Slot machines are as popular as ever. Ever since the first slot machines appeared in arcades, gamblers wondered how to increase their chances of winning. With the advent of the Internet and the popular online slots, slot machine tricks that promised surefire wins kept coming up. However, these were either about how to manipulate and trick slot machines or dubious strategies that promised sure wins.
Both are not possible at online slot machines and especially the thing with manipulations would of course not be legal anyway. Therefore, in this article we would like to recommend neither dubious strategies nor manipulations to you. Rather, we have dealt intensively with legal tips and strategies that can be used to increase the chances of winning or minimize the risks of losing. So how do you win more money at slot machines?
How can you win at slots in the online casino?
Before we get into the details, we would like to mention here that playing slots is always about enjoying the game itself. The fun of it should always be in the foreground and not the quest to maximize your winnings. On average, every slot machine in the world pays out less money than stakes brought in by players.
Therefore, considerations of playing and winning at slot machines are always about minimizing losses. Accordingly, it is first important to understand the basic principles by which slot machines work online and offline alike. Only when you understand what exactly a slot machine is, you can create your personal strategy to fit your playing style.
Understand how slot machines work
Slot machines are all about probability. While it is true that the results on slots are random, the reels themselves do not stop randomly. Immediately after you click the spin button, the outcome is already determined. Accordingly, the spinning and exciting stopping of each reel is more of a showstopper.
Each slot machine is preset to a certain probability. High wins are rare, small wins are more frequent. Exactly how high the respective chances are, of course, varies from machine to machine. The outcome of each individual game round is determined by a random number generator. It is important to understand that the outcome of each game round is determined independently of the previous round. Whether the current round leads to a win is therefore completely independent of whether the previous round brought a win or not.
This can be illustrated by the example of the roulette game. In roulette, too, the outcome of each round is independent of the previous round. The ball does not fall on red with a higher probability just because it fell on black in several previous rounds. Since the outcome of each round is separately random, it is therefore nonsensical to make decisions dependent on the previous course of play.
Understanding Payout Odds and Volatility
Among the most important gambling house tips is certainly to find out exactly about the payout odds and volatility of the slot you want to play. Each machine has its own payout odds and volatility. This is preset and unchangeable.
The payout ratio is also referred to as RTP (Return to Player). It is given as a percentage value and describes the percentage of the stakes that are paid out to the players again. Accordingly, it is always below 100% on average. The missing portion to 100 percent is in principle the house advantage of the slot, from which the revenue for the gaming hall or casino results. For slot machines, the payout ratio is on average somewhere between 93 and 97 percent. We recommend playing exclusively on machines with a payout ratio of over 96%.
Another important aspect besides the payout ratio is the volatility. A slot with high volatility pays out more irregularly, but can pay out higher amounts in case of a payout. A slot with low volatility, on the other hand, pays out more regularly, but the winnings are usually smaller. High and low volatility slots can have the same payout ratio.
An extreme example would be a slot where you as a player deposit 100 euros and win 96 euros with the last spin. The volatility would be very high in this example. A slot with extremely low volatility would always pay out 96 cents as a win for every 1 euro bet. Again, you would have won back 96 euros after a 100 euro bet. So the payout ratio would be 96% in both cases. In reality, of course, slots are always somewhere between the two extremes to keep the gaming experience exciting.
A good bankroll management – betting strategy for slot machines
Part of any good slot machine strategy is to always keep an eye on your own bankroll and plan in advance how you are going to bet your money. The most important tip at this point is certainly to always bet only as much money at the machine as you are willing to lose and as you can afford.
Therefore, determine for yourself personally a maximum amount that you are willing to lose within the coming weeks. This sum is also called your bankroll. You should never deposit more than 10% of your total bankroll in a single session at a slot machine. We recommend that you deposit a maximum of 10% for high volatility slots, and 5% of your total bankroll for low and medium volatility slots.
This way, even after losing your deposit on a machine, you can always adjust your betting strategy, still have enough funds available for other slots and start the next session with minor adjustments.
As for the bet per spin, there is also a rule of thumb. We recommend betting a maximum of 1% of your budget for this gaming session per spin on slots with high volatility. On medium and low volatility slots, you can go up to 2%. With this conservative betting strategy, you can usually survive a longer losing streak within one session quite well.
For example: You have a total bankroll of 1,000 Euros for the next few weeks. You should deposit a maximum of 10% bankroll per session, i.e. 100 Euros. Per spin at the machine with high volatility you should bet a maximum of 1% of the session balance, which in this example would be one euro. So from your total bankroll you should not bet more than 0.1 to 0.2% per spin.
Be careful with the auto-spin feature
While it is no longer possible to use the auto-spin feature in an official online gambling house with a German license, there are of course still a large number of online casinos with EU licenses where the feature can still be used. Since this feature allows you to play automatically and perform a lot of spins within a very short time without having to click again, you should always be very careful with this.
There are even slots where you cannot use the bonus features at the end of a round as part of the autoplay feature. In addition, automatic spins make you lose track of your current balance faster. This makes good bankroll management more difficult.
Think twice before playing jackpot slots
Jackpots are tempting and promise winnings that can change your life. Cross-casino progressive jackpots in particular can grow to very large sums over time, but are very rarely paid out. Nevertheless, a part of the stakes is used to fill up these jackpots. Moreover, in such jackpots, often only players who play with the maximum bet per spin are eligible for a win.
Therefore, you should consider beforehand whether you would like to play on jackpots at all or prefer to bet your stake on regular winnings or regular jackpots that are not formed from parts of the players’ stake. So, there is a good reason why such types of jackpots that are formed from players’ wagers are no longer allowed in gambling establishments with a German license. Besides the very low probability of hitting a progressive jackpot, there is also the fact that the payout ratio of such slots is often only between 86 and 92 percent.
Try slots for free before playing for real money
Due to the gigantic selection of slots in gaming arcades and casinos, you will never be able to play all slots, even as an ambitious player. You should therefore think carefully about which slots you want to bet your money on. For this purpose, it can be helpful not to play directly for real money, but perhaps to try out free slots to see how well you like the game concept, the graphic design and the gaming experience in general.
Many providers give you the opportunity to use free spins for various slots, especially as a new customer, so that you can try them out at your leisure. This way, you can get an overview of different slots and decide at your leisure where you actually want to put your money in the end. Most of the available slots are also available as a free demo variant.
Change the slot machine if you have bad luck
Basically, it is up to chance when which machines pay out. There is no particular time of day or time of day when slots pay out better or worse. Therefore, forget tips like “play hot slots” or “avoid cold slots”. However, it is advisable to turn your back on slots when you are on a losing streak or even quit the whole gaming session.
You should never chase wins and think that now a win should come soon because you have lost so many rounds in a row. The outcome of every single round is left to chance. Therefore, even if you have a losing streak, it is not worth staying with one slot machine. This reduces the fun of the game and the risk of loss, since you are chasing a false assumption.
Instead, you should discover more slots and try new games. This increases the fun and adds variety to the gameplay. It makes more sense to finish a game round altogether and try again later, instead of frantically chasing a win that may not happen even after 100 more rounds. This is especially true for slots with very high volatility. Here, long losing streaks are not uncommon. The tip for a slot machine change does not result from the fact that the “machine is cold” because it does not pay out, but rather from psychological aspects.
Play only in licensed online casinos
Although this tip is certainly self-evident, we do not want to leave it out. There are still providers who lure you with particularly lucrative offers or promise you an enormous number of free spins for popular slots. However, such offers often come from unlicensed casinos. Here, you as a player have no security whatsoever that you will actually receive your winnings. Even worse: your personal data is often not safe here either, but in the best case is only misused for advertising purposes.
Therefore, only play in licensed casinos that have a valid and reliable license. This does not necessarily have to be an official German license, but should at least be a European license from Malta (Malta Gaming Authority) or another EU country. Casinos with a Canadian license (Kahnawake Gaming Commission) are also considered reputable, safe and reliable.
On the main page, always check the license number and the validity of the license stated there. On a casino site without a license, you should under no circumstances enter your payment details and, if possible, also not play for real money. In case of fraud, you have no legal recourse against the provider, as it is not regulated.
