Official Slot Machines Rules

Slot machines are the simplest of all casino games to play. Insert some money, pull a handle or push a button, and you're on your way. Unfortunately for the player, slot machines are also where most casinos make about 70% of their revenue, which should give you a clue that the odds are stacked against you.

However, there are steps you can take to make your slot-playing experience as fun and profitable as possible.

Unlike card games, or video poker machines that work off the probabilities of a 52-card deck, there's really no way to tell what the exact odds on any slot machine are. It's all a matter of mechanical or electronic programming by the casino. Some machines really are “loose” and tend to pay out more money, more often than neighboring machines.

The one-armed bandit has been around since the 1800's but today's slot machines come in all shapes, sizes, and colors – from simple 3-wheel versions to complex electronic multi-line variants.There are some common features to all these machines, though.

REELS – All slots have a series of mechanical or electronic reels adorned with various symbols. Traditional symbols include diamonds, cherries, big red “7's”, but many machines today have themes like “Wheel of Fortune,” and the symbols are chosen to match the theme.

PAY LINE – This is a line on the screen or face of the machine where you will try to line up a specific set of symbols (usually three-in-a-row of the same kind) to win your bet. Some machines have multiple pay lines, allowing you to win on diagonal and vertical lines, as well as the traditional horizontal middle line.

PAYOUT CHART – This will be displayed on the machine telling you how much you win if you match a certain combination of symbols on the pay line.

BET ONE – A button that allows you to place a single bet on the primary pay line.

BET MAX – For machines with multiple pay lines, or multi-coin bets, pressing this button once will make the highest possible wager. It's important to note that if you are playing on a “nickel” slot machine with a 5-coin max bet and 10 pay lines, pressing BET MAX is going to cost you $2.50 – 25¢ bet on each pay line. That's a lot of money for one spin on a ‘nickel' machine.

SPIN – This button causes the reels to spin and starts the wager. Some machines still have a handle to pull for the same effect.

CASH OUT – Pressing this will give you all your winnings back. Often it is in coins, but some newer machines print out a paper ticket that you take to the casino cashier for payment.

 

How to Play

Here's how to play – let's say we're playing a nickel “Double Diamond” slot machine with one pay line, a 2-coin max bet, and a progressive jackpot.

1. Put money into the machine (Let's start with $20.00)
2. Since it's a nickel slot, this gives us 400 virtual “5¢ coins” to bet
3. Press or click BET MAX . (I'll explain why you don't want to use Bet One later.)
4. Your bet will be 10¢, and your virtual coin count will drop to 398.
5. Press the SPIN button.
6. The reels spin and come to rest showing CHERRY-CHERRY-DOUBLE DIAMOND on the pay line.
7. The payout chart shows us that 3 cherries pays 2-to-1, and Double Diamonds are wild and double the win.
8. Our spin is a winner for a 4-to-1 payoff. We bet 2 coins, so we win 8 coins.
9. Now our virtual coin count is up to 408.
10. Press the CASH OUT button and we get our money back, 408 nickels, or $20.40

 

How the Casino Makes Money

Like almost every casino game, slot machines are a negative expectation games. That means that over time, you will lose money to the casino. Most casinos advertise a 90-95% payout on their slot machines. That means that you can expect that if you gamble $100.00, the most you're likely to walk away with is $95.00.

Fortunately, there are a few ways for us to increase our advantage when playing slots.

 

Summary

Let's review. We know the basics of operating any slot machine and are aware that all slots are games of negative expectation ; that is, if we play for long enough, the house will always win.

However, we've seen that by strategically picking our machine, using our comp card, chatting up the cocktail waitresses and playing only progressive slots, we can increase our chances of a big win in the short run.

And that's the big key; we're going to try to make our money quickly on a slot machine; once we've hit one payout, or several mid-sized ones, we probably want to walk away from the machine with bulging pockets.

Otherwise, statistics tell us that we'll end up losing it all back and paying the casino for those “free” drinks.

 

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