Slots and How Payback Percentage Works
In playing slots, there is one important factor you ought to be aware about: payback percentage. Even if you play slots only for fun, it is good to know about it.
Payback Percentage
There is some confusion about how payback percentage. It is easy to define: the payback percentage is the amount that gamblers are expected to get back from the slot (or any casino game). The higher the payback percentage, the less of gamblers' money that the casino retains. In a way, the payback is a measure of the casino's advantage over the player in a particular game, the so-called "house edge." If the payback is 88%, the house edge is 12%.
But what may confuse you is that the slot doesn't pay "play for play." In other words, a 90% payback percentage doesn't mean when you bet $50, you will always get back $45. Actually, the payback percentage for you, the individual player, will change with every play. Sometimes you get a positive result; that is, you may put in $100 and go home wit $140—a $40 profit or a 140% payback. Other times you go home broke for a 0% payback.
That is why you hear about slots being supposedly "hot" or "cold." There's no such thing. It's just that the overall payback percentage of a slot machine (the one that's advertised for it) is paid out over a very long period—too long for only person to play the slot, so the payback ends up being distributed to many players. What's more, the slot machine has no "payback cycle." The odds are always the same, but they are set so that the payback percentage is fulfilled after some time.
Now because of the payback volatility of slots, it is often advised that you should stop playing once you win big. This is because the longer you play, the more likely you will lose that money. Yet this advice is not as sound as it may seem. If you quit the slots after a big win but return to play another day, the SAME odds of the payback changing and you losing will still be there. It's not just how LONG you play that counts, but how OFTEN you play. Same number of spins over different periods of time is the same thing.
What does that mean for you? it means that if you walk away with a $1,000 win today but come back next week to play again, your chances of risking that win will be the same as if you hadn't stopped playing after you won. The only difference is that if you quit immediately after playing, you have time to enjoy the money you won by spending it first.
But how can knowing about payback percentage help you? It is simple. If you play slots often and want to get the most playing hours for your money, look for slots with high payback percentage. This guarantees that you will lose less money and win more often. And the best place to find these "loose" slots are on the internet! Internet slots have higher payback percentages than any in Las Vegas. You may or may not hit a big jackpot, but you will win more modest prizes in the long run.