Today, we’re going to cover some of the top casino slot machine secrets. These are the things that casinos don’t want you to know. If every player knew these, casinos would be worse off (although they’d still make money), and players would avoid the most costly mistakes.
In the interest of saving time, let’s get straight into these slot machine secrets about how machines work and how casinos keep you hooked for longer. If you’re a total slots newbie, you might want to read our guide on how to play slots online first.
Casino Slot Machine Secrets Explained
The best slot machine secrets are those grounded in reality. You don’t need hacks, tricks, and slot cheat codes to win. What you need is a solid understanding of how slots work, and therefore, how to avoid costly mistakes.
We’re not going to insult your intelligence or waste your time with a list of slot machine hacks. They don’t work, and we don’t mind being upfront about that.
Instead, we want you to come away from this with a solid understanding of slot machine fundamentals, and how some of the tricks of the trade work to keep you hooked for longer, and the simplest slot machine secrets.
Slot Machine RTP – The Secret That Determines Payouts
Every slot machine has a percentage programmed into it known as the RTP. This is an acronym for Return to Player. It’s usually a percentage, such as 96%. You can use this number to find out exactly how much a slot machine will pay back over time.
For example, a slot machine with an RTP of 96% will pay back £96 out of every £100. It’s important to remember that this number does not tell you what the slot will pay you, but what the slot will pay back in general. It could eat £1,000 before paying back £960, and you might not be the one to win that money.
You can find out the RTP of specific slot machines by reading our slot reviews. This information is usually also located in the paytable of the game or on the manufacturer’s website. You should always play slot games with a high RTP if possible. Casinos don’t expect you to do this because they don’t expect you to know this.
Slot Machine Volatility & Wagering Bonuses Successfully
One of the best tricks to winning on slot machines is to use free spins bonuses against the casino. You can’t do this every time, because sometimes luck just isn’t with you, but you can increase your chances by understanding what games to play and what games to avoid.
Each slot machine has a feature called volatility. This determines how frequently a slot game will pay and how big the wins will likely be when they come. There are low volatility slots, medium volatility slots, and high volatility slots. Playing free video slots is a great way to get a feel for volatility.
When wagering free spins bonuses, or any casino bonuses for that matter, you want to play low volatility games. The reason is that they pay little wins more frequently. This gradually builds up your bank balance and makes it easier to wager bonuses.
Always avoid high volatility slot games when using bonuses. You can go 10 or 20 spins without a single decent win on some of these games. That’s enough to eat through some small free spins bonuses and leave you with nothing.
We’ve compiled a list of the best slots for wagering bonuses. Stick with these five games. Casinos don’t expect you to do this but they can’t stop you as long as the games are available and permitted in the bonus terms.
Loose Slots Don’t Exist – Here’s Why
One of the most pervasive myths we hear about slot machines is that some games are “loose” or “due” to pay soon. Both of these notions were true back in the days of primitive mechanical slot machines, but those days are gone. These days, Random Number Generators (RNGs) make it impossible to tell when a video slot is due to pay.
RNGs are simple enough to understand; they are simple pieces of software that generate billions of random numbers. Each one of these numbers is linked to a slot machine symbol or series of symbols. If the right number comes out when you hit spin, you’ll win the jackpot. If it doesn’t, you won’t.
While there may be some patterns to these since they are programmed by humans, there’s no way for any human being to get a mental grip on the patterns. It would take quantum computers to figure out slot machine patterns. They’re still a long way off, and even when they do arrive, it’s not likely that you’ll have one at home.
This is one of our top slot machine secrets. Casinos promote the myth of loose slots to get you to gamble due to the fear of missing out. They want you to play certain games they’ll make more money on. It’s all marketing hype. There’s no such thing as loose slots.
Progressive Jackpots Mean a Lower RTP
We’re sure that the sharpest among you have already thought of this. However, for those who are beginners at slot machines and who don’t fully understand all of these concepts yet, we want to spell it out in simple English.
One of the best-kept slot machine secrets is that the highest paying games are the worst to play. Progressive jackpot slots offer the biggest jackpots of all. Some of them, like Mega Moolah, have jackpots of at least £1 million. These jackpots are funded by contributions on every bet from all players. That means that at every casino that offers a progressive jackpot game, a small portion of each bet goes into funding the progressive jackpot.
This means that progressive jackpots slots pay back less. Using the example of Mega Moolah again, the RTP of this game is 88.12%, according to the official Microgaming website. That means that this game will pay back £88.12 out of every £100 wagered on it. That’s a lot lower than the average of 96% we mentioned earlier.
This lower RTP is the price you pay for playing games with jackpots worth six figures or even millions. It’s up to you to decide whether it’s worth a shot or not, but when you think about how unlikely it is that you’ll win one of these jackpots, it might be worth considering another game which you have a more realistic chance of winning even if the jackpot ends up being smaller. It’s also worth playing these games when you enter slot tournaments.
Casino Tricks & Slot Machine Secrets – Slots In Land Casinos
In this section, we’ll talk more about slot machine secrets in land casinos from the point of view of what the casinos do to get more money out of you. The next time you play slots in Vegas or anywhere else, keep these casino tricks in mind.
Casinos Place Noisy Slots Near the Exits
Some slot machine secrets have nothing to do with the machines themselves. You’ll find the noisiest slot machines in two main locations in most casinos. First, you’ll find them near the cage. Casinos put them here so that you’re tempted to play before you cash out. The other location you’ll find them is near the exits, which is also a strategic move to get you to have one more spin before you go home.
Noisy slots with flashing lights get attention. If you walk past a slot that makes an attention-grabbing noise, you’ll turn around to look at it. If you then see a sign for a huge jackpot, the devil on your shoulder will probably talk you into trying your luck. Casinos know this, and that’s why they place these slot games where they do. They know you want to win at slots just one more time, but usually, it’s them that win.
Comp Points Are Not For Your Benefit
You thought you were here to learn about slot machine secrets, but what about the secrets you’re giving up? Land casinos will work pretty hard to get you to join their loyalty club, and they’ll promise you all kinds of perks. You’ll earn comp points on every bet, you’ll get things like free drinks or even VIP suite access if you’re a high roller, but don’t fool yourself into thinking this is because you’re a casino rock star.
Player’s clubs exist for one purpose and one purpose only: so that the casinos can gather data on you and can more effectively market to you in the future. They’ll learn how you play, what your habits are, when you’re more likely to play, what games you like, and much more from this valuable data.
In return, you’ll get some free drinks, and the odd comp stay at the casino. There are no casino comp secrets other than the secrets you’re giving up to the casino!
This point could apply to all casino games, but it applies equally to slot players, so we decided to include it here.
Payout Tickets Don’t Feel Real
Many of you will already understand that it’s so much easier to spend money when swiping your card than it is to part with physical cash. We’ve all overspent thanks to this faulty psychological peculiarity. The digital money doesn’t feel real, so we overspend.
Casinos know that the same rule applies to payout tickets. That’s why most casino slot machines don’t actually pay you in real money anymore. It’s so much easier to spend a ticket with some numbers printed on it than it is to put real money back into a machine, watching your winnings dwindle as you go. Aren’t some slot machine secrets so damned sneaky?!
Payout tickets are designed to get you to bet away your winnings. Don’t fall for it. If you have a big win and hit your target, have the good sense to walk away and cash your ticket out.
And if you have a big win and a friendly casino manager arrives suddenly at your side to offer you the VIP suite for the night, well, you already know what all that is about!
Slot Machine Secrets – Summary
Now you’re aware of some of the best-kept slot machine secrets, what will you do with the information? You could share it with your friends who also play, and you could also use it to your advantage.
Why not start by grabbing a generous slots bonus and using the tip we gave you about wagering above? You’ll find plenty of them at the best slots sites online.
Greg has been an avid gambler for over 15 years. He loves slot machines and betting on football. He’s been writing on the subject for close to a decade now and knows everything there is to know about video slots, jackpots, and slot sites in general! He has been writing for GamblersPro.com for over five years now.
