Playing slots at max bet

[fla gang]

So whether you are playing pennies or dollars do you always play max bet? I look at some of the penny machines that are $8.00 max bet! So why not play dollars instead?  Looks to me like most of the ships now are primarily penny machines.

[Nightengale31]

On ‎11‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 7:48 PM, fla gang said:

So whether you are playing pennies or dollars do you always play max bet? I look at some of the penny machines that are $8.00 max bet! So why not play dollars instead?  Looks to me like most of the ships now are primarily penny machines.

A low better and a high better can both play penny machines which is really not possible with a dollar machine where a starting bet is a dollar. This past year I won $16,000 progressive jackpot on a penny slot machine at Foxwoods. My bet was something like $3.82,  but bet amount did not factor into being able to  win the top progressive jackpot on that machine it was picking the right boxes in a bonus which could have won that same amount with the lowest bet being 32 cents. That is why it is a good idea to know the payout schedule of the machines you plan.

[VideoTech]

Nightengale31 makes an important point - it's always important to read the game rules for the machine you're playing. Some machines will award the Jackpot(s) on less that max bet play, some will not. 

 

In general, it's always better to play max bet. If your budget won't go to the max bet on one machine, find another which suits your budget. I agree that many "penny" machines now have very high max bets..a lot of this comes with machines that have a high number of pay lines. However, my experience is that many of the $8.00 max bet slots award their jackpots on a purely random basis, in which case there is no strict advantage to playing max. Again, check the game rules for each machine.

 

 

[clcjdn]

Agree with VideoTech.  Know the rules before you wager.  Also, when it comes to Video Poker, the guidance there is to always bet max so you catch the full benefit of the pay table, or find a cheaper machine and bet max there.

[VideoTech]

9 hours ago, clcjdn said:

Agree with VideoTech.  Know the rules before you wager.  Also, when it comes to Video Poker, the guidance there is to always bet max so you catch the full benefit of the pay table, or find a cheaper machine and bet max there.

 

Absolutely. Always makes me sad to see someone hit the oh-so-rare Royal Flush on less than max bet. VP is definitely one game where you must ALWAYS play max bet.

[WVU_Neal]

On 12/4/2018 at 8:27 PM, VideoTech said:

 

Absolutely. Always makes me sad to see someone hit the oh-so-rare Royal Flush on less than max bet. VP is definitely one game where you must ALWAYS play max bet.

 

One the VP machines I play, the Royal pays 250 coins for one coin. At the max bet of 5 coins the Royal jumps to 4000 coins, or 800 for one coin. A Royal will come up about every 40,000 hands (40,000:1 odds).

 

Gotta play max bets.

 

Neal in Cincinnati

[riddle]

One thing I always think about is bet size versus number of bonus rounds.  Many of the machines I play have an $8.80 max and a $.88 minimum.  I know I can win a jackpot either way and I know that my other wins will be larger on the larger bets.  But my question is "should one expect a significantly larger number of bonus rounds if betting a higher amount, up to the max?

[fla gang]

Will the machine hit more frequently when playing max bet?

[Journey2016]

On 12/9/2018 at 10:03 PM, fla gang said:

Will the machine hit more frequently when playing max bet?

 

No. Whether or not a machine hits is random.

 

[clcjdn]

Unusual thing I heard while sharing a box suite at a concert with a marketing rep from former Isle of Capri casinos....he said that on slots they could set the payback %s to different amounts based on how many credits were wagered.  I always assumed that if it was a 90% machine, that meant 90% across all combinations of wagers from a single penny to fully loaded.  This comment makes me think that they could set Bet One to 85% and Bet Max to 95%, or some combination as long as the theoretical comes out to a percent equal to or larger than what is mandated by the government (which is not required in INTL water on these ships).  Anyone have specific information on this topic?  Thanks!

[VideoTech]

3 hours ago, clcjdn said:

Unusual thing I heard while sharing a box suite at a concert with a marketing rep from former Isle of Capri casinos....he said that on slots they could set the payback %s to different amounts based on how many credits were wagered.  I always assumed that if it was a 90% machine, that meant 90% across all combinations of wagers from a single penny to fully loaded.  This comment makes me think that they could set Bet One to 85% and Bet Max to 95%, or some combination as long as the theoretical comes out to a percent equal to or larger than what is mandated by the government (which is not required in INTL water on these ships).  Anyone have specific information on this topic?  Thanks!

 

That has always been true in regulated land casinos. If a bank of machines has an advertised payback %, it's when played at Max Bet. And it's also true that if a bank of machines is advertised as paying 98% (or whatever %), not ALL of them have to pay that. As long as one or some of them do, it's legal to put the advertised payback sign over the machines.

 

[VideoTech]

On 12/9/2018 at 8:17 PM, riddle said:

One thing I always think about is bet size versus number of bonus rounds.  Many of the machines I play have an $8.80 max and a $.88 minimum.  I know I can win a jackpot either way and I know that my other wins will be larger on the larger bets.  But my question is "should one expect a significantly larger number of bonus rounds if betting a higher amount, up to the max?

 

The short answer is No. In fact, many machines are set to create a higher # of bonus rounds at a lower bet level, as this keeps the player interest high. 

 

[clcjdn]

17 hours ago, VideoTech said:

 

That has always been true in regulated land casinos. If a bank of machines has an advertised payback %, it's when played at Max Bet. And it's also true that if a bank of machines is advertised as paying 98% (or whatever %), not ALL of them have to pay that. As long as one or some of them do, it's legal to put the advertised payback sign over the machines.

 

Right, I always knew that about different machines, but hadn't contemplated different %s based on credits wagered within the same machine.  Seems like with enough data, you could start to determine whether better to bet one or two vs max.  It couldn't be perfect science, but if you frequent the same casino often, it seems like you could get some decent sample size returns....ie this week only bet 1 vs next week bet 2, etc.....

[VideoTech]

23 hours ago, clcjdn said:

Right, I always knew that about different machines, but hadn't contemplated different %s based on credits wagered within the same machine.  Seems like with enough data, you could start to determine whether better to bet one or two vs max.  It couldn't be perfect science, but if you frequent the same casino often, it seems like you could get some decent sample size returns....ie this week only bet 1 vs next week bet 2, etc.....

 

No, you can never get enough real data to determine a machine's payback % just by observation. You would have to observe and record the outcome of every single play on the machine, 24/7, for a long, long time. Not only are there thousands of possible winning positions with just a simple 3 reel, one line old school slot machine (and those number of possible winning positions go up astronomically on the newer multi-line, multi-reel video machines), but you'd also have to observe all the outcomes first at one bet level, and then at another. With modern machines that allow so many different bet levels, you simply couldn't do it. 

 

The only slot machines for which you can reliably determine payback % are video poker machines. And that's why casinos penalize gambler's play on those machines (by making you play twice as much money for one casino point), saying that they are "advantage" machines. And yet VP machines are just as random as any other slot machine, and you have just the same likelihood of losing or winning on any single play as you do on any other slot machine. Knowing the payback % on a VP machine, combined with absolutely perfect play for each hand, does give you back a slight bit of the casino's edge, but it's not much, and requires long hours of play to realize.

 

Bottom line, for me anyway - just play for the fun of it, with money you can afford to lose. And you WILL lose it, otherwise the casino wouldn't be in business! 

 

[Nightengale31]

3 hours ago, VideoTech said:

 

just play for the fun of it, with money you can afford to lose. And you WILL lose it, otherwise the casino wouldn't be in business! 

 

ain't that the truth!!!