning combination. e hit frequency will be higher, although sometimes a “win” will be less than the coins you played for that spin. Many times your initial wager is more than you will collect for a winning spin. If you are wagering 25 credits per spin, but only get 5 or 10 credits back for a winning spin, it won’t take long to eat up your credits.
Most of us realize that we will never get rich playing penny slot machines, so our main objective is to get the most enjoyment out of playing games, and to make our playing time last as long as possible.
I believe, unless you are playing a progressive slot machine, there is no reason to play the maximum coins on every available line. If you choose to play all of the lines without trying for the progressive jackpot, then you should play a single credit on each line. ere really is no point in playing any number of credits between a single credit and the maximum (such as two or three credits per line).
Ideally, you should search for a slot machine that o ers the maximum number of pay lines that you can a ord to play. If you nd a game you really want to play that has more pay lines than you care to play, you can simply reduce the number of lines that you wager.
Take a look at the pay table in the Help screen of the slot machine, and look for the minimum payout for a winning spin. If the minimum is ve credits, then you can reduce the number of lines you play to ve. is will guarantee that you will break even if you have a winning spin.
When you play slots, you want to get the most entertainment possible for your money, so playing the minimum or reducing the number of lines can help you achieve this.
Until next time, remember: “Luck comes and goes... Knowledge Stays Forever.”
Bill Burton is the author of 1000 Best Casino Gambling Secrets and Get the Edge at Low Limit Texas Hold’em available online at billburton.com. Burton is also an instructor for Golden Touch Craps: thecrapsclub.com.
amount of money you had for playing.
Multi-line Multi-coin Slots
Decisions became a little harder around the year 2000, with the introduction of the multi-line multi-coin video slot machines. Aristocrat Technologies of Australia was one of the rst companies to introduce these machines. More slot makers started o ering multi-line/coin machines. As their popularity increased,
machine after a winning spin, but with the push of a button they could up their bet without a second thought.
e success of nickel slots prompted slot makers to add even more lines and increase the number of coins that could be wagered on each line. Some of these games again became too expensive for the average player to play
it seemed that slot makers tried to outdo each other in designing these machines. More pay lines were added, and more coins could be bet on each line.
“With each additional line you play, you increase your chances of lining up the right combination of symbols togiveyouawinningspin.”
maximum coins, even at the nickel level. e next logical step was to drop the denomination down again, this time to a penny.
Around 2004, penny slots started appearing on casino oors. In the last few years, the majority of new slots added to casino
As the number of coins
needed for maximum bets
increased, it was only logical
that the denomination would have to be lowered if casinos expected to get much play out of these slots from the average player. Playing a slot machine with nine pay lines that accepted ve coins per line would cost the quarter player $11.25 per spin — not something an average player would do.
oors have been penny denomination machines. e number of pay lines vary on the penny machines from 9 to 200 or even more. You can wager 1 to 150 coins per line. ere really is no standard number of lines on these new slots. Each game is di erent even if they are made by the same manufacturer.
How Many Lines to Play?
At some point, you have to wonder how many lines are enough. With each additional line you play, you increase your chances of lining up the right combination of symbols to give you a winning spin. But this does not necessarily mean that you will have a monetary win.
One thing that makes new slot machines so popular is the excitement of the high-hit frequency. Because there are more lines on which symbols can appear, there are
is led to the mass introduction of nickel slots. A 45-coin bet on a nickel machine cost a player $2.25 per spin. Casinos found out that many players were willing to increase their bets on nickel machines because in their minds they were still playing nickels. A player used to playing two or three coins in a quarter slot would not hesitate to play one coin per line on a nine-line machine for forty- ve cents. Many players would increase the number of coins bet per line after a winning spin. ese same players would not think of switching over to a dollar
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FEBRUARY 2013
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
PAGE 25