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Progressive slots should not be the game of your choice when you are out picking a winning slot machine. They are hard to crack, come with terrible odds, and are horribly expensive to play. You can learn more about the dangers (and advantages) of these particular games in our guide on how to win progressive slots. The local progressive slots were the successors of the standalone slot jackpots, and the first to offer players an opportunity to win a slot mega jackpot. The jackpots in the local progressive slots range from $100,000 to $1,000,000. Wide Network Progressive Slots. These are probably the reason you got interested in progressive slot machine.

Progressive Jackpot Slot Pros

By Arnold Snyder
(From Casino Player, August 1995)
© 1995 Arnold Snyder

Professional gamblers beat slots either by limiting their slot play to progressive jackpot slots at which the jackpot has gotten big enough to give a player advantage, or by using slot play to milk various kinds of loss rebates and free money offers, in both online and brick-and-mortar casinos. Usually professional slot players combine both methods—that is, they wait until the jackpot is close to giving a player advantage, and take advantage of casino points and comps as well.

In order to use the first method in slot games other than video poker, you have to record the results of enough spins on a slot game to determine the frequency of each type of payout and the percentage of your bet that goes into the jackpot. From this you can determine the house edge on the game. This all takes some work and a good understanding of the math involved..

Professional gamblers tend to either be good at math, or rich enough to hire someone who is. And they tend to be very dedicated about playing at casinos that give the most back for their play, through good points programs and comps.

How to Beat Slots: Tips for Recreational Players

A recreational gambler who enjoys playing slots, and expects to play slots regularly over a period of many years, would probably do better over the long term playing only progressive jackpot slots on which the jackpot was significantly larger than the average level at which it goes off.

Just be aware that you can't know for sure where a player advantage starts unless you go through the process of mathematically analyzing the game. And no matter how big the jackpot gets, it doesn't guarantee that you will win the jackpot, or even that the jackpot will go off while you're in town. There are no short-term win guarantees in gambling, not even for professional gamblers.

All a player advantage means is that, if you limit your play to such situations, and you put in enough hours, you will likely make more money in the long run than you put in. But the long run can mean a very long time, and if you play only a few hours a year, you may not get in enough hours in an entire lifetime to get ahead.

So no matter how big the jackpot gets, you should play only an amount that you can afford to lose without it affecting your lifestyle.

Also, slot pros don't like to play for too small an advantage, so they'll usually wait until the jackpot is significantly bigger than the minimum level necessary to turn the advantage to the player. On the other hand, if they know they'll be getting valuable points and comps for their play, they can play for a slightly smaller jackpot and still have a player advantage overall.

Pros generally prefer to play jackpots with a smaller average jackpot size than a gigantic average jackpot size. For example, a slot with an average jackpot payoff of $3,000 or $10,000 is considered a better bet than a slot with an average jackpot payoff of $1 million, because the variance on the games with the smaller average jackpots will be a lot lower. (That means a pro will require less of a bankroll to make sure he won't go broke chasing the jackpot.)

But professional slot players typically have very large bankrolls to play on—much larger than the average Las Vegas recreational player, who may bring a few hundred dollars in mad money to Vegas to try her luck. Slot pros who find a game where the progressive jackpot gives a player advantage are generally prepared to put in whatever money and hours it takes to keep playing until the jackpot goes off. And if that player is not the person to win that jackpot, he'll stiill have plenty of bankroll left to go after the next jackpot, whenever a player advantage occurs. He won't be broke.

Again, the reason the pros need such a big bankroll is because even when you're playing a progressive jackpot slot with a decent player advantage, you can't guarantee you'll win that jackpot. All a player advantage means is that you can know you'll win over the long run if you put in enough play.

Winning Slots Progressive Jackpot

For more information on how professional gamblers beat slots, read Million Dollar Slots by Peter Liston, an accountant turned high school teacher turned professional slot player.

The Casino Perspective on Players Who Know How to Beat Slots

Question from a Player: As a semipro card counter for about two years, mostly in Las Vegas, I have finally given it up for . . . the slots! The heat and the harassment associated with card counting finally wore me down. I’ve hooked up with a pretty well-financed video poker team. The money is steady and the heat is nil. It’s boring, but you can’t have everything.

What I don’t understand is this: Why is there no heat? Some of my teammates, to be honest, are downright rude when we go in to take over a bank of slot machines. Getting rid of the “tourists” is one of my least favorite parts of this job. I’m just a “worker ant” on this team, but I’d like to start running my own slot teams in the future. My technical question is this: Is there a mathematical formula for figuring out how much each “tourist” on a bank costs you in win expectation?

Answer: In the May issue of Casino Journal, Anthony Cabot, in his “Gaming Law” column, addresses the problem of professional slot teams from the casino perspective. He compares the problems casinos have with slot pros to the problems they have with blackjack pros, and reveals why the casinos seem to have such a high tolerance level for slot teams, who are virtually never barred.

Apparently, there is a gaming regulation in Nevada that implies that casinos are holding “in trust” for “the public” any progressive slot jackpot on any game that has a progressive slot jackpot, until a member of “the public” wins that jackpot. The specific wording of this regulation makes the casinos hesitant to exclude any member of “the public” from playing their progressive slots. The casinos fear the possibility of a lawsuit from some member of that all-inclusive public for whom their slot jackpot is being held in trust.

Cabot’s article is very enlightening. Don’t think that the casinos are unaware that many slot pros are “rude” to their regular customers. The casinos are very vexed with this problem. In my opinion, if slot pros continue to chase tourists away from the machines, it’s just a matter of time until the powers that be rewrite the regulations. The casinos have an enormous amount of political clout in Nevada, especially when it comes to keeping the tourists happy.

A big part of this problem arises from two misconceptions that pervade the slot world — one slot players’ misconception, and one casino operators’ misconception.

One: Many slot pros believe that it is more advantageous to take over all slot machines on a given bank in order to “lock up” the inevitable jackpot. This is false.

Two: Many casino operators believe that they do not profit from slot pros, since the pros only play on slot machines where the players have the advantage. This is also false.

To deal with the second misconception first: The casinos profit from slot pros the same way they do from their other slot customers. The slot pros’ advantage comes solely from the jackpot that is being held “in trust.” Technically, that is not even money that belongs to the casino. It is money the casino has already “lost.” It simply has not yet been determined which player has won that money.

While a slot pro is playing, the casino continues to “rake” the pot, and takes a profit from every pro’s dollar that is played. For a standard 8-5 jacks or better progressive, any time a professional slot team takes over a bank of these machines, regardless of how many machines are on the bank, and regardless of what the jackpot is at the time of takeover, the casino will profit, on average, $2,200 on quarter slots, or $8,800 on dollar slots, directly from the slot team’s play.

When a slot team moves in on a progressive dollar bank, they are virtually “paying” the casino $8,800.00 to “buy” the jackpot (which the casino doesn’t really even “own” anymore). Since the amount of money the slot pros are willing to pay the casino to buy the jackpot is money that those savvy players would not otherwise play in the casino at all, this money is all gravy to the casinos.

This profit to the casino will definitely be diminished by the number of non-pros who are pushed out of the casino by the slot team's “rudeness.” However, if these non-pros do not leave the casino, but simply move to other slot machines or games within the casino, there is no loss to the house of any of this profit from the slot team’s play.

As for the “cost” of “tourists” to a slot team — there is none. Whether or not the slot team takes over all machines on a bank or any portion of them, they will “pay” the same amount for that jackpot — $2,200 on quarter machines, or $8,800 on the dollars.

In fact, on video poker machines it is actually more advantageous to a slot team for tourists to continue pumping the jackpot up while team members shoot for it, because the tourists will continue to increase the slot jackpot total at no cost to the team, and at the same time the pros are still favorites by a long shot to win the jackpot, because most tourists play so poorly that they are far less likely to hit the jackpot.

The real problem in many slot departments these days is a supply-and-demand problem; specifically, there is a greater demand for progressive slot machines than the casinos are supplying. The overabundant slot pros are fighting for the profitable slot jackpot opportunities that arise, aggressively squeezing the “tourists” off the banks of machines they want to play. If there were enough progressive slot banks available to keep the pros busy, the casinos would maximize their profits by courting these pros with comps!

If I owned a casino in Las Vegas, I’d advertise “All Progressives All the Time!” And I’d put in unusual video poker machines to confuse the amateurs as much as possible, so that the video poker jackpots would get pumped up as high as possible as often as possible. I’d want the pros stalking my aisles ready to jump on any bank as soon as the profit opportunity hit an acceptable level.

I’d maintain a very cordial relationship with the professional slot players, with the understanding that these pros would not offend or pressure my regular customers. If the pros understood that they paid the same amount per jackpot whether or not they monopolized a bank, and if there were enough profitable jackpots to go around, “tourists” would be welcomed by the pros to continue pumping up those already profitable jackpots to even more profitable levels.

The sad situation described by Anthony Cabot is more a result of ignorance on both sides of this battle than any other factor. The casinos are sitting on a virtual gold mine with their progressive slots. They should be “milking” the pros for the real value these players represent, not resenting a gaming regulation that the casinos perceive to be tying their hands. ♠

The easiest way for normal slot players to win at slots is to play at online casinos with free money from the casino. See Arnold Snyder's How to Beat Internet Casinos and Poker Rooms.
For more information on how professional gamblers beat slots, video poker, roulette, keno and a wide variety of casino games, see the Blackjack Forum Library.

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Winning Slots Progressive Jackpots

If you want to play progressive slots, this post will explain how. In fact, it probably won’t be the longest post in the world, because playing progressive slots is no harder than playing any other kind of slot machine. You put your money in, you press the spin button, and you hope for the best.

But what I’ve tried to do with this post is give you enough information about how progressive slot machines work that you can be an educated player.

And you can check our complete progressive jackpots guide to find out even more.

Not all these tips will apply to you, but I suspect most of them will, no matter your level of expertise.

Let’s go ahead!

What Is a Progressive Slot Machine and How Does It Work?

Most people know what a slot machine is, but if you’re completely new to the subject, here’s a quick description of slots games in general.

A slot machine game is a gambling machine with spinning reels. Each reel has symbols on it, and the point at which each reel stops is determined randomly. Specific combinations of symbols across a payline result in payouts.

The simplest version of a slot machine has three reels and a single payline horizontally across the middle of the machine.

Modern slot machines are often more complicated than this. They might have five reels, and the paylines come in a bewildering array of patterns. You have to place a separate bet on each payline, too.

The easiest way to describe paylines is to compare them with variations of bingo. They always run from left to right, but they sometimes come in a zig-zag pattern. You also have symbols that land on the rows above and below the center payline.

Originally, slot machines were powered by metal reels, springs, and gears. Now, the reels are just for show. A computer program called a random number generator (RNG) determines the results, and the probabilities are programmed into the RNG.

This enables the slot machine manufacturers to make bigger machines with more possible symbols and different probabilities for each symbol. This process is called “weighting.”

On an old-school, mechanical slot machine with 10 symbols on each reel, you had a 1/10 probability for any given symbol to show up.

But with weighting in place, some symbols might be programmed to come up more often and others programmed to come up less often. You might have some symbols which come up as often as 1/5 of the time and others which only come up as seldom as 1/20 or 1/50 of the time.

And, of course, the probability of getting multiple winning symbols to line up is calculated by multiplying the probability of getting that symbol on each reel.

Understanding this part is important because it makes it clear how the casino is able to offer such large jackpots without losing money. For the casino to make money from slot machines, they need a statistical advantage. They get that advantage by paying out at odds lower than the odds of winning. The difference is their long-term profit.

To offer a 6-figure or 7-figure jackpot, they need to be able to get odds that are 6 figures or 7 figures to 1. You can only do that if you weight the symbols so that they come up less often than they would on a mechanical reel.

I’ll have more to say about probability and odds in a bit.

A progressive slot machine, though, is a game where the jackpot gets bigger over time — as it gets played. A small percentage of each bet goes into the jackpot.

You’ll find three different kinds of progressive slot machines.

• The first is a standalone progressive. This is a game where the jackpot is exclusive to that game. Every bet fuels the jackpot just for that machine. The ticker doesn’t move unless someone is playing on that machine.
• The second is a local area network progressive. This is a game where multiple slot machines in the same casino share the same jackpot. If anyone is playing any of the machines in that network of games, the jackpot is growing for all those machines.
• The third is the wide area progressive jackpot. This is a game that’s networked with multiple slot machines in multiple locations. These jackpots grow huge because so many people are playing them.

Once someone wins one of these progressive jackpots, it resets to whatever its starting value was, and it starts growing again.

Where Do You Find Progressive Slot Machines?

You can find progressive slot machines at almost every casino in the world, although slot machines are more popular in the United States than in Europe. You can also find progressive slot machines at online casinos. The games available online vary based on what kind of software the casino is using.

You can find these games by looking for the games with a progressive jackpot ticker at the top of the machine. This is a digital display of the size of the jackpot. With wide area progressives, this number changes (grows) almost constantly, which adds to the excitement for prospective players.

If you’re having trouble finding a progressive slot machine in a particular land-based casino, just ask one of the employees there for help finding them. They’ll know where they are. Don’t forget to give the staff member who helped you at least a $1 tip for helping you.
You’ll get better service in general if you become known as a generous tipper. And casino employees talk.

Odds, Probability, the House Edge, and Payback Percentages

The method most gamblers and casinos use to measure the odds in a slot machine game is the payback percentage. This is the statistical average of payouts on that machine expressed as a percentage of each bet that should be paid back to the player in the long run.

Since the payback percentage is almost always less than 100%, it’s clear to see how the casino makes its profit.

The lower the payback percentage is, the faster you’ll lose your money when playing the machine. The payback percentage is just a function of how much you’ll win for each combination multiplied by the probability of hitting that combination.

The machines aren’t programmed to run in cycles or to start losing after a certain point to guarantee a certain payback percentage. The payback percentage is strictly a function of the probabilities and payouts.

You might have a slot machine that pays out some kind of prize 45% of the time. The size of those prizes multiplied by the size of those prizes is what determines the payback percentage.

One way to think about it is as if you were playing a simple gambling game where you’re flipping a coin and guessing which side it will land on.

If you win, you get 50 cents. If you lose, you lose 55 cents.
Half the time, you’ll win, but the other half of the time, you’ll lose a larger amount. Over time, you’ll lose all your money.

That’s how the math and probability behind all casino games works.

Odds Of Winning Progressive Slots

Most slot machines have a payback percentage of between 75% and 95%. Lots of factors determine the payback percentage for a specific machine. At more competitive casinos, you’ll generally see a higher payback percentage. At airports and bars, you’ll see payback percentages on the lower end of that scale. At casinos on the Strip in Las Vegas, you’ll see payback percentages at the higher end of that spectrum.

At casinos in less competitive locales, like Oklahoma, the payback percentages are generally lower.

Also, the denomination of the slot machine is a factor. Casinos make more money from a player betting $3 per spin than they do from someone betting 75 cents per spin, even if the payback percentage is better on the $3 per spin player.

Look at the math.

Winning Slots Progressive Slots

• 600 spins per hour at $3 per spin is $1,800. With a payback percentage of 95%, the game pays back an average of $1,710. The player loses $90 in an hour, on average.
• 600 spins per hour at 75 cents per spin is $450 per hour. With a payback percentage of 90%, the game pays back an average of $405. The player loses $45 per hour.

Even though the house edge is twice as high on the lower-stakes game, the casino makes less money per hour on average.

You’ll also want to keep two things in mind about the odds and probability as they relate to progressive slot machines.

The first is that the tiny percentage of each bet that fuels the jackpot comes directly off your payback percentage. It has to.

So a game that would otherwise have a 95% payback percentage would only have a 94% payback percentage once you account for the contribution toward the jackpot.

The second is that the payback percentage assumes that you’ll sometimes win the progressive jackpot. But in reality, you probably won’t ever hit that jackpot. The bigger the progressive jackpot, the less likely you are to win it.

This means that a 94% payback percentage might only be 90% after you account for never hitting the progressive jackpot.

For this reason, the odds and the payback percentage for a progressive slot machine are always worse than it is for just a regular old slot machine game.

You should also take advantage of any kinds of comps and freebies the casino is willing to offer. Those only amount to between 0.1% and 0.5% of your action, but you should get as much action as you can for your money. This includes taking advantage of the free drinks at the casino.

Of course, none of that applies at online casinos. Keep in mind, too, with online casinos, that many of them limit their payouts to their players to a specific maximum dollar amount per week. Winning $100,000 is a lot less fun if it takes you 100 weeks to collect.

Playing Tips and Tricks

I don’t have many tips and tricks to offer a progressive slots player other than this.

Make sure you’re betting enough to be eligible for the progressive jackpot. Some games don’t require you to bet the max to qualify, but some do. It’s up to you to read the pay table to tell the difference.

If you’re not going to bet enough to win the progressive jackpot, find another machine to play.

Other than that, try to spin the reels more slowly. The more spins you pay for, the more money you’ll lose over time, on average. If you make 300 spins per hour instead of 600 spins per hour, you’ll probably lose half as much money on the slot machines over time.

Also, you should never play with money you need for something else. If you think you’re going to get lucky and solve all your problems with a progressive slot machine jackpot, you’re delusional.

An Easier Way to Win a Life-Changing Jackpot

Michael Bluejay wrote a great page about how you’re far more likely to win a million dollars by parlaying your winners on a table game.

In other words, you might bet $10 on a single number at roulette, and you’d win $350. Then bet the entire $360 on a single number again. This time, you’ll win $12,600.

Bet the entire $12,960 on a single number again, and you’ve won $453,000+.

The odds of winning these three bets in a row?

Those sound like terrible odds, and they are.

But they’re still far better than the odds of winning that progressive slot machine’s jackpot.

Conclusion

That’s it, really. Playing progressive slots, like I mentioned at the beginning, just isn’t hard to do. You put your money in and hope to win enough money to retire for the rest of your life.

I don’t generally play progressive slot machines, myself. I don’t like the odds.

But I’ll play some of the time just for grins, and I think that’s the best approach. People win progressive slot machine jackpots every day, and you have just as good a chance of winning as anyone else.

The only strategy you really need to remember is to make sure you’re betting enough to win the progressive jackpot. Some games don’t allow you to win the big jackpot unless you’ve bet the max number of coins.

Other than that, these are games of luck. Treat them as such.

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