Win a Jackpot and Change Your Life: How to excel at playing slots

If you step into a casino or look at the home pages of any online casinos, big jackpot amounts will come screaming in your face, with promises of ridiculous amount of money waiting for the lucky one that strikes a jackpot. In reality, jackpot comes in all forms and varies in size. The more common ones are on Lotto/Bingo as well as slots machine.

Lotto or bingo jackpots is where you have to bet on a series of number on a number card, and if the numbers you bet on totally matches the winning numbers drawn for this jackpot, you'll win the jackpot.

For slots jackpot, it can be categorized into a few types. These different types of jackpot vary in size and method of jackpot collection, but they are all found in land base casinos.

• a) Stand alone jackpot: As the name implies, this jackpot is collected by a single slot machine with no links to other machines. This kind of jackpot is usually smaller in size. For every losing bet on that particular slot, a certain amount is contributed into the jackpot. Standalone slots jackpot are usually small and easier to strike.


• b) In-house progressive jackpot: is where a numbers of slots of the same kind in a casino are link together. The losing bet of each slot that is in the network is contributed into a single jackpot. The winning condition is the same; it’s just that the jackpot is higher.


• c) Wide-area jackpot: is where few casinos within the same area link the same slot game to create a huge jackpot. This jackpot is probably the largest you can find in a land based casino.

The Online Progressive Jackpot

With the onset of online casinos in the last few years, it makes a lot of sense to have a wide-area jackpot derived from all the players connected to an online casino network.  It is usually spread out amongst all the players in the many licensees of a gaming software provider, allowing the jackpot to accumulate to dazzling amounts. This is known as the online progressive jackpot, which is usually integrated in most online casino.

The concept is nearly the same as wide-area jackpot, but with internet, players can play from anywhere. Major casino software providers like Playtech, RTG & Micro Gaming tend to link their online progressive jackpot from all casinos that operates under their license and make the jackpot amount phenomenally,  as huge as possible. (It’s not surprising to see jackpots as big as US$10,000,000 on these networks.)

Numbers sell and big numbers scream. Online casino software providers are always in a constant competition not only to provide the highest number of jackpot payouts, but also the highest total pool per provider. Total pool is the sum up of all progressive jackpots under one software provider. Being the biggest always gives the software providers a reason to put out articles screaming that someone from their network won $XXXXXX amount of money. This type of article usually causes good ripple effects and is very effective to bring new players into the network.

Explosion of Slot Games into Land Based Casinos:

Ever since TheOddsKing as a young man first stepped into a casino, land based casinos has always relied a lot on table games for most of their income (Blackjack, Baccarat, roulette etc). In recent years however, an explosion in the proliferation of slots have taken over precious real estate from table games. Casino operators are turning into slots jungle as they have proven to be effective money spinners.
Why? Very simple reasons: they don’t need to be staffed by dealers and just a few employees can staff an entire area of slots. The hardware that these casinos put in will eventually pay for itself. How good a preposition is that? No staff would need to come into contact with slot players unless there is a malfunction and only a few cashiers are employed at the “Change” counters to pay out winnings. In the past, slots are used to keep girlfriends and wives occupied while the men gamble at the tables. No longer is this true. Now it is big business and a variety of people, across all economic and social groups, play at slots.

So Mr TheOddsKing, how to win at slots?

Land Based Casinos:

TheOddsKing can reveal that the difficulty about playing slots is that no one really publishes or know the house edge. You can spend hours monitoring one machine from the time its mechanism is reset but if the software is adjusted when say a jackpot is hit, all your work would have gone to waste. However, after TheOddsKing spoke to some consultants who are involved in the designs for casinos, there are a few simple strategies that can improve your odds.

• 1) The best way to attract potential customers is by word of mouth or to simply keep the casinos full at all times. The presence of ‘warm bodies’ as some would refer to, gives the impression that the casino is popular and like a disco, no one wants to go to one that is empty all the time.
  
  To attract people to come, casinos tweet the machines that are near prominent entrances or corridors to be slightly ‘looser’. In this way, passersby that just happen to stroll to the buffet counters for example will be constantly bombarded by the sound of machine ringing due to wins or the excitement made by players when hitting a mini jackpot.
  
  Remember: players winning generate positive publicity for the casino and attract more players to come. TheOddsKing tip: Always try to pick a machine near a prominent location and get lost in the excitement of play and be oblivious to the crowds. With this in mind, do note that these machines are meant to attract petty players: small timers who come to casinos to watch a live band or eat at the buffet. You will not get big payouts or high value machines at these areas.


• 2) Secondly, it is always better to go to machines where the payout is stipulated but this is not a very common practice. Once you know the payout, depending on the coin size and your bankroll, you can roughly know when you should leave or continue to play once you hit certain limits.


• 3) Lastly, as with all good gambling strategies, chose a machine that is proportionate to your bankroll: the amount you want to spend. No point playing on a $1 machine that requires $3 for max lines per roll when you only have $100. You will end up losing all in no time if you happen to catch a downswing with nothing to show for.


• 4) Always remember that to aim for the jackpot and bonus rounds in each slot game, TheOddsKing can reveal that you will need to play maximum lines and credit per every roll. Most slot games are programmed to give the best returns when maximum lines and credit are played. Some machines are also programmed to only pay the full jackpot if you bet with maximum credit. If you think the machines are too expensive to play maximum lines and credit for every roll, then you will need to switch to a smaller coin size machine.