It probably more appropriate to call slot machines entertainment than gambling, as the house always - and we mean always - has an edge with slot machines.

The average slot machine payout ranges from an average of 85% to 99% of all coins bet. The lower the denomination of the machine, the lower the payout. This is because the casino wants to make a certain amount per hour with its slots. With a one dollar slot machine, the casino can payback perhaps 98% and make it's hourly goal. With a lower denomination machine, such as quarters or nickels, the payout must be much lower to achieve the same hourly pay for the casino

There are two types of slot machine payouts: flat rate and progressives. A flat rate machine pays the same percentage based on only that machine's results. With progressive machines, many machines are linked together electronically and the jackpot gets progressively larger the more players that play and the greater the time in between winning jackpots.

Our advice is to play the flat rate machines and avoid the progressives. The odds against winning the jackpot are much higher on progressives. In many cases, your odds of winning the state lottery are better! Play the non-progressive machines where you at least have a chance at the jackpot.

SHOULD YOU PLAY MAXIMUM COINS ARE NOT?

The answer to this question depends on one thing: is the jackpot bigger proportionally for maximum coins bet? If it is, play maximum coins. If it isn't, then simply play the minimum and your money will last longer.

To illustrate, let's assume you want to play a machine that has a three coin maximum bet. Should you play the maximum? Look at the payout information. If the jackpot amount for one coin bet is 1,000, for two coins 2,000 and for three coins 5,000, then the jackpot is bigger proportionally for three coins and you should bet the maximum coins. This is because the maximum coins to bet is three times the minimum but the maximum coin jackpot is five times the amount of the minimum coin jackpot. This means your jackpot odds are better if you play the maximum coins.

In this same example, if the three coin jackpot was 3,000 instead of 5,000, then you should only play one coin at a time because there is no odds advantage to playing maximum coins.

One disadvantage of playing maximum coins, even if the jackpot is proportionally larger, is that smaller, less-than-jackpot payouts are usually not proportionally larger for maximum coins played. It's only the jackpot that is proportionally larger. For this reason, we recommend only playing minimum coins on machines that do no have a proportionally larger jackpot for maximum coins. This way, you money will last longer and you increase your odds of winning smaller jackpots and maybe coming away a slight winner.

Good Luck!

Tom is the webmaster at http://www.blackjack-for-everyone.com, which is a website dedicated to turning beginning Blackjack players into serious recreational players.