Slot Machine Odds

It is a daunting task to try out and pinpoint the exact odds of slot machines because of the variety of different types of slot machines that are available a the gambling market today.

Payback Percentage

In general, slot machine odds are usually expressed in the form of payback percentage and it means that the closer to 100 percent the percentage is, the highest chances to win the player has. Still, there are some slot machines that give a pay back of more than 100 percent and this usually gives the lucky players who find them a positive expectation of winning.

The slot machines that provide players with more than 100 percent in paybacks are also referred to loose slots and are usually mixed with other machines in a the casino not to be found by players easily.

Stops on the Reels

In modern slot machines the odds of hitting any particular symbol or a combination of symbols will mainly depend on how the machine reel is set up. A stop on the reel will usually correspond to more than 1 stop on that particular reel. It leads to the fact that the odds of landing on a particular symbol on the reel will depend on how many stops correspond to the actual stop.

In the typical weighted slot machines the specific jackpot stop for each of the reels will correspond to only 1 stop and it means that the chance of hitting the jackpot symbol on that reel will be 1 to 64.

If all the reels were set up in the same way the chance of hitting the jackpot symbols on all the 3 reels would be 1 in 643, or 262,144.

Winning the Jackpot

At those slot machines that have bigger jackpots, the reels will have more stops and thereby decrease the odds of winning the jackpot. It is important for all players to understand that all slot machines are programmed to achieve a specific payback percentage which is the percentage of money that is put in and paid out to the player eventually. For example a payback percentage of 90 means that the casino will take the remaining 10 percent of the money that the players puts in. It helps the casino to be in advantage all the time. In most gambling houses the payback percentage is usually above a certain level which is somewhere around 75 percent and in most cases the casinos provides higher than the minimum payback percentage.

In most scenarios casino operators place the highest paying machines in the overwhelmed areas such as bars, entrances, buffets which are the main places, where most of the people spend a lot of time. This strategy of placing higher paying machines was developed and implemented in most of the casinos in order to turn the attention of passerby and make them play slot machines to win jackpot like someone else has done before.