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How to Determine Odds on Slot Machines

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By Seth Brown
eHow Contributing Writer
(0 Ratings)

Slot machines are some of the most popular games at casinos, due to the fact that they require little skill or time to play. However, most slot machines do not have very good odds. It may seem as if your odds of winning money are decent because there are not very many symbols on a slot machine, but this is not true. Here are a few quick ways you can determine your odds at a slot machine.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging
Instructions
  1. Step 1

    Look to see if the slot machine you are using has a payoff percentage posted. If you see "95 percent payoff," that does NOT mean 95 percent of the plays will be winners. It only means that 95 percent of the money put into the slot machine is eventually paid back out. Any machine with a lower payoff percentage than 90 percent is one that gives bad odds.

  2. Step 2

    Check the machine to see if it is posted whether the wheel runs on 64 stops, 128 stops, or 256 stops. Stops are the number of different random numbers each wheel can come up with, and there are more stops than there are symbols on each wheel, since five stops in a row may all point to the same blank symbol.

  3. Step 3

    Write down information about the machine (name, any other listed payout information, etc.) if you cannot determine the stop number at the casino. You can look for the stop number online. Most small slot machines use 64 stops.

  4. Step 4

    Cube the number of stops to determine the odds of a jackpot on a particular slot machine. For example, on a 3-wheel slot with 64 stops, the odds of getting one particular stop on each wheel would be (64 x 64 x 64,) or 1 in 262,144.

  5. Step 5

    Read more about slot machine odds at the link below, to find more detailed general odds calculations, and a list of the slot machine odds at various popular casinos.

Tips & Warnings
  • No matter the odds on paper, remember that the most likely outcome of playing a slot machine is losing.

References

Resources

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