COVER STORY

To maximize your chances for a successful year!

By Lana Hartmann

Visiting any casino is an exciting entertainment option, but before you consider participating in this form of recreation, you need a game plan! It’s important to be just as organized about a trip to the casino as you are preparing for a party or even just doing your weekly grocery shopping. For instance, looking through the weekly ads and collecting coupons or going online can save you a lot of money on your groceries. Furthermore, writing out a grocery list can save you both time and money by introducing order to your shopping—preventing you from forgetting items you may need to go back for again and buying items that aren’t necessary.

The path towards a “lucky” and “winning” 2022 is to follow some basic guidelines outlined in this article. Do your homework, just like you would for any other entertainment activity before you leave for a casino trip. If you can incorporate a few simple measures into your planning routine this year, you will have taken significant steps towards becoming a smart gambler in 2022. And, if some of the topics are already part of your routine, good for you! Spend the extra time introducing yourself to those concepts you’re not familiar with. If you use this opportunity to make a change and approach your casino entertainment in a new way right now, you’ll certainly have continued positive experiences at the casino this year and many more years to come! Good luck and have fun!

Choose Your Casino Wisely

A casino is a business, so make sure whichever casino you play at is living up to your expectations. Never choose a casino purely based on convenience. We are lucky to have our pick from so many casinos across the entire state of Arizona and the surrounding states. Try an out-of-town casino you’ve never been to and make it a weekend getaway. You may just find your new favorite!

Common Payback Percentages By Denomination

Generally speaking, the higher the denomination the higher the payback percentage is of a game. Based on our team’s combined industry experience and new game installs we’ve been privy to, here’s a breakdown of percentages by the game’s denomination: 1¢ (85-91%), 2¢ (87-91%), 5¢ (88-92%), 10¢ (8993%), 25¢ (92-95%), $1 (93-96%), $2 (94-96%), and $5 (95-97%).

Play Higher Denomination Machines

Generally, the higher the denomination the higher the payback percentage. Casinos do this to reward players that are willing to place higher bets. If you play a 50 line penny game at times five for a $2.50 bet, this is the same as playing a 50 line nickel game at times one for the same wager. The nickel game will, most likely, be set at a higher payback percentage.

Set A Budget And Be Realistic

Establishing a bankroll is one of the most important lessons to learn. You certainly don’t go to the movies without a very good idea as to how much the entire experience will cost you, right? If you don’t consider how many spins on a slot machine or hands at the blackjack table your money will buy you when determining your budget for a night out at the casino, then you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. Bringing $100 with you to the casino if you intend on playing for several hours may not be such a reasonable expectation. If you’re playing the slots at 50 cents per spin, your $100 will buy you 200 spins. You may be done with those spins and out of money in 15 minutes or less if things don’t go well. Always be realistic when setting your budget. You don’t want to be out of money waiting around for your friends or family or, worse yet, running to the ATM machine for more money! Always leave the plastic at home to avoid those exorbitant transaction fees.

Always Use A Player’s Card

Points accumulated on a player’s card can be used towards cash back and/or free play, food, hotel rooms, show tickets, and more! If you don’t take advantage of the extra benefits that come with using a player’s card, then you’re giving the casino an even greater advantage! Worried that the slot recognizes when a card is inserted and the performance of the game is compromised as a result? Don’t be! The game’s random number generator in each machine is the only factor that determines the outcome of every spin. The card readers, ticket printers, and bill validators are separate mechanisms that are part of a slot machine designed to perform independent functions and one has absolutely nothing to do with the other!

Another popular misconception amongst players is that they “don’t play enough to earn anything.” What players forget to take into account is that card readers record the aggregate total amount of ALL money played through a machine (including the wins along the way). It’s not uncommon for a player to put $20 in a machine and play through $200. The card reader records all the money played through the machine and not just the initial money inserted by the player. Therefore, points do add up very quickly during a play session, even when placing low bets. Just be careful, card readers can be sensitive so check that your player’s card is accepted when first inserted into the machine by looking for the welcome message. Then, glance over to the reader on a regular basis to make sure the card is still being registered.

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Read The Help Screens

There are oodles of hints and tips disclosed within the pages of a slot machine’s help screen! The casinos are just hoping that you won’t take the time to read the information that’s there. Besides the pay tables and the basic functionality of the game, here are just a few of the many, many secrets that are hidden in the help screens:

1. Picking Strategies for bonuses. Risk bonuses that involve player decision on whether to “keep win or risk win for higher rewards” are considered strategy (or skill) games. Regulatory agencies heavily scrutinize these types of games and require manufacturers to disclose the “best strategy” for the game in the help screen. 2. Whether or not bonuses are predetermined. Sometimes your picks in bonuses are already predetermined and it just doesn’t matter where you pick. If a regulatory agency feels that a bonus may be misleading to the players, they will force the manufacturers to include a comment in the help screen. 3. Rules for the progressives and bonuses. Knowing which features of a slot game are available for each bet level is important. All these rules are defined in the help screen. 4. If there are multiple reel sets and overloaded reels. Over the course of the past few years, technology now allows slot machine game designers to use multiple sets of reels in the base game and during free games. This is the natural extension to the overloaded reels that were introduced about ten years ago. Overloaded reels assign certain reel positions to be substituted from a set of symbols defined in the help screen. Multiple reel sets are also described in the help screen. Essentially, on any given spin, the slot makes a random selection which set of reels to use. One of the reel sets may have a lot of wilds but no bonus symbols. Another reel set may have a lot of bonus symbols but no wilds. You get the idea, right? So, next time you sit down to play a slot, take a peek at the help screen. You may be surprised to find what’s there!

Sign Up For Free Slot Tournaments

Many casinos are starting to offer short, usually 15 or 20 minute, free tournaments that give you a chance to win cash and prizes without having to risk any of your own money!

Play With Cold Hard Cash

Picture yourself sitting at a blackjack table pulling out one $10 bill after the other and betting on each hand with real money rather than plastic chips! I believe it would feel very different. The same goes for the ticket vouchers for the slot machines. Don’t move from one machine to another with a ticket in hand. A $100 ticket just doesn’t feel the same as five twenties feel in our hands. You may just think twice about staying at a machine if you have to dig into your purse for that second or third $20 bill! So, whether you’re playing with chips or tickets, don’t forget that they both still represent cold hard cash. Always keep that in the back of your mind when you’re at the casino!

Bet Max When Playing Progressives

If you’re going to play a slot machine that is hooked up to a progressive, make sure you are playing max bet. Slot manufacturers are designing more and more games that only award progressives to players that are playing max bet. You don’t want to be sitting at a machine feeding the progressive meters if these awards aren’t even accessible to you!

The other type of progressive slots that are very popular are those that happen randomly and don’t require you to bet max to qualify for the progressives. However, the player that is wagering the most at the bank has the best chance of being selected by the progressive controller. (Yes, that is why that max bet player keeps winning the progressive!) If you can’t afford to play max bet on a progressive slot or be the biggest bettor at the bank that has randomly triggered progressives, then just don’t play these types of games. Make sure to check the help screen for the rules!

Cover All The Pay Lines All The Time

This is one of the biggest mistakes we see players making when we walk casino floors. Playing all the pay lines increases your chances of hitting a winning combination on more lines. This is particularly important for the large number of games that have bonus events triggered by symbols landing on active pay lines. If, for example, you decide to “save money” by playing only 20 lines on a 30 line game, you’re actually decreasing the winning combinations available in the game and going through your bankroll even faster. In some cases, playing 30 lines can give you up to 50% higher hit frequency over playing only 20 lines, and who doesn’t want to win more often? Apprehensive about what we’re saying? Do a comparison and see for yourself. Play $10 at 20 lines and $10 at 30 lines on the same game. You’ll feel the increased wins. The extra 10 lines will pay off during the base game and will really pay off during a free games bonus with much larger bonus wins on average.

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Take Advantage Of Double/Triple Offers On The Same Day

Casinos, whether intentionally or unintentionally, sometimes send out several offers for the same day. It’s even better when you can take advantage of a raffle or a drawing while there as well. Carefully examine all the offers sent to you by the casino and visit during the most opportune times. In addition, many casinos offer great deals during the week on food, lodging, and golf. Playing with a player’s card may even earn you 2X to 10X more points on a weekday!

Try Something Different

Look at all the options available to you at the casinos! Not only are there a lot of different kinds of slot machine games, but there are several other casino games you might find entertaining as well. Changing what games you play on a regular basis will help keep things fresh and interesting for you. Consider playing blackjack, but don’t play using hunches the way most players do. Learn basic strategy and stick to it in all situations. It’s not hard and should take less than 2 hours to learn. In doing so, you will be able to decrease the house edge down to almost zero. Don’t be intimidated to ask a dealer or a pit boss if the casino offers “training sessions” for new players. Bingo is also another excellent option! Just $5 to $10 a pack offers several hours of entertainment—you can’t beat that! If you’re willing to risk a little more money, you can increase your odds of winning by purchasing more packs. Bingo is a really fun activity you can do on your own or with friends and family!

Know The Bonus Pulls-To-Hit

The most important number every true slot enthusiast should know is the bonus pulls-to-hit (the average number of spins it takes to trigger a bonus event), even if it’s just a ballpark figure. There is a mathematical model behind each slot game, so you don’t have to rely on blind luck when playing the slots. First of all, this number is important because it helps you determine an appropriate amount for your bankroll. Let’s assume that your favorite slot game has a bonus pulls-to-hit of 120 (see example above). If you intend on wagering 75¢ per spin and it takes 120 spins to get into the bonus, then you can expect to spend about

Calculating The Bonus Pulls-To-Hit

First, sit down at your favorite slot machine and as soon as you begin your play session, start counting how many spins it takes to get into the bonus. Then, start keeping track of each bonus. For example, say it takes 116 spins to hit the bonus the first time, then 155 spins to hit it again, then 77 spins, and then 132. Add all the numbers together, 116+155+77+132=480 and then divide by the total number of bonuses played (in this case 4). On average, it takes 120 spins to trigger a bonus on this game! $90 before you trigger a bonus. Therefore, a reasonable bankroll for this scenario would be $100. This amount of money would, most likely, allow you to experience the game’s bonus at least once. And, as all of us who play the slots know, the bonuses are where the players have the best chance of making a little bit of money. Second of all, knowing a game’s bonus pulls-to-hit provides you with a base value for comparison. In other words, when you’re aware of what your typical performance is on a particular slot game you can have certain expectations. If you reach your $100 mark but haven’t triggered a bonus, then it may be time to end the play session and come back to the machine at another time. Here’s a general rule of thumb: highly volatile slots usually take over 180 spins (on average) to get into a bonus, medium volatility slots take about 120 spins (on average) to trigger a bonus, and less volatile slots have a much lower average pulls-to-hit of between 60 and 80 spins.

Slow Down

Finishing more spins than the person next to you is not going to earn you a prize. Playing super fast only puts you at risk for losing money quickly and potentially shortening your play session! Slot machine manufacturers have gone to great lengths to program exciting sounds and animations into the games. Never play more than one machine at a time. Playing two or three machines at once just means you are risking your money two to three times faster. Don’t play frantically. Sit back, let the credits rack up, and enjoy all the wonderful win presentations.

Take What You Win Home

Unfortunately, chances are you’re just not going to break even or get ahead at the casino. That’s just plain fact. Even if you’re playing the highest payback percentage games, you’re still most likely to fall short of what you came with. So, during those times you do manage to get ahead, stop playing! Casino games have a way of sensing when a person becomes greedy! Enjoy the win and take it home. $