Betting Strategies and House Edge Explained

In this article I’m going to discuss the ”house advantage” sometimes called the house edge and betting strategies. Every casino game has a house edge. What is the house edge? It’s the precentage advantage the house has.

With slot machines, online casinos like to advertise the payout percentage, called payback as a way of differentiatiating themselves from other operators and to entice players to try out their games. Here’s an illustration of the house edge for some of the popular casino games:

In most slots machines the house edge is usually around 0.1%, a very loose slot machine might payback 99.9% to 15%. Tight machines normally payback 85%. Why the sudden interest in the house edge? Over a period of time the house edge makes sure that you part ways with your hard-earned cash. Probability theory proves this.

Let’s Have a Look at the Following Example:

• You start playing with $100. With each spin you bet $1.
• The machine pays 97%.
• With each spin you are getting the average return.
• You don’t cash out.

How Long Will Your Money Last?

You won’t have any cash left after 4,500 spins. Initially this might seem like a lot of spins but it’s not. If you consider how little time it takes to press the spin button you would probably lose all your money within a few hours. If you increased your bet to $5 per spin, your money will only last 30 minutes. This is what grinding means.

Betting Strategy Slots Machines

Let’s have a look at the dollar a minute test. Twenty dollars will last an average slots machine player 20 minutes. Consider yourself ahead of the game if you can do better than this. When playing a game of chance you can apply two betting strategies. A fixed betting strategy where each wager is the same and a progressive bet strategy which varies on whether the player is winning or losing.

When playing slot machines I propose a progressive bet strategy. In other words when you’re winning bet more and if you’re losing bet less. If you’re winning increase the multiplier amount or the number of lines.

Let us assume you decided to stay at the machine and prepared to vary the multiplier. If you are at the maximum multiplier and you haven’t won anything as big or bigger than your current bet, drop down to your preferred multiplier. If you are at your preferred multiplier and you haven’t won anything significant then consider leaving the machine. If you haven’t won anything after ten spins, leave the machine. Keep in mind that this variant will not work on slot machines that force you to play the maximum number of lines.

Points To Remember

• Increase your bet when you are winning and lower it when you are losing.
• There is no fixed way to beat a slot machine. The probability of you winning a large jackpot is probably worse than being struck twice by lightning.
• The best you can do is to prolong your playing time and to get the most entertainment out of each dollar spent.
• When playing slots always keep a close eye on your bankroll and never chase your losses. If you lost a lot of money stop playing immediately otherwise you’ll lose even more.

I’m not saying that the above given tips is a given recipe to win when playing slots machines. But, I believe it will increase your winning chances.