Slots are the only game in the casino where the odds depend on your bet. The higher the machine’s denomination, the higher the potential payback - normally.
However, returns vary from casino to casino, so the exact amount of payback (such as 91 percent for nickel machines and 95 percent for $5 machines) can be quite different depending on where you play. When a casino advertises that its dollar machines pay back 97 percent, for example, it usually means it pays up to 97 percent on some machines. These qualifications make a big difference because most casinos only have a couple of machines with the loosest payouts. The average for all the dollar machines is typically much less (usually around 93 percent), and there is no way to know which special machines are set to pay out at the higher rate (97 percent).
Even though a dollar machine may pay back 95 percent and a nickel machine only 90 percent, you still lose less money with the nickels in the long run because you risk less money each spin.
Here’s the math with five coins per spin: Dollar machines cost you 25¢ per pull ($5 times the house edge of 5 percent), and nickel machines cost you less than 3¢ per pull (25¢ times the house edge of 10 percent). So even though the house edge is twice as high on the nickel slots (10 percent versus 5 percent), the nickel slots are easier on your wallet (you only lose a few cents a spin on the nickel slots versus 25¢ each spin on the dollar machines).
Other potential budget-busters are the multibet, multipayline video slots that are so hot today - they can cost you a lot more money than normal machines. A nickel machine may cost a mere 5¢ for a single coin spin, but if you go with a max bet of 45 credits, your game actually costs $2.25 per spin. Some machines allow up to 90 credits, meaning you’d be betting $4.50 per spin! Surprisingly, even the max credit on the lowly penny slots can be 300 coins, or $3.
Even at the lowest denomination, max betting can rapidly drain your gambling stake, and you may soon find yourself feeding another $20 bill into the penny slot machine - not what you intended. When coin options are sky-high, you’re better off playing a dollar machine for one or two coins than a low-denomination max bet with worse odds.
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